Just by way of a quick review, when we left lesson 6, we were defining what Jesus meant when He said in John 4:23 and 24 that worship must be a balance of spirit and truth. And when we examined the full context of the coming New Covenant (“A time will come, in fact is already here, when genuine worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”) and the word meanings of “spirit” (pneuma, desire) and “truth” (aletheia, reality); then we came to understand that worship is a personal, individual activity and it will be a balance of spirit (a real desire of the heart) and truth (the reality of being in the presence of God), the foundation of an intimate relationship with Him that would replace the forms and rituals of the Old.
We continue with verse 25, “Then the woman said to Him, I know that the Messiah is coming, the One called the Christ; and when He comes, He will tell us everything (and make it clear to us).” The word translated “tell” here is from anaggello, meaning to declare openly or clearly. The only reason Jesus’ message is not clear to some is that it has been distorted or misrepresented (the cause of so many different, competing doctrines, belief systems and weak translations).
The next verse is the turning point of this conversation. Verse 26, “I Who now speak to you am He.” And it’s at this very moment the disciples come upon the scene and are surprised that Jesus is talking to who they assume to be a married woman and a Samaritan woman at that. But none of them questioned Him about it. (Verse 27)
The purpose of this divine appointment now comes into full view. The woman (probably a little uncomfortable now with the arrival of Jesus’ disciples) leaves in such a hurry that she forgets her water pot, goes into town and begins to tell people, “Come see a Man Who has told me everything I ever did! Is not this the Christ, the Messiah?” And so many of them set out to go to Him and see for themselves. (Verses 28-30) (A note here, the woman’s statement about Jesus telling her “everything I ever did” could be a result of one two things: her excitement may have caused her to exaggerate somewhat, or there was further conversation not recorded.)
Then the disciples urged Him to eat something, to which Jesus replied, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” So the disciples questioned among themselves whether someone else had brought Him something to eat. (Verse 31-33) And seeing their apparent confusion at His comment, Jesus explains, “My food is to do the good pleasure of the One Who sent Me and to finish His work.” (Verse 34) There needs to be a little clarification here. In this verse “finish” is from teleioo, to complete, to bring to a predetermined end. Then “work” is ergon, an assigned task one may have to do, a calling or occupation. Here it is a reference to the life, ministry and eventual sacrifice of Himself on the cross that Jesus understood as the Father’s will and purpose for His life.
And we can’t ignore the application Jesus leaves here for us. His “food” (nourishment, what sustained Him) was to do what the Father had determined for His life and complete it. In the this life we’re stimulated, encouraged, even fulfilled by completing a task or meeting a goal we’ve set for ourselves. In the same way, our submission to God’s authority and our obedience to Him should have the same effect. The most satisfying thing we can experience in this life is to know we’re doing what the Lord wants us to do. If we would attach a spiritual principle to this it would be something like: spiritual fulfillment (soul satisfaction) is better than physical nourishment.
In the next 4 verses Jesus in His usual style uses the natural realm to illustrate spiritual realities (something on which He was expert, since He created the natural world). “Do you not say, It is yet four months until harvest time comes? Open your eyes, look at the fields and see that they are already ripe for harvest! (Verse 35) In Palestine the harvest usually started sometime shortly after Passover in April, (Nisan, the first month in the Jewish calendar). Here Jesus is obviously telling us in general terms just when this journey to Samaria took place. Four months “until harvest” would have been in December (the Jewish month of Kislev or maybe Tevet).
When you place yourself in this scene, Jesus is telling His disciples to look at the fields around them that were, no doubt, freshly planted, maybe with newly sprouted seedlings just coming up out of the ground. It would still be four months before they would be ripe and ready for harvest. But by contrast what He really wanted them to see were the crowds of people coming towards them from town as a result of what the woman had told them (“Come see a Man Who has told me everything I ever did! Is not this the Christ, the Messiah?”) The people would be the harvest.
