From Darkness to Light (5): A Time for Reaping -- November 7, 2010

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."

But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.

They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

(John 4:27-42)

What is the best movie sequel you’ve ever seen? Great question, eh? It’s a good one for lunch conversation afterwards. What is the best movie sequel ever? I know I’m dating myself a bit, but when we heard that there was going to be another Star Wars movie, we couldn’t believe it, couldn’t wait to get to the theater to check it out. The same goes for Indiana Jones. We were all over that as kids—they’re making another one? Awesome! What’s the best movie sequel you’ve ever seen?

According to Entertainment Weekly, here are the top 10 sequels of all time: #10 Toy Story 2 (1999); #9 For a Few Dollars More (1965); #8 Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982); #7 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991); #6 Before Sunset (2004); #5 The Road Warrior (1982); #4 Aliens (1986); #3 The Silence of the Lambs (1991); #2 The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and the #1 sequel of all time is (… anyone want to take a guess?) … The Godfather, part II (1974).

Interesting, but sequels allow us to see what happens after the Main Event, what happens next. And our text this morning is a wonderful sequel of that famous meeting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Recounted for us in John 4:1-26, there’s an account of how Jesus breaks down gender, cultural, moral, religious and racial barriers to get through to this woman. And what happens next is what we have here in John 4:27-42—here we have the sequel to that main event, and it is no less amazing.

Leaving her water jar behind, this woman goes back to her home town and tells them, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did." It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but Jesus’ insight and knowledge into the most private aspects of this woman’s life clearly, clearly impressed her. So much so that John repeats the woman’s testimony again in vs.39: "He told me everything I ever did." Such is the knowledge of Jesus. And every encounter with Jesus begins with such knowledge: He knows all about you and I. He knows exactly what we’ve done. He knows exactly who we are—warts & all. And yet, just like that woman, He still wants to have a personal relationship with us, and He wants to reveal to us Who He really is.

In a sense, every authentic relationship begins with being real—no masks, no cover-ups, just full, honest disclosure, with warts & all—every authentic relationship really begins there. And real relationship with Jesus is no different. He knows us anyways. Just as He knew that this woman had five previous husbands and the man she was now with wasn’t even her husband. He knows each one of us just as intimately. And yet His goal is to change us with His powerful, redeeming love. Like He did for this woman, Jesus has a knack of interrupting, then transforming our lives with the reality of His love and the truth of Who He is—and He doesn’t wait for us to "clean up our act" before He does this, He just does it.

Bono, the lead singer for U2, puts it this way: "It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between grace and karma… Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff… I’d be in big trouble if karma was going to finally be my judge… It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity." (quoted in J. Wilhite’s, Stripped…, pg.128)

So for this woman had this wonderful interruption from Jesus—and the interruption was the realization of the fact that He did, indeed, know everything about her—and yet calls her to faith in Him anyways. That’s when real relationship with Jesus happens: when we realize in our heart of hearts that He already knows all about us.

But the real reason why they all showed up in that back-woods place hadn’t been addressed yet: Jesus and His friends needed something to eat! So when the disciples come back, naturally they say to Jesus, "Rabbi, eat something." And it’s here that we get a real glimpse into the heart of Jesus. He replies in vs.32, "I have food that you know nothing about." At this point, the disciples just shrug their shoulders—"Maybe He got a quite bite from the local McDaniel’s down the road?"

But then Jesus goes on in vs.34-38, " ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.’"

Of course, in vs.32 and the beginning of vs.34, Jesus isn’t talking about literal food here—He’s talking about the two things that get Him going, the two things that get Him up in the morning, the two things that fuel Him. And we need to add unequivokably: What feeds, what fuels Jesus is what needs to fuel the Church. And what feeds and what fuels Jesus needs to fuel this church! And what is that fuel? Two things: A passion to obey His Heavenly Father. Jesus says that as clear as day in vs.34, "My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." Doing what God says fueled Jesus—obedience to the Father’s will was one of the things that really got Him going. Do you know what sometimes happens when we talk about plain old obedience in the Church of today? Eyes gloss over. And to the extent that our eyes gloss over when a preacher or anybody else talks about Christian obedience is the same extent to which we are out of touch with the heart of Jesus! His passion was to do and then to finish the work of Him Who sent Him! A passion to obey God needs to fuel the church!

And then, the second thing is simply this: It is a passion for the harvest! We’re not just talking about a harvest of compassion. We’re not just talking about a harvest of social justice. We’re not just talking about a harvest of collecting food to help the poor. Primarily, chiefly, most importantly of all, we are talking about the harvest of souls. We’re talking about inviting others to becoming committed believers in Jesus. We’re talking about evangelism here, people, pure & simple.

Biblical interpretation 101 says that to get a clear meaning of an obscure word or phrase in the Bible, you simply have to look at that word’s or phrase’s context. What happens before and afterwards? Well, if you and I look at vs.35-38 in isolation, it may be up to grabs as to what Jesus means by "the harvest". Other than the fact that He says in vs.36 it’s a harvest for eternal life, He might well be talking about some sort of other kind of harvest—like a harvest of good works, etc. But then, look at the context: This all comes out of a conversation with an unsuspecting woman that crecendoes to the point where she mentions something about the coming Messiah, the coming Christ, and Jesus says in reply, "I who speak to you am he." (vs.26) And then immediately before Jesus talks about the harvest, in vs.28-30 the woman goes straight back to town and tells all the townspeople about her amazing encounter with Jesus.

