Ripe for the Harvest
Scripture Reading: John 4: 34 - 38 (NIV)
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35Don’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. 36Even 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. 37Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38I 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.”
Message: Ripe for the Harvest
Jesus’ need
John 4 is best known for the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well
Here, Jesus asked her to get Him water from the well, in the heat of day…
And so, a conversation about thirst happened…
Jesus was making this woman aware that there is more than just physical needs
Our spiritual thirst is much bigger than our physical thirst, and we often don’t realize it…
That day, the Samaritan woman dicovered her spirtual thirst and found the living water that Jesus was giving
And those witnessing this interaction were amazed at Him crossing borders and reaching out beyound divisions of culture, religion and gender
Chances are that their minds was spinning with the profound act of Jesus reaching out this Samaritan woman and that they missed what He was teaching about spiritual thirst…
And then, not long after this interaction, what does the disciples say? “Rabbi, eat something.”
It gives Jesus the chance to bring his message home: “My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ”
There is more at play than surviving, there is a mission to do the will of him who sent Jesus
And remember, just before the interaction with the Samaritan woman, John made it clear who sent Jesus - John 3: 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Here He is, the One sent from God, and there is more to do than just living for Himself - He is here because God who sent Him loves the world so much that He wants everyone to have eternal life
Jesus is saying: Forget food, forget your needs, I want to remind you of the greater purpose of God’s love for people
Ripe for the harvest
And then, Jesus brings in the metaphor of the harvest…
Dont’ you have a saying ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?…
Open your eyes! Look around you! There is so much hunger and thirst all around you!
Don’t stay fixated on your physical needs, see that there are greater needs going on around you
Jesus brings the concept home that He is here to bring in the harvest… and He says to his disciples that they are here also to bring in the harvest
When I hear Jesus telling his disciples to look around, I wonder about what that means in my life
Am I the harvest? Or am I the harvester?
I know that I have spiritual hunger and thirst
I am vulnerable, I need God in my life right now, I have questions that I don’t have answers for…
I am the crop that is ripe for the harvest… spiritually hungry and thirsty…
How can I be called to be a harvester?
And yet, that is exactly what Jesus is telling me today!
There’s a world around me that has a huge spiritual hunger and thirst… even bigger than mine
Here is Jesus telling me that I am called be part of something bigger than myself…
And move from being a passive spiritual receiver for my own needs, to an active spirtual giver despite the fact that I might feel spiritually vulnerable
Be a harvester
I know that everyone of us here today are being called to be part of something bigger than ourselves
I know that everyone of us here today has spiritual hunger and thirst
I also know that being passive receivers of living water and spiritual food is tempting
And that it is easy to lose focus on the spitual dimensions of life when there is so much physical needs around us too…
But I do know that we are called to be part of something bigger than ourselves
Not turning his back on our spiritual hunger and thirst, Jesus is calling me and you to join him in being harvesters…
Now I don’t know what that looks like in your life…
Maybe it is reaching out to someone in need
Maybe it is stepping out of your comfort zone
Maybe it will take seriously rethinking your priorities
Maybe it will take being honest with yourself about your own spitual needs
What I do know, is that Jesus is telling you and me look around us…
The world we live in is ripe for the harvest!
AMEN
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