Harvest, What Harvest? Two Obstacles to Evangelism
EVANGELISM ARTICLE | Trey Haskett | Tupelo, Mississippi
Get in, get out, get on. Anybody else’s dad have that philosophy on road trip pitstops? Rarely were there roses, but when there were, there was little time to stop and smell them. It was about getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Accordingly, pitstops were often few and far between and when we did stop it was about getting whatever we needed and getting on our way.
John 4 records a road trip Jesus and His disciples made from Judea to Galilee. Interestingly, the apostle John, unlike most dads turned road-trip-warrior, was more concerned about the pitstop than the actual destination (only vv. 46-54 deal with their time in Galilee, the rest of the chapter is about what happened in Samaria). In recording the goings-on of what would ordinarily be nothing more than a blip on our radar, John endeavored to communicate an important message to his readers and to us about the nature of evangelism and some common obstacles that stand in our way.
Tired and hungry, Jesus and His disciples stopped in Samaria, probably with much the same queasiness that we feel when stopping at the nearly dilapidated service station in the middle of the boonies. You see, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (v. 9). To the Jews, calling someone a ‘Samaritan’ was an insult (ironically one would be applied to Jesus just a few chapters later 8.48). Samaritans were a mixed race with a long history of mingling with the profane Gentiles. Further, they were known for rejecting much of God’s revealed word and worshipped in a way that was abominable to the Jews. Some Jews wouldn’t even go through Samaria, preferring to take the longer route through Perea. But Jesus and His disciples took the quicker, if less preferable route, through Samaria (v. 4).
Sharper than the black ink on the white pages on which they are written are the contrasts John records that help us to see the purpose of the pitstop. The disciples stopped for one purpose. They were hungry. They needed to refuel. Jesus however, was interested in demonstrating a different source. Here lies the first contrast John wishes us to see. Where do we derive our true sustenance? From physical food or spiritual? And so in his narration, John highlights two of the most fundamental needs food and water. First, he records Jesus engaging a Samaritan woman by a well in a discussion about water only to turn it into a candid conversation about the living water He offers. By the end of the conversation the woman had abandoned the former in search of the latter (vv. 29-30). Meanwhile, Jesus’ disciples had gone into the city to get something to eat (v. 8). Coming back and finding Jesus talking with the woman, they urged Him to eat but He was already full (v. 31). Both Jesus and His disciples had “eaten” but unlike the disciples what sustained Jesus was more than mere bread, He was sustained by accomplishing the will and the work of the Father. Doing the will of the Father, in this context, meant preaching to the Samaritans (v. 34)! This was more than a statement about sustenance it is also a statement about satisfaction! For Jesus, His true joy and delight was found in fulfilling the Father’s will of leading lost souls to return to the Father. What message are we supposed to take from all of this? Better yet, what message were Jesus’ disciples supposed to take from all of this? If they were going to be followers of Jesus, eventually taking His gospel to the world, they needed to be people who hungered for and found their fulfillment in the work of bringing that message to lost people. Is that our joy and delight? Or have we, like Jesus’ disciples, become satisfied with mere food and drink? With recreation and leisure? With football games and TV shows? What gives us more joy? How long can you (you personally) go without physical food? Pair that with the next question, how long has it been since told somebody about Jesus and His kingdom? We speak often in exaggerated terms to describe our hunger. “I’m starving,” we say. When’s the last time you felt that sort of hunger, that sort of desire to be filled with doing the will of God? What things are we busy filling our lives with to the neglect of the satisfying and sustaining work of leading lost souls back to God? Obstacle to evangelism #1: focused on the wrong kind of “food”.
We’ve already alluded to the differences between Jews and Samaritans. John 4 shows this in a number of ways: 1) The journey from the Jewish region of Judea to the Jewish region of Galilee that ironically focuses much time both textually (vv. 4-42) and temporally in the Samaritan town of Sychar (Jesus turned what would’ve typically been a three day road trip into a five day excursion all so that He and His disciples could preach the gospel to the Samaritans). 2) The conversation between Jesus, a Jew, and a Samaritan woman, and statements about whether the Jews or the Samaritans worshipped in the proper place. 3) Finally, the contrast between the Jews and Samaritans works itself out in a subtle way in Jesus’ invitation to His disciples to join His mission (vv. 34-38).
Jesus endeavored to elevate the disciples’ purposes and priorities from the physical by inviting them to a harvest not of grains but of souls. It is interesting to note, however, that, in the process of issuing the invitation, Jesus has to tell His disciples to open their eyes and see the potential harvest (vv. 35). The question becomes, why didn’t they see it?
On one level we’ve already learned that their heightened focus on finding the physical food blinded them to the greater spiritual sustenance they should have been seeking. Beyond that, however, it seems John is trying to indicate that they also had cultural and social blinders that hindered them from bringing the gospel to the lost in Sychar. John does this by drawing our attention to Jesus’ willingness to cross the social and cultural barriers that most good Jews would never have dreamed of doing. The disciples are focused on getting to Galilee where they can continue bringing the gospel to the Jews. Never would they have imagined that the pitstop in podunk Samaria was about anything more than getting in, getting out, and getting on. What would God want with a bunch of Samaritans? But Jesus said their harvest was part of the will and work of God (v. 34)! They probably would’ve looked at the Samaritans as dry, rocky ground. “Harvest, what harvest Jesus? All we see are a bunch of Samaritans.” And Jesus responds as if to say “exactly.” Who are the Samaritans in your life who need the gospel? Who are the people that we might be prone to avoid based on their appearance, background, culture, and religious differences who need the gospel? Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. We have no dealings with ________(Fill in the blank). Who is that for us? Who is that for you? Maybe its the tattooed co-worker, the profane family member, the neighbor of a different race, the homosexual salesperson, the Muslim guy who owns the gas station. Are we writing these people off as dry, rocky ground? Are we waiting for a harvest that is more palatable to our tastes, or do we recognize that each of these need the gospel and that the harvest is now? Are we searching for “prime candidates for the gospel” while failing to see those who are hiding in plain sight? Obstacle to evangelism #2: Seeing others as “Samaritans.”
John 4 demonstrates that Jesus was not concerned with just getting in, getting out, and getting on. Sychar was not just the unfortunate, albeit it necessary, pitstop to fill their bellies on their journey to somewhere better. It was a place to be truly fed, not with physical food but by consuming and being consumed by the work of God. The Samaritans were not an unclean people to be avoided at all costs but were prime candidates for the gospel and potential members of God’s kingdom. May God open our eyes to see those who need Him and may we hunger for their salvation.
18.10.02 | GROW magazine
