Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Four

                                                                                                                                     Verses 31-34

Jesus' disciples urged Jesus to eat some of the food they had brought. The fact that they urged Him to eat could mean that they had not seen Him eat any food for a while. Jesus, being God, did not desire to eat much human food. He probably liked heavenly food better, and so He often ate food that angels brought Him, which food would satisfy one's hunger for a long time. Matthew 4:11; I Kings 19:5-8. His disciples then wondered if anyone had brought Him something to eat, but Jesus answered them that doing His Father's will gave Him strength. His answer let His disciples know that He really did not need any earthly food.

                                                                                                                                     Verses 35-38

Jesus then preached a sermon to His local church. Jesus was the Pastor of His church, and His disciples, except for Judas Iscariot, were like deacons. Jesus had other members of His local church who worshiped Him at times, but His deacons followed Him wherever He went. Luke 10:38-42; John 12:1-3.

In His sermon, Jesus prophesied about how He expected His Church to carry on His Father's work after He had ascended. Being empowered by the Spirit, the Body of Christ should carry on His work in the world. Acts 2:1-4. Jesus taught His disciples that every local church should work together as a team. God would send some in His churches to reap the harvest; that is, win souls to salvation by His grace. These believers would be the preachers, missionaries, and personal witnesses. Jesus sent the woman at the well to be a personal witness. All others in His churches would be those who sowed the seed; that is, those who prayed for the soul winners and supported them with finances. All the members of His local churches should obey the Holy Spirit and work together as a team. This means the Holy Spirit might inspire one of the sowers to become a witness to just one or more persons in that believer's entire life, or the Holy Spirit may never call a particular sower to ever be a personal witness. Whatever the Holy Spirit commands a believer to do, that believer should certainly obey the Holy Spirit. Jesus ended His sermon by teaching His disciples that the sowers and the reapers should work together as a team to do God's work and win souls to faith in Christ. Jesus also taught that both the sowers and the reapers would receive great rewards from God for their faithful work.