"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 into their labors."

Message:
In the passage which we are studying here in chapter four, we are told that when Jesus and His disciples arrived in Samaria, where He was to meet the Samaritan woman, Jesus waited in the valley near Jacob's well while the disciples went up the hill to Sychar to buy food.
While they were gone the woman came, and Jesus talked with her, leading her to faith. About the time the woman left her water pot to go up to the city to bring others to Jesus, the disciples finished their errand and had returned. They were surprised that Jesus had been talking to the woman, but they were doubly surprised when Jesus showed no interest in the food they had purchased. He told them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Peter and John and the others thought on the purely literal level, as Nicodemus and the woman had also done, and began to wonder if someone had brought Him food during their absence.
This passage follows the normal pattern of the conver-

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sations of the Fourth Gospel. Jesus says something which is misunderstood. He says something which has a spiritual meaning. It is at first taken with an uncomprehending literalism and then slowly He unfolds the meaning until it is grasped and realized.
When the disciples returned with the food from the village of Sychar, they were surprised that their Master was full of renewed energy. He had received refreshment which they knew not of. This they could not understand, and so they begged Him to eat of that which they had brought to Him. Their request was a kindly one.
The disciples' suggestion that Jesus should eat some of the food they had brought becomes the occasion for Him to teach them something of His priorities. It was meat and drink to Him to do the divine will, and the urgent task is not to be postponed.
Jesus' answer to His disciples was that He had food of which they knew nothing! It is strange how a great task can lift a man above and beyond bodily needs. All his life Wilberforce, who freed the slaves, was a little insignificant, ailing creature. When he rose to address the House of Commons, the members at first used to smile at this queer little figure; but as the fire and the power came from the man, they used to crowd the benches whenever he rose to speak. As it was put; "The little minnow became a whale." His message, his task, the flame of truth and the dynamic of power conquered his physical weakness.
There is a picture of John Knox preaching in his old age. He was a done old man; he was so weak that he had to be half lifted up the pulpit steps and left supporting himself on the book-board; but before he had long begun his sermon the voice had regained its old trumpet-call and he was like 'to ding the pulpit into blads (to knock the pulpit into splinters) and leap out of it." The message filled the man with a kind of supernatural strength.
"But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of." This was scarcely a rebuke: it was more a word of instruction for their enlightenment. Their minds were upon material things: the Lord speaks of that which is spiritual. "Meat" was used a figurative expression for that which satisfied.

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Christ's heart had been fed. His spirit had been invigorated. What it was that had refreshed Him we learn from His next utterance. It was something the disciples knew not of. Not yet had they discovered that the one who gives out of things of God is also a receiver. In dispensing spiritual blessings to others, one is blest himself. Peace and joy are a part of the reward which comes to him who does the will of God. The obedient servant has "meat to eat" that those not engaged in service know nothing about.
"But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about...My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work." This is a great sentence. It is even a "golden sentence," as Charles Haddon Spurgeon once described it. In essence these words are an expression of what was undoubtedly the keynote of Jesus' life, telling us that above all else Jesus lived to do God's will. They are the essence of his life...moreover, they tell us that doing God's will gave Jesus complete satisfaction. He was God-sent. Again and again the Fourth Gospel speaks of Jesus being sent by God. There are two Greek words used in John's Gospel for this sending. There is the word...APOSTELLEIN which is used seventeen times and PEMPEIN which is used twenty-seven times. That is to say, no fewer than forty-four times John speaks, or shows us Jesus speaking about His being sent by God. Jesus was one who was under orders...He was God's man! Once Jesus had come, again and again He spoke of the work that was given Him to do. In John 5:36 He speaks of the works which His Father has given Him to do. "But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish--the very works that I do bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me."
In John 17:4 His only claim is that He has finished the work His Father gave Him to do.
When He speaks of taking up and laying down His life, of living and of dying, He says: "This commandment have I received of My Father." (John 10:18) He speaks continually as He speaks here, of THE WILL OF GOD." "I have come down from heaven, He says, "not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." (John 8:29)
In John 14:23 He lays it down, out of His personal experience and on His personal example, that the only proof of love lies in the keeping of the commandments of the

