Christ’s Concern for Souls

Do you not say, “There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest?” Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.
(John 4:35-38)

Using the grain growing in the surrounding fields as an object lesson, Jesus impressed on the disciples the urgency of reaching the lost. There was no need to wait four months; the spiritual fields were already “white for harvest.” He was likely referring to the Samaritans, who at that moment, were coming toward them (v. 30). Their white clothing formed a striking contrast with the brilliant green of the ripening grain and looked like the white heads on the stalks that indicated the time for harvest.
By telling the disciples that the one “who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal,” the Lord highlighted their responsibility to participate in the harvest of souls. They would receive their “wages”