31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples were saying to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” 34 Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 Even now he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true, ‘One 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 labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who bore witness, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world.” John 4: 31-42 LSB
John 4: 31-42 The Harvest
…32So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were brought to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of his companions. 33Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.” So Laban said, “Please speak.” 34“I am Abraham’s servant,” he replied.… Genesis 24: 32-34
V. 31 Rabbi, eat - The disciples, in God's great providence, had all gone into town to purchase food. This made it much easier for our Lord to focus on the Samaritan woman. It would have been an awkward conversation given that He had brought up her sin, adultery and present fornication. Surrounded by a group of Jewish men, who already distance themselves from Samaritans, and a woman at that, they would have made many a face. The disciples are hungry though now, and they know Jesus hadn't eaten in some time so they are ready to eat. "Let's break bread."
1Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.… Galatians 6: 1-3
15 If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’… Matthew 18: 15-16
V. 34 My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me - The disciples are in the dark about what just transpired with the woman, and Jesus is here as Savior of the World, to do this great, enormous work, as decreed by the Father. Have you ever been so intent upon accomplishing something that you couldn't even think of eating? They missed the beginning of this, and it was only the beginning, as known by our Lord's omniscience, that the woman went into the city, spoke to the men of the city, who would probably be doing business in the market or at the gate as in other ancient places. The point is, like in John 3, the wind blows wherever it pleases, and it is now blowing through this town, and Jesus knows this.
Spurgeon - Jesus about his Father’s business John 4:34
Satan took him to the brow of a hill, and offered him all the kingdoms of this world—a mightier dominion even than Caesar had—if he would bow down and worship him. That temptation was substantially repeated in Christ’s life a thousand times. You remember one practical instance as a specimen of the whole. “They would have taken him by force and would have made him a king.” And if he had but pleased to accept that offer, on the day when he rode into Jerusalem upon a colt, the foal of an ass, when all cried “Hosanna!” when the palm branches were waving, he had needed to have done nothing but just to have gone into the temple, to have commanded with authority the priest to pour the sacred oil publicly upon his head, and he would have been king of the Jews. Not with the mock title which he wore upon the cross, but with a real dignity he might have been monarch of nations. As for the Romans, his omnipotence could have swept away the intruders. He could have lifted up Judaea into a glory as great as the golden days of Solomon: he might have built Palmyras and Tadmors in the desert: he might have stormed Egypt and have taken Rome. There was no empire that could have resisted him. With a band of zealots such as that nation could have furnished, and with such a leader capable of working miracles walking at the head, the star of Judaea might have risen with resplendent light, and a visible kingdom might have come, and his will might have been done on earth, from the river unto the ends of the earth. But he came not to establish a carnal kingdom upon earth, else would his followers fight: he came to wear the thorn-crown, to bear our griefs and to carry our sorrows. - Precept Austin
…23While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the signs He was doing and believed in His name. 24But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew them all. 25He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.… John 2: 23-25
V. 35 Do you not say there are yet 4 months, and then comes the harvest - So here they are in Samaria, and looking at the fields the harvest is about 4 months away, that's the image here. You plant in a certain month and you should expect to see it ripe and ready 4 months from now.
MacArthur notes that "Jesus used the fact that they were surrounded by crops growing in the field and waiting to be harvested as an object lesson to illustrate His urgency about reaching the lost which the "harvest" symbolized. (MacArthur Study Bible) - Precept Austin
V. 35b Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest - Jesus has planted a seed with this woman, confronted her sin very kindly, patiently and privately. He has asked her for water and then used it to offer that which she truly needs, life giving water, the Holy Spirit residing inside of her and overflowing. She acknowledges her sin by acknowledging Him to be a prophet for knowing her this well. This is the thing that she needs saved from, her fallen nature, and those were the symptoms, the things which God calls sin. He tells her Who He is, and she leaves her water jug there, and runs into the city to tell the men. Now Jesus is talking about a field that is ready to be harvested, and here it is, the people of this Samaritan city. This woman is of no great consequence in anyone's eyes, the last person you would send to testify about anything in these times, but the Holy Spirit is moving, the Wind is taking her words, her testimony that this Man told me everything about myself, he knew what sort of person I was and talked to me anyway. Not only that, He claims to be the Messiah. And here is the harvest, this whole town, Jesus planted and now it is time reap, it's not four months away, it's right now. Jesus performed many great miracles in Judea, but no where was there a revival like this in those cities. In His home town they tried to stone Him, they will try to throw Him off a cliff, and eventually the same people who cried Hosanna, the people that tasted the food He created for them, who saw Him raise the dead and knew the Scriptures about Him, will have Him crucified. In this town, with these backward people, lost people, who are waiting for a Messiah, yet don't even know who they worship, the Holy Spirit is going to stoke the fires of Revival and they are going to believe in the One He testifies to.
20Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.… Matthew 11: 20-22
V. 36 Even now, he who reaps is receiving wages - Jesus has sewn the gospel with the woman, and the Holy Spirit is working a great harvest, a true revival in this town. The disciples will see many a disappointment in ministry, even to the point that the writer, John, and his brother James, ask that they might bring fire down upon a city that rejects Christ. I have talked before of missionaries whose work has seen no converts in their time, but they planted a great seed by translating the Word of God into another language. After all, and they must have known this to carry on so long, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
…2And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever. 4But you, Daniel, shut up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will roam to and fro, and knowledge will increase.”… Daniel 12: 2-4
5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3: 5-9
Barton on rejoice together - Jesus here mentions the sower in addition to the reaper. Jesus, as both sower and reaper, sowed the seed through a single Samaritan woman and reaped a harvest from many in a Samaritan city. This sowing and reaping transpired so quickly that the sower and reaper could rejoice together. Normally, the sower’s joy is hopeful, for it is based on a future harvest. The reaper’s later joy is complete, for it is based on the stored harvest. But in the context of eternity, the sower and reaper will be together and can rejoice over the harvest they both accomplished.
No matter who reaps, God alone deserves the credit.
- Faith Life Study Bible
LASB - The wages Jesus offers are the joy of working for him and seeing the harvest of believers. These wages come to planter and harvester alike because both find joy in seeing new believers come into Christ's Kingdom. - Precept Austin
V. 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored - Lunch will have to wait boys, it's time to harvest, and look at this, you didn't even plant the field that you are about to participate in harvesting.
I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored - In other words Jesus would be sending His disciples into "fields" that other hard working farmers had "plowed" and "cultivated," but who did not reap the crops/fruit thereof. We see Jesus' words come to fruition (pun intended) in the book of Acts (Read Acts 2:41+ Acts 4:4,32+ Acts 5:14+ Acts 6:7+, Acts 15:3+)
Wiersbe - John 4:38 indicates that others had labored in Samaria and had prepared the way for this harvest. We do not know who these faithful workers were, nor do we need to know; for God will reward them. Perhaps some of these people had heard John the Baptist preach, or perhaps some of John’s followers had reached into this difficult field. Some archeologists have located “Aenon near Salim” where John baptized (John 3:23) near the biblical Shechem, which is close to Sychar and Jacob’s well. If this is the case, then John the Baptist prepared the soil and planted the seed, and Jesus and the disciples reaped the harvest. Of course, the woman herself planted some of the seed through her witness to the men. (BEC)
Others have labored and you (emphatic contrast) have entered into their labor (kopos) - Have labored is the same Greek verb (kopiao) used to describe Jesus in Jn 4:6+ = "Jesus, being wearied from His journey." The upshot is that Gospel work can be "gruelling" work! You are engaged in a titanic struggle for souls of men with inveterate, invisible enemies (the world, the flesh and the devil)! Sowing and reaping for souls of lost men is NOT a "cakewalk!" Who are the others who were sowers? Candidates include the all the OT writers, the OT prophets (including Moses), John the Baptist, and even Jesus sowing in the Gospels and the disciples reaping in Acts. And as Leon Morris says "The Christian will necessarily read this saying in the light of the cross. It was there, above all, that Christ sowed the seed. It is only because he so sowed the seed that eternal life may be reaped by anyone." As Jesus Himself later declared...
John 12:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies (CRUCIFIXION), it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (JESUS = THE ULTIMATE SOWER - ANY SOWING WE DO IS BASED ON THE TRUTH IN THIS PASSAGE!) - Precept Austin
V. 39 Because of the woman who bore witness - An unlikely candidate, but you can see the fruit of her life, she hears the gospel, it is great news to her, she believes and tells others. You think there is a lot to overcome for you, that people don't want to hear, but unlike Christ you do not know everyone's heart, you do not know who has been chosen to believe before time. Just share the gospel, live the light. It is guaranteed to have the effect that God intended. You can't lose by doing His work.
…36But as I stated, you have seen Me and still you do not believe. 37Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.… John 6: 36-38
…10For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, 11so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it. 12You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.… Isaiah 55: 10-12
V. 41 And many more believed because of His Word - This is where I would invest time, knowing God's word, because that is what you will need at the ready. This is what the Holy Spirit works through.
1Of David. I give You thanks with all my heart; before the gods I sing Your praises. 2I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness; You have exalted Your name and Your word above all else. 3On the day I called, You answered me; You emboldened me and strengthened my soul.… Psalm 138: 1-3
14But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.” 15But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ.… 1 Peter 3: 14-16
14Remind the believers of these things, charging them before God to avoid quarreling over words, which succeeds only in leading the listeners to ruin. 15Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth. 16But avoid irreverent, empty chatter, which will only lead to more ungodliness,… 2 Timothy 2: 14-16
…10With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments. 11I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You. 12Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes.… Psalm 119: 10-12
…104I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way. 105Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 106I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.… Psalm 119: 104-106
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