“Already the reaper is enjoying his reward, for he is gathering a crop unto life eternal, so he that does the planting and he who does the reaping can rejoice together.” (Verse 36) Jesus had planted the seed in the Samaritan woman and now, as He sees the crowds of people approaching, He is already enjoying His reward in anticipation of what He knows will be a harvest of souls gathered to eternal life. In this instance the One Who planted and the One Who reaped was the same, and He was rejoicing in anticipation of the harvest.
“And this saying holds true, One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap a crop for which you have not toiled. Other men have labored and you have come along and reaped the results of their work.” (Verses 37-38) Here, Jesus is telling His disciples that they had been reaping a crop where they had not worked or sown the seed. It was the disciples who were baptizing the crowds of Jesus’ followers that were being gathered as result of Jesus’ ministry (John 3:22) and (at least in part) probably as a result of the ministry of John the Baptist (John 3:23 and 4:2), who in turn had a ministry somewhat based on the previous work of the prophets. But the disciples (at this point in time He had only three, Andrew, Philip and Nathanael) had just recently begun to follow Jesus and were new to public ministry of any kind.
If we follow this account, “Many of the Samaritans of that city trusted in Him because of what the woman had said, when she declared, He told me all that ever I did.” (Verse 39) Jesus stayed in Samaria for two more days and many trusted in Him because of His message. “Then many more believed in Him because of what He Himself said. And they told the woman, We no longer trust in Him because of what you said; we have heard Him ourselves and we know that He really is the Christ, the Savior of the world.” (Verses 41-42) Several years later Samaria was still fertile ground for the Gospel message as Philip, Peter and John had great success there as recorded in Acts 8.
After the two days had ended, Jesus went up into Galilee (John 4:43). The next passage is in Luke 4:16-29 and records Jesus’ rejection in Nazareth where he grew up. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood to read, was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, unrolled it and found the place where the following was written. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are bruised, and to declare the day when the free favors of God abound.” (Verses 18-19, a quote of Isaiah 61:1-2)
Then he gave the scroll back and sat down. And all present were staring attentively at Him. Then He said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. (Verse 21) Then everyone present spoke well of Him and marveled at the words of grace that came from his mouth; but they said, Is this not Joseph’s Son?” (Verse 22)
Here’s where the trouble starts. So He said to them, “Doubtless you will say to Me this proverb, Physician, heal Yourself! What we have heard that You did in Capernaum, do here in Your own town.” (Verse 23) This is a reference to the healing of the nobleman’s son in John 4:46-54 and a response to what was probably their whispered words and thoughts. They knew Him as the son of a poor carpenter. If what we hear is true (and we have our doubts), why don’t you show us some miracles? And why do you show up here looking like the same poor kid we knew then? If you’re so powerful and famous, why don’t you look the part?
Then He said, “Solemnly I say to you, no prophet is accepted in His own country.” (Verse 24) And in the next three verses Jesus tells them two of their favorite prophets, Elijah and Elisha were so dishonored in their own countries that they bestowed their favors on foreigners.
“But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut for three and a half years and there was a great famine in all the land. But Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to Sarepta in Sidon, to a widow woman there.” (Verses 25-26) The point Jesus is making here is that Elijah was sent by God to minister to a Syrian widow, a Gentile heathen woman, instead of the many Jewish widows obviously in need as well.
“And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and yet none of them were cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” (Verse 27) Again, Jesus makes the same point. There were many lepers in Israel and none of them were healed. Yet God sent Elisha to heal a Gentile heathen man. And when they heard this, the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. They understood from these two examples that because of their arrogance and unbelief Jesus had no intention of working any miracles here, but would take His ministry elsewhere.
“And rising up, they drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the upper part of the hill on which their town was built, that they might hurl Him headlong down over the cliff.” (Verse 29) This would have been a fall of possibly forty feet.
“But passing through their midst, He went on His way.” (Verse 30; compare John 8:59; 10:39) “Then He descended to Capernaum, a town of Galilee, and there He continued to teach the people on the Sabbath days. And they were amazed at His teaching, for His words had authority.” (Verses 31-32)