John 4:32

But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. BUT HE SAID UNTO THEM, I HAVE MEAT TO EAT THAT YE KNOW NOT OF. What spirituality of mind does this answer breathe! The pronouns, "I" and "ye" are emphatically expressed [ Egoo (G1473) ... humeis (G5210)], sharply to mark the contrast between His thoughts and theirs at this time. 'As for Me, I have been eating all this time, and such food as ye dream not of.' What can that be? they ask each other; have any supplies been brought Him in our absence? He knows what they are saying, though He hears it not....

32._I have food to eat which you know not. _It is wonderful that, when he is fatigued and hungry, he refuses to eat; for if it be said that he does this for the purpose of instructing us, by his example, to endure hunger, why then did he not do so always? But he had another object than to say that we ought simply to refuse food; for we must attend to this circumstance, that his anxiety about the present business urges him so strongly, and absorbs his whole mind, so that it gives him no uneasiness to despise food. And yet he does not say that he is so eager to obey the commands of _his Father_, that he neither eats nor drinks. He only points out what he must do first, and what must be done afterwards; and thus he shows, by his example, that the kingdom of God ought to be preferred to all the comforts of the body. God allows us, indeed, to eat and drink, provided that we are not withdrawn...

27-42 The disciples wondered that Christ talked thus with a Samaritan. Yet they knew it was for some good reason, and for some good end. Thus when particular difficulties occur in the word and providence of God, it is good to satisfy ourselves that all is well that Jesus Christ says and does. Two things affected the woman. The extent of his knowledge. Christ knows all the thoughts, words, and actions, of all the children of men. And the power of his word. He told her secret sins with power. She fastened upon that part of Christ's discourse, many would think she would have been most shy of repeating; but the knowledge of Christ, into which we are led by conviction of sin, is most likely to be sound and saving. They came to him: those who would know Christ, must meet him where he records his name. Our Master has left us an example, that we may learn to do the will of God as he did; with d...

Verse 32. _I HAVE MEAT TO EAT THAT YE KNOW NOT OF._] Our blessed Lord seizes every opportunity to raise the minds of his apostles to heavenly things, through the medium of earthly matters. Nor does he _force_ these things into such service. Properly understood, earthly _substances_ are the types, representatives, and shadows of heavenly things....

I HAVE MEAT TO EAT - See John 4:34....

EXPOSITION JOHN 4:1 7. _The ministry and revelation of the Lord to those beyond the strict compass of the theocracy. _This passage describes an incident of consummate interest, and records a specimen of our Lord's intercourse with individuals, and the reaction of that instruction upon the disciples. The event is a solitary chink through which the light of historical fact falls upon an otherwise darkened and unknown period of the Saviour's life. When we skirt a forest we see at intervals, where by some accident of growth the light falls upon a narrow space, a miniature world of life and loveliness of every kind, suggesting what might happen if every square yard of the forest could receive a similar illumination. Every day of that wondrous life of Christ may have been equally full of meaning to some souls. "These things are written, that

BUT HE SAID UNTO THEM,.... That is, "Jesus", as the Persic, or the Lord Jesus, as the Ethiopic versions express it: I HAVE MEAT TO EAT THAT YE KNOW NOT OF: meaning the conversion of the Samaritan woman, and of other Samaritans, who were flocking in great numbers to him, which he knew, though his disciples did not; and the harvest of souls he had a prospect of, see John 4:35, was as meat unto him, delightful and refreshing; and his mind and thoughts were so taken up with these things, that he had no inclination to any corporeal food....

John 4:1. _When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria._ When he was wanted in so many places, he did not care to stay among the Pharisees where he was not wanted. They would not receive his message, so he quitted the lordly professors, and went to look after a fallen woman. Christ's estimates of usefulness are not always the same as ours. We think it a grand thing to be the means of converting a great man; Christ thinks it a worthy work to convert a great sinner. John 4:5. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Jos

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. He Must Needs Pass Through Samaria. (John 4:1 .)_ 2. At Sychar's Well; Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. (John 4:6 .) 3. The Woman's Witness and the Believing Samaritans. (John 4:27 .) 4. His Return to Galilee. (John 4:43 .) 5. The Second Miracle, the Healing of the Nobleman's Son. (John 4:46 .) In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord told His disciples not to go into the way of the Gentiles and not to enter into any city of the Samaritans. (Matthew 10:5

THE RETURN OF THE DISCIPLES. The disciples return with the food they have bought. They are surprised that Jesus is talking with a woman (_cf. Pirke Aboth,_ i. 5, Prolong not discourse with a woman). The woman returns to the city, and her report leads the men to come and see. Meanwhile the disciples offer the food to Jesus. But His experiences have banished physical hunger. He explains that His true life is supported by doing His Father's work. Signs of accomplishment are not wanting. In common parlance four months separate seed-time from harvest (unless John 4:35_ a_ is to be taken as a note of time, in which case the event must have happened in December or January). In the spiritual harvest, which is independent of time, the grain is already ripe, as they will see if they look at the men coming from the city to Him. When fruit is gathered in to eternal life, sower and reaper share a com...