27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 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.”
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word.42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Jesus’ Love for the Woman, v. 27-30
In verse 27 Jesus’ disciples return from purchasing food in the village to see something they did not expect to see – Jesus, their Rabbi, speaking with a Samaritan woman. Yet they don’t seem to get upset or intervene, but instead they marvel. What a proper response to our Lord Jesus. Here they are about to be taught multiple lessons by their master, and we would do well to do the same. When the Lord does unexpected things in our lives, or does things that we would prefer Him not to do, this is our proper response: to marvel at His work. Let us not fall into accusations or offense at our Lord.
We could say that Jesus broke some of the cultural norms in order to reach this woman. The disciples marveled that Jesus was speaking with a woman. Not only that, but she was a Samaritan. Jesus may have broke some of the cultural expectations for Jewish Rabbis, but He did not break God’s law. This is why the text can say that the disciples marveled, yet did not intervene.
Verse 28 tells us that the woman left her water jar there, and she runs into town to tell the people about Jesus, the people she previously wanted to avoid, she now can’t wait to speak to. What a change!
Her leaving of the water jar could also indicate several things to us: excitement, haste, or preoccupation of mind with more important things than physical water. It’s not that physical water is not important, it’s just that there are some things that are more important.
This could also be an indication or even an illustration of her spiritual state – her conversion, we could say. She leaves her old self behind for the Messiah. She has found living water.
So she goes into the village and verse 29 says, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” She simply tells here of what she has seen and heard. Though her knowledge was not extensive, she shared what she knew, for she knew enough to know that this is the Christ. She asks the question here, “Can this be the Christ?” By all indicators this does not seem to be a question asked in doubt, but in happy excitement, like it seems too good to be true. So then the townspeople all begin to make their way out to the well as they need to meet this Jesus for themselves.
You see, when you come to Christ, there are at least three things that happen, that this woman illustrates so well for us. One, you have a change in priorities – she left her water jar to go tell others about Christ. Part of that is the leaving off of the old self. Two, you love your enemies. The woman goes straight to the people she presumably wanted to avoid because they shamed her, or she was ashamed. But now she goes right to them and can’t get there quick enough. Three, you want to tell people about Christ. “Come and see” was the call the woman gave, and salvation was brought upon that village.
Jesus’ Love for the Father, v. 31-34
Just like with the Samaritan Woman at first, the disciples are thinking only physically while Jesus is giving a spiritual lesson.
Jesus is teaching His disciples that man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the Father. Jesus is saying that there is great nourishment and rejuvenation in doing the will of the Father. Christ takes great fulfillment in saving sinners. It’s His food. He loves to do it.
Jesus’ Love for the Disciples, v. 35-38
So now Jesus changes the metaphor to that of harvest – sowing and reaping. He intends to both teach and encourage His disciples here concerning their work and the harvest. Jesus’ point here is to say that there are those who sow gospel seeds, and those who see them come to fruition. Jesus could be indicating here that for many years the prophets labored in sowing seed, waiting in expectation, and now the time is dawning when they would begin to reap in the New Covenant. Immediately before them they are about to witness sovereign grace pouring out on the Samaritans.
After the ascension of Christ they will reap so abundantly in their apostolic ministry, only that of which the prophets could hope for. Yet the fact that they enter into the labor of others and reap that which they did not labor for, is to bring them humility in the fruit they see. It is not from them, but from God only, and to Him alone is the glory to be given. This of course is quite true in our own lives. Whether we spend our lives sowing without seeing much fruit, or whether we reap abundantly in our lives, either way it is all of the grace of God and not of us. We are merely His servants and slaves, happy to do His work where He desires to use us.
Verse 36 is worded in a very difficult way to understand, if we are trying to identify who the sower and reaper are. But I believe the point here is not to try and identify who the sower and reaper are, but the point is that the time has come when sowing reaping now coincide. This time that Jesus and His disciples were in was the dawn of the saving of the world. The dawn of the New Covenant. The Dawn of the outpouring of grace upon the nations, and the knowledge of the glory of God filling the earth as the waters cover the sea. This is the first narrative given in John’s gospel of the gospel going to the nations. This is a momentous eschatological time, if you will. Now, one sows and one reaps. Sowing and harvesting are happening together at various times and places around the world. With the advent of Christ, sowing is no longer merely expectant waiting, as the prophets did, but reaping happens as well. Now is the time for the gentiles to come into the Kingdom of God.
There is encouragement and application from this sowing and reaping principle. It is possible we may not reap the salvation of our children either because of death, or they directly come to faith under the preaching or witness of someone else. But we can rejoice together regardless. And we may reap the salvation of people that many others have sown into beforehand. We can rejoice together. It all comes from God.
