"The Perfect Chance Encounter" Part 13

Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." 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?" The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, and see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  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. 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 their labors " John 4:26-38

At this point in our perfect chance encounter the disciples have returned and the woman is off telling everyone all about Jesus. They had returned to find Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman! Both being a Samaritan and a woman were strikes against her in their eyes. It said that they marveled because He was talking to her and that none of them dared to ask Him about it. Instead, they tried to get Him to eat the food that they had brought back for Him from the city.

Jesus, aware of their exchanged looks, attitudes, and traditions proceeded to answer them with, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." and "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 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.'"

The Word doesn't tell us if the disciples understand that His response was actually answering their question about why He was talking to the woman and or that they understood He was also addressing the need for a change in their heart attitude toward her as well. On the surface these words could be thought of as two separate thoughts but they are not. Jesus is addressing the heart attitude of His disciples who had obviously made a judgement that Jesus should not have been talking to the Samaritan woman.  He switches from His awesome words about His food being 'doing the will of the Father' to '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!' for a reason. It is the same thought!

He is telling them that food, the thing that sustains Him is doing the will of the Father and then He proceeds to the idea that they know and understand when the harvest is ready in the natural but that in the spiritual they were missing it! 'The Harvest' isn't for a time in the future. It isn't for four months from now. He tells them to 'lift up their eyes and look at the fields they are already white for harvest' He was telling them to lose their attitudes about the woman and those like her. He told them 'to lift up their eyes and look' because the crowd of people were coming to 'check' Him out because the woman, the one they prejudged was already spreading the news about Him and reaping her share in the harvest. She was already bearing fruit while they were busy with attitudes like, "don't talk to her,' or 'she is not worth the effort.'  The harvest is here now today, and it is doing the will of the Father. It is sharing the kingdom with whomever we come across, even a Samaritan woman with a history, at the well! He is telling them to look at all the people right in front of them. He is saying, "Look at all the opportunities your missing because of your heart attitudes." 

The Father's heart is that all men and all woman would know Him and Jesus is telling them to share the love of the Father with all people, every tongue, every tribe. He is telling them to do it without prejudice or personal bias! He is telling them they don't get to pick and choose and prejudge who they share with but that their job, their part, is to follow His example and do the will of the Father. He was telling them to stop waiting for their idea of when harvest time is and recognize the opportunities to sow seed or to reap in the here and now with those the Father puts in their path!

The Word tells us to 'redeem the time' or rather the 'opportunity' for the days are evil. We too, as His disciples need to take every opportunity to sow the word in every life that we touch. We need to make sure we understand that the harvest time comes because someone is willing to do the will of the Father and plants seeds. The harvest time comes because someone is willing to do the will of the Father and do the work involved in reaping. The harvest comes when we realize that every life is an opportunity to sow or reap. It is our opportunity to touch a life and do the will of the Father.

Take the advice of our Savior and, 'lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!' Take a moment and look at the field set before your eyes! Are there Samaritan woman you've missed?