“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh
harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for
they are white already to harvest.” –John 4:35 (KJV)
We’re probably all relatively familiar with this scripture. Jesus had just ministered to the woman at the well and she had just left her water pot, and had gone running to tell others about Him. His disciples were perplexed. First, they didn’t think He should be talking to a Samaritan. Secondly, they were sure He shouldn’t be talking to a woman, and certainly not this one with such a reputation. And thirdly, they thought that He should be hungry, but He had made a statement that they didn’t understand about having “meat to eat” that they didn’t know about.
We’re probably all relatively familiar with this scripture. Jesus had just ministered to the woman at the well and she had just left her water pot, and had gone running to tell others about Him. His disciples were perplexed. First, they didn’t think He should be talking to a Samaritan. Secondly, they were sure He shouldn’t be talking to a woman, and certainly not this one with such a reputation. And thirdly, they thought that He should be hungry, but He had made a statement that they didn’t understand about having “meat to eat” that they didn’t know about.
Jesus is often very perplexing,
even today. He doesn’t see things as we
sometimes do, through the eyes of doubt, fear, unforgiveness, prejudice,
racism, sexism, carnality, or any of these other human discriminating traits that
we so often struggle with. He has the
ability to see things from the Father’s perspective. Of course He does! He is God after all, even though He was in
human flesh. Yet, His way of seeing
things is very hard to comprehend from our perspective.
When Jesus spoke this
sentence above to His disciples. I
suppose it must have been in late winter or early spring of the year in His region,
nearly planting time. I say this because
He specifically mentions four months until harvest season. He told His disciples not to say there was “yet
four months… then cometh harvest.”
The disciples were ‘stuck’,
seeing things through human eyes. While Jesus
saw things from the divine perspective.
Men cannot make the harvest come at planting season. It’s even somewhat hard to even imagine it. For us in Northern Ohio, it would be like expecting
a crop of corn or beans to mature in May.
It is not going to happen in the natural.
Jesus, however, knew some things
that the disciples didn’t. He knew that
God’s timetable isn’t like our own. He knew
that ‘spiritual seasons’, can change instantly! You can be in mid-winter, and
one breath of God can change the season to harvest! He, also knew that seeds which had been sown by
others before, were ready to spring forth. They were only waiting for a catalyst
to bring forth the harvest, He was that catalyst!
Let me urge you all, stop
looking through eyes that are dimmed by carnal prejudices and limited earthly
expectations. Begin to see things as God
sees them! Listen to what He is
saying. Even if it perplexes you because
it isn’t what you imagined, trust HIM! Jesus is the catalyst! Seasons are
changing! Harvest is coming!
