The Mission: The Church’s Mission
Notes Prepared by Pastor Brian Taylor
John 4:35–38
Do you not say, “There are yet four months, then comes the harvest”? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.
Summary:
The church is a partner in God’s mission, called to embody and proclaim the gospel, demonstrating God’s love, justice, and mercy in the world. This includes evangelism, discipleship, social action, and cultural engagement, reflecting God’s kingdom on earth.
Focus:
Jesus calls his disciples to see the urgency of participating in the harvest of souls, emphasizing the church’s role in evangelism and the proclamation of the gospel.
What is the Harvest?
What Did Jesus Say About the Harvest?
What is my Role in the Harvest?
Background:
At this point in the gospel of John, Jesus was leaving Judea and heading to Galilee—his ministry base at the time.
He passes through Samaria, stops at a well in Sychar, and encounters a woman.
In verses 7–26, Jesus begins a conversation with this woman.
He was thirsty and needed a drink, but she needed living water.
Jesus tells her of the living water and has her call her husband (v. 16).
Jesus reveals insight into her situation, and through this, the topic shifts from water to worship.
As the conversation closes, Jesus reveals he is the Messiah she has been waiting for (vv. 25–26).
In verse 27, the disciples return and are amazed (θαυµάζω, to marvel) that Jesus was speaking to her—he was violating cultural norms.
She was not only a Samaritan, but a Samaritan woman.
Jews and Samaritans did not interact, and there were cultural taboos of talking with a woman in public.
In verses 28–30, she goes into the city to tell others about Jesus, and they all come to him.
Meanwhile, in verses 31–33, the disciples ask about food.
Jesus replies, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (v. 34).
**What motivated Jesus is not what motivated others.
Others were concerned about natural food, but Jesus was concerned about the mission of the Father.
It is this mission that Jesus accomplishes while in Samaria.
Jesus understood that he was sent (John 20:21)—he was committed to the purposes of the Father, not a man-made agenda.
Jesus knew there was something for him to accomplish.
The context of this story sheds light on the statement Jesus made in verses 35–36.
John 4:35-36 ESV
“Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.”
Verse 35
There is a contrast between what “you” say and what Jesus says.
Who is the “you” Jesus is referring to?
The “you” here is second-person plural.
Jesus is addressing his disciples at this moment but is also addressing a common adage in society.
What did the disciples say, and what did Jesus say?
The disciples said, “There are yet four months, then comes the harvest.”
Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”
**The disciples are looking to the future, while Jesus sees the opportunity right now in front of them.
Why would these two elements be contrasted?
**It highlights that Jesus can see what we often cannot yet recognize.
While they wonder why Jesus is talking to this woman, they only look ahead at what may be.
In contrast, Jesus understands the opportunity of the moment.
* Implication: It is possible to be a disciple of Jesus and still fail to see and say what Jesus would say.
Their contrasting view is not from rebellion but a lack of understanding.
What is the Harvest?
What is meant by “the harvest”?
The harvest refers to people who are ready to believe in Jesus.
This is evidenced by the people’s response in verse 39: “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him.”
Other places in the gospels also refer to harvest.
In Matthew 9:37, Jesus says,
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
Verse 36 of Matthew 9 gives the context to who Jesus refers to as the harvest:
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
The harvest was those who were distressed and lived as sheep without a shepherd.
While the author is different, the reference to harvest seems to be used similarly.
Jesus tells the woman in John 4:22, “You worship what you do not know.”
When people from the city came, their hunger to be led by a shepherd is evident in verse 40: “So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them . . .”
*Why would Jesus use the term “harvest” to describe the people?
*This term indicates worth and value.
You get rid of weeds, but you collect the harvest because of its value.
Even though the people in this town in Samaria were lost and confused, they were valuable to God.
*To describe people as harvest is to see them with intrinsic value.
What Did Jesus Say About the Harvest?
First, Jesus tells his disciples to lift up their eyes.
What does Jesus mean by “lift up your eyes”?
*It means being alert to what is going on around you.
There is a harvest that they need to notice.
This is not just the physical act of lifting up their eyes; it metaphorically speaks to an awareness of what is happening right in front of them.
*Implication: If you don’t lift up your eyes, you will miss what God is doing right now in front of you.
Why would Jesus say this to the disciples?
They were not seeing as clearly as they ought to.
The disciples did not understand what Jesus was doing talking with this woman.
Jesus gives them an imperative: they are to lift up their eyes.
Sometimes, we have to be told to look up when we are prone to not notice something.
Jesus said that the people right in front of them were white for harvest.
What does it mean to be “white for harvest”?
It means they are ready for harvesting now, and the harvest is ripe.
