Church Fathers Commentary John 4:35-38

"Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor." — John 4:35-38 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: He now goes on to explain what the will of the Father is: “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’?”

Theophylact of Ohrid: You are expecting a material harvest, but I say to you that a spiritual harvest is near: “lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already for harvest.” He is alluding to the Samaritans who are approaching.

St. John Chrysostom: As is His custom, He leads them from earthly things to heavenly ones. Here, “fields” and “harvest” express the great number of souls ready to receive the word. The eyes are both spiritual and physical, for they saw a great multitude of Samaritans approaching.

He fittingly calls this expectant crowd “white fields.” For just as corn is ready for the harvest when it turns white, so these people were ready for salvation. But why does He not say this directly? He does this because using the objects around them gave greater vividness and power to His words, bringing the truth home to them. This method also made His discourse more pleasant and helped it sink deeper into their memories.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He was now intent on beginning the work and hastened to send laborers, saying, “And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”

St. John Chrysostom: Again, He distinguishes earthly from heavenly things. Just as He said of the water that “he who drank of it should never thirst,” so here He says, “He who reaps gathers fruit for eternal life,” adding, “that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.” The Prophets sowed and the Apostles reaped, yet the former are not deprived of their reward.

For here a new thing is promised, namely, that both sowers and reapers shall rejoice together. How different this is from what we see in this world! Here, the one who sows often grieves because he sows for others, and only the one who reaps rejoices. But in the new state, the sower and the reaper share the same wages.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Apostles and Prophets had different labors, corresponding to the different times in which they lived, but both will attain the same joy and receive their wages together—namely, eternal life.

St. John Chrysostom: He confirms what He says with a proverb: “And in this the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’” This means one party does the labor, and another reaps the fruit. The saying is especially applicable here, for the Prophets had labored, and the disciples reaped the fruits of their labors: “I sent you to reap that on which you bestowed no labor.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: So then, He sent reapers, not sowers. The reapers went where the Prophets had preached. Read the accounts of their labors; they all contain prophecy of Christ. The harvest was gathered on that occasion when so many thousands brought the value of their possessions and laid them at the Apostles’ feet, relieving their shoulders of earthly burdens so they could follow Christ.

Yes, truly, from that harvest a few grains were scattered which filled the whole world. And now another harvest arises, which will be reaped at the end of the world, not by Apostles, but by Angels. As He says, “The reapers are the angels.”

St. John Chrysostom: “I sent you to reap that on which you bestowed no labor.” That is, I have reserved you for a favorable time, in which the labor is less and the enjoyment is greater. The more laborious part of the work—namely, the sowing of the seed—was laid on the Prophets: “Other men labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

Christ here sheds light on the meaning of the old prophecies. He shows that both the Law and the Prophets, if rightly interpreted, led people to Him, and that the Prophets were, in fact, sent by Himself. Thus, the intimate connection between the Old and New Testaments is established.

Origen of Alexandria: How can we consistently give an allegorical meaning to the words, “Lift up your eyes...,” and only a literal one to the words, “There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest”? Surely the same principle of interpretation must be applied to the latter as to the former.

The four months represent the four elements—that is, our natural life. The harvest is the end of the world, when all conflict has ceased and truth will prevail. The disciples, then, regarded the truth as incomprehensible in our natural state and looked forward to the end of the world to attain the knowledge of it. But our Lord condemns this idea: “Do you not say, ‘There are four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes.”

In many places in Holy Scripture, we are commanded in the same way to raise the thoughts of our minds, which cling so stubbornly to the earth. This is a difficult task for one who indulges his passions and lives according to the flesh. Such a person will not see if the fields are white for the harvest. For when are the fields white for the harvest? When the Word of God comes to illuminate and make fruitful the fields of Scripture. Indeed, all perceptible things are, as it were, fields made white for the harvest, if only reason is available to interpret them. We lift up our eyes and behold the whole universe overspread with the brightness of truth.

And he who reaps those harvests has a double reward for his reaping. First are his wages, meaning his reward in the life to come: “And he who reaps receives wages.” Second is a certain good state of the understanding, which is the fruit of contemplation: “and gathers fruit for eternal life.”

The person who thinks out the first principles of any science is, as it were, the sower in that science. Others, taking them up, pursuing them to their results, and grafting new material onto them, make new discoveries from which posterity reaps a plentiful harvest. How much more can we perceive this in the art of arts? The seed there is the whole dispensation of the mystery, now revealed but formerly hidden in darkness.

For while people were unfit for the advent of the Word, the fields were not yet white to their eyes—that is, the legal and prophetical Scriptures were shut up. Moses and the Prophets, who preceded the coming of Christ, were the sowers of this seed. The Apostles, who came after Christ and saw His glory, were the reapers. They reaped and gathered into barns the deep meaning that lay hidden under the prophetic writings. In short, they did what those do who succeed a scientific system that others have discovered, and who with less trouble attain clearer results than those who originally sowed the seed.

But those who sowed and those who reaped shall rejoice together in another world, in which all sorrow and mourning will be done away. Indeed, have they not rejoiced already? Did not Moses and Elijah, the sowers, rejoice with the reapers Peter, James, and John when they saw the glory of the Son of God at the Transfiguration? Perhaps in the saying, “one sows and another reaps,” the “one and another” may refer simply to those who live under the Law and those who live under the Gospel. For these may both rejoice together, since the same end is laid up for them by one God, through one Christ, in one Holy Spirit.