Engaging in The Lord's Harvest

April 19, 2026|Engaging in The Lord's Harvest| John 4:27-43

JD Cutler

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We are continuing our look at the gospel of John this morning as we conclude chapter 4 this morning. On Easter, we looked at Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at the well, focusing on how the resurrection is the thing that makes right worship possible. Worship Jesus says that is in spirit and truth. We ended with Jesus’ proclamation that He is the Messiah. This morning we want to examine the rest of the story. 

As a way of reminder if you were not here or are not familiar with the story. Jesus is going from the area of Judea back to the area of Galilee and rather than taking the normative Jewish route around Samaria, scripture tells us that Jesus had to pass through Samaria. As we noted previously, that is not true geographically or culturally, so it must be a necessity placed on him by the Father whose will Jesus repeatedly says he came to do. Upon coming to the outskirts of Samaria in the heat of the day, Jesus and the disciples come to a well. The disciples went into the city to buy food, and Jesus is sitting beside the well, scripture says, ‘wearied as he was from his journey’.A woman came to draw water and Jesus asks her for a drink. This begins a back and forth where Jesus navigates the conversation from physical water, to spiritual water, exposes her sin, challenges her understanding of worship, and finally reveals that he is in fact the Messiah, the one she claims will explain everything when he comes. That is where we left off in this narrative.

Let’s pick it back up in John chapter 4 at verse 27.

John 4:27–43 ESV

27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” 43 After the two days he departed for Galilee.

From this portion of the narrative I want to draw your attention to four realities concerning Engaging in the Lord’s Harvest.

The first reality we must understand is in this story we observe…

I. UNSEEING DISCIPLES 

The disciples of Jesus return and find Jesus engaged in a conversation with this woman.

What was their reaction? They marveled. The verb tense there is in the imperfect, which generally indicates a continued or ongoing action. 

They were wondering what in the world? Why is our Rabbi having a conversation with a woman. To fully understand their amazement, we must recognize a few things. Yes, of course there is the Jewish/Samaritan tension that John highlighted in verse 8 (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) John, as an eyewitness and one of those who is included in being amazed that Jesus was talking to this woman, is establishing at the very outset of the story, for those who may not be aware of understand the cultural realities of this situation, just how abnormal this was.

Even the woman’s initial response to Jesus has this tension in it. 

She says, (ESV) 9 “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”

Not just that this Jewish man is asking a drink from a Samaritan, but a woman of Samaria. In first century Judaism, the Rabbis had a saying along the lines of “He who prolongs conversation with a woman brings evil upon himself, ceases from the words of the law, and at the last inherits Gehanna.” For a Rabbi to talk to a woman was even worse, for he was supposed to be the pinnacle of dedication to study and teaching the Torah.

Additionally, beyond mere conversation, rabbinical tradition viewed teaching women theology as particularly futile, with some rabbis suggesting that providing daughters with Torah knowledge was as inappropriate as instructing your daughter to be sexually promiscuous. 

Now imagine, these cultural backgrounds at work as the disciples approached the well and saw Jesus engaging in an ongoing conversation with the woman. Imagine if they had heard even a little bit of it, as Jesus was clearly engaging in theology with her.

They are amazed but also they have been around Jesus long enough now to know better than to say anything. If Jesus was talking to her, there must be a reason, but they couldn’t possible think of one. 

What did they see? A Samaritan woman.

What did Jesus see? Someone who was worth engaging with. 

What’s worse is that the disciples most likely passed her on the way into town. The story seems to flow in such a way that as they made their way into town from the well, she was making her way from town to the well. At this point, they have heard John’s declaration that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, they have seen his miracle of turning water into wine, one of them has openly confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Israel. These are not Pharisees, they are disciples. Why not tell her about him? Why not bring the Samaritans from town to meet Jesus?

Even sincere followers can have blind spots. 

The narrative suggests they had not yet learned to see opportunities or people as Jesus did.

They did not yet understand that when John said sin of the world, he was talking about more than just the Jewish people.They did not yet understand that when Jesus said that whoever believes in him may have eternal life, that he was not just talking about the Jewish people. They were present, but failed to perceive the opportunity because they didn’t see people the way Jesus did. 

Friends, can I say that describes us more often than we might like to admit?

Whether it is bias (she’s a Samaritan) preoccupation (we need to get food for Jesus) or busyness (going into town to get food) we often fail to see those around us in the way that Jesus does. 

Sometimes we have decided before hand who is likely to receive the gospel. But imagine if not knowing how their stories would play out you were asked between Nicodemus and this woman, who would respond to the gospel. No doubt, almost all of us would choose Nicodemus. And yet, John shows us that the woman is the one who responded most clearly to Jesus.

