March 3, 2023
Look to the God’s Harvest
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” John 4:35 (NASB)
When I worked in youth ministry years ago, a great memory came to mind when reading this passage for today. On Friday evenings as the sun went down, we took students from our ministry, downtown-St. Augustine, Florida. Near the center of the historic district, is a 208-foot cross located on The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche at Mission Nombre de Dios church property. It is near the water and beautifully lit at night. The cross marks the approximate site the cross of Christianity was planted in 1565, to what is now the United States. The Spaniards landed here before the pilgrims arrived on Plymouth Rock. Each Friday night, my wife and I used to take students there to conduct a Bible study at the foot of the cross. Afterward, we went across the street to a Dairy Queen restaurant and have ice cream. The Bible study started small with only a few, and then grew to over 20 students. Many brought lost friends from school to hear the gospel. Over time in our meetings, I began to notice more and more people sitting in the background listening truths from the Word of God. They weren’t students though. They were either tourists, or those out for a walk that night. As I reflect back to this time, I can almost see a picture of what Jesus was talking about in this passage. God is so awesome…
This event in time probably happened in December or January as Jesus spoke to the disciples. This was about four months before harvest time. Harvest occurred sometime normally in April. As crops were planted in November, by December or January, grain would begin to sprout through the soil as small green seedlings. Jesus would have used this background to help the disciples understand what He was about to share. The Samaritan woman would also have reached Sychar and the men would have returned to the well. Imagine this, Jesus said, “lift up your eyes and look on the fields,” as the men came from Sychar. “The disciples had only to lift up their eyes and look at the Samaritans coming toward them, their white clothing forming a striking contrast against the brilliant green of the ripening grain and looking like white heads on the stalks that indicated the time for harvest. Although the Samaritans had not yet reached the well, Jesus knew men’s hearts and whose was ready for salvation.”[1]
When I look back to those days with the students, I am reminded of what God did on those Friday evenings. I saw the Bible study times as helping to build biblical truths into the lives of students, and some who were from very difficult backgrounds. Then we had fun eating ice cream, under adult supervision, while having a great time laughing and talking. What I didn’t see until today was those who came to hear the Word of God, just like the Samaritans from Sychar. I wish today I could have, “lifted up my eyes and looked to the fields” (emphasis added). I probably would have concentrated on all when I gave the invitation each night. I might have seen as Jesus said, “that they are white for harvest.” The next time you are engaged in a Bible study at any time, look around you like Jesus told the disciples. See what God is doing and watch Him work in the lives of those who don’t know Him. See them as He sees them, lost, but “they are white for harvest.” He knows who are ready for the harvest.
[1] (John MacArthur, 2006), 158.