John 4:37

[Mireassa]

Good day! So I was reading the Bible and there's something I want to question about which is John 4:37. What does 'someone else reaps' means? What exactly would they reap? Thank you for reading my question. ?

[Guest Robert]

Thanks for asking this Mireassa! Let's look at the verse in context:

"Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 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 4:31-38, NASB, emphasis mine)

In this passage, I believe that Jesus is explaining to the Disciples that God had been laying the groundwork for salvation for a long time through the prophets and those that preached the word to Israel. With the coming of Jesus (who is the ultimate expression of God's Word, as Jesus is the Word and the Son of God), the time was now coming to begin "reaping" or collecting the "produce" of God's Word on Earth. In this case, it is Men's souls, who had heard the Gospel and trusted in Jesus. What had been preached and prophesied for centuries by the Men of God sent by the Lord was ready to come to fruition.

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by RobertS

[Sister]

1 hour ago, Mireassa said:

Good day! So I was reading the Bible and there's something I want to question about which is John 4:37. What does 'someone else reaps' means? What exactly would they reap? Thank you for reading my question. ?

 John 4:37   And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

 John 4:38   I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

 

The Word of God comes to us at no cost.  The other men that laboured for the Word of God were Christ and his apostles, and all the prophets before them.  Their blood, sweat and tears went into this along with all persecutions and sufferings so that we could receive their word today.  This is what we "reap" from their labours and all they went through - "salvation".  It's a gift through no work of our own.  No hard work on our end.  Just pick up the Word and read what they sowed already, and reap all the good things given to us.

 

[Ezra]

4 hours ago, Mireassa said:

Good day! So I was reading the Bible and there's something I want to question about which is John 4:37. What does 'someone else reaps' means? What exactly would they reap? Thank you for reading my question. ?

The Lord likened the Gospel to seed that is sown, and Peter likens the Gospel to the seed which produces the New Birth. So the harvest is regenerated souls.

We can sow the seed of the Gospel today, but someone else may come along later and lead that person to Christ. Thus someone else reaps.  However, all have a part in the harvest since God knows that some will sow, others will water, and still others will reap (as Paul points out).