John - Week 10

Ripe for Harvest 

READ 

John 4:35-36 

35 “You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!”  

These verses are often referred to, but little is said about the larger context. Could it be that the harvest Jesus was referring to was the Samaritan people coming toward Him and the disciples? The disciples were overly concerned about Him eating, but Jesus said, “Wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.”  

REFLECT 

Are you sometimes guilty of praying for those in other lands to be saved when you have people around you who may be hungry for the Gospel? 

RESPOND 

What do you think you would see if Jesus told you to “wake up and look around”? Talk with a friend about this question. 

 Gather the Harvest 

READ 

John 4:37-38 

37 “You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”  

Jesus made some analogies to planting and harvesting to teach the disciples a spiritual lesson. The disciples had planted no spiritual seed in the lives of the Samaritans, yet they were about to harvest where someone else had planted. The apostle Paul made a similar parallel for the Corinthians who were divided over who was the better leader. In 1 Corinthians 3:6 Paul wrote, “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” 

REFLECT 

How do you think God is primarily using you, as a planter or as a harvester? 

RESPOND 

Whenever you experience spiritual results are you aware that someone else planted and that it was God who gave the increase?  Take time to thank God for what others have done?

A Two-Day Stop 

READ 

John 4:39-40 

39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days… 

The apostle John continues to write about the spiritual harvest among the Samaritans. Notice how God uses others to point people to Jesus. The Samaritans believed in Jesus because of what the woman told them. They were so pleased to meet the Messiah personally that they asked Him to stay with them. And He did! Think of how privileged they felt to have the Lord Jesus Christ with them, not for just a little time but for two days. 

REFLECT 

Are you aware that believers in Christ actually have Jesus living inside of them? See Colossians 1:27 for this truth. The Samaritans had Jesus for two days; He lives in believers every day. 

RESPOND 

Are you working with a disciple? Hopefully you are or soon will be. Both of you need to talk about the importance of letting others see Christ in you by your comments and actions. Knowing Jesus is in you will give you assurance of sharing his glory. 

Now We Believe 

READ 

John 4:41-42 

41 …long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”   

Jesus stayed with the Samaritans for two days. After two days they had also heard His message and believed in Him. Now their faith was based on not just the woman’s testimony but on the fact they had personally met and heard Him. Although the Samaritans were steeped in a religion contrary to what the Old Testament taught, they were now convinced Jesus was the Savior of the world.  

REFLECT 

An individual cannot personally meet Jesus today, but what is one key way they can know about Him and what He taught? 

RESPOND 

What steps do you take so those you point to Christ will have their faith based on Him and not on just your testimony? 

On to Galilee 

READ 

John 4:43-45 

43 At the end of the two days, Jesus went on to Galilee. 44 He himself had said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown. 45 Yet the Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen everything he did there.  

Having stopped shortly in Samaria, Jesus now goes on to His hometown area. John’s observation about a prophet not being honored in his own hometown can also be experienced on a personal level today. A leader of a country or college professor may be addressed with various titles, but at home he is just called by his first name. Even though Jesus was back home, He was welcomed because of what others had seen Him do at the Passover in Jerusalem. The Passover was a yearly celebration for the Jews. It would later be at the Passover that Jesus would give His life on the cross for the sins of the world. 

REFLECT 

You may have some special titles now or will have in the future. Will it bother you when hometown people do not use those titles? Why or why not? 

RESPOND 

If you have trusted in Jesus for your salvation, you have also seen Him do many things. What impresses you most about what you have seen Him do in your life and in the lives of others?