Jesus is not in Israel — not Judah or Judea or even Galilee. He is in Samaria that often forbidden area where nothing and no one properly lived — at least from the perspective of a Good Jewish person of Jesus' day. Jesus has just concluded a public conversation with a woman — ooh, that's questionable! She was a Samaritan outcast of dubious sexual practices! Ouch, that was forbidden. Yet, Jesus has answered her searching and seeking questions and then led her to faith. She has gone to tell her own people — those who had cast her to the outer margins of their village life. But Jesus' knows her, knows her faith is real, and that her testimony is about to change village life around her forever.

Now, as so often happened, the LORD had to deal with the often "slow-to-get-it" apostles."Why are you talking to a woman, and why are you not hungry?" they asked Him.

Then Jesus explained:

"My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. You know the saying, 'Four months between planting and harvest.' But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, 'One plants and another harvests.' And it's true. I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest." (John 4:34-38 NLT)

I imagine this scene as Jesus talks to His apostles and points to the villagers coming their way. Their white headpieces bobble along as they walk toward them, and Jesus says:

"I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe [— the heads of grain are white —] ready for harvest."

There are different kinds of seasons in the life of a follower of Jesus who takes seriously the LORD's Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8-10). We often find ourselves in the harder seasons. Some are in the planting seeds season, where we keep sowing and can't see any harvestable results. Some of you have been trying to find good soil. Others have been planting seeds for what seems like a long time with few noticeable results. Others are in the watering and tending phase to see if there is any harvest in sight.

Some of you are weary and not sure you can keep on looking for soil, planting seeds, bringing water, tending to the weeds, and waiting on any hint of the harvest. It is hard work getting to know the soil and cultivating relationships so you can sow in a cultural climate hostile to the seed you sow. It is discouraging not to see quick results from all of your labor, sweat, and prayers. This can be a season that leads many of us to doubt ourselves, our calling, and our mission:

  • Did I mishear God's call?

  • Was I wrong in coming here?

  • Is this what I'm supposed to be doing at this time in my life, and especially in my family's life?

  • What am I doing wrong?

  • Is there any fruit in sight?

  • O God, please, will you let me see a little harvest... Please!

I've asked those questions, had those doubts in my patch of ministry dirt that Jesus sent me to prepare for harvest, and felt inept when others around me were harvesting. So, what word is there for the "no-or-slow" harvest seasons of our lives and ministries?

Jesus reminds us of an essential truth:

"What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, 'One plants and another harvests.'"

And I believe the LORD's promise is true!

Jesus promises us that we will share in the joy of the harvest. It may not be now, or soon, or even on the horizon. However, the Chief Sower of seeds promises us we will share in the joy of His bountiful harvest. And if we are blessed with a surprise from God's gracious love, we may experience a foretaste of this harvest when we least expect it.

I am an old dude. My hands-on sowing is less frequent and more restricted. While I do get to hear about our house church planters' successes and challenges, I don't get to be there to get wet hugging the newly baptized or lifting my hands with them when they sing their first praises to Jesus. Oh, how I've missed that and longed for those experiences!

What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!
So, imagine my surprise when we visited Rwanda Children Christian School, and I was asked to preside at the baptism of 188 people delivered from animism and incestuous living who were brought into the Kingdom of the Son of God's love. It was from a neighboring village that time had forgotten. The efforts of loving disciples took over a year of lessons on how to grow crops, training in hygiene, explanations of birth abnormalities because of incestuous inbreeding, health care that provided basic services, education for the children, and lots of love.

God's people did that consistently, beautifully, sacrificially, and hopefully. They planted the seed, watered it, removed the weeds, and then shared the Good News. These practices of gracious sowing, tending, and weeding had guided God's people in their love for people in desperate need of grace.

I was blessed to stand and welcome ninety-eight of those new family members into the fellowship of the saints as they rose from their new birth into God's family. I got delightfully wet from high-fives, handshakes, and hugs. I rejoiced over them and cried with them. I saw old men and women with tears streaming down their cheeks for joy, many wearing their best clothes to be baptized. I saw pre-teens who were excited but unsure of the road ahead; they simply believed in Jesus.

I was blessed to soak up the joy of the harvest even though I hadn't been responsible for the planting, watering, weeding, or witnessing. This experience of grace led me to remember the words of an old hymn as I anticipated the great in-gathering of God's great harvest at the end of time — that great celebration where all the sowers who haven't experienced the harvests they hoped to see.

What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
And sing and shout the victory!

On that day of the LORD's great harvest, we will all see many saved people praising Jesus and knowing that they are in the LORD's presence because we took the time, effort, prayer, and love to sow Good News into their lives.

We must not give up sowing because the harvest is long and slow in coming from your efforts. We must not quit sowing because the culture around us feels hostile to the Good News and the life of Jesus. Let's trust that Jesus' promise is true:

"The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!"

And until that day, let's pray we are surprised by joy at seeing some of the harvest now because the harvest any of us is a harvest that both the sowers and the harvesters share now and forever.

May we not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we pray we will reap a harvest because we haven't given up. And until that day dawns, may the Holy Spirit surprise us with everlasting fruit that gives us great joy and blesses us with a reminder of the great harvest yet to come. We know our labor matters, our frustrations are not in vain, and our sowing will bring a harvest — and we are praying that our hands get to touch that harvest before the coming of Jesus. In His name, we pray. Amen.