Jesus’ disciples, who had gone into Sychar to the local “McFalafel” for some lunch, returned as the conversation was concluding. They were surprised that Jesus was talking to a woman, but said nothing. After all, they were the “disciples” and He was their Rabbi. Or perhaps they were physically hungry and wanted to eat. The one thing they did say to Jesus was, “Rabbi, eat!” That’s all they needed to say for the “Rabbi” to turn the occasion into a teaching opportunity for His disciples.
For the woman, the
subject was the “living water,” because she was coming to draw water. For the disciples, the subject was “real food,”
because they were thinking about lunch. As
with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, the disciples had to transition from
the earthly picture to the heavenly truth.
Jesus said, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” The disciples wondered if someone had given
him food while they were in town. Jesus satisfied
their curiosity:
My food is to do the will of
Him who sent me and to finish His work.
Jesus had a
pre-occupation with His Father’s will.
That is not a bad thing. It’s not
being “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good,” as we are sometimes
told. We see it in the Lord’s Prayer
(Mt. 6:10) and at Gethsemane (Mt. 26:42). Jesus wanted nothing but to please the One who
sent Him (John 5:30; 6:38). Jesus
specifically tells us the Father’s will for the Son in John 6:39-40:
This is the will of the Father
who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise
it up at the last day. And this is the
will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may
have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Jesus knows this because it is the Father’s
decree from eternity past in which the Father promised to give the Son the
nations as an inheritance and the ends of the earth for His possession (Ps.
2:7-8). For the nations to become the
people of Christ, He must die for their sins so they can believe in Him; and He
must defeat death in His resurrection so He can raise them up at the last
day. This is the work the Father gave
Him and which He finished (John 17:4).
And note: this is the reason He had to go through Samaria (John 4:4). He needed to gather some of those the Father
had given Him. And He needed to teach
His disciples, then and today, to set aside their prejudices so they also could
do the Father’s work.
Jesus opened the
eyes of His followers to the harvest.
Some believe the “white” fields were the Samaritans coming out of the
city to see the Messiah. The “real food”
for us is to be involved in bringing others to Christ by sowing and
reaping. The gospel of Jesus’ death and
resurrection must be sown in the world, and as the Holy Spirit does His work of
regeneration, those who hear the gospel must be called to believe in Him. Am I obsessed with the Father’s will? Are you?
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