February 12, 2025 

Today's Reading: John 4:27-45

Daily Lectionary: Job 8:1-22; John 4:27-45

“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:35–38)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

It might seem strange that there is talk about a harvest in the middle of Jesus talking to his disciples following his chat with the Samaritan woman. But Jesus has a point.

The harvest isn’t wheat, but souls. The Samaritan woman had returned to Sychar and told everyone she met about Jesus and what he said to her. Now, they are on their way to the well to see for themselves.

They are the harvest, the ones who have heard the Word of God. Jesus uses the idea of the harvest several times when he talks about gathering in the faithful at the end of time, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise here.

Jesus is laying out not only the past history of the work of the prophets but also the future work of the disciples and those who follow them, all the way down to your own pastor. The disciples will talk about Jesus to those who have heard the prophets’ proclamations, and they will trust in Jesus for their salvation and “be harvested” for eternity.

The disciples will also go into the world to establish the church, and it continues to this very day, sowing the seed of God’s Word by proclaiming it to those gathered and those who will hear it. Ever since their time, there has been a continued harvest.

The disciples may never have seen most of the seed they planted come to its fullness, but someone did. And it has been that way in every generation, all the way to the present. You, and the faithful gathered around you, are those ripe for harvest. 

Thanks be to God that he has given us this seed, this Word, that produces the fruit of faith, and that it preserves us to the Last Day when all the faithful will enter into his glory!

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Some take up His task in morning, To their Lord responding soon; Some are called in heat of midday, Others late in afternoon; Even as the sun is setting, some are sent into the fields, There to gather in the bounty That God’s Word so richly yields. (LSB 827:2)

-Rev. Duane Bamsch, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Grass Valley, CA.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.