Who's Harvesting Who?

"I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor." (John 4:38)

I keep thinking about the relation of Jesus' disciples to what was going on in this story. It seems obvious in a number of ways that they just were not “getting it” very well. Their prejudices were so strong that they were blinded from appreciating what Jesus was all about – openly loving and saving every person regardless of culture, gender or background. Their training in religion, like ours, handicapped them from entering into a sympathetic spirit with that like motivated Jesus.

And yet they were with Jesus for that very purpose and He was determined to do whatever it would take to transform them into men who would finally “get it”. Just as He had chosen the children of Israel and had worked with them for centuries, not based on their greatness or their numbers or their goodness but because they were the weakest and the fewest in number and in need of the most help – likewise Jesus chose men for disciples who in religious people's eyes were possibly the least qualified to invite into a religious training curriculum.

So I suppose that it should not be much of a surprise that the dullest people in class were the ones who were under the most intensive training. Jesus, the most advanced teacher ever to live on planet earth chose to work with the most difficult and slowest learners just as He had chosen the Israelites centuries before to prove that love can reach to the lowest places and transform the most problematic people into efficient reflectors of His glory if they are willing to cooperate. That gives me hope too.

But at this point in their training they were still largely clueless though nonetheless very much loved by Jesus. So Jesus takes them through another mentoring exercise to show them what real religion is supposed to look like. Jesus came to earth primarily to reveal the truth about God and how God wants to relate to sinners. The Jews had very distorted ideas of who a sinner was and what made a person a sinner and based on their ideas they considered these Samaritans to be on the hopeless side of salvation. But Jesus completely ignored labels and prejudices when dealing with people and saw everyone around Him from the perspective of their heart condition and the atmosphere of their spirits.

As I ponder this verse something rather fascinating begins to emerge. I cannot be certain yet if what I am seeing is exactly what Jesus was trying to convey, but if so I find it compelling. Jesus said that He had sent the disciples to reap where they had not previously labored. That seems rather plain enough in relation to this story. It appears to me that Jesus did not intend for the disciples to just go into town to only look for food while totally ignoring the people they would encounter there. Yes, that is likely what happened on their short trip, but it was certainly not what Jesus saw as the real potential for them.

Now He was reviewing their trip upon their return and in a way was critiquing what had taken place in order to try to get them to perceive their roles differently. “I sent you into town for much more important reasons than just to look for food. These physical exercises are always just a cover for our real mission in life” This is the point where Jesus was trying to wake them up as much as possible to the kind of reality that was the context in which He operated.

But what comes next is rather interesting depending on the assumptions we bring to this story ourselves. We too have a great deal of blindness because of our assumptions about how God operates and relates to various kinds of people and those prejudices also prevent us from seeing many things in the Bible. It says here that others have labored and you have entered into their labor.

This is where it can get really interesting. Who are the others that Jesus is talking about here? Is it His own encounter with the woman He had just finished talking to there at the well? Was it some unknown person who had had an influence on her or the townspeople before Jesus had arrived there? What might Jesus be really talking about in this phrase?

It occurred to me this morning that very possibly Jesus might have been referring to the woman herself. Maybe this woman had “gotten it” so quickly that she instantly and even unconsciously had become a highly efficient laborer with Jesus and was even then working very hard to help Him bring in a great harvest that is described in the rest of this story. But the amazing part of this is that what might be seen in this verse, at least in my view, possibly the disciples themselves may have become part of the harvest that she was working to bring in. Maybe when Jesus said that they had entered into the labor of someone else that at least in part it could mean that they had become part of someone else's harvest.

I unfortunately feel more identity with these dull-minded disciples than I do with this woman who so quickly “gets it” and jumps right in to be a co-laborer with Jesus. I suspect that I may end up like these disciples as part of the harvest that needs to be invited and even instructed in many ways by new people who may not know as much about the Bible as I do but may have far greater maturity in other emotional areas than I do. I sense that I too am often blinded by my religious prejudices which prevents me from appreciating the potential for someone to minister to me whom I would normally assume needs my instruction more.

I want the eyes of heaven and the heart of Jesus and most of all His humility to see people the way He sees them instead of through the dull eyes of religious prejudice. I want to listen to the Spirit speaking to my heart and revealing to me what is really taking place in His harvest instead of insisting that it must happen the way my religious culture insists it must take place. I want to cultivate an awareness of what God is really doing all around me that currently I am far to blind and ignorant and prejudiced to perceive at this point. I want to quit being so clueless and start entering into the real joy of my Lord.