October 2025: Harvesting for Our King

Published on 10/01/2025 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

On one "ordinary" day in the life of our Lord, he conversed with a Samaritan woman who's despised by the Jews and shattered by men. There at the water well, he brought her hope and healing, and made a most remarkable revelation of himself that he seldom made...

The Revelation of the King

"The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah comes,' (he who is called Christ). 'When he has come, he will declare to us all things.'" (John 4:25, WEB)

As the conversation between Christ and the Samaritan woman continued, the woman declared that they (she and her fellow Samaritans) knew that the Messiah would come and that "When he has come, he will declare to us all things." (John 4:25) Hence, the Samaritans and Jews held the same expectation. The Samaritans believed that the Messiah would explain to them all the divine truths they needed to know.

Unequivocally, Jesus declared, "I am he, the one who speaks to you." (John 4:26) This is the first-recorded time that Jesus explicitly identified himself as the Messiah--to a lowly Samaritan woman of all people.

Upon hearing Jesus' extraordinary revelation of himself, the woman said nothing but dropped her bucket and hastily returned to her people in the city. She eagerly said to them, "Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?" (John 4:29) With these few simple words, she would have heightened their curiosity. She didn't come out and say that she just met the Messiah lest they quickly dismiss her claim as outlandish, but invited them to see for themselves if whom she met was indeed the Messiah. She certainly knew how to evangelize, to wet people's appetite without sounding overbearing. So the people set out to meet this mysterious man.

Like Andrew and Philip, the Samaritan woman shared the good news with others as soon as she learned who Jesus is. Her action demonstrates her love for her people. Jesus is the best news we can ever receive and for us to share with others. This displays our love for fellow humanity. It's by giving and sharing that we express our love for one another. To hide the good news--the best news ever--is therefore selfish.

The Food of the King

When Jesus' disciples returned to him, the Samaritan woman was still with Jesus, and they were amazed that he was speaking to a woman, and a Samaritan one no less. It's not the custom for single men to speak with single women, but Jesus didn't act according to manmade customs but did his Father's will. Manmade laws do not confine Jesus. Though they were curious, they didn't question Jesus. After all, he was their Master, and it's not proper for disciples to question what he did.

After the woman left to get her folks, and while the Samaritans were coming out of the city to see Jesus, Jesus' disciples urged him to eat what they just bought. But Jesus answered, "I have food to eat that you don't know about." (John 4:32) Knowing that they didn't understand what he said and were wondering among themselves whether someone already brought him something to eat while they were gone, he explained, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work." (John 4:32)

Jesus came into the world with one purpose: to do the will of his Father who sent him. Thus, every waking minute he had on Earth, he fulfilled his mission, yielding himself entirely to God's prompting. His Father's will was like food to him; he "consumed" it to live with purpose and passion. It was his whole life. The divine meeting with the Samaritan woman was a "meal" he had.

The Harvest for the King

Jesus seized the moment to teach his disciples a lesson about harvesting people for God's Kingdom using agricultural terms that his Galilean disciples would have understood: "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 4:35-38)

Jesus noted to his disciples how they were anticipating the harvest of crops in four months. Indeed that's true. But he told them to lift up their eyes to see another harvest: the harvesting of people for the eternal Kingdom of God. Unlike the harvest of crops, this spiritual harvest of people was already ripe to be reaped. It was time to "reap" the people by sharing the good news with them and leading them to accept it so that through their acceptance they could enter into eternal life.

Before Jesus and the disciples began reaping the harvest, people who had gone before them already labored in the "field" (the mass of Israelites). Those "forerunners" (such as the prophets and John the Baptizer) had sown the seed of God's word in the field, and steadily, the field had been growing with people who were looking forward to God's Kingdom with eagerness. Hence, the disciples would reap the people where others had sown. They were completing what others had already started. Others did the sowing, they did the reaping.

Both sowers and reapers, though they do different work, will enter into the joy of God, for they both take part in God's harvest. They both play important roles in God's plans, and they will both be rewarded by God for their labor of love. If sowers are missing, there won't be any harvest for reapers to gather in. If there are no reapers, then sowers' work would be done in vain, with no one being gathered into God's "barn."

All the Old Testament prophets were the sowers in God's field. The Bible they wrote continues to sow the Word of God in people's hearts all over the world, as the Bible has been translated into thousands of languages. Today, Christians are both the sowers and the reapers; each Christian plays different roles, and some play both roles. It's up to us to explain to people that Jesus Christ is the answer they've been waiting for. Jesus is the One who gives eternal life. It's in him that the world will be saved from eternal condemnation. We're to lead them to the Christ just as the Samaritan woman led her city to him. This is how we reap people for God's Kingdom. We're reaping where our forerunners sowed the seed. In due time, we the reapers will be rewarded together with the sowers.

The Fruit for the King

From the city where the Samaritans flocked to Jesus by the word of the woman, many believed in Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah because they accepted her testimony where she testified to the fact that Jesus told her of her past. The Samaritans begged Jesus to stay with them for a while, and he remained with them two days. In this span of time, many more Samaritans embraced Jesus as the Christ due to his own words. They said to the Samaritan 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." (John 4:42) They heard with their own ears the extraordinary things he taught them, so they personally concluded that he must be the Christ, the Savior of the world.

To the glory of God and His Kingdom, the woman was used by Christ to bring to God a bumper harvest. God can use and does use anyone, even the lowest and the despised and the broken, to make big things happen. Hallelujah!

Are you working in the fields to bring in a harvest for God's Kingdom? Are you actively spreading the Gospel? Are you showing the love of Christ to anyone in need? We all are in need of the love of Christ, so do not hesitate to bring God's love to anyone, anywhere, anytime.


~*~ Q&A with Dr. Shirley~*~

Question: What is the main message of Jonah?

Answer: The book of Jonah is a wonderful account that teaches us God's love for everyone, including the most wicked people. All He wants is for us to repent of our sins and turn to Him in faith so He can bless us.

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. Nineveh was a very wicked city of Assyria, which was Israel's great enemy. God told Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh of His judgment. But Jonah refused to go. He knew that if the people repented, God would forgive them, and Jonah did not want such wicked people to be forgiven! So Jonah tried to escape from his mission and ended up inside the stomach of a big whale. After God saved him from drowning, God told him to go to Nineveh to do his mission. Just as he feared, the wicked people repented of their sins and God forgave them, and this made Jonah very angry at God!

At the end of the book, God revealed that He cares for all people and animals. We must love people the way God loves people. We must correct people of their sins so they can repent and be forgiven by God. This is the best way we show love to people: to help them have a love relationship with God.

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

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