Seeing The Harvest

Seeing the Harvest

John 4:35-42, NLT

“You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. 36The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” 39Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, 41long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 42Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Setting the Scene

Jesus told his disciples that the fields were “ripe for the harvest” and they were the harvesters. He was speaking of the work of evangelism, of bringing people into the Kingdom. In telling the disciples to “wake up” and look at the fields, Jesus may have been directing them to look at the approaching Samaritans. The word “ripe” has also been translated “white.” Harvests in Palestine do not look white, but Samaritans often dressed in white. They were ready to be “harvested.”

Jesus was teaching them about his identity and mission and their calling. Here he explained about the important roles of sowing spiritual seed and harvesting. Both roles are crucial for spreading the gospel. Jesus, as both sower and harvester, sowed the seed through a single Samaritan woman and reaped a harvest from many in a Samaritan city. This sowing and harvesting transpired so quickly that the sower and harvester could rejoice together. Usually, the sower’s joy is hopeful, for it is based on a future harvest. But in the context of eternity, the sower and harvester will be together and can rejoice over the harvest they both accomplished.

Many of the Samaritans who believed in Jesus were first drawn by the testimony of the woman he met at the well. The last statement—“Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world”—proclaims that Jesus had come to be not just the Jews’ Messiah, but the world’s Savior as well.

Getting Personal

What concerns and issues can keep us from seeing the spiritual harvest all around us?

In what ways do you “sow” in the work of spreading the Good News about Jesus?

If you could see an obvious “harvesting” opportunity, how would you respond?

What a contrast in vision. The disciples saw a Samaritan woman; Jesus saw a hurting person needing forgiveness. The disciples thought about physical needs; Jesus focused on spiritual nourishment. Jesus was telling these companions, “Change your perspective. Open your eyes. Look at the wonderful ministry opportunity right here, right now. This is why I called you. Let’s get busy . . . and rejoice!”

Talking to God

Ask God to give you his view of the people you see regularly, and pray for the Spirit’s prompting to show you opportunities for sowing or harvesting in the fields “ripe for harvest.”