The last teaching we did, “In Spirit and Truth,” was about the woman at the well and touched a little bit on the aftermath of her encounter with Jesus. Today, I’d like to unpack this section right after her encounter in more detail because it is absolutely rich with treasures and nuggets of wisdom we can glean from God’s holy Word. This section is called “The Whitened Harvest” in my NKJV Bible and is all about the impact of the woman’s testimony. It also shows a telling encounter Jesus had with his disciples after they returned from searching for food in the city. So let’s start there in John 4:27.
Apparently, the disciples returned before the woman had left, and they were caught off guard by the fact of Jesus talking with a woman! Verse 27 states, “And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, ‘What do You seek?’ or, ‘Why are You talking with her?’” They *marveled*, which tells us that this was very unusual and against societal norms at that time. Despite their astonishment, they held their questions, because I imagine, they had reverence for their Master, trusting that He must have had some good reason to which they were not necessarily entitled to know.
In this statement, we can take note that Jesus breaks barriers. He left heaven to come after His people in this fallen world—an unfaithful people who stray and deny and defy God and His ways. In the book of the prophet Hosea, God charges Hosea to take for himself and marry an unfaithful bride named Gomer. Sure enough, Gomer left Hosea repeatedly to prostitute herself and committed adultery numerous times. Each time, Hosea was charged with the duty to redeem her and buy her back into his care. This was to demonstrate and parallel God’s relationship to the unfaithful and adulterous, idolatrous Israelites. He repeatedly called them to repentance and bought them back in mercy, showing Himself faithful to the faithless.
And this is what God does with all mankind, just like Hosea—He buys us back from the devil, being faithful to our faithless straying from His way and conscience and spirit He has blessed us with to guide us to Him. Jesus stepped down from heaven to meet with us by the well of our worldly lives, even as we seek the water of worldly ways to cope and survive. He meets us there in intimacy as His bride He came to redeem, to reveal He is indeed our Christ and Messiah—to break barriers between God and man and to talk with us individually, personally as His cherished one that He already knows through and through and loves just as we are.
Next, in verse 28, we see, “The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ‘Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’” This shows us that like this blessed woman, we too are called to leave the waterpot we use to gather earthly water we have formerly used to “live.” We are all dead in our sins before we are born again of God’s Spirit by our faith in Christ. How do we try to gain “life” from this death apart from God’s love, hope, and Presence? We seek approval and love from others, fearing man’s esteem for us, we seek false hope by appeasing our emotions through escapism, sometimes in food, drugs, alcohol, shopping, and all manners of addictive tendencies. We replace our need for significance with the ambitions of pride and live selfishly for ourselves rather than laying down our lives because we are just surviving or seeking pleasure apart from God. We must abandon our waterpots and share the testimony of Truth in Christ, even if we are merely asking, ‘Could this be the Christ?’ still trying to work out our search for faith—just like the woman. Even in our developing faith, we can testify, ‘This man knew the truth of my soul and need—could He be the Christ?’ We can consider that Jesus indeed does know our souls and needs and has proven this in His life and death. We can let others come to Him and see for themselves that He is willing to talk with them as His bride as well.
It is also interesting that it specifically states that she went to the city and told the *men*, not the women. The first evangelist Jesus chose to share His message was a woman and she, whose testimony did not carry in court in that day, went straightway and testified to men! And not only this, but they listened and acted on her testimony, so eager and expectant were they to find the Messiah in their faith in God. Verse 30 states, “Then they went out of the city and came to Him.” So too, we leave the world, our “city,” to come to Christ—to see for ourselves if He is true and decide our faith. We leave behind the ways of the world—the lusts of the flesh, the pride of the eyes and life. We leave behind our comfortable ways and routines, the familiar objects of our faith that we have trusted in for so long. We leave these behind in our eagerness for the ultimate Truth and for true salvation in a Savior. We leave the city and come to Him to see for ourselves. Even in reading these teachings, you may be deciding your faith slowly but surely, bringing your heart and questions to learn from Him about who He is.
As this was happening, the disciples faced Jesus and tried to feed Him but alas, Jesus had other plans—to reveal to them precious wisdom from above! Verses 31-34 states, “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, ‘Rabbi eat.’ But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’ Therefore the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work…’” When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, the devil faced Him in His 40 days fasting, famished, and said, “If you are the Son of God turn this stone into bread.” But Jesus rebuked Him, reminding Him of the truth in the Word, saying, “One does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” So, here in this exchange with the disciples, Jesus was referring the bread of God’s Word and obedience to His will. The disciples often had a habit of interpreting His words literally, through earthly reasoning, as we all do too. However, we learn from this exchange to search deeper for the spiritual meaning.
