PM Home Bible Study Group; May 23, 2012
John 4:27-42
Theme: In this passage, the Lord Jesus draws upon His conversation with the woman at the well to teach His disciples some lessons about the gospel “harvest”.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
(Part 2)
In our last study together, we began looking at Jesus’ marvelous conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well—truly one of the greatest conversations in all of recorded history. We learned, specifically, the stages that the Lord Jesus took her through in sharing truth about Himself with her. We saw that He did this by:
1. Showing her that she was loved and respected by Him (vv. 7-9),
2. Awakening in her a spiritual hunger for the things of God (vv. 10-14),
3. Convicting her of her real need before God (vv. 15-18),
4. Showing her the truth of what God the Father is like, and what it means to truly worship Him (vv. 19-24), and finally
5. Revealing to her that He is the Savior that she truly needed (vv. 25-26).
This evening, we continue looking at that passage to learn more from this great conversation. We should be grateful that Jesus went on to teach His disciples about it, and that what He told them has been recorded for us. We learn far more about “the harvest of souls” from this passage than we could learn anywhere else; because in it, Jesus Himself—the Lord of the harvest—opens His own heart to us regarding what had just happened.
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Notice that this passage shows us . . .
I. THE CONTEXT OF JESUS’ LESSONS ABOUT THE CONVERSATION (vv. 27-30).
A. In verse 8, we’re told that the disciples had gone into the city of Samaria to buy food. It must have been a rather strange experience for them, because—as Jewish men—they ordinarily would not have had any dealings with Samaritans (see v. 9b); let alone go into their town and buy food. But walking with Jesus had introduced them to many new, soul-stretching, out-of-their-comfort-zone experiences. While they were gone, Jesus had struck-up the conversation with the woman at the well that we read of in verses 7-26. And it appears that they came back on the scene just as that conversation was coming to an end—perhaps even as He was telling her who He was. We’re told that what they saw surprised them greatly. “And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman . . .” (v. 27a). Already, they had marveled that they would be called upon to go to Samaria; but to find Him talking to this woman of Samaria surprised them—it seems—as much as it had surprised her (v. 9). It’s interesting to note, though, that “no one said, ‘What do You seek?’ or,’Why are You talking with her?'” They had learned not to question the surprising ways that our Lord displayed grace to people. Neither should we.
B. What we’re told next is vital to the conversation that the Lord then has with His disciples. We’re told “The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ‘Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?'” (vv. 28-29a). It’s significant that she left her waterpot. It was a valuable item—not something someone would ordinarily walk away from and leave. But in her excitement, she left what could have been a hindrance to her as she ran into the city. And perhaps the fact that she left it is meant to convey something symbolic. She came to the well to get water that would, later on, leave her thirsting again (v. 13); but she met the Savior who promised to give her “living water” (v. 10), that would become in her “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (v. 14). What a picture of satisfaction of soul! And what’s more, what a picture of a genuinely transformed heart! She already had a reputation for sin (vv. 18), and perhaps was so ashamed of her life that she came to the well at noon-time (v. 6) in order to avoid the rebuking looks of others. But now, she was willing to leave her waterpot and go into town, and tell everyone publicly about this Jesus who told her all the things she ever did.
C. She asked the men of the town, “Could this be the Christ?” (v. 29b). Perhaps it was the bewildering zeal of this otherwise-shy “woman of shame” that evoked their response. Perhaps it was curiosity over how He—a stranger—could know such things. In any case, we’re told something that proves later to be crucial to the story: “Then they went out of the city and came to Him” (v. 30). It’s important to note that Jesus Himself didn’t go into the city to announce Himself. Instead, He transformed this dear woman; and it was she who went in to the city to tell others about Him. One of the richest ways that God reaches the unsaved is through their relationships with others He saves.
