A Lesson for the Disciples
Just then the disciples came. They marveled that He was talking with a woman....[They] besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work." John 4:27-34, RSV.
The disciples don't have the foggiest notion about what is going on. All they know is that Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman. Against the background of the rabbinic precepts, that was shocking. "Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not even with his wife," ran one of their sayings. Women, rabbinic thought went, were incapable of receiving any real teaching. And here Jesus was speaking to a woman!
Naturally they were astonished. But by this time they knew Jesus well enough not to ask Him why. They only did what was foremost on their minds. After all, they were hungry, and Jesus must be also.
The woman, meanwhile, existed in a state of wonder also. Forgetting who she was, and why she had sneaked out to a well far from town to avoid people, she ran off without her water jar to tell people that she had found the Christ. Her hearers were at that very moment coming to see Jesus for themselves.
Here we have an interesting situation. A woman who had known Jesus for possibly no more than an hour was far in advance of the disciples in her understanding of Him. She had already seen her sin and had come to grips with her spiritual needs, while the disciples had yet to struggle with the pride and self-sufficiency that drove their lives. Beyond that, Jesus had plainly stated to the Samaritan woman that He was the Christ. That realization would not completely form in the disciples' minds until much later.
Jesus was excited in a way His followers only dimly comprehended, saying that He had lost His hunger because He was involved in doing His Father's will. The woman was excited too. In fact, even the townspeople who were on their way out to see Jesus were excited.
The only people not excited in this story are the 12 disciples, who had their minds on food. In that context Jesus quoted two proverbs about the readiness of the harvest.
It is still possible that those who have been longest with Jesus may be the ones with the least insight into the wonder of who He is. Even now "old time" saints might have their minds focused on "food" rather than on the Christ. Such can learn from the Samaritan woman.
Just then the disciples came. They marveled that He was talking with a woman....[They] besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work." John 4:27-34, RSV.
The disciples don't have the foggiest notion about what is going on. All they know is that Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman. Against the background of the rabbinic precepts, that was shocking. "Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not even with his wife," ran one of their sayings. Women, rabbinic thought went, were incapable of receiving any real teaching. And here Jesus was speaking to a woman!
Naturally they were astonished. But by this time they knew Jesus well enough not to ask Him why. They only did what was foremost on their minds. After all, they were hungry, and Jesus must be also.
The woman, meanwhile, existed in a state of wonder also. Forgetting who she was, and why she had sneaked out to a well far from town to avoid people, she ran off without her water jar to tell people that she had found the Christ. Her hearers were at that very moment coming to see Jesus for themselves.
Here we have an interesting situation. A woman who had known Jesus for possibly no more than an hour was far in advance of the disciples in her understanding of Him. She had already seen her sin and had come to grips with her spiritual needs, while the disciples had yet to struggle with the pride and self-sufficiency that drove their lives. Beyond that, Jesus had plainly stated to the Samaritan woman that He was the Christ. That realization would not completely form in the disciples' minds until much later.
Jesus was excited in a way His followers only dimly comprehended, saying that He had lost His hunger because He was involved in doing His Father's will. The woman was excited too. In fact, even the townspeople who were on their way out to see Jesus were excited.
The only people not excited in this story are the 12 disciples, who had their minds on food. In that context Jesus quoted two proverbs about the readiness of the harvest.
It is still possible that those who have been longest with Jesus may be the ones with the least insight into the wonder of who He is. Even now "old time" saints might have their minds focused on "food" rather than on the Christ. Such can learn from the Samaritan woman.
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