Jesus’ Love for the World, v. 39-42
The Samaritans now come out to Jesus, many of them believed because of the woman’s testimony. But they were so white for the harvest they longed for Christ to stay with them. He lovingly stayed two more days with them, likely teaching and preaching Himself from the Scripture, showing Himself to be the Christ. Then in verse 42 it tells us that they no longer believed simply because of the woman’s testimony but they believed because they had seen and heard from themselves, the very incarnate Word of God. Their faith is validated and confirmed by the Word of God Himself, so that they KNOW that Jesus is the Savior of the World.
As John has consistently used the term thus far, the term world, refers to the nations. As I mentioned the light of Christ is going out from Israel, unto the world, that Christ be not just the king of the Jews, but the Savior of the world and the King of Kings. And by the end of all this, A. W. Pink says that the disciples, “had been shown that whatever justification there might have been on the part of the Jews to have no dealings with the Samaritans, this no longer held good.”
In this instance with the salvation of the Samaritans we also see the principle of Romans 10:17, that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.”
Conclusion
I believe we also see a principle of revival here. It has often been the case throughout history that God has reaped a harvest where no one saw it coming. It is often the case that the fields are white for harvest, and no man can see it! Outpourings of Sovereign Grace often happens in the places where man’s wisdom least expects it. It happens in places like Samaria and to people like Samaritans who are despised and outcasts in avoided places. The Savior of the World often goes into places that are the most vile and sin infested places, and pours out His Saving Grace in such a way that only God can be glorified. Jesus witnessed to one adulterous Samaritan woman, and in two days time a whole Samaritan town was saved. This certainly did not endear Jesus to the Jewish leaders when they heard about this. Of all the places to go to pour out His grace, Jesus goes to the worst.
So often we have this mentality that if things are bad, then they are just going to get worse, and the worse things are, the more hopeless it is. We do it with individuals and societies. “So and so is such a terrible sinner, no way they will ever be saved.” “California, there’s no more vile place in America, let them fall off into the Pacific.” But have we forgotten, that as bad as that person or those people are, we were once dead, and God made us alive together with Christ!? What if, and hear me out on this, what if when we looked at how far gone a person or situation or things in the world are, instead of despairing of hope, we said, “What a perfect opportunity for God to save! Here’s an impossible situation – that’s just what my God does! He does the impossible!” And then we went out and preached the gospel, and we might get shot for it, but that just means whoever we leave behind is in for a big harvest. That’s what Jim Elliot, and his fellow missionaries did. They went out to try and reach the South American natives, get shot dead with spears, and a few years later, the whole village becomes Christian.
In 1742, John Wesley arrived in Newcastle, England, and this was before revival happened, and upon his arrival he writes this in his journal, “I was surprised; so much drunkenness, cursing and swearing (even from the mouths of little children) do I never remember to have seen and heard before in so small a compass of time. Surely this place is ripe for Him who ‘came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”
Is there a person in your life, that you just think, “there’s no way they’ll change and come to Christ?” And so because you think that, you fail to preach the gospel and witness to them, or even pray for their salvation? Yeah? How dare you do that! How dare you put yourself in the place of God! You don’t know that there is no way, they could be ripe for salvation! We need to truly put into practice our belief that the grace of God is stronger than man’s sin. We need to practice what we preach that the gospel of Jesus Christ is more powerful than the rebellion of sinful man. What encouragement and hope this gives us not just with individuals in our life, but with our society and world as a whole. The world is not too sinful and depraved for great revival to break out – for we have a Savior who is not a small Savior, but one who is the Savior of the World! He’s in the business of saving the world! He’s shown us in history, and in His Word, that there are times when He likes to save entire villages, islands, and nations. Why can’t He do it again? I think He can.
Revival like that may not happen here in our time, and that’s okay, it’s up to God. But knowing that He loves to do pour out His grace in giant waves gives us an encouragement and hope for our task of remaining faithful and obedient where God has placed us, whether we ever reap or not. We can be content and faithful with a life of sowing, knowing that it is possible that our great great grand kids could come across one of our sermons or songs, or something, that could light such a spark as to pull the United States up out of the darkness of ruin it seems we are free-falling into. We don’t know what God could do. Let’s just be faithful sowers and let Him use our obedience as He sees fit. I like what Doug Wilson says, “Think cosmically, act locally.”
Maybe you hear this and you just think “Yeah, I can’t even keep my life together, forget thinking that big and optimistically.” My friend, our Savior, is the Savior of the World. Do you think your struggles in life are too big for Him? Do you really think that that sin that you struggle so hard with is too difficult for God’s grace to overcome? He’s strong enough to raise you from the dead, but you think He can’t conquer the sin that has you entangled? Of course He can.
My call to you today is to come and see this man who will tell you everything you ever did. Come and see that He is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the World! For He comes with great power and grace in His hands, ready and willing to pour out upon poor sinners who need a Savior. He’s a Savior who loves saving. He’s the Savior of the world, we have every reason to believe He will do just that. Let us arise, O Church, and put on the full armor of God, and follow Christ our Captain, our conquering King, our world saving Christ.
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