Do you remember the Magic Eye stereograms that were all the rage a few decades ago? You saw a poster with a jumble of colors, focused on a dot in the center, and soon a jet in 3D popped out of the poster, coated with the random pattern saw earlier. Every now and then we would read the Word of God, reading a passage we’ve read many times, but then, focusing on it a little longer, there comes a freshness, a great dimension is added to it, and we wonder. Sometimes we get these “Aha” moments when the Spirit opens our understanding.
The disciples came up to Jesus, fresh from buying food in the nearby Samaritan town. At that point, the Samaritan woman was leaving to tell others about the Messiah. The disciples urged Jesus to take food. “Rabbi, eat” (v. 31). Then irony enters the scene with the next words of Jesus to His disciples.
“I have food to eat of which you do not know,” He told them (v. 32). Jesus had just engaged with a person about drinking water, and she kept thinking of literal water when Jesus meant so much more. Now it’s the disciples’ turn to try to figure out Jesus and His word about eating food. “Has anyone brought Him something to eat?” (v. 33).
So many of us began this way. What did Jesus mean by that? We were prone to take His words literally, when He did indeed mean them literally, but in the kingdom of God context. When we orient His teachings in the light of the kingdom of God, they make more sense. If the kingdom is still cloudy in our minds, so will be His words.
The first words of His ministry concerned the kingdom. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand; repent and believe the good news.” He has been teaching about it ever since. Same with apostles and epistles. When He gave His parables of the kingdom, He used everyday language of the culture around them, like fishing and baking and plants growing. All of those examples translated into the world around us because the kingdom is all around us in the world.
In the body and in the kingdom, Jesus ate food the disciples didn’t know of yet. That food was following the will of God to satisfyingly minister to the woman at the well. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work,” Jesus answered them (v. 34). This is life in the kingdom. Serving God is satisfying work, isn’t it?
Jesus knew that in the kingdom of God, doing the will of God is not a nuisance, but is life and joy. To minister to the woman and bring her to grasp who He is and the gift He came to give was deeply meaningful and satisfying. We in the kingdom were made for this. The sooner we follow His example, the sooner we will experience this facet of the kingdom. Jesus is encouraging this very thing.
“Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (v. 35). When Jesus ministered to the woman at the well, He received food that nourished His soul. He was made for this purpose–to shine the love of God into the lives He met and close the gap caused by sin.
You were made for this. You were made to know the love of God. To enjoy fellowship with Him. To feel secure because He is working His plan out for your life.
Jesus said the fields were “already white for harvest!” (v. 35b). The farmer waits for the wheat to change color from green to a light color. In the next verses, the Samaritans will be coming to Jesus, so maybe He was pointing them out to the disciples. They were ripe, or ready, for hearing the good news of the kingdom of God because of the testimony the woman shared with them.
Today the world is ripe for other reasons. The world isn’t working. It’s not bringing them the utopia they thought it would with all of its medical and scientific breakthroughs. The people are disillusioned and scared.
The woman at the well had five husbands and was living with a man (v. 18). Life wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was despairing of life by then. Jesus to the rescue.
If you have tasted of the everlasting life Jesus offers, then He invites you to labor with Him to make Him known to others. Others have done the planting and watering. The wheat has grown and “you have entered into their labors” (v. 38b).
We can know the food Jesus ate. “And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life” (v. 36a). It isn’t natural to work like this. It’s supernatural. To share Jesus with those who are dispirited implies God is showing you Jesus in the Scriptures and is bringing healing to your heart.
You will understand that man’s methods don’t produce spiritual fruit. The word of God does. When you see it in yourself and point others to Jesus, you will taste what Jesus ate. You will know what Jesus knew–you were made for this.
