SOWERS AND REAPERS
John chapter 4, v. 27 to 42
The disciples were astonished as they watched Jesus talking to a woman.
There was a rabbinical precept: "Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not with his own wife." The disciples held Jesus to be a rabbi and felt that he was acting in a way beneath his dignity. John remembers through the years their amazement and also their reverence for Jesus and unwillingness to reflect upon him.
Apparently the woman left at once when the disciples came, leaving her water pot behind in her excitement and embarrassment. It was too large for speed, anyhow.
She went into the city of Sychar, where she lived, and invited the men there to "Come, see a man, who told me all things - as many as I did - is this the Christ?" Perhaps a guilty conscience led her to exaggerate a bit. She was probably already convinced herself that He was the Messiah, but she put the question in a hesitant form to avoid arousing opposition. With a woman's intuition she avoided taking sides, but piqued their curiosity.
The men went out at once and in a rush, forming a long procession as they approached Jesus.
Meanwhile, the disciples kept beseeching Him to eat. Their concern for the comfort of their Teacher overcame their surprise about the woman.
He, however, told them He had good food of which they did not know. As He would often do, He was talking of spiritual things using material things as a metaphor.
They questioned between themselves whether during their absence any one had brought him something to eat (expecting a negative answer).
The Messianic consciousness of the Lord was clear and steady in His next statement to them, as it always had been, even in His infancy (Luke 2:49). He knew that the Father sent him to bring His work to an end. In the Intercessory Prayer (John 17:4) he said that he had completed this task which the Father gave him to do. On the cross He shouted "It is finished" (John 3:16). His food was his spiritual nourishment, which involved carrying through the Father's programme.
Our spiritual food also involves more than Bible study, prayer, and attending church. Spiritual nourishment also comes from doing God's will and helping to bring his work of salvation to completion. We are nourished not only by what we take in, but also by what we give out for God.
The Lord had been doing that in turning the woman to God, and He was now waiting for the arrival of the men of Sychar - He knew they were coming, although His disciples couldn't yet see them.
It was then four months before harvest time, which took place about the middle of April. As it was mid-December there would be no sign of ripened grain, but the Samaritans could already be seen approaching and they were the field white for harvest.
The spiritual harvester can gather his harvest without waiting four months: Jesus was reaping a harvest right now by the conversion of this woman. Sometimes we excuse ourselves from witnessing by saying that our family or friends aren't ready to believe. Our harvest waits to be reaped. Don't let Him find us making excuses. Let us look around, and we will find people ready to hear God's Word.
The labourer is worthy of his hire (Luke 10:7; 2 Timothy 2:6) and the wages mentioned here were the joy of working for Him and seeing the harvest of believers. These wages come to sower and reaper alike because both find joy in seeing new believers come into Christ's kingdom. The phrase "others have done the hard work" may also refer to the Old Testament prophets and to John the Baptist, who paved the way for the gospel. The spiritual harvest consists in proclaiming the gospel of Christ to the spiritually hungry and thirsty (verse 14).
AMOS (Amos 9:13) spoke of the time when "the ploughman shall overtake the reaper" and that happened here with the joy of the harvest time (Isaiah 9:3). Jesus the Sower and the disciples as the reapers were here rejoicing simultaneously.
One is the sower and another the reaper was probably a proverb and it is particularly true in the spiritual sense. Sometimes the sower misses the joy of reaping (Job 31:8) and has only the sowing in tears (Psalm 126:5). Sometimes one reaps where he has not sown (Deuteronomy 6: 11; Joshua 24:13). It is the prerogative of the Master to reap (Matthew 25:26), but Jesus here lets the disciples share his joy. The joy of salvation always involves participation (Acts 8:5-7).
The disciples had done no sowing here in Sychar, only Jesus and the woman, although they participated in the fruit and blessed results of their toil.
The woman had her share in this harvest because she bore her witness clearly and with discretion, telling enough to bring her neighbours to faith in Christ. How timid and cowardly we often are today in not giving our testimony for Christ to our neighbour. The Samaritan woman immediately shared her experience with others.
Despite her reputation, many took her invitation and came out to meet the Man she said might be the Messiah. Perhaps there are sins in our past of which we are ashamed. But Christ changes us and as people see these changes, they become curious. Use these opportunities to introduce them to Him.
The Samaritans wanted to learn more from Christ Jesus. So He graciously conceded them two days, during which many more came to faith in Him because of His preaching, a most unexpected experience when one recalls the feeling between the Jews and the Samaritans (verse 9). The reaping went on gloriously.
The Lord had said to the woman that salvation is of the Jews (verse 22). He clearly told the Samaritans during these two days that He was the Messiah, as he had done to the woman (verse 26), and explained that to mean Saviour of Samaritans as well as Jews. His teaching was sufficient for the Samaritan villagers to rise to the conception that he was the Saviour of the world.
R David Jones
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marvelled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
29 "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
33 Therefore the disciples said 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 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!
36 "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: 'One sows and another reaps.'
38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not laboured; others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours."
39 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 Saviour of the world."