Sometimes we are so focused on our tasks that we miss souls. We treat working for Jesus the same as working with Jesus.

Sometimes we are just too busy- we run through life while people destined for eternity stand right beside us. 

Ask yourself, who have you walked past, maybe repeatedly without truly seeing?I pray that this reality that we can know Jesus, be working for Jesus, and still be unseeing disciples be a wake up call for us this morning, which brings us to the second reality.Before Jesus teaches them about the harvest, He first exposes why they are not ready for it by addressing their…

II. MISPLACED APPETITES

Let’s pick up in verse 31.

Meanwhile, that is as the woman was going into town, witnessing and inviting the town people to come to Jesus, they were urging Jesus saying Rabbi eat. The word John uses implies again an ongoing continuous asking. Remember John’s description of Jesus at the beginning of this narrative. ‘so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.’

Exhausted. Hungry, thirsty. 

Now, they have brought the food and Jesus doesn’t seem interested at all. Out of concern and probably because they are ready to eat as well, they are urging Jesus to eat. Just like Jesus has used wind to teach Nicodemus about the Spirit, water to teach the woman about living water, now Jesus uses food to teach the disciples about a different kind of substance. 

He says in response to their urging, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

The idea of know about is the idea of comprehending or understanding, but immediately they take it in the more literal sense and ask one another, did someone bring him food?

By the way, I am encouraged by this.

Nicodemus not getting what Jesus is saying, understandable, a Samaritan woman not getting what Jesus is saying, understandable. But here we have his disciples, those closest to him, not getting what he is saying.

Why does that encourage me? Because I don’t always get it right away.

And rather than rebuking them further or even calling out their misunderstanding, Jesus just explains it to them. 

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work."

You want to know what food I have had? I have been engaged about the Father’s business.

This is an incredible statement. The Father sent me.

This is one of the early repeated themes in John’s Gospel: the Father sent the Son. We heard it from Jesus in chapter 3 (ESV) 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

My food is to do His will. 

What kind of nourishment are we missing out on by not engaging with our responsibilities as those who belong to Christ?

How many of us have stunted our growth because we are not feeding on the very thing that will grow us?

Obedience, service, alignment with God’s will. These are the things that fill us with purpose, joy, and endurance. 

Let me show you something else. In our immediate context, what two things are the subject of the conversations?

Water and food. What do humans need to live? Water and food.

Jesus says that he gives us water that will become in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life. When you come to Jesus you will never thirst again.He also seems to indicate that there is nourishment for us when we engage in the work we have been given. 

Does this mean we will never need to drink water or eat food again? Of course not, but it must mean something, right?

If we are thirsty we need water, if we are hungry we need food. When we get them our appetite is fulfilled. What if Jesus is saying, the reason we, the church at large, is so hungry and thirsty for the things of the world is that we are not relying on the very things that are meant to satisfy us?

What if Jesus is saying, the reason we, the church at large, is so hungry and thirsty for the things of the world is that we are not relying on the very things that are meant to satisfy us?

Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Are you regularly hungry to be about your Father’s business, or are you settling for numbing your appetite with the food of the world, with the food of your will?

Are we more worried about feeding our soul if you will, or merely consuming spiritual things from others?

The disciples missed it, because they had not yet discovered the beautiful, sustaining substance of engaging in the work God had set before them. What about you?

But even now, as they talked, there was another opportunity coming for them to share in the work that Christ’s conversation with the woman at the well had started in motion, which brings us to…

III. READY FIELDS

Jesus transitions from the idea of eating to the imagery of the agricultural cycle.

He says, you know how you can look at a field and say, there are about four more months and then the harvest. Look around, the fields are ready for harvest. He says ‘white for harvest’, which for the less agricultural among us, myself included, wheat, when it is fully sprouted and in peak condition for gathering, it approaches the color of white. A ripe grainfield looks like a sea of white.

They don’t realize what season they are in. Jesus coming into the world, being baptized, and entering public ministry ushered in the harvest. Already, he says, the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together. It’s already begun he says. 

They don’t realize what season they are in.

In fact he says, you are going to reap that for which you did not labor. 

Just a couple of points before we move on.

This language reminds us that Jesus did not come to establish something new, but in fulfillment of what God has said would happen. Jesus wasn’t proclaiming an unconnected kingdom, he was announcing that the kingdom of God had come. The disciples were going to experience a bountiful harvest that they did not sow and for which they could not claim responsibility. Furthermore, those who went before, the sowers, the prophets, the faithful, men like John the Baptist will get to rejoice with the disciples. Whether God uses you to sow the truth in people’s lives or uses you to reap what has been sown, one day we will all rejoice together for the way God saved men and women to himself. 

