John – Chapter 4:27-42
4:27-29 “Come! See a man” – The disciples are amazed that Jesus is speaking with the woman, not simply due to gender but that she is a Samaritan. They’d dumbfounded. John gives the sort of questions that they should be asking. Jesus is seeking her (4:23) and it is the beginning of worship “in Spirit and truth.” Her words, “Come! See” (4:29), echo Philip’s invitation to Nathaniel (1:39) and are frequently used by rabbis for consideration of the Scriptures (1:41, 45). The woman comes to the same conclusion, “Could this be the Christ?” (4:29). Although there are no explicit Scripture citations, the allusions are suggestive that she came to this conclusion from hearing the Biblical overtones of “living water,” “husband,” and “worship.” Apparently others agreed as we will read later (4:42). 4:31-34 “I have food to eat” – Remember that in 4:8, the disciples had left to find food. In this brief exchange, we have more irony as Jesus and the disciples are talking with two different meanings. As with the water, John doesn’t record whether he had a drink or ate any food. The “food” Jesus must eat is the will of the Father, as the one sent by the Father (4:34). He reveals His true Sonship by His accomplishment of the Father’s will. They are not of two wills but one will. This may preparation for the manna discourse in John 6:27-55. For Jesus to “eat the food” of the Father’s will (for Him to die the death for the life of the wold) is for Him to give himself unto faith so that those who believe might eat the “bread” which He is. 4:34-38 “So that he who sows and he who reaps might rejoice together” – The verb “finish” or “complete” connects this discourse with the cross (19:28). Here it is also connected with the idea of a harvest. Again, there are layers of meaning. The sowing (Samaritan woman) and reaping (Samaritans returning) are both “now” as in 4:23. Sowing and reaping is a common OT image for the coming of God in salvation and judgment. See Is 27:12-13; Ezekiel 36:22-28; 47:1-12; Zech. 14:8,16-19. This is an ingathering of all who were scattered (Is. 11:12; Jn 11:49-52). For Christians, this gathering is to the cross by Baptism. Sowing, reaping, threshing, and gathering are all brought together in Jesus. Consider Jesus’s words in…