*Implication: Where the harvest may be future-oriented in the minds of most, the signs show us that the harvest is ready now in this moment.
Verse 36
Jesus uses the term “already” to describe the timing of the reapers receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life.
In what way are reaping and gathering already happening?
This reinforces the point Jesus made in verse 35: the time for harvest is now.
The fruit gathered for eternal life is the lives experiencing eternal life.
What is already happening?
He who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal.
What does he mean by “already?”
We don’t have to wait until one day down the road; this is a present reality.
Why does Jesus tell the disciples it is already happening?
Perhaps if they are prone to waiting, they may miss out on what God is doing.
In what way is this fruit being gathered for eternal life?
To believe in Jesus is eternal life (John 11:25–26), and the people of the town are coming to believe in Jesus (John 4:41).
• Implication: The reaping that is already happening seems to be out of the normal flow of what typically happens.
Where the reaping may be expected to take place later in normal circumstances, it is already happening right now.
Possibly this is a reference to Amos 9:13— “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed.’”
Some people live with what is known as F.O.M.O. (fear of missing out).
*Jesus was helping the disciples see so they wouldn’t miss out on what God is doing.
I don’t want to miss what God is doing in my generation.
God is always working, preparing hearts to be harvested - we must join him in sowing into and reaping that harvest.
What is my Role in the Harvest?
Jesus always makes things practical - not just for our knowledge, but for our involvement.
Verse 37
What does it mean for one to sow and another to reap?
It is an agricultural reference that speaks to the role different people play in the mission of God.
It is similar to Paul’s language in 1 Corinthians 3:6–7—“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
Why would Jesus use this saying?
It is a way to illustrate how, even in that moment, Jesus was fulfilling the mission of God.
He was always at work with the Father and planted seeds in this Samaritan city.
•This seems to imply that the disciples will be engaged in both sowing and reaping as well.
EVERY EFFORT COUNTS!
*We don’t all play the same role at the same time, but we are all called to be involved with God’s mission of seeing lost people come into faith in Jesus.
Verse 38
What does it mean that Jesus sent them?
There is a difference between going somewhere and being sent somewhere.
Jesus understood what it was to be sent and what it meant to send others (John 20:21).
The Lord Jesus sent the disciples.
What were they sent to do?
They were sent to reap that for which they did not labor.
They were sent because the harvest was ripe.
**Being sent to reap indicates that the harvest was ready to be harvested.
• Implication: Because Jesus sent them to reap the harvest, we see God’s heart for the people.
Remember, we only reap what is valuable.
•The people we are sent to may not mean much to others; they may not even mean a lot to us personally, but they mean a lot to God.
**If we are going to be in mission with Jesus, we are going to have to prioritize what God prioritizes.
There is a contrast between those sent to reap and those who labored.
In what ways are these groups different?
The former group labored (sowed seed) for the harvest, but those sent to reap the harvest benefited from their labor.
Why would this contrast be emphasized?
This is a way of showing how they are all working together for the same harvest.
• Implication: There should be gratitude for those that labor secretly.
*This should keep us humble when we are in times of reaping and encouraged when we are in times of sowing.
One sows and one reaps, but God gives the increase.
Concluding Thoughts:
Summertime for our family typically means a road trip is around the corner.
My kids are getting bigger, but we take advantage of the time to squeeze in a vehicle and travel together.
Sometimes we pass scenic views, and I will tell my kids to look up and see the beauty of what is right in front of them.
But it is easy to be so wrapped up in our phones and other distractions that we miss what’s right in front of us.
I believe that also happens to us when it comes to the mission of God.
We can be so absorbed in our daily lives that we forget to look up and see the beauty of how God is working right in front of us.
**As the church on mission, we must see as Jesus sees to move as Jesus moves.
What does Jesus understand about God’s mission that we as the church must see?
Can we recognize the opportunity?
Jesus saw opportunity where others did not.
**A simple request for water became an open door to a city.
**The place of passing through became a place of revival.
**Some of the most significant opportunities come disguised as inconveniences.
Can we recognize the urgency?
Jesus saw urgency where others did not.
There will always be a contrast between what some say about the harvest.
(“There are yet four months, then comes the harvest”) and what Jesus said about the harvest (“the fields are white for harvest”) revealed the moment’s urgency.
We must understand the hour we are living in now.
Can we recognize our need for one another?
Jesus saw team effort where others did not.
This is seen in verses 36–38.
The ones who sow and the ones who reap rejoice together.
Why is that?
Because the kingdom of God requires both.
Don’t be too discouraged if you have sown and not seen the harvest yet.
And don’t be too haughty if you see the harvest and things happen quickly.
It just may be that you are walking in someone else’s labor.