But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
He spoke lovingly to His disciples of having food they did not know, meaning not common bread but doing the will of Him who sent Him and finishing His work. He said this at Jacob's well at noon after a long morning journey that left Him faint with hunger and thirst, when He had taken neither drink nor the food they brought because He was absorbed in communion with heaven. That unknown nourishment sustained and refreshed Him more than ordinary eating and drinking, for concern for souls made Him forget bodily need and He found strength and joy in seeing truth received and a soul won to the water of life. He pointed them to a harvest already white, for while they looked for a future ingathering the Samaritans were even then coming to Him through one woman's witness. His example calls all who join His service to unselfish work without self woven in, reaching despised souls by direct personal contact and noticing those around them who are ready to hear.
Setting at Jacob's Well
He spoke the words lovingly to His disciples at Jacob's well at Sychar at noon, after a long journey since morning that had left Him faint from hunger and thirst under the beating noontide sun. Cool water lay near yet inaccessible, for the well was deep and He had no rope nor water-jar, so He waited for someone to come to draw. When He spoke He had gone a long time without food, and had taken neither refreshing drink nor the food the disciples brought. He was intently absorbed in meditation and communion with heaven, with His face beaming divine light, so that they scarcely dared to interrupt Him, yet knowing He had long been without food they set it before Him and urged Him to refresh Himself after the Samaritan woman had gone into the city.
The disciples had gone away to buy food, acting in harmony with their nation's custom, since trade with Samaritans in case of necessity was counted lawful by the rabbis. Beyond that they would not go, for all social intercourse was condemned, and a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor receive a kindness, not even bread or water, nor seek in any way to benefit them. The words belong to a mission work that commenced when, though Jews despised Samaritans, He asked the woman of Samaria for drink. He continued with a positive, authoritative offer of the gift of God and living water, showing mercy and goodness that remove doubt whether God will hear prayer, show mercy, and give favor. At Sychar He gave His richest instruction to a single listener, as an example of personal teaching, though that scene itself does not explain the food of which He speaks.
The words are set within His ministry to the Samaritans in which He crossed the barriers of prejudice and mingled freely with them in spite of Pharisaic custom and Jewish prejudice. He accepted their hospitality and food, slept under their roofs, and ate at their tables food prepared and served by their hands. He taught in their streets with utmost kindness and courtesy. He drew their hearts to Him by human sympathy so that His words could awaken their lives to new hope and a new way of life.
Meaning of Unknown Food
The meat was no temporal food, as the disciples supposed when, thinking only of natural hunger, they asked among themselves whether anyone had brought Him anything to eat. It was doing the will of Him that sent Him and finishing His work. That answer turned their minds from physical food to His mission.
He had a kind of nourishment unknown to them that sustained Him more than ordinary food. Concern for the salvation of souls occupied Him so fully that He forgot His bodily needs. Doing the work entrusted to Him gave Him strength and satisfaction, nourishment and refreshment. He was intent on bringing people to the truth, and His joy in reaching them with it was greater than concern for ordinary food.
That nourishment and joy came specifically from seeing truth find a place in the heart. It was found in winning a soul to the water of life, as in the Samaritan woman's response and in the people coming to Him, which sustained Him more than eating or drinking. Helping a soul hungry for truth brought Him greater satisfaction and strength than eating or drinking.
His reply teaches the spiritual hunger and sustaining purpose of doing the Father's will. That meat was the work He came to do in the world, which was not to create barriers and tell people they were wrong but to reach despised souls by direct personal contact. Bringing people to salvation was central to His life.
Harvest and Unselfish Service
The saying points away from bodily food to the gathering of ready souls, for the fields are already white to harvest. The disciples were looking forward to a distant future reaping, yet the spiritual work was already standing before them. Sowing could be followed at once by an ingathering.
That ingathering began when one Samaritan woman shared what she had learned and immediately brought her countrymen to hear Him. A whole city came to Him, and many believed after hearing Him for themselves. The same pattern holds still, that the work can begin with one or a few sharing the light and then grow as they reach others.
The Samaritans, though hated by the Jews, received the light because the woman believed His word without any miracle, was glad for the light, and published it to her neighbors. By contrast the Jews would not recognize Him though He came with majesty and grace in mighty healings and mighty outpouring of His Spirit. Prejudice remained in their hearts, so even the mightiest miracles had no effect on them.
If those who have heard the message many times shut it out, hungry souls elsewhere are ready. The most unlikely, like the Samaritan woman, will become heralds of truth while those with great light are passed by, because the wise and prudent do not see God's working but babes receive the truth and respond. Those who have never heard have hearts more susceptible to receive it than those who have been in the truth and had the evidences of God's work yet excuse unbelief and resist His working.
At Sychar He preached the gospel to the Samaritans and showed He did not share Jewish intolerance, for His love and grace were not limited to one race or nation. People whom others counted unworthy of salvation could hunger for the light of truth, and salvation was for all mankind. Though Samaritans had earlier rejected Him His care remained unchanged. That visit helped prepare the disciples to welcome Samaritans and carry the gospel to them, until they later found Samaria ready to receive the message.
Through human sympathy He drew Samaritan hearts to Him so that His divine grace could bring them the salvation the Jews rejected. Knowing the doctrine depends on coming to the investigation of the Scriptures with a teachable spirit ready to learn, with the heart emptied of prejudice. It means bringing ideas to the Scriptures instead of bringing the Scriptures to ideas, and discerning where God is working without needing wonderful miracles to testify of it.
His example calls all who afterward unite in His service to unselfish service with no thread of self woven into the work. They are to notice the people around them who are ready to hear and receive the message. At every step, when tempted to be selfish, they must ask what He would do were He in their place.
