The harvest in the kingdom of God: V. 31. In the mean while His disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat. V. 32. But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. V. 33. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought Him aught to eat? V. 34. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work. V. 35. 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.
In the meantime, between the woman's leaving the well and the men's coming from the city, a little incident took place at the well which gave Jesus an opportunity to impart to His disciples some very necessary instruction. The disciples having brought food, they begged their Master to eat, and thus to renew His strength after the exertions of the morning. As true man, Jesus not only became tired and exhausted at times, but He ordinarily was obliged to partake of food to sustain His life.
But here He had apparently forgotten all about His fatigue. He tells the disciples that He has food to eat of which they know nothing. The Lord made use of every possible chance to raise the minds of the apostles to heavenly things through the medium of earthly matters. But the disciples, with the usual carnal understanding which they exhibited, thought only of earthly food and of the possibility of some one's having brought Him something to eat in their absence. In this sense they discussed the matter among themselves.
Jesus, therefore, explains to them wherein His food consists. That is food and drink, complete sustenance to Him, if He does the will of His Father that sent Him, and completes His work. Jesus is sustained by the feeling which He has concerning the world's need of salvation. It was the Father's, the entire Godhead's, will from eternity that this salvation should be gained for fallen mankind, and Jesus wanted to carry out the work imposed upon Him by that counsel of the God-head.
Jesus tries to make His meaning clear to His disciples by an illustration taken from facts before their eyes. Jesus had gone to Judea in April for the festival of the Passover. About nine months He had spent in the southern province. It was now about December, four months before the beginning of harvest. The disciples should pay much closer attention to the spiritual harvest. Lifting up their eyes, they could see the men of the city coming to seek Jesus. Here was a field ripe for harvest. The Samaritans were ready for the message of the Gospel unto their salvation, the harvest of their souls could soon be gathered in. They were the firstlings out of the great mass of the heathen. That they turned to Jesus was a sign that the great harvest among the heathen of the world was at hand.