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 Christ?” 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 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the 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.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Once again Jesus is talking in the spiritual while the disciplines are reacting in the physical. The food Jesus has been feasting on while they've been gone was, outside of the disciples, the first "convert". He's been doing the will of His Father, which is to give eternal life and He is rejoicing in the experience of accomplishing that will.
The sowing and reaping can, out of the power of the Spirit, happen almost simultaneously. No sooner does the Samaritan woman believe because of Jesus' life-giving words, but she spreads the word about the Word and the townspeople believe - based on her testimony and on the word of Jesus as He stayed with them.
We've all heard the saying "Preach always, when necessary use words". And I get the point - that we need to witness by our lifestyle, and our walk needs to match our talk. But I think people often use that as a cop out, to not have to actually say anything. But we do. We still need to say something. We need to give people the reason for the hope that we have, like Jesus did when He told the Samaritan woman about the life giving water only He could give. We need to give our testimony - just like the Samaritan woman did when she told the townspeople about the Christ. Yes, we need to live out our faith - but we also need to verbally share it. That's a toe-stepper for me, that's for sure.
God uses us, sinful but forgiven, to accomplish His purpose - to sow and reap. Sometimes we reap what others have sown, sometimes we sow what others will reap, sometimes we both sow and reap. The key is to be where God wants us to be, ready to do His will for His glory.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: John 4:43-54
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