Journey Through the Gospel of St. John

A Grave Lesson with Regard to the Harvest

St. John 4:31-42

With the departure of  the excited Samaritan believer, came the concerned disciples begging that Jesus would consume some food, for they knew that He was tired and thirsty (St. John 4:31).  Christ, the greatest missionary, retorted by giving His concerned disciples a rather puzzling statement by saying – “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” (v. 32).  The obscure statement of Christ caused the disciples to wonder (v. 33), which will promote Christ to explain that His “food (meat) is to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work” (v.34).  Then, our blessed Saviour will give a grave lesson on the subject of the harvest, instructing His disciples to “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (v. 35).  In the context of chapter 4, that harvest represented the Samaritans who came unto Christ (v. 30); the Samaritans were the harvest and the disciples were the reapers, for others had already done the task of sowing (v. 35-38).  By way of application, there is a vital harvest today – a harvest filled with people spiritually hungry.  The harvest is filled with people who are despaired and distressed, having lost direction on what constitutes real living.  We need spiritual harvest directors, who will point the spiritually hungry to Christ, for Christ is the only way to salvation, in that Acts 4:12 says – “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  Our lesson concludes with the effective testimony of a once Samaritan outcast, for her witness was so contagious that it led others to Christ as they confronted Him (v. 39-42).