Our scripture this week is John 4:5-42.
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
John 4:31-38
Jesus first uses an example that confuses the disciples, and later one they could relate to in order that they might understand what He is calling them to do. They are often slow to see His point. He is trying to get them to understand for themselves the joy of doing God’s will and the amazing opportunity they have to share His love.
He has led them to a foreign place where they are out of their element and perhaps a little uneasy. After they arrive, the disciples react in a human way by going to get food. When they return Jesus tells them “my food is to do the will of He who sent me”, an indication of how essential it is to obey God and follow His plan for us, to tell all the world that His kingdom has come near.
He continues the lesson about working for the kingdom with the comparison to the harvest, that the “fields” of humanity are ripe, waiting to hear the promise of salvation. Jesus shows them that their call is to reap a harvest of believers for the Lord, bringing their brothers and sisters the Good News of God’s love.
Wise and wonderful God, our task for You is awesome! Help us to be the harvesters of righteousness, drawing all to You in love. Amen.