By the way, until Jesus returns, there will be continual and constant sowing and reaping. And so often, as the disciples here do, we get to experience blessings that we did not labor for, and consequently others will get to experience blessings that we labor for.

Paul picking up on this idea in his letter to the Corinthians, says it this way. 1 Corinthians 3:6–9 “6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” 

We may labor for years planting and watering and never see our harvest. But the encouragement we have here from Jesus is that we also may get to participate in a harvest we did not labor in. We may get to be the answered prayer for the praying parents, the faithful pastors, the patient evangelists. No labor in the kingdom of God is ever wasted. What a joy and encouragement that is. 

It is God’s harvest, the fields are ready, and we have been sent to proclaim the good news of the gospel to the very ends of the earth. 

What is incredible in this moment is that very likely, as Jesus said the fields are white for harvest, the townspeople were coming down the hill in droves from the town.Understanding that people in desert areas often wear light colors, it very well may look like a sea of white against the ground and sky literally coming towards the disciples. 

In just a few sentences Jesus has taken unseeing disciples with misplaced appetites and directing them toward the harvest in front of them.

May he do the same for us today.

May we lift up our eyes. Above routine, above discouragement, above cultural pessimism, above self-focus.

The harvest is ready, which means there is urgency. 

Too often we hear or even lament ourselves that evangelism is hard, the world has changed, no one wants to hear the gospel anymore. How much further from the truth could we be! God is still at work, Christ is still bringing sheep into his flock, and we are still tasked with engaging in the work. A work by the way that is not simply about numbers, but about people, which is the last reality we observe, let’s look at…

IV. COMPASSIONATE PRESENCE

First, notice the woman.

The one who came to the well in the middle of the day…alone. Actively avoiding the other people in town.

We find her dashing into town to what? Tell everyone about her encounter with Jesus. 

She uses the same invitation that Jesus used on her, when he said, go get your husband and come here. Now she says, come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?

Something about her excitement or her earnestness compelled many to come to Jesus. The Bible says many samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. 

She met Jesus for all of what seems like 10 minutes and yet she is so radically transformed by it that she compassionately compels men and women to go meet him for themselves. What a model for us today!

Jesus was a compassionate presence in her life, engaging her across cultural, religious, and gender lines in order to engage her with the truth. She then becomes a compassionate presence in her town, engaging the very ones she was avoiding with the invitation to come meet Jesus. 

But here is the part I want you to focus on this morning. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days resulting in many more believing in him because of his word. Some even said, in essence to the woman, we believed you, but even more than that, we have heard for ourselves, we know that this is indeed the savior of the world. 

Jesus saw enough value in this Samaritan city to stay for two days speaking and interacting with the Samaritans. That is compassion, that is presence, because every person matters. The disciples marveled that he spoke to a Samaritan woman, now they watch him dwell among Samaritan people for two days. The disciples who were uncomfortable with a conversation now spend two days with the Samaritans themselves. 

Jesus saw enough value in this Samaritan city to stay for two days speaking and interacting with the Samaritans.

Jesus doesn’t save people from a distance, he draws near.

I believe we would be much more active in sharing the good news if we were more compassionate towards those outside of our faith family. 

People are not projects for us. We do not share the gospel to check a box or pacify the pastor, we share the gospel out of compassion and love for the lost. Face to face, a compassionate presence in the midst of a difficult world. 

After two days, he departed for Galilee.

He did not merely pass through, he did not merely preach and leave. He stayed.

When is the last time you delayed your plans? Interrupted your schedule? Created space in your life for those who need to hear the gospel?

What does staying look like? It looks like an ongoing ministry of presence and love for your neighbors. It looks like spending time with those who are isolated or alone. It looks like opening your home so that people feel comfortable enough to linger there. It is listening more than talking. It is patience and forgiveness in relationships.

People who stay are people who make a difference in the kingdom of God. 

May those of us who have experienced the compassionate presence of Jesus in salvation be willing to be a compassionate presence in someone else’s life. 

Four realities, four needs.Unseeing disciples need opened eyes. Misplaced appetites need reordered hearts. Ready fields need willing laborers. Compassionate presence needs available lives. 

Church family, without a doubt, the harvest belongs to the Lord.

We confess without reservation, He is the one who saves and yet…He graciously invites us into the work just as the Lord did here with his disciples. 

May God open our unseeing eyes, reorder our appetites, help us see the ready fields, and make us a compassionate presence in a lost world.The question is not whether the harvest is ready.The question is whether we will engage in the Lord’s harvest.

Let us pray.