That’s what happens before. What happens afterwards is even more convincing: Allow me to just pull out some phrases from vs.39-42: "Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him … And because of his words many more became believers. … They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you have said; now we have heard for ourselves…" (emphasis mine) Really, it doesn’t get any clearer than that? We’re talking about evangelism here, people. We’re talking about inviting others to come to a point of committed belief in Jesus. We’re not just talking about programs, we’re not just talking about pretty little events we can do for the community, to make us feel good, to make them feel good. What we talkin’ about. We’re talking about the harvest. We’re talking about unapologetically, boldly through word, action & deed calling others to a committed belief in Jesus Christ.

And there’s an urgency to Jesus’ words here. There’s an urgency that fuels Jesus’ passion for the harvest. In vs.35 Jesus quotes what would have been a very popular proverb of that time: "Four months more and then the harvest." You can almost see two ol’ timers, Ned & Jed, pullin’ on their cover-all straps, sippin’ back some Timmies sayin’, "Yep, four months more, then harvest." But Jesus quotes that proverb to contrast and underline the urgency at hand: "I tell you," He says in vs.35, "open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest!" You may remember, in Matthew 9:37, Jesus says there, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." But here in John, the Lord definitely kicks it up a notch. Here Jesus says, "Even now the reaper is getting paid for the job he’s already doing, even now he’s harvesting a crop for eternal life." Another clear, clear indication that Jesus is sounding a clarion call of urgency. We need to be about the task of telling others about Jesus, as individuals and as a congregation yesterday!

But the question is, Do we have that sense of urgency? I’ve been in churches where low finances have created that sense of urgency. Do you know what I mean? "Let’s bring ‘em in so they can help pay the bills!" But that’s just the wrong motivation! I’ve heard of other churches who believe that it just doesn’t look good, doesn’t look successful to have a half-empty church Sunday in and Sunday out. But I don’t Jesus has any interest in looking good or successful. It’s just the wrong motivation!

Well, smarty pants, you may be wondering, just what is the right motivation? Well, vs.36 talks about a crop for eternal life. That’s a good place to start. Telling others about Jesus should have nothing to do with padding the coffers or trying to look good. It has everything to do with making an impact for eternity. How many things can we do in life that will actually have an impact billions upon billions of years from now? Who won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2004? Exactly. Doesn’t matter a lick for eternity. Next Saturday both the King junior and senior high school football squads will play for the York Regional championships. Isn’t that nifty? My son Calvin’s on the senior team this year. I hope both teams win. I hope nobody gets seriously hurt. I hope our boys have a lot of fun. But know what? None of what happens next week will matter for eternity at all.

Do you know what will count for eternity? The day you or I sucks up our courage and tells a friend, co-worker, family member or even a complete stranger about Jesus, and by a miraculous working of the Holy Spirit, that person says "yes" to Jesus, that action will count far, far after the very mountains of this planet will have worn down to nothing!

Here’s another motivation for working for the harvest: it was a passion of Christ’s, it needs to be a passion of ours. Every healthy couple knows that a couple who plays together stays together. If two people discover something they both enjoy, they both like doing together, then participating in that action will only serve to deepen the relationship. Let me ask you a question: Do you love Jesus? Or is that something you just like to talk about when you’re in church? Because if you and I love Jesus, then we’ll find a way to be passionate about the harvest, because that’s one of His all-consuming passions.

One more motivation before we go: If you would, please look at vs.42. "They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’" You gotta love that: "Now we don’t just take your word for it, now we know for ourselves that this man really is the Savior of the world." What’s the best motivation? Jesus Himself is the best motivation. For He really is the Savior of the world. He is our motivation! You now, the idea behind this concept of "Savior" is the idea of deliverance, the saving from serious disaster. And that’s really Who Jesus is, and that’s really what Jesus does: Through His death and resurrection, through simply trusting in Him, we are saved from serious, serious disaster. And that really is in and of itself powerful, powerful motivation to become passionate about the harvest.

Well, it’s Remembrance Day Sunday. Tony Campolo tells the story set in World War I. As the night wore on, as the fierce battle settled into trench warfare, a lieutenant commanded his men to sneak across a field and attack the enemy. As the men inched their way across, suddenly gunfire rang out, and the frightened men scrurried back to their own trenches as quickly as they could. When the gunfire ceased it was almost eerily still, excepted for the moaning and groaning of one of the men who had been left behind on the field, wounded. The man kept crying for his friend, George, begging him to come and save him. George, in turn, begged the young lieutenant to be allowed to go and get his wounded friend. But the lieutenant resolutely said "no" over and over and over again. "I’ve lost him," he shouted to George, "I don’t want to lose you, too." But George’s pleading just became too much, so that finally, in exasperation, the lieutenant finally said, "Okay! If you want to go and get yourself killed, go ahead! I’m tired of listening to your whining. Go out and get yourself killed, if that’s what you want to do!"

George sneaked over the edge of the trench and slowly inched his way to his wounded friend, and then painstakingly grabbed him and pulled him back to safety. He got him safely back to the trench, and after one final shove, pushed him over the edge of the trench, while George himself fell on top of him. But it was too late—he was dead.

The lieutenant yelled, "George, I told you there was no point to your bravery. Why did you risk your life? You put the entire unit in jeopardy. And for what? There was no point to what you did. You were a fool!"

But George replied, "I was no fool. When I got to him he was still alive, and his last words he said were, ‘George! I knew you’d come!’"

That’s what a friend does. That’s what Jesus did for us all. In our despair and loneliness, somebody came to tell us about Him, somebody came to bring us to Him. He left the safety and security of heaven to come to us. (T. Campolo, Let me Tell You a Story, pg.17, 18) And His passion is for the harvest!

So allow me to ask you this: What is going to be the sequel of your life? For this moment on, how are you going to spend your life? And Jesus wants you and I to make the sequel of your life and mine all about the harvest.