John 4:34-38 -- Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 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. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
In my quiet time adventure today, we pressed forward to see Jesus full statement to His disciples. Keeping in mind He'd stirred up their minds (John 4:32) and had them thinking and searching for how He'd already had food when they just got back from buying supplies.
Jesus gives them a deeper revelation of what it is that nourishes and fulfills Him in verse 34. Then He gives them a warning not to be lazy or idle because if they just look the fields are ready.
John 4:35 -- 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.
There was a saying at this time "There are yet four months then comes the harvest." just meaning the crops were planted and now there was nothing to do but wait. Jesus wants them and us to understand there is always sowing, watering, or reaping to be done.
I was led to dive into the Greek where Jesus says in verse 35 "Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest."
LOOK in the Greek is idou and means behold, lo, see, in the Greek Lexicon it further details out as The exclamation of one pointing out something.
LIFT UP in the Greek is epairō and means to raise up (literally). It is an active imperative verb. So Jesus is commanding them to do this. So, "epairo tous ophthalmous" is literally 'Raise up the eyes'.
SEE in the Greek is theaomai and means to look closely, view attentively. Again, it's an active imperative verb. So, He's commanding them to do this.
So, Jesus has told them 'Behold I'm pointing something out to you, literally raise up your eyes and look closely, attentively that the fields are ripe for harvest."
As I was led to dig deeper into these words, I was led back a few verses before when the disciples had just arrived from buying supplies from the town. Something else was happening at that same time.
John 4:28-30 -- So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.
We're not told how close the town was to the well. Some evidence has been found of people living in an area about 1/4 of a mile from the well as far back as Jesus' day, but no hard evidence it was Sychar. The reason this even comes up is there are two things going on here.
First, Jesus is having this conversation with His Disciples. We're hearing it straight from John's experience to the page.
Second, the Samaritan woman had ran back to the town, told everyone about Jesus and we see in John 4:30 "They went out of the town and were coming to Him.".
So, this whole time Jesus is taking His disciples from putting thinking caps on, to now commanding them to 'BEHOLD! Raise up your eyes. Look closely that the fields are ripe for harvest.", the town of Sychar had emptied out and were walking towards the well.
We can piece together if the disciples did what Jesus commanded, and raised their eyes up, looked closely around, they could see the group of townspeople walking towards them.
With that image in your mind, of staring at a group of people coming from the town and headed straight for Jesus, hear the rest of what Jesus says.
John 4:36-38 -- Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
It was Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman, then she went and talked to the town that had sowed this oncoming harvest. However, the disciples were going to be blessed with being a part of the reaping.
Christian, there are a few things for us in what Jesus is teaching here. So, I beg you to really put your thinking cap on and think through this.
First, there is no time to be lazy or idle. There are times of rest, but the work doesn't stop or go away. So, we cannot afford to have an attitude of, "I planted some things, so I'll just put my feet up for the next 4 months."
Second, if we are spending time with the Lord, paying attention to Him, and obeying His direction, we're always going to be right in the middle of whatever He stirs up!
Third, we must take our eyes off ourselves, off our phones, off social media, off tik tok and youtube, off phone games, off Netflix, and BEHOLD, RAISE UP our eyes, and LOOK CLOSELY around us. There IS ABSOLUTELY without a doubt a harvest all around us!
Christian, if you can't see the harvest around you, then make sure you're where you need to be with Jesus. Because if you aren't where Jesus is, you're not in the right place.
The final item that was on me in today's time in the Word and prayer. We aren't called to be SUPER CHRISTIANS and do it all. Jesus says and shows that one sows, one reaps, but we rejoice together. Today you may sow seeds to one person. Then tomorrow you may reap another. The next you may just be watering. If we follow where He leads us, one day at a time, one step at a time, in Him, it helps us to not be overwhelmed by it all. Just take one step at a time with Him.
Well, that's a lot of words but that's where the journey with Him led today. Don't take my word on any of it. Jump into your bible, be the Berean, search the scriptures!
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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