Three Minute Bible

John 4: 37-38

‘”Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.  I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.’”

When we are allowed to help with God’s harvest, we are helping in a joyful work! In my experience, seeing people come to Jesus makes me smile. So you might say that those of us who joyfully help with the “reaping” of God’s harvest are “Grinning Reapers.”  Continue reading “The Grinning Reaper”

John 4: 35-36

‘“Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.”

I write this after getting home after an evening of running errands with my wife. Since we were out and about we stopped for dinner at a local fast food place. A few minutes after we sat down two men sat down at the table next to us. Continue reading “Harvest”

John 4: 33-34

”Then his disciples said to each other, ‘Could someone have brought him food?’

‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.’’’

Of course, the disciples ask a very reasonable question. Jesus is talking about food, so why wouldn’t they expect him to be talking about food?  Continue reading “Nourishment”

John 4: 31-32

‘“Meanwhile his disciples urged him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.’”

So far the disciples have seen Jesus turn water into wine, and clear the temple. At this point in John’s gospel, they have yet to see Jesus feed thousands with a few loaves and fishes. Not yet understanding that Jesus operates from a very different point of view, the disciples urge Jesus to eat something.  Continue reading “Eat Something”

John 4: 30

‘“They came out of the town and made their way toward him.”

Jesus’ disciples had just been to the town where the woman at the well lived. They had talked to people there because they were there to buy food. What were their thoughts as they walked into the town? Continue reading “Revealed”

John 4: 27-29

‘“Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’”

Once more, using the metaphor of a theater stage, the disciples enter the scene again. They register surprise, but no one asks any questions. Meanwhile the woman at the well exits stage right, and the scene changes.  Continue reading “Conversation”

John 4: 25-26

‘“The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’

Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you—I am he.’”

Getting Jesus to admit he was the Messiah was a full-time job for some of the Pharisees. Try as they might they could not pin him down because Jesus knew that any direct claim to be the Son of God would send them over the edge. Out here in the desert of Samaria, there are no Pharisees around. Continue reading “Unequivocally”

John 4:24

‘“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

With this verse, Jesus repeats himself. Usually, when God repeats himself, he is doing it for a reason. There is a saying in the sales industry that says a person has to hear something six times before it really sinks in. (Wives, take note: It’s normal for husbands to have to hear something at least twice before they get it! 🙂 ) Continue reading “Reality”

John 4:23

‘”Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”

Jesus draws a distinction between worshipping in the time to come and the kind of worship that had been going on. He also draws a distinction between “true worshippers” and other kinds of worshippers.

This distinction haunts us with a question: What kind of worshipper are we?  Continue reading “Distinctions”

John 4: 22

“You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.”

In Acts 17:16 – 34, Luke recounts that Paul visits Athens and notices the altar dedicated “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” He, a Jew, explains to the Athenians that salvation comes through Jesus Christ, another Jew.

In today’s verse, Jesus says that the Samaritans worship what they do not know. Even today there are people who worship what they do not know. How are we to know the truth?  Continue reading “Salvation”