Today’s Scripture:
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” — John 4:35 (ESV)
Reflection
In today’s passage, Jesus’s disciples come back from town, and the woman goes away. The woman is so shocked by what Jesus said, that she even left her water jar at the well. She went into town and she told others about what Jesus did, so they also came to Jesus. The disciples asked Jesus if he had eaten yet, but Jesus responded by saying that he had food that they did not know about. Jesus’s food is the will to do God’s work, and to reap the harvest. He tells the disciples to look at the ready harvest, and tells them to reap the seeds that have already been sown. Then, the Samaritans find him, leading to Jesus staying for another two days. First, the woman found Jesus, then she told others about the Messiah, and finally, the Samaritans found Jesus themselves.
Throughout the Bible, there are many instances where the language of the harvest is used. Words like sowers, reapers, harvest, threshing floor, chaff, etc. are used in all of the Gospel books, and in other books as well. This passage focuses on the sowers and reapers who represent people who are part of the conversion of others. The sowers are those who first introduce people to Jesus, and the reapers are those who do see the final conversion of the person. Sometimes, the sower and reaper are the same person, but in many cases, they are different people. Jesus says that both the sowers and the reapers rejoice in the conversion of a person. Jesus’s secret food was to do God’s work, and God’s work was to turn others to himself. Jesus himself was energized by the spreading of the Word of God. Like it says in Matthew 4:4, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Not only does the Word of God strengthen Jesus, it gives nourishment to those who live by it.
Relating this analogy of the sower and reaper to today’s passage, the Samaritan woman acts as a sower to the other Samaritan people, while Jesus is the reaper, as it says that they no longer believe because of what the woman said, but they believe because Jesus showed himself to them. By the sower and the reaper, the Samaritans found out that Jesus was the Savior of the world.
Near the beginning of this passage, Jesus says to “lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” Although he was talking to the disciples in this passage, I believe that Jesus is talking to us too. When we look around, we see people who are just confused about religion, and those who have been sown by seeds, yet not reaped yet. One of my closest friends has been exposed to Christianity and goes to church, yet he is not a Christian. I am firmly sure that this is a calling for us to sow seeds, and to reap the harvest. The fields are white for the harvest, so let’s harvest, KPC!