See How the Fields Are Ripe for Harvesting

This meditation is based on a passage for January 16, 2011 in the Daily Lectionary Year 1 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).

Text: John 4:27-42

Reflection and Question: The way Jesus comes alive in the Gospel of John is quite different from the other three Gospels. In John’s Gospel, Jesus regularly launches into side comments that stretched the disciples’ understandings and stretch our understanding as well. This conclusion to Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman is one instance of this. Here Jesus moves from not eating, to food, to fields, to reapers, leaving us bewildered. For me the heart of the matter in all this is that the opportunity for witness is always before us, just as it was for Jesus and for the woman at the well. How are the fields ripe for harvesting?

Prayer: Most loving Jesus, we are left breathless many times as we try to keep up with Your train of thought. We want to understand and we also want our understanding to help us reap the fruit of Your fields that are ripe for harvest. May this be so. Amen.