“A Journey with John” Day 9: A wayward woman starts a revival (John 4:27-42)
Last time, our guide took us to a scene at the well Jacob had given to Joseph. We looked on as a woman of Samaria came to the well and had an interesting interaction with Jesus. Indeed, Jesus revealed to her that He is the Messiah who was to come.
Before embarking on today’s journey, let’s look at a new person John introduced us to last time:
> A Samaritan woman, the woman at the well
Now let’s head out to see what became of that interesting exchange between Jesus and a wayward woman. We take up the scene where we left off last time:
As Jesus is talking to the wayward woman, the disciples return from buying food. They are very surprised that Jesus is alone and talking to a woman, but they don’t say anything to him about it. The woman leaves her water pot and heads into the city where she goes to the men and says that she talked with a man who told her everything she’s ever done. She then urges them to go see Him. In the meantime, the disciples are trying to get Jesus to eat. Jesus takes this opportunity to inform them that His real food is to do the will of the Father and to finish the work He had sent Him to do. Jesus then explains that whereas the literal harvest is four months away, there is a ripe harvest ready to be brought in. He tells them that reaping of this harvest, will bring fruit for eternal life. We also see that the Samaritans have taken up the invitation of the wayward woman to come and see Jesus for themselves. Yes, the Samaritans actually convince Jesus to stay there for two days. Because of Jesus’ interaction with the people, they come to believe on Him for themselves, not just because of what the wayward woman told them.
Our highlighted verses for today:
“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, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 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.” 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. So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.””
John 4:27-29, 31-32, 34-36, 40-42 NKJV
Question for reflection:
Why is Jesus suddenly talking about a harvest?
Next time, we will accompany our guide to see Jesus perform another sign in Cana of Galilee.