He spoke lovingly to His disciples of having food they did not know, meaning not common bread but doing the will of Him who sent Him and finishing His work. He said this at Jacob's well at noon after a long morning journey that left Him faint with hunger and thirst, when He had taken neither drink nor the food they brought because He was absorbed in communion with heaven. That unknown nourishment sustained and refreshed Him more than ordinary eating and drinking, for concern for souls made Him forget bodily need and He found strength and joy in seeing truth received and a soul won to the water of life. He pointed them to a harvest already white, for while they looked for a future ingathering the Samaritans were even then coming to Him through one woman's witness. His example calls all who join His service to unselfish work without self woven in, reaching despised souls by direct personal contact and noticing those around them who are ready to hear.
Setting at Jacob's Well
He spoke the words lovingly to His disciples at Jacob's well at Sychar at noon, after a long journey since morning that had left Him faint from hunger and thirst under the beating noontide sun. Cool water lay near yet inaccessible, for the well was deep and He had no rope nor water-jar, so He waited for someone to come to draw. When He spoke He had gone a long time without food, and had taken neither refreshing drink nor the food the disciples brought. He was intently absorbed in meditation and communion with heaven, with His face beaming divine light, so that they scarcely dared to interrupt Him, yet knowing He had long been without food they set it before Him and urged Him to refresh Himself after the Samaritan woman had gone into the city.
The disciples had gone away to buy food, acting in harmony with their nation's custom, since trade with Samaritans in case of necessity was counted lawful by the rabbis. Beyond that they would not go, for all social intercourse was condemned, and a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor receive a kindness, not even bread or water, nor seek in any way to benefit them. The words belong to a mission work that commenced when, though Jews despised Samaritans, He asked the woman of Samaria for drink. He continued with a positive, authoritative offer of the gift of God and living water, showing mercy and goodness that remove doubt whether God will hear prayer, show mercy, and give favor. At Sychar He gave His richest instruction to a single listener, as an example of personal teaching, though that scene itself does not explain the food of which He speaks.
The words are set within His ministry to the Samaritans in which He crossed the barriers of prejudice and mingled freely with them in spite of Pharisaic custom and Jewish prejudice. He accepted their hospitality and food, slept under their roofs, and ate at their tables food prepared and served by their hands. He taught in their streets with utmost kindness and courtesy. He drew their hearts to Him by human sympathy so that His words could awaken their lives to new hope and a new way of life.
Meaning of Unknown Food
The meat was no temporal food, as the disciples supposed when, thinking only of natural hunger, they asked among themselves whether anyone had brought Him anything to eat. It was doing the will of Him that sent Him and finishing His work. That answer turned their minds from physical food to His mission.
He had a kind of nourishment unknown to them that sustained Him more than ordinary food. Concern for the salvation of souls occupied Him so fully that He forgot His bodily needs. Doing the work entrusted to Him gave Him strength and satisfaction, nourishment and refreshment. He was intent on bringing people to the truth, and His joy in reaching them with it was greater than concern for ordinary food.
That nourishment and joy came specifically from seeing truth find a place in the heart. It was found in winning a soul to the water of life, as in the Samaritan woman's response and in the people coming to Him, which sustained Him more than eating or drinking. Helping a soul hungry for truth brought Him greater satisfaction and strength than eating or drinking.
His reply teaches the spiritual hunger and sustaining purpose of doing the Father's will. That meat was the work He came to do in the world, which was not to create barriers and tell people they were wrong but to reach despised souls by direct personal contact. Bringing people to salvation was central to His life.
Harvest and Unselfish Service
The saying points away from bodily food to the gathering of ready souls, for the fields are already white to harvest. The disciples were looking forward to a distant future reaping, yet the spiritual work was already standing before them. Sowing could be followed at once by an ingathering.
That ingathering began when one Samaritan woman shared what she had learned and immediately brought her countrymen to hear Him. A whole city came to Him, and many believed after hearing Him for themselves. The same pattern holds still, that the work can begin with one or a few sharing the light and then grow as they reach others.
The Samaritans, though hated by the Jews, received the light because the woman believed His word without any miracle, was glad for the light, and published it to her neighbors. By contrast the Jews would not recognize Him though He came with majesty and grace in mighty healings and mighty outpouring of His Spirit. Prejudice remained in their hearts, so even the mightiest miracles had no effect on them.
If those who have heard the message many times shut it out, hungry souls elsewhere are ready. The most unlikely, like the Samaritan woman, will become heralds of truth while those with great light are passed by, because the wise and prudent do not see God's working but babes receive the truth and respond. Those who have never heard have hearts more susceptible to receive it than those who have been in the truth and had the evidences of God's work yet excuse unbelief and resist His working.
At Sychar He preached the gospel to the Samaritans and showed He did not share Jewish intolerance, for His love and grace were not limited to one race or nation. People whom others counted unworthy of salvation could hunger for the light of truth, and salvation was for all mankind. Though Samaritans had earlier rejected Him His care remained unchanged. That visit helped prepare the disciples to welcome Samaritans and carry the gospel to them, until they later found Samaria ready to receive the message.
Through human sympathy He drew Samaritan hearts to Him so that His divine grace could bring them the salvation the Jews rejected. Knowing the doctrine depends on coming to the investigation of the Scriptures with a teachable spirit ready to learn, with the heart emptied of prejudice. It means bringing ideas to the Scriptures instead of bringing the Scriptures to ideas, and discerning where God is working without needing wonderful miracles to testify of it.
His example calls all who afterward unite in His service to unselfish service with no thread of self woven into the work. They are to notice the people around them who are ready to hear and receive the message. At every step, when tempted to be selfish, they must ask what He would do were He in their place.