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one a man claims to love. This obedience of Jesus was not as it is with us, a spasmodic thing. It was the very essence and being, the mainspring and the core, the dynamic and the moving power of His life.
"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.
At one point in His ministry Jesus told a story involving a father and his two sons. The father owned a vineyard. He came to the first son and said, "Son, go work today in my vineyard."
The son said, "No, I won't." But afterward, Jesus reported, the son repented and went.
The father came to the second son and gave him identical instructions. This son said, "Yes, I'll work in the vineyard." But then he failed to do it.
Jesus asked those who were listening to him, "Which of the two did the will of his father?" When they pointed out that it was the first of the sons, in spite of the fact that initially he had refused, Jesus then showed that this was precisely the contrast between the religious leaders of His day who were always saying, "Yes, yes," to God but who were not obeying Him, and the sinners of His day who initially disobeyed but after that repented.
The contrast is still valid. Do you say, "Yes, yes," but then not do what God instructs you to do? Or do you do His will and not merely talk about it?
I have always been impressed by the number of verses in the Bible that give us specific things to do.
For instance, if you are not yet a Christian, there is a verse in the Sermon on the Mount that is specifically for you. Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it" (Matt. 7:13). If you are not yet a Christian, God's will for you is that you might believe in Jesus as your Savior.
If you are a Christian, there are hundreds of clear-cut statements for you to consider. Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). He said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt. 5:44).
Peter wrote, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ask you to give the reason for the hope that you

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have. But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Pet. 3:15). Peter also wrote, "Humble yourselves, therefore under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time...Be self-controlled and alert" (1 Pet. 5:6,8). Paul declared, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will"(Romans 12:1-2).
Can we say..."My food, my sustenance, my dynamic for living, my purpose of being, is to do the will of God in my life to the glory of my Christ.
Let me share a challenge that the great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon had for the congregations of his day. Spurgeon wrote this about doing God's will:
"Some of you good people, who do nothing except go to public meetings, and Bible readings, and prophetic conferences, and other forms of spiritual dissipation, would be a good deal better Christians if you would look after the poor and needy around you. If you would just tuck up your sleeves for work, and go and tell the Gospel to dying men, you would find your spiritual health mightily restored, for very much of the sickness of Christians comes through their having nothing to do. All feeding and no working makes men spiritual dyspeptics. Be idle, careless, with nothing to live for, nothing to care for, no sinner to pray for, no backslider to lead back to the cross, no trembler to encourage, no little child to tell of a Savior, no greyheaded man to enlighten in the things of God, no object, in fact, to live for; and who wonders if you begin to groan, and to murmur, and to look within, until you are ready to die of despair? Let us have practical Christianity."
To do the will of God is the only way to peace. There can be no peace when we are variance with the King of the universe!
To do the will of God is the only way to happiness. There can be no happiness when we set our human ignorance against the divine wisdom of God.

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Again, let me ask the question...what was the will of the One who had sent Christ into the world?
Was it not to deliver certain captives from the hands of the Devil and bring them from death unto life? If there is any doubt at all on the point...John 6:38 and 39 at once removes it. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." The "Will" of the Father was that all those He had given to the Son should be saved; His "work" had been in appointing them unto salvation--"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:9). Appointment unto salvation is peculiarly the work of the Father; the actual saving of those appointed is the work of the Son, and in the saving of God's elect the Son finishes the "work" of the Father. An individual example of this had just been furnished in the case of the Samaritan woman, and others were about to follow in the "many" that should believe on Him because of her testimony (v.39), and the "many more" who would believe because of His own word (v.41).
For Jesus, obedience to the divine will was His major concern...but to finish that work was His ultimate goal. The word "finish" is that which was spoken on the cross by Christ when He said...IT IS FINISHED. It reminds us of the awful cost of that work, and underlines the devotion implied in the whole expression. There is a sense in which each stage of His work may be regarded as perfect and complete. And there is a deeper sense in which nothing is complete without the cross.
In our text, verse 35 says:
"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!"
All this that was happening in Samaria had given Jesus a vision of a world to be harvested...IT IS SEEING OUR WORLD THROUGH THE EYES OF GOD!
When He said: "Four months, and the harvest will come," we are not to think that He was speaking of the actual time of year that it was in Samaria at that time. If that were so, it would have been somewhere round about

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January. There would have been no exhausting heat; and there would have been no scarcity of water. One would not have needed a well to find water; it would have been the rainy season, and there would have been plenty of water.
What Jesus is doing is quoting a proverb. The Jews had a sixfold division of the agricultural year. Each division was held to last two months--seedtime, winter, spring, harvest, summer and the season of extreme heat. Jesus is saying: "You have got a proverb; if you sow the seed, you must wait for at least four months before you can hope to begin to reap the harvest." Then Jesus looked up. Sychar is in the midst of a region that is still famous for its corn. Agricultural land was very limited in stony, rocky Palestine; practically nowhere else in the country could a man look up and see waving fields of golden corn. Jesus swept His gaze and His hand round. "Look, He said, "the fields are white and ready for the harvest. They took four months to grow; but in Samaria there is a harvest for the reaping now."
John Calvin in his wonderful little commentary has a thought on the verse we are now considering. He says: "By using the expression, DO YOU NOT SAY...?" Christ meant to point out obliquely how men's minds are more preoccupied with earthly things than with heavenly things. They are so consumed about the harvest that they calculate the months and the days, but it is amazing how sleepy and lazy they are about harvesting the heavenly wheat. Daily experience proves that this evil not only comes to us naturally, but that we can hardly tear it out of our hearts. Everyone provides for their earthly future, but how lazy we are about thinking about heavenly things! On another occasion Christ said, "Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?" (Lk.12:56)
In the natural harvest, the seed may be planted, but there is no way of getting round the months of waiting. Growth is slow and cannot be hurried. But Jesus did not share this view when applied to spiritual things. He had an urgent sense of mission and these words convey something of it to the disciples. They must acquire a sense of urgency in their task. Jesus said: "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day, the

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night is coming when no man can work." (John 9:4)
In the mind of Jesus there is a close relationship--though also a contrast--between the physical and the spiritual harvest. In the verses which follow, the Lord bases his remarks upon this relationship.
We should bear in mind that by this time the procession of Samaritans was becoming plainly visible as coming across the fields it approached the well. Pointing at this harvest, Jesus says to His disciples, LOOK, LIFT UP YOUR EYES, AND SCAN THE FIELDS, THAT THEY ARE WHITE FOR HARVESTING. Though the grain-harvest may still be four months off, the soul-harvest is ripe for the plucking even now! When Jesus tells the disciples to ponder the spectacle of the approaching Samaritans, and to consider them to be fields ready for harvesting, does this not clearly imply that He is sending out His disciples to gather this harvest?
2 Cor. 6:1-2
"As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God' grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favor, I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation."
Jesus went on to show that the incredible had happened. The sower and the harvester could rejoice at the same time. Here was something no man might expect. To the Jew sowing was a sad and a laborious time; it was harvest which was the time of joy. "May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy! He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 136:5,6)
The Jews had their dreams of the golden age, the age to come, the age of God, when the world would be God's world, when sin and sorrow would be done away with and God would reign supreme. Amos paints his picture of it: "Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed" (Amos 9:13). It was the dream of that golden age that sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting, would follow hard upon the heels of each other. There would be such fertility that the old days of waiting would be at an end. We can see what Jesus is gently doing here. His words are nothing less than a claim that with Him the golden age has dawned; God's time is here; the time when the word is spoken and the seed is sown and the harvest waits!