John 4:35-38 Say not you, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields… I. THE STANDPOINT. In calling the disciples' attention to the Samaritans who were ready to believe without the help of miracle, our Lord is calling upon them to take a larger, higher, and more spiritual view of things; to labour for that which is more enduring than the grass, the bread without which man cannot live. He is looking down upon us. 1. What does He see? He sees us eager, busy, absorbed, not in things unlawful, but in things below the supreme worth. Harvests, markets, eating, drinking. (1) The poor struggling for a maintenance. (2) The middle class striving for wealth, comfort, culture. (3) The rich absorbed in society and ambitious projects. (4) The student. (5) The philanthropist. 2. These are not to be condemned, but are commendable in their way. But the wrong lies in the fact that we are buried in these things. 3. Christ summons us to rise above these things to His own standpoint. II. THE VISIONS. 1. Of the world's great spiritual need. There was something in these Samaritans not so obvious as pain, or physical hunger, and that did not seem to be of such importance as the growing corn, or the meat the disciples had brought. Look at the people around you, not with the superficial eye, but with the eye of faith, and you will see in them the children of God, wanting God. This want is not to be satisfied by better houses, sufficient bread, present comfort. There is need in man's heart for a peace, a joy, a liberty, a life, not otherwise to be obtained but by fellowship with the Father. 2. Of the Son of man who can supply this need? This was His revelation to the woman. Every page of the Gospels shows that Christ was not indifferent to man's physical woes. But it was for their spiritual wants that He cared most. And to become food for this He died, as a grain of wheat sinks into the ground to die, in order to bring man back to God, and become the food of the world. 3. OF the future. (1) The remote future. That which is near is apt to hide that which is at a great distance, and so that which is near in time is apt to hide that which is of infinite importance in the far future. To-morrow with its cares and engagements is big enough to hide from us the eternal. How are we to qualify ourselves for looking on the Lamb slain for us? Only by doing His work and carrying His burden. (2) The near future, Max Muller tells us that "there are no people more ripe for Christianity than the Hindoos," and the same holds good all over the world. But we can only see it with the eye of faith and the spirit of sacrifice. (H. Arnold Thomas, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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