John 4:35-38 35Do you not say, ‘Are there yet four months until comes the harvest’ comes? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For in this the saying is true, ‘One is the sower and another is the reaper.’ 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
Jesus illustrates the “work” or task before him and before his disciples with several short parabolic sayings about harvesting. The typical growing season in some parts of the world is about four months, which is how long it takes for many plants and trees to bear fruit or vegetables. The four months of waiting can seem long, and the farmer may wonder if it will ever come. It is possible but unclear if Jesus and his disciples were traveling through Samaria before the harvest, and so Jesus just needed to point out to the nearby fields as he was talking. There was no need to wait four more long months because the fields were ready for harvest right then.
As verse 36 indicates, once again, Jesus is not talking literally, about the wheat out in the field but the more significant harvest of souls. The harvest of people’s souls for eternal life had already begun in his ministry. The Jews and Samaritans did not need to wait any longer for the Messiah because he was right in their midst. The reaper did not have to wait for the harvest because the harvest was ready as soon as the sower planted. This same thought is found in Amos 9:13: “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed.'”
Jesus was the sower who brought the message of eternal life. The disciples would be the ones to reap this harvest as they went out and shared the message of eternal life. Verse 37 suggests that the disciples would later be the sowers, planting the seeds of the gospel. Others would follow them and harvest the work they started. Jesus’ teaching in this passage fits well with the parable of the soils in Mark 4 that connects the harvest with the words of Jesus.
Ver 38 extends the planting to the past. Those who planted what the disciples would harvest could refer to the Old Testament prophets and all the faithful remnant from the previous centuries who followed God’s commands and remained true in their worship of him. They left a heritage of faith for those in the first century. They longed for what the disciples were experiencing in person. The disciples may not have understood all that Jesus was talking about at that moment, but as they began their mission of preaching the good news, they could reflect back and see the connections between prophecy, Jesus’ ministry, and their call. The harvest of souls for eternity is ripe right before our eyes.
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