I
sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.
John 4:38
John 4 [33.] The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
John 4 [34.] Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
John 4 [39.] From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Meaning:
Standing by Jacob’s well, with the people of Sychar coming across the fields toward him, Jesus has told his disciples, “lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already,” and reminded them of the saying, “One sows, and another reaps” (John 4:35-37). This verse completes his words. The disciples are being sent into a harvest that others prepared.
- “I sent you to reap”
Jesus speaks as if the sending has already happened. The disciples had been baptizing on his behalf (John 4:2), and he would soon send them out to preach (Matthew 10:5-8). Their calling is to gather in people for God’s Kingdom. Elsewhere Jesus said, “The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).
- “That for which you haven’t labored”
The disciples had done nothing to prepare the Samaritans. They had gone into town to buy food, and when they returned they were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. Yet now a whole town was coming out to meet him. The harvest was a gift. God’s people always receive more than they have earned.
- “Others have labored”
Who are the “others”? Jesus may mean the prophets, who spoke of the Messiah for centuries without seeing him; he told his disciples that “many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them” (Matthew 13:17). Peter writes that the prophets “sought and searched diligently” concerning this salvation (1 Peter 1:10). He may also mean John the Baptist, who prepared the way and was baptizing not far from Samaria (John 3:23). Most immediately, Jesus himself had sown the seed in the conversation at the well, and the Samaritan woman had carried the word to her town. Even the Samaritans’ knowledge of Moses and their hope of a coming prophet had prepared the ground.
- “You have entered into their labor”
The disciples would see this saying fulfilled after Jesus’ resurrection. When persecution scattered the church, the word was preached in Samaria, and when the apostles heard “that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them” (Acts 8:14). The two apostles prayed for the new believers “that they might receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:15). John, who once wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan village (Luke 9:51-56), entered into a harvest that Jesus had begun at Jacob’s well.
The Significance of John 4:38
- Humility in service
No servant of God starts from nothing. Every believer’s fruit rests on the prayers, teaching and faithfulness of others. Paul wrote, “I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6).
- Encouragement for sowers
Those who labour without seeing results are not wasting their effort. Others may reap what they have sown, and all will rejoice together.
Cross-References:
John 4:35-37: “One sows, and another reaps.” The saying this verse explains.
Matthew 13:17: “Many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see.” The labour of those who came before.
1 Corinthians 3:6: “I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.” Shared work in God’s field.
Acts 8:14-17: Peter and John go to Samaria to pray for the new believers. The harvest in Samaria.
Conclusion: In John 4:38 Jesus tells his disciples that he has sent them to reap a harvest they did not work for, because others have laboured before them. The prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus himself and the Samaritan woman had all sown, and the disciples would gather in the fruit, as they later did in Samaria. The verse teaches humility and gratitude in God’s work and assures every faithful sower that their labour is not in vain.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible