John 4:39

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”  

The mission of God (Missio Dei) is initiated by God. No one forced God to create the world, seek Adam and Eve after the Fall, call Abraham, promise a Savior through the prophets, or send his Son as the promised Messiah. God's mission will always have a harvest, and his kingdom will always be growing (as yeast in dough). John Chapter 4 gives us a picture of Jesus initiating his saving ministry among the Samaritan people of Sychar and the sure harvest that followed.

God's mission is divided into three scenes in John 4. The first scene (verses 4-26) is the dialogue with the Samaritan woman. (It is possible to get to Galilee without going through Samaria, but Jesus traveled through Samaria because he was on his Father's mission to be the Savior of the world.) Jesus begins and ends this dialogue with the Samaritan woman. He brings the woman from focusing on earthly water to seeing Jesus as a prophet, and then to understanding and believing that Jesus is the Messiah.

The second scene in John 4 is Jesus’s dialogue with his disciples (verses 27-38). The disciples begin the dialogue by saying, "Rabbi, eat something." Just as Jesus led the Samaritan woman from an earthly level to a spiritual level, so he leads his disciples from seeing planting and harvesting as an earthly concept to a spiritual and missional concept. Jesus's “food” is to do the will of his Father who sent him to be the Savior of the world – and the world includes the Samaritans. The mention of fields being ripe for the harvest and the reaper already gathering fruit for eternal life are pictures of the assurance of God's mission succeeding.

In John’s Gospel, the harvest doesn't wait until the end of time; it is already happening in the ministry of Jesus. The same day on which the Good News has been sown, the harvest is also taking place, because the Samaritans are coming to Jesus. The same is true today. We are called to lift up our eyes to see the harvest when we plant (sharing Jesus with others) and when we reap after someone else has planted. God has promised a harvest that should encourage all Christians to see themselves as being sent to all peoples to proclaim eternal life through Jesus, the Messiah.

Scene three (vs 39-42) is the conclusion of Jesus coming to the Samaritans to save them. The Samaritan woman shared her encounter with Jesus with the townspeople, and that led to many believing that Jesus is the Messiah. After Jesus spent two days in Sychar, more Samaritans believed because of his own word to them. "They said to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world'" (4:42).

Our mission is to share our faith in and experience with Jesus. We do this with ours eyes fixed on the promised harvest. Our mission work is not to get people to look to us, but to believe that Jesus is the Messiah through God's Word.