What is this work and will of God Jesus spoke of? The disciples were still in training. They did not have the benefit of the New Testament like we do. They didn’t even have the example of the cross as we do. We have the benefit of a verse like 1 Peter 4:1-2 which states, “Therefore since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same intention and live the rest of your earthly lives no longer by the will of your human desires, but rather by the will of God.” Jesus did teach His disciples to bear their cross and follow Him. He did warn them He would die on the cross, but they didn’t understand until His resurrection the meaning of it all. Later Paul spoke of the ministry of reconciliation God has given us as believers in the Christ. He states in 2 Cor 5:18, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation…” What is this ministry? To share the message of reconciliation through Christ with a world thirsty for spiritual redemption in God—to reap a harvest in a world hungry for God. This is the work and will of God, Jesus’s (and our) “food” to eat—the true food from the true harvest of souls and not just a loaf of bread in our hands.
Jesus goes on to describes what “work” He is finishing in doing God’s will—the ministry of reconciliation—the preaching of the gospel of salvation. He goes on to tell the disciples in verses 35-38, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already *white for harvest!* And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” When He opened the eyes of the woman and she went to testify to the men, Jesus was setting off a powerful chain of events doing the will of the Father to gather a ripe harvest of souls. You saw how the men were so eager to find the Messiah that they even accepted the testimony of a woman, dropping whatever they were in the middle of doing, to return with her to see for themselves the Man who might be the Christ. They were so hungry for salvation, their faith was ripe to encounter the Messiah truthfully and receive Him. They were white for harvest.
This one detail—why *white* for harvest? What does this detail mean spiritually? I believe it is because of the men’s humility. They were already repentant in heart and humble enough to drop it all and come. They were hungry and seeking. These traits are traits of purity in spirit and reveal souls that are prepared for their encounter with Truth and their Savior. Just as John the Baptist called people to a baptism of repentance to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry, so too had the prophets of Israel testified of God and called souls to repentance. These prophets had sown into the lives of these Samaritan men who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and used their Old Testament in their own faith. The prophets of old sowed the words of God, while Jesus and the disciples reaped the harvest of souls testifying of salvation through Christ.
Another interesting detail—why rejoice to reap a harvest? Well, the salvation of souls is an obvious moral Good right so why doesn’t He say this? Instead, look at what He says: that both he who sows and he who reaps may *rejoice* together. The Word says that the angels of heaven rejoice each time a sinner repents and receives Jesus. The father of the prodigal rejoiced and threw a party to celebrate the repentant return of his son home. Hebrews 12:2 states that Jesus, “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Clearly, joy is important to God or He wouldn’t have emphasized this so frequently. So, let’s take note—God *rejoices* when you turn to Him and humble yourself to receive His mercy, forgiveness, and love in Jesus’s sacrifice for you. He rejoices to have you return to Him, to your true Home in heaven, to your true family of faith, and your true heavenly Father.
So what happened to the men who came to see Jesus for themselves? Verses 39-42 show us stating, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed with them there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” One amazing thing God showed me about the two days—why two days? Well, He had me look at Genesis. What happened on the second day of creation? God separated the waters into waters above in the heavens and waters below on the earth—just like Jesus showed the woman at the well: that the waters below of the earth will always leave us thirsty. The water of heaven is the living water that satisfies the true need and longing of our souls for God’s Spirit in us. In these two days, the people of Samaria tasted this living water for themselves and came to faith not because of the woman’s testimony, but rather because of their own personal encounter with Jesus.
So too, let us be like these wise and pure and whitened harvest of Samaritans. Let us drop our earthly waterpots and leave our worldly city with humble, receptive hearts to meet with Christ personally. Receive my testimony, true, but then seek Him for yourselves, knowing He is faithful to meet you when you seek Him in faith. Remember, He left heaven to meet you here on earth, to testify of the wisdom from above. He died to meet you in Love and Mercy, to draw you to Himself and give you His living water. He seeks with you the same intimacy He sought with the woman at the well, that of a bridegroom who cherishes His bride whom He knows through and through and loves because in His passion for you, Mercy triumphed over Judgment at the cross. Receive Him in this age of grace freely offered to all and realize that He is not just Savior, but also Lord and Judge. He will one day return and judge the world for our response to His cross and offer of grace.
For those of us that walk with Him, let us eat the food of heaven and do the will of God and not our fleshly, human desires. Let us daily abandon our waterpots and walk in the living water of the Spirit. Let us testify and reap a harvest in this fallen world, thirsty for mercy and redemption, thirsting for hope and heaven. Let us rejoice in reaping this whitened harvest, just as Jesus did on the cross, for the joy of heaven set before us! Praise God and Amen!