John 4:38

I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. I SENT YOU, [ egoo (G1473) apesteila (G649)]. The "I" here is emphatic: I, the Lord of the whole harvest. When He says, "I sent you," He refers back to their past appointment to the apostleship, though it points only to the future discharge of it, for they had nothing to do with the present ingathering of the Sycharites. TO REAP THAT WHEREON YE BESTOWED NO LABOUR - meaning that much of their future success would arise from the preparation already made for them. OTHER MEN LABOURED - referring, as we think, to the Old Testament labourers, the Baptist, and by implication Himself, though He studiously keeps this in the back...

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...

I SENT YOU - In the commission given you to preach the gospel. You have not labored or toiled in preparing the way for the great harvest which is now to be gathered in. OTHER MEN LABOURED - * The prophets, who long labored to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. (2)The teachers among the Jews, who have read and explained the law and taught the people. * John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way. And, * The Saviour himself, who by his personal ministry taught the people, and prepared them for the success which was to attend the preaching of the apostles. Especially did Jesus lay the foundation for the rapid and extensive spread of the gospel. “He” saw comparatively little fruit of his ministry. He confined his labors

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

I SENT YOU TO REAP,.... To preach the Gospel, and gather in souls by your ministry; referring to the mission of them in Matthew 10:6; THAT WHEREON YE BESTOWED NO LABOUR; being sent to the Jews, who had the writings of the prophets, and were versed in them; and had learned from them that the Messiah was to come, and were now in general expectation of him; so that they had nothing more to do, than to declare to those persons who were cultivated by the prophets, and were like to ground tilled and manured, that the Messiah was come, and the kingdom of heaven was at hand. OTHER MEN LABOURED; the prophets, and John the Baptist: AND YE ARE ENTERED INTO THEIR LABOURS; to finish the work they had begun, and which was almost done to their hands....

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._ Our Saviour was not a man of strife; he was quite ready to contend with the Pharisees on fit occasions, but just then he avoided an encounter with them. Besides, one woman of Samaria, whom he was going to save, was worth more to him than ten thousand Pharisees who would not be saved by him. Most of the learning and culture of Palestine was possessed by the Pharisees, but Christ thought nothing of it in comparison with the soul of the one poor woman of Samaria whom he was going to save. John 4:4. And he must needs go through Samaria. Thene cometh he to a city of Samaria, w

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...

SENT YOU TO REAP THAT WHEREON YE BESTOWED NO LABOR. The verb "sent" is past, and refers to some event before the present incident. It can only be explained by referring it to the events of the last eight months. The disciples had baptized multitudes, "more than John" (chapter 4:1); so many that John's disciples reported "all men come unto him" (chapter 3:26). The disciples of Christ who baptized all of these (chapter 4:2), were reaping the fruit of John's sowing, to. great extent, supplemented by the labors of Christ. John had sown; they were reaping. OTHER MEN LABORED. John and other holy men, but the disciples had entered in upon their labors. So, too, Christ sowed, and at Pentecost, in Judea, and in Samaria, they afterwards entered into his labors. See the reaping of what he had sowed in Samaria, at this time, in Acts 8:5-8....

BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS (John 4:1-9)...