April 15 - The Harvest

April 15 – The Harvest

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?”

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 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. 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. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 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)

I read some of these passages and am not at all surprised that the disciples … and everyone else … were confused by the things that came out of Jesus’ mouth.

They think He might be hungry and all of a sudden Jesus is talking to them about spiritual food.  Then, He quickly moves to the harvest.  Before they can wrap their minds around a physical harvest of grain, Jesus wrenches them along another spiritual idea regarding the spiritual harvest of souls.

Those poor guys didn’t have a chance.  If you think about it – the probability of you understanding this passage without a history of knowing the basics of Jesus’ teaching is low.  We are fortunate to have His fulfilled life, death and resurrection, Paul’s teachings and centuries of interpretation behind us as we approach these difficult passages.

John the Baptist is one of many who have sown the seed of repentance among those that Jesus and His disciples are preaching to.  God has been preparing the harvest for quite some time.  His Kingdom is at hand. 

We see in Revelation that when Jesus comes, He will come to gather the harvest:

“I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his hand and a sharp sickle in his hand.  Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, ‘Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’” (Rev. 14:14-16)


The fields are ripe for harvest.  Whether the time for reaping is now or sometime in the future doesn’t change that.  Jesus Christ has come, is coming and will come to gather the harvest.