Ready for HarvestSample

It’s Time for Harvest

Read John‬ ‭4‬:‭31‬-‭38.‬

In this Scripture, the disciples had just returned from buying food in town at Jesus’ request. While he waited for them by the well outside town, Jesus had a powerful spiritual conversation with a Samaritan woman. Her brief dialogue with Jesus left this lady rushing back to town convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. It was the kind of interaction that made Jesus spiritually alive. He had seen God work through his obedience and he wasn’t hungry any more. You’ve probably had a similar experience. You’ve stepped out on a limb and God has moved in power. There’s nothing like it. It beats a good meal any day.

Then Jesus goes on to quote a saying: “It’s still four months until harvest.” Bible scholars have no idea where this saying comes from. There’s no sign of it in any other literature, but then that’s understandable if it was a local saying. No historian is going to record a village proverb quoted by simple Galileans. It probably originated with homegrown farmers describing the break they had between the planting and nurturing season and the harvesting season. Once the crops were growing well, they knew they had four months before the hectic work of harvesting. So the saying probably meant something like, “Lighten up. We have plenty of time. We don’t need to rush things.”

Maybe that’s how the disciples saw the ministry of Jesus. They were in Samaritan territory where they didn’t even have a calling to mission, so there was time to catch their breath. There was no urgency. They had sowed some spiritual seed and seen God at work, but whatever they believed Jesus was going to do to fully establish his kingdom seemed to still be a long way off. “It’s still four months until harvest.”

Jesus’ response was, “Just open your eyes and look at the spiritual opportunities. This is not the time for having a rest.” From Jesus’ brief conversation with an outcast woman at the well, a bunch of Samaritans were already heading out to the well from town ready to put their faith in Jesus. This was not the lull between planting and harvesting. God’s kingdom was already on the move. The harvest was being reaped.

There certainly are sowing seasons when we just have to be faithful as we love and serve our not-yet-Christian friends with very little obvious fruit. That’s fine. But we don’t want to confuse the seasons. It would be sad if we were patiently sowing seed when we should be reaping a great harvest. We need to “open our eyes,” take them off ourselves, and look at the fields. What is God saying? What is God doing? How much spiritual hunger is there? If it’s harvest time, let’s get out there and share the gospel asking God to do miracles and calling people to follow Jesus. It’s time to bring in the harvest. Let’s get on board with what God is already doing.

But don’t get carried away with the results we will see. As Jesus points out to his disciples: “Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor” (4:38). As we see God drawing many to faith, we praise him for those that have served and shared and prayed before us. As harvesters, we’re standing on their shoulders.