John 4v31-38 Discussion with the disciples about service
As well as persuading the lost,
Jesus turns to the needs of His disciples who would carry the message to the
world. They were concerned about Him not
eating, being wearied with the journey as He was. He instils into them matters which must be priority
in their service for God. He said “I have
meat to eat that ye know not of…my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me,
and to finish His work” -v32-34.
A feature of service in the gospel must be, that to do
the will of God is more important than daily food for our bodies. We are here to do a work and it must be done God’s
way. He spoke of living water to the
woman, now He speaks of living bread to the disciples. Perhaps Jesus had in mind the words of Job-chapter
v23v12 “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have
esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” What we do know is that during the temptation
in the wilderness, recorded in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, that the Lord Jesus
refused to turn the stones of the desert into bread to satisfy His hunger,
because there was no word from God for Him to do so. He only acted according to the will of God.
This is a pattern to be followed by all disciples. This gave rise to the now famous quote from
Deuteronomy 8v3 “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the word of God.” There
may be times when we need to practise this.
He made clear His mission was to “finish His work”. Now He discusses some of the features of
that work.
Viewing the work from nature (as He often did), He challenges
the disciples to “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields”
“Say not, there are yet four months and then cometh harvest.
Behold, I say unto you, lift up your
eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal: that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice
together. And herein is that saying true,
one soweth and another reapeth. I sent
you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured and ye are
entered into their labours.”
The work is hard and constant labour He uses the term labour in v38-the word
means toiling hard. Unlike in nature
where there is a gap between sowing and reaping, in spiritual work the sowing
and reaping are going on constantly.
He says the fields are already white to
harvest This is
because others have laboured before us.
Jesus saved the woman, who has witnessed to her townsfolk, and many are
seeking Jesus-v30 “Then they went out of the city and came unto Him.”
The work of the gospel brings eternal reward v36
One sows another reaps v37
As in nature the sowers are different to the reapers. There will be many who sow but never reap the
harvest. Others reap where they have not
sown. The work is one, the harvest is
one; there must always be sowing if there is to be reaping. In Acts chapter 2, Peter reaped the fruits of
the labour of John the Baptist and others, and there are many such examples.
4v39-42 A
rich harvest in Samaria Almost as if to illustrate His point, here was a
case of immediate reaping. The woman
testified to her folks and “many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him
for the saying of the woman…”. Sometimes
there will be a gap between sowing and reaping; other times there will be
instant response. As in nature, the
farmer is not in total control of production and is dependent on unknown
factors, the same in the spiritual realm.
“So, when the Samaritans were come down
unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them; and He abode there
two days. And many more believed because
of His own word.”
The word of one woman brought many, then more came
when they heard His word. They were
convinced and declared that He is indeed the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.
