Variations in the Harvest

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done." So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. (John 4:39-40)

I just love this part of the story. It warms my heart and stirs my imagination. But it also raises even more questions. I like questions. Questions that are stirred up when I read the Word give me opportunities to listen to the Holy Spirit reveal more to my heart about God and how He feels about me and how He works. So when I feel questions coming up I know that the One who inspires questions also provides answers if I am willing to spend time with Him.

This passage brings me back to a subject that has been of intense interest to me for a very long time. It is also the main issue that brought me to land on spending so much time in the book of John instead of continuing on with my systematic study of the New Testament. The book of John I believe focuses on two main issues that are central in the life of every true believer in Jesus. The first is the real truth about love and the second is the issue of what makes up true belief.

Both of these subjects are very much a part of this story though love is not directly mentioned. But if love had not been obvious and very much present in Jesus' interactions with this woman and the people of her town nothing would have taken place and no one would have entered into belief. It is love that inspires belief and it is belief that opens up the heart to receive even more love and to reflect it to others to in turn inspire curiosity and draw them into belief.

This is so different and refreshing from the kind of “belief” and “love” that was around when I was growing up. Both of these words had more of the religious version of definition rather than the real meanings attached to them. I could go on ad nauseum about the mistaken views of these concepts that are so familiar to me, but I would rather spend most of my time dwelling on what I am now beginning to see is the real truth about them. That is why I am spending all of my time in this book, because I want to experience the real thing and get away from the counterfeit ideas that have kept me in confusion and blindness all of my life to the real glory and beauty of God's character.

As I have said before, I am jealous of this woman and all the other people in her town because I am far more like the baffled disciples blundering along behind Jesus wondering what He is doing and why instead of entering into the joy of God and celebrating with abandon the goodness and kindness that He is showing me. I want to celebrate, but I want it to be from the heart and not just a performance.
That means that my heart has to “get it” and for that to happen I have to depend on Jesus to open my eyes and replace my heart of stone and do whatever it is that He does to transform a person completely from darkness to light. I am tasting it, I am excited about it, I want it, I ask for it but I still feel like the bulk of it is still ahead in my experience.

I am fascinated and also confused by this statement that many believed because of the words the woman spoke when she came rushing into town all breathless and animated and totally filled with joy. That certainly would get my attention like it did their's if I had been there and known the history behind this woman. But to move so many people into a state of true faith in a person they had never even met and knew nothing more about than the implications behind the few words of this woman is absolutely astounding to me. Obviously the Spirit of God was doing most of the communicating at this point because on the surface there simply is no compelling power that I can see strong enough in these simple words to transform so many people without something far deeper happening that does not appear on the surface.

But there is much more in here that grabs my attention and intensifies my inquisitiveness. I really wonder why John felt it so important to explain how two different groups of people in this town came to believe in Jesus and embrace Him so readily. It is absolutely clear that this town was ripe for harvesting – that can't be missed in this story. But I find it compelling that John wanted to show that different people come into belief at different times and by different means. Some of these people were ready and eager to believe simply based on very little evidence. Yet others needed Jesus Himself to spend some time with them before they were willing to trust in the testimony of this transformed woman they knew so well.

Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world." (John 4:41-42)

Somehow I sense that there are extremely important reasons for John taking the effort to carefully spell out these various ways people experience true belief. Again, the whole book of John repeatedly and incessantly talks about this issue of belief and I feel that most of us know very little about the true version of this most important element in our experience. This belief is the very same thing we call faith, and what I have seen called faith in most people's lives is generally useless and powerless and not very attractive. It certainly does not have the compelling power to draw a whole city full of people out of town to chase after a single man and to invite Him to stay with them as their guest based on such a scant testimony as this.

It is clear here that there are several ways and timings through which various people will enter into true faith. I would like to grasp this much better in my own mind, but far more urgently I want to experience myself the intensity and reality of the kind of belief and faith that all of these people suddenly encountered and embraced. I want to have a testimony confront me that will unlock the secret places in my heart that are desperate for a real Savior to come and spend time with me. I am thirsty to drink for real this water of life and to get involved in the harvest that is going on all around me that I am largely oblivious to and certainly not very involved in at this point. I am tired of missing out on all the excitement and waiting for all the deep damage to be repaired that is starting to surface from the recesses of my soul.

But as I become more aware of the growing intensity of my own hunger and thirst I realize that this in itself is really a good sign of hope. I have been praying to be more real and to feel my true hunger for a long time. So I should not be surprised – and I'm not really – when these feelings begin to show up in my mind and heart. I want to feel my true condition and be fully converted so that God can use me and put me to work in His harvest operation. I want a piece of the action, but I don't want to do it without a true conversion and a genuine encounter with Jesus.

So as I see it right now, I am going to keep tagging along behind Jesus with His other bewildered disciples as He continues to patiently and kindly mentor me on what is really going on. And I trust that when the time is ripe for me that I too will be harvested and then be prepared to turn around and effectively become a reaper myself in full cooperation with Him.