‘Jesus says to them, “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘there are yet four months and then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are already white for harvest.”
Jesus patiently explained His attitude. ‘My food is to do the will of Him Who sent me and to bring about what He wants me to do.' His Father's work must come first. This was far more important than food, and He knew that that work was at hand in this unexpected place.
The passage is very moving. Meeting the woman had sparked off in Jesus a realisation of the wonder of what was to come. He had been very successful in Judea, but now there had come home to Him that others needed Him as well, and He wanted His disciples to realise it too. This ‘chance' meeting with the woman had made Him realise afresh that the Father had a wider work for Him to do. He had been thinking in terms of the Jews. Now He recognised that He must not limit Himself so much. There were other fields waiting to be harvested. In the light of this He realised that food was unimportant.
It was true that His first message was to be for the ‘lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matthew 10:6; Matthew 15:24). That was still His priority and they had to be given the first opportunity. But He now clearly saw Samaritans as included in that number. They too worshipped the God of Abraham and Moses. Later He would recognise that Israel was rejecting Him and would turn to a wider audience, influenced by His contact with the Syro-phoenician woman. Jesus Himself grew in His understanding of His ministry. It was an indication of his true humanness.
It is possible that even as He spoke He could see the white clothing of the Samaritans coming out to see Him, and was deeply moved. Was it on them He was looking as He spoke, and on them that He was directing His disciples' gaze when He said, ‘Lift up your eyes and look on the fields -- they are white for harvest'? His heart was reaching out to them.
‘There are yet four months and then comes the harvest.' This phrase may have been a well known proverb indicating the certainty of something to come but which is for the time delayed, or it may simply have indicated the time of the year, but it may also have hinted at the fact that the disciples saw Jesus and themselves as sowers, with the harvest some way away. (Again a Johannine double meaning). But now Jesus wanted them to recognise that the time for harvest was here. ‘The fields are white to harvest.' He could have added, ‘See, you can see them coming over there.' His disciples had to learn that they were living in the last times (Acts 2:17; Romans 13:11-12; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 Peter 4:7; 2 Peter 3:3) when the harvest must be gathered. Great was their privilege. And great was their responsibility.