READ: John 4:27, 31-38

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?”…
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.”

REFLECT & RESPOND:

Reflection #1 (v. 27): Jesus’ disciples had gone to town to find food, leaving him behind at the local well. While they were gone, he got into a conversation with a Samarian woman. The disciples were surprised when they returned and found him violating a social convention of the day. So here’s the question: What social convention do we have than prevents us from reaching out the those on the margins with God’s love? What cultural practice should we set aside in order to love others the way Jesus loved this troubled Samaritan woman?

Reflection #2 (vv. 31-34): The disciples offered Jesus some of the food they’d purchased in town. Oddly, he refused their offer, saying that his food was to do God’s will. This didn’t mean food wasn’t important to Jesus; like all of us he needed to eat. But what he wanted them to know is that doing what God wanted with his life mattered more than a dinner out at a nice restaurant. So here’s the question: What legitimate physical or material need should we be willing to set aside, at least from time-to-time, in order to serve God?

Reflection #3 (v. 35): Jesus quotes an agricultural proverb about the waiting period between planting time and harvest. Then he tells them, “harvest time is here!” His point? Spiritually, people are ready for the message he had come to bring. So here’s the question: Some would say that people today are not ready for the Good News of Jesus. But is that true? What signs do you see in our world that suggest that people are hungry for a relationship with God? Who do you know who seems to be searching, looking for something firm to put their faith in?

Reflection #4 (vv. 36-38): Jesus, using another agricultural proverb, reminds them that no farmer reaps a crop without the work of the one who planted it in the first place; both are equally important. His point? This is true spiritually as well. Often, people come to faith after a series of loving and faithful Christians have planted seeds that eventually spring to life. So here’s the question: Are you planting spiritual seeds in the lives of someone close to you? And is there anyone in your life that someone else has planted spiritual seeds in that you might be able to help to grow? Someone who is ready to come to faith in Jesus?