In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
At Jacob's well Jesus rested faint with hunger and thirst after a long morning journey under the noontide sun, with cool water near yet inaccessible for want of rope and jar so that He waited on a stranger's kindness, while the disciples who had gone away to buy food returned and urged Him to eat what they had brought after His talk with the woman who had gone into the city. Against their concern for natural hunger He set a higher need, that His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work, refreshed and sustained more by bringing truth to her heart than by food or drink. That true food is the selfless doing of God's will rather than pleasing self, a lesson for all who unite in His service to ask at every step what He would do and weave no thread of self into the fabric. The moment opens His call to lift the eyes to fields already white to harvest, for the harvest of souls is present now and not months away, as proved when the woman brought her townspeople and the most unlikely souls became heralds of truth. In Samaria He showed a love not limited by race or nation, setting at naught prejudice to mingle freely with a despised people, accepting their hospitality and eating at their tables, teaching in their streets, and offering living water as the gift of God to all.
Setting at Jacob's Well
The hour is noon, with the sun beating down after a journey begun in the morning, and He who sits at Jacob's well is faint from hunger and thirst. He shares the lot of humanity in weariness, for the long travel has left Him tired and in need of rest and food. The cool water lies close at hand in the deep well, yet it is inaccessible because there is no rope and no water-jar to draw with, and this nearness only increases His thirst. With nothing of His own to draw with, He must wait for someone to come to draw, dependent even for a drink upon the kindness of a stranger.
Those who press Him to eat have themselves gone away to buy food, leaving Him alone at the well. In going to buy they act in harmony with Jewish custom, which counted trade with the Samaritans as lawful in case of necessity. That same custom condemned all other social intercourse, forbidding borrowing from them or receiving from them even bread or water as a kindness.
They return with food they have brought and urge Him to eat while He rests at the well after His talk with the woman and after going without food. Their urging comes at the moment when she is away in the city telling what she has heard. Their care is for His physical need for food, set against the spiritual work just accomplished for her.
Meat to Do God's Will
The urging to eat came from concern with natural hunger and the immediate need for food, while Jesus was occupied with the Samaritan woman and the spiritual work taking place around Him and the salvation of souls. That concern for the body stood in contrast to a harvest of people ready to hear Him, which the disciples failed to recognize. In answer He said He had meat to eat they did not know of, that His meat is to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work. By this He taught that spiritual hunger to do the Father's will and complete His work is a higher need than bodily food. His work for the woman had refreshed and occupied Him even after He had gone without food, and He rejoiced because truth had found a place in her heart. Serving those hungry for truth and completing the work entrusted to Him sustained Him more than food or drink, so that doing that will was His sustenance.
True food is the selfless doing of God's will rather than pleasing self. This lesson belongs not only to the first disciples but to all who unite in His service. When tempted to be selfish they must ask at every step what Jesus would do in their place and let that principle control every action, weaving not a thread of self into the fabric. The moment leads to His call to recognize that the harvest is ready and to labor for it, to lift the eyes to fields already white to harvest. That means the harvest of souls is present now and not four months away.
The Samaritan woman proves the present harvest, for she brought her townspeople to Him as soon as she found the Saviour. The most unlikely souls receive the light and become heralds of truth, while those who have heard great light many times and reject it are passed by. The wise and prudent do not see God's workings, but babes respond to revealed truth.
Gospel for Despised Samaritans
This moment belongs to Christ's opening mission work in Samaria at Jacob's well, where He asked the Samaritan woman for a drink though Jews despised Samaritans and then offered her living water as the gift of God. That offer was a positive, authoritative invitation of mercy and goodness that cuts away doubt about finding mercy, grace, favor and salvation in God. His preaching the gospel to the people of Sychar showed He did not share Jewish intolerance and that His love was not limited by race or nation. Salvation was for all people and not only the Jews.
Though a Jew, He set at naught Pharisaic customs and Jewish prejudices, refused to create barriers or constantly thrust upon the people the fact that they were wrong, and mingled freely with this despised people. He accepted their hospitality, slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables and partook of food prepared and served by their hands, taught in their streets, and treated them with utmost kindness and courtesy. While He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected. His continuing love despite their rude treatment of Him prepared His disciples to carry the gospel to them.
The encounter shows Him giving personal attention and precious instruction to an individual whose receptive spirit He recognized. The woman listened, believed His word without any miracle, was glad for the light, and published it to her neighbors. This shows that the Samaritans though hated received the light while the Jews with prejudice in their hearts would not recognize Him when He came with majesty and grace in mighty healings and the mighty outpouring of His Spirit. Knowing the doctrine depends on coming to the investigation of the Scriptures with a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice, bringing ideas to the Scriptures rather than bringing the Scriptures to ideas, since miracles alone do no good to hearts filled with prejudice.
In that same setting the woman's words led people from the city to hear Him and many believed in Him. His followers later found a welcome and a fruitful field for their work among the Samaritans. This illustrates how sowing the gospel may be followed at once by people being gathered in and converted. By the same sympathy and social kindliness He sat as an honored guest at the table of publicans, recognizing the dignity of humanity, so that thirsty souls received His words with life-giving power and outcasts of society were awakened to new impulses and the possibility of a new life.