II. WHAT JESUS TAUGHT HIS DISCIPLES ABOUT THIS CONVERSATION (vv. 31-38).
A. It’s then that the story turns—temporarily—from this woman and the people of the city, and on to the disciples. This was a teachable moment for them; and our Savior didn’t miss such moments. The first thing Jesus taught them was that the work of the harvest is fulfilling
1. We’re told, “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat'” (v. 31). This whole passage, when you think about it, has much do with eating and drinking! Jesus had talked to the woman about water, because He asked her for a drink; and meanwhile, His disciples went into town to buy something to eat. Perhaps when the disciples returned, He appeared to them to be too preoccupied with His conversation with the woman to eat. Perhaps He was preoccupied with the thought of the crowd that was about to come. In any case, they felt the need to urge Him to eat. “But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’ Therefore the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work'” (vv. 32-34).
2. Notice further the details of this. He speaks first of “Him who sent Me”. And this, of course, was a reference to the Father. Then notice that He speaks of the work that the Father sent Him to do. Later on, He would say, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:37-40). And finally, notice that the doing of His Father’s will, and the completion of the work the Father gave Him, is what He calls His “food.”
3. Food satisfies hunger and meets a need. It brings refreshment to a weary body and soul, and provides what is needed in order to keep on going. And Jesus is here speaking of a satisfaction and fulfillment and provision that is far deeper than anything literal food can provide. He is speaking of the sort of satisfaction that the Lord described when He spoke through the prophet Isaiah; “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, by wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live . . .” (Isaiah 55:1-3). It’s the sort of satisfaction Jesus described when He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness to turn stones to bread; and He replied, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). Here, then, Jesus is testifying to His disciples that the work that the Father gave Him to do—the work of seeking out and saving that which was lost—is “food” more satisfying and more refreshing to His soul than any literal food could ever be. May we take it to heart that nothing satisfies the soul like joining into Jesus’ great harvest work, and telling others about Him!
B. Then, notice how He shows His disciples that the work of the harvest is immediate. He tells them, “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! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life . . . (vv. 35-36a).
1. Jesus is here quoting a popular saying about the necessary interval of time that comes between the sowing of a seed and the reaping of the fruit in harvest. Some scholars believe that this became something of a proverbial saying in those days to justify procrastination and delay taking action in something—much like when we say, “All good things come to he who waits.” Jesus, however, uses a figure of speech to describe fields that were filled with ripened grain—grain that almost lightened up the landscape to the eye. To say, “Behold”—and “lift up your eyes and look—was a call to see the situation as it truly was. Perhaps even right then, as Jesus spoke those very words, the disciples could look down the road and see the crowds of people coming from the town to see the One that the woman at the well had told them about.
2. His comment, “And he who reaps receives wages . . .”, is put in the present tense. The one who reaps is receiving wages even now! Payday for the harvester is already here! How then could anyone think that harvest time is sometime off in the future? Jesus said elsewhere, “. . . When the grain ripens, immediately he [that is the one sowing seeds] puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:29).
3. Jesus taught elsewhere that the problem isn’t that the harvest time has not yet come. Quite the opposite. The problem is not one of “timing”, but rather of “man-power”. “The harvest truly is plentiful,” He said, “but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). May God give us the eyes to see the people around us as Jesus sees them. Jesus looks at them and thinks, “It’s harvest time!”
C. He then goes on to show His disciples that the work of the harvest is rewarding. He tells them, “. . . He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life” (v. 36b).
1. The Bible teaches us that there is joy to be found in doing the work that the Father gives us to do, and seeing souls saved as a result. Psalm 126:6 says, “He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” As Jesus Himself taught, “. . . There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just person who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). This joy is a reward for the work that we can experience right now.
2. But there are also heavenly rewards that come from faithful service to the Lord in the work of the harvest. Proverbs 11:30 tells us that “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.” He is wise because he has made an investment of time and energy that will result in eternal blessing. The apostle Paul— who was a very faithful worker in the Lord’s harvest—was able to finish his work by saying, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
3. Finally, it is a rewarding work in that its product is one that endures! We’re not gathering “fruit” that will eventually rot and waste away. Instead, the work of winning souls is the work of gathering-up that which will last forever! Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, He who hears My words and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). There could be no more rewarding work than the work of the harvest of souls for the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
C. He shows them further that the work of the harvest is a team-effort. He goes on to quote another popular saying of the day, and told them, “For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.” (v. 38).
1. Some believe that the ‘sower’ that Jesus has in mind is John the Baptist. And it’s certainly true that John ‘sowed’ the seed of proclaiming Jesus and announcing Him to those who came to hear him preach. And certainly, the disciples themselves were going to be ‘reaping’ that which was sown by John. But Jesus’ words could also be understood to speak of a general principle rather than a specific set of circumstances. After all, look at what was right then happening—Jesus presents Himself to the woman at the well, thus sowing the seed; then she believes, tells others, and brings the whole town to Him; and then they come and the disciples join in the harvest! They sow the seed themselves; someone else did. But they reaped what was sown; and thus the sower and the reaper rejoiced together.
2. In another context, the apostle Paul spoke similarly of the “team-work effort” that the harvest of souls truly is. He told the believers in Corinth, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers . . ” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). God alone is the one who gives the increase; but in His sovereign plan, one person plays one part, and another plays another part.
3. No one can take credit for all the work but God alone; and yet, each one of us is allowed by Him to play our part in His team of fellow-workers. Each of us is only the part of a marvelous team. The part we play may not look like the part another plays. Some of us play an up-front role; and others of us play a behind-the-scenes role. We shouldn’t judge others for the fact that the unique part God gives them to play in the harvest doesn’t look like our own. And even when we faithfully do our part, we don’t always get to see the immediate results of our part. But we should not for that reason ever minimize our unique part—a part that, in the plan of the sovereign God, may prove to be vital to someone else being able to reap in the harvest!
E. This leads us, finally, to note how He shows them that the work of the harvest is prepared in advance (v. 38). Jesus uses a word for labor that refers to a strenuous work that makes one weary and tired. It’s the same word that was used in verse 6 to describe how weary and tired Jesus was from His journey as He sat by the well. Jesus tells them, “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors” (v. 38).
1. Certainly this would include Jesus’ own labors. He was the one who paid the great price on the cross for us; and when we tell others about His sacrifice and lead them to place their faith in Him, we’re “entering” into His labors. But it probably also refers to the fact that God has sovereignly placed others in the work before us—some who have sown the seed in one way, others who have watered it in another way. At the right time, it may be that God permits us to enter into the labors of others and reap what whey have sown. But Jesus has said in verse 36, it is so that “he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”
2. We can trust that, as we interact with people in our sphere of influence, we are interacting with people in whom God has already sovereignly worked. A seed that one of us may plant will be allowed to take root by the sovereign God for the harvesting of another; and another root that He has sovereignly allowed to sprout and grow will perhaps be the very thing He allows us to harvest. But the sowing, sprouting and harvesting are all under His sovereign rule. We can confidently go about the work of the harvest, knowing that it is a work that God has a great interest in, and that He has providentially worked to prepare it for us long before we have even entered into it! “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
III. THE RESULTS OF THE CONVERSATION UPON OTHERS (vv. 39-42).
A. Now, the story turns away from the disciples and back again to the people of Samaria. We’re told the results of the conversation Jesus had with the woman—and of her own testimony to her people. And what a picture it must have been of all that Jesus had taught them of the harvest! We read, “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.’ So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word” (vv. 39-41). Can we be allowed to suppose that the disciples were given an opportunity to apply— right then and there—what they had learned from the Lord about the harvest?
B. And note that they didn’t point to the workers of the harvest for the results. Rather, they pointed to the Lord of the harvest Himself. “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 Savior of the world'” (v. 42). We are privileged to be of use to Him; but ultimately it is He who does the work! What a privilege it is to be His instruments in the great work of the harvest!