John 4:27-42
As we saw at the end of our last post, the conversation between Jesus and the woman of Samaria has ended. Why, we are not told. But verse 27 does give us a clue. “And at this point, His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman.” The text is written so that we may see and understand the cultural bias of the disciples, which helps us better understand the underlying tone of the conversation. We saw this earlier in the woman’s surprise at Jesus, being a Jew was talking to her, a woman of Samaria. The disciples returned from purchasing food, and they marveled because Jesus was talking with the enemy, and the enemy was a Samaritan. Making matters even harder for the disciples to comprehend, Jesus was talking to a woman. Thus, the gospel brings value to those society has deemed as having no value. Therefore, they marveled, “Yet no one said, ‘What do you seek? Or, why are you talking with her.’” The Holy Spirit must have been working on their hearts for them to keep quiet and not ruin this wonderful experience.
The woman finally does what Jesus had asked her in verse 16. “Go call your husband and come here.” But instead of calling her husband, she “Left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, (code word for community) ‘Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’” (John 4:28, 29). Jesus had just announced in verse 26 that He was the Messiah. So, the question is not her asking if this was the messiah; this was the people asking, “Is this the Messiah.” Their question is because she said, “A Man who told me all things that I ever did.” They, too, understood, as the woman did in verse 25, that the Messiah would come to tell them all things. Verse 30, “Then they went out of the city and came to Him.”
John, the book’s author, details what occurred when the woman went into the city to tell the people of the Messiah. We see this in verses 31-34. “In the meantime, His disciples urged Him saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.” Note the difference in understanding for the disciples versus the woman. The woman understands this is the Messiah. She has as much guessed it as Jesus has told her. But the disciples, despite spending time with Jesus, are still only calling him a teacher. They urged Jesus to eat, for they had left him beside the well, not only physically thirsty but hungry.
Verse 32, “But He said to them, ‘I have good to eat of which you do not know.’” What is this food Jesus is referring to? There is no mention of anyone bringing Jesus food. Furthermore, Jesus never received water to drink from the woman. So physically, he is hungry and thirsty. But Jesus states I have food to eat of which you do not know.” It is a hint of things to come. But Jesus says He receives spiritual food and drink by sharing the gospel message with others. Note how Jesus reinforces this in verse 34. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” For Jesus and all those who spread the gospel message, God supplies spiritual food to sustain us when we spread the gospel message to others.
In verse 35, as the townspeople are coming to Jesus, He turns the disciples’ attention to the field Jacob purchased for Joseph. “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.’” Wait, what? What just happened? Jesus stated, “that the harvest is four months away.” But Jesus directs his disciples’ attention to the fields that are not yet ripe but says they are already white with harvest.
So anxious are the townspeople to see Jesus that they don’t take the road to the well; they cut across the field of grain that is not yet ready for harvest. But as Jesus sees them coming to him, he sees individuals prepared to receive Salvation and thus ripe and ready to be harvested.
The disciples looked upon the field and said, “Sorry, but we are still four months away from the harvest.” But Jesus looked at the same field and said, “Look again, it is white with harvest.”
Verse 36 continues this thought by saying, “And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this, the saying is true; ‘Sone sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.’”
Jesus indicates that salvation takes teamwork, for there are those who plant the seed. Some care for the sprouted plant, while others are involved in the harvest. Part of this process is the working of the Holy Spirit on the heart of those laboring for and toward the harvest. But the Holy Spirit is working upon the hearts of those whose seeds of the gospel are falling upon the soil of their hearts.
The last four verses in this passage summarize this so well. Let’s read them together. “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did. 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.
42 Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ (the Messiah), the Saviour of the world.’”
You see the combination of humanity working with heaven to spread the gospel message, which is the revelation that Christ is the Messiah, come to restore the image of the Father in the hearts of all who believe in Him. What a powerful testimony of heaven and humanity working together to reap a harvest where no harvest is to be found.
The question that remains for each of us to decide is this. Will you accept Jesus as the Messiah, and upon acceptance, will you dedicate your life to working in cooperation with heaven to either plant or reap the harvest that is ready even though, physically, it looks like the harvest is far distant in time?
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