John 4:39-45 (ESV)

³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” ³⁹ Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” ⁴³ After the two days he departed for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) ⁴⁵ So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

The Samaritan woman with whom Jesus conversed went back to tell everyone in town that she had possibly found the Messiah. Jesus then told his disciples that the fields were ready for harvest. Verse 36 records that he said the reaper “is receiving wages.” In other words, the one who reaps, or brings in the harvest, was already at work and receiving payment. The harvest, or the fruit the reaper brought in, was made up of the souls in Samaria who turned to Jesus in repentance and faith. Verse 36 tells us Jesus explained to the disciples that the sower and the reaper work together. The Samaritans believed in Jesus, and they even asked him, a Jewish teacher, to stay with them. Things were changing, and Jesus began to break down walls of animosity that had been established generations ago. Many from the town professed that Jesus was the Savior of not just the Jews or the Samaritans, but of people from all nations of the world. Two days after this encounter, Jesus and his disciples traveled into Galilee, where he was accepted, although not fully embraced in the same way he was by the Samaritans.

Jesus taught that one sows and another reaps. One plants the seeds and the other secures the harvest. Again, the harvest Jesus referred to was one of human souls. Jesus clearly taught that we all play different roles in the process of evangelism. Some sow the word of God in human hearts by conversation and discussion, and others direct those souls to Jesus when the time is right. Both the sowing and the reaping are important to Jesus. Have you ever felt discouraged because it doesn’t seem like you are the one reaping the harvest of many souls? Maybe you have tried to engage in conversation about God, Jesus, heaven and hell, but few have come to the place of repentance and faith. Be encouraged still! You never know how many of those people have been or will be born again and what your part in the process was along the way. Keep talking to others about Jesus. Be prepared to step into whatever role the Lord wants you to play as he unfolds his grand design before the watching universe.