John 4:27-38 PODCAST
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” ~ John 4:27-38
Upon their arrival back from town to get food, the disciples of the Lord Jesus were utterly shocked that the Lord Jesus was talking with a Samaritan woman. In that day, men, especially Rabbis, did not publicly talk to women. Women were not treated, by and large, with respect in their culture.
But, the Lord Jesus treated women differently. He created men and women in His image, with equal value and dignity and differing, complementary, honorable roles. The Fall of Adam and Eve distorted God’s design in both. As has been always the case, wherever Christianity has become dominant in a culture, the treatment of women improves.
In v.28, despite just moments before thirsting for water from the well, the Samaritan woman runs into the city to tell the residents that she had met the Messiah. She was so caught up in this that she left her water jar. She was oblivious to all but Him.
This once ashamed Samaritan woman told the townsfolk to come meet this man who told her everything she had ever done. Her words arrive with unusual power so that the crowd responds by coming to the Lord Jesus.
While this is happening, according to v.31, the disciples return and urge the Lord Jesus to eat some of the food they had brought back from the city. After the Lord responds with, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about,” the disciples response to Him was similar to that of Nicodemus and this woman at the well, they do not get it. They do not understand the culture of the Lord Jesus. By the way, this is His goal in our lives today, to teach us His culture which is counter cultural to us.
According to v.32,34, the Lord Jesus speaks metaphorically about the will of the Father in heaven. He said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." This brings up a very important issue for you and me. On a daily basis, we have the choice to feed the Spirit of God who dwells in our once dead and ashamed spirit, or we can feed the flesh (the evil desires that are still in us, even though we are born again). This is not to suggest the Lord Jesus could sin for He was without sin.
Since we have this tug of war going on in our souls, to feed the flesh or to feed the Spirit, what does it mean to feed the Spirit who has awakened our spirit to God? The food of the Spirit, as the Lord Jesus says here, is to do the will of God. When we are feeding the Spirit, we will embrace and realize God's will in our lives. The Spirit feeds on the word of God, prayer and spending time with God's people, which all aids us in doing the will of the Father.
The first thing Jesus taught the towns folk who came out to Him was that there is a deep satisfaction in coming into a personal relationship with Him, it is just like eating food: it fills you up, you feel satisfied, you feel fed. You will remember that in John 17, the Lord Jesus said this is the will of the Father: that we might know the Father.
In v.35-38, the Lord Jesus directs His disciples' attention to the people influenced by the once ashamed woman at the well. He draws a parallel. In their agrarian society, it took four months for the sowing to lead to the harvesting, but in the spiritual realm it happens immediately. Time is removed when you are dealing in the realm of the spirit. Though the order follows the same, the pattern is there, the time element is totally irrelevant.This explains how "the sower and the reaper can be happy together." Happy, Blessed, content because we have met our seventh man.