At Jacob's well Jesus rested faint with hunger and thirst after a long morning journey under the noontide sun, with cool water near yet inaccessible for want of rope and jar so that He waited on a stranger's kindness, while the disciples who had gone away to buy food returned and urged Him to eat what they had brought after His talk with the woman who had gone into the city. Against their concern for natural hunger He set a higher need, that His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work, refreshed and sustained more by bringing truth to her heart than by food or drink. That true food is the selfless doing of God's will rather than pleasing self, a lesson for all who unite in His service to ask at every step what He would do and weave no thread of self into the fabric. The moment opens His call to lift the eyes to fields already white to harvest, for the harvest of souls is present now and not months away, as proved when the woman brought her townspeople and the most unlikely souls became heralds of truth. In Samaria He showed a love not limited by race or nation, setting at naught prejudice to mingle freely with a despised people, accepting their hospitality and eating at their tables, teaching in their streets, and offering living water as the gift of God to all.
Setting at Jacob's Well
The hour is noon, with the sun beating down after a journey begun in the morning, and He who sits at Jacob's well is faint from hunger and thirst. He shares the lot of humanity in weariness, for the long travel has left Him tired and in need of rest and food. The cool water lies close at hand in the deep well, yet it is inaccessible because there is no rope and no water-jar to draw with, and this nearness only increases His thirst. With nothing of His own to draw with, He must wait for someone to come to draw, dependent even for a drink upon the kindness of a stranger.
Those who press Him to eat have themselves gone away to buy food, leaving Him alone at the well. In going to buy they act in harmony with Jewish custom, which counted trade with the Samaritans as lawful in case of necessity. That same custom condemned all other social intercourse, forbidding borrowing from them or receiving from them even bread or water as a kindness.
They return with food they have brought and urge Him to eat while He rests at the well after His talk with the woman and after going without food. Their urging comes at the moment when she is away in the city telling what she has heard. Their care is for His physical need for food, set against the spiritual work just accomplished for her.
Meat to Do God's Will
The urging to eat came from concern with natural hunger and the immediate need for food, while Jesus was occupied with the Samaritan woman and the spiritual work taking place around Him and the salvation of souls. That concern for the body stood in contrast to a harvest of people ready to hear Him, which the disciples failed to recognize. In answer He said He had meat to eat they did not know of, that His meat is to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work. By this He taught that spiritual hunger to do the Father's will and complete His work is a higher need than bodily food. His work for the woman had refreshed and occupied Him even after He had gone without food, and He rejoiced because truth had found a place in her heart. Serving those hungry for truth and completing the work entrusted to Him sustained Him more than food or drink, so that doing that will was His sustenance.
True food is the selfless doing of God's will rather than pleasing self. This lesson belongs not only to the first disciples but to all who unite in His service. When tempted to be selfish they must ask at every step what Jesus would do in their place and let that principle control every action, weaving not a thread of self into the fabric. The moment leads to His call to recognize that the harvest is ready and to labor for it, to lift the eyes to fields already white to harvest. That means the harvest of souls is present now and not four months away.
The Samaritan woman proves the present harvest, for she brought her townspeople to Him as soon as she found the Saviour. The most unlikely souls receive the light and become heralds of truth, while those who have heard great light many times and reject it are passed by. The wise and prudent do not see God's workings, but babes respond to revealed truth.
Gospel for Despised Samaritans
This moment belongs to Christ's opening mission work in Samaria at Jacob's well, where He asked the Samaritan woman for a drink though Jews despised Samaritans and then offered her living water as the gift of God. That offer was a positive, authoritative invitation of mercy and goodness that cuts away doubt about finding mercy, grace, favor and salvation in God. His preaching the gospel to the people of Sychar showed He did not share Jewish intolerance and that His love was not limited by race or nation. Salvation was for all people and not only the Jews.
Though a Jew, He set at naught Pharisaic customs and Jewish prejudices, refused to create barriers or constantly thrust upon the people the fact that they were wrong, and mingled freely with this despised people. He accepted their hospitality, slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables and partook of food prepared and served by their hands, taught in their streets, and treated them with utmost kindness and courtesy. While He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected. His continuing love despite their rude treatment of Him prepared His disciples to carry the gospel to them.
The encounter shows Him giving personal attention and precious instruction to an individual whose receptive spirit He recognized. The woman listened, believed His word without any miracle, was glad for the light, and published it to her neighbors. This shows that the Samaritans though hated received the light while the Jews with prejudice in their hearts would not recognize Him when He came with majesty and grace in mighty healings and the mighty outpouring of His Spirit. Knowing the doctrine depends on coming to the investigation of the Scriptures with a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice, bringing ideas to the Scriptures rather than bringing the Scriptures to ideas, since miracles alone do no good to hearts filled with prejudice.
In that same setting the woman's words led people from the city to hear Him and many believed in Him. His followers later found a welcome and a fruitful field for their work among the Samaritans. This illustrates how sowing the gospel may be followed at once by people being gathered in and converted. By the same sympathy and social kindliness He sat as an honored guest at the table of publicans, recognizing the dignity of humanity, so that thirsty souls received His words with life-giving power and outcasts of society were awakened to new impulses and the possibility of a new life.