Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 4:34-38

"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. 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 4:34-38 (ASV)

1. Since the disciples were slow to understand the Lord’s figure of speech, the Lord now explains it.

   First, we have its explanation, and second, its application, which begins with the words, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’?”

2. As to the first point, we should note that just as Christ explained to the Samaritan woman what he had told her in figurative language about water, so he explains to his apostles what he told them in figurative language about food. But he does not do so in the same way in both cases. Since the apostles were able to understand these matters more easily, he explains them at once and in few words; but to the Samaritan woman, since she could not understand as well, our Lord leads her to the truth with a longer explanation.

3. There is a perfectly reasonable cause for Christ to say, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, so that I may accomplish his work.” For just as bodily food sustains a person and brings them to full development, the spiritual food of the soul and of the rational creature is that by which it is sustained and perfected. This consists in being joined to its end and following a higher rule. David, understanding this, said, “For me, to adhere to God is good” (Psalms 72:28). Accordingly, Christ, as man, appropriately says that his food is to do the will of God and to accomplish his work.

4. These two expressions can be understood as meaning the same thing, or they can be understood in different ways.

   If we understand them as meaning the same, the sense is this: “My food is,” that is, in this is my strength and nourishment, “to do the will of him who sent me,” in accord with “My God, I desired to do your will, and your law is in my heart” (Psalms 39:9), and, “I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). But because doing the will of another can be understood in two ways—first, by causing him to will it, and second, by fulfilling what I know he wills—the Lord explains what it means to do the will of him who sent him by adding, “so that I may accomplish his work.” This means that he might complete the work he knows the Father wants: “I must do the works of him who sent me while it is day” (John 9:4).

   If these two expressions are understood as different, then we should point out that Christ did two things in this world. First, he taught the truth by inviting and calling us to the faith, and by this he fulfilled the will of the Father: “This is the will of my Father who sent me: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life” (John 6:40). Second, he accomplished the truth by his passion, opening for us the gate of life and giving us the power to arrive at complete truth: “I have finished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). Thus he is saying: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” (by calling people to the faith), “so that I may accomplish his work” (by leading them to what is perfect).

5. Another interpretation, given by Origen, is that every person who does good works should direct their intention to two things: the honor of God and the good of their neighbor. For as it is said, “The end of the commandment is love” (1 Timothy 1:5), and this love embraces both God and our neighbor. And so, when we do something for God’s sake, the end of the commandment is God; but when it is for our neighbor’s good, the end of the commandment is our neighbor.

   With this in mind, Christ is saying, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me”—that is, God—meaning to direct and regulate my intention toward matters concerning the honor of God; “so that I may accomplish his work”—that is, to do things for the benefit and perfection of humanity.

6. On the other hand, since the works of God are perfect, it does not seem proper to speak of accomplishing or completing them.

   I answer that among lower creatures, humanity is the special work of God, who made us in his own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). In the beginning, God made this a perfect work, because as we read, “God made man upright” (Ecclesiastes 7:30). But later, humanity lost this perfection through sin and abandoned what was right. And so, this work of the Lord needed to be repaired to become right again. This was accomplished by Christ, for “just as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, many will be made just” (Romans 5:19). Thus Christ says, “so that I may accomplish his work,” that is, to bring humanity back to what is perfect.

7. When he says, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and see the fields, which are already white for harvest,” he makes use of a simile.

   Note that when Christ asked the Samaritan woman for a drink—“Give me a drink” (John 4:7)—he used a simile concerning water. Here, however, the disciples are urging the Lord to eat, and now he uses a simile concerning spiritual food. There are some people whom God asks for a drink, like this Samaritan woman, and there are some who offer a drink to God. But no one offers food to God unless God first asks for it. We offer spiritual food to God when we ask him for our salvation, that is, when we pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). We cannot obtain salvation by ourselves unless we are first moved by prevenient grace, according to the statement, “Make us come back to you, O Lord, and we will come back” (Lamentations 5:21). The Lord himself, therefore, first asks for that which, through prevenient grace, causes us to ask.

   In this simile, we will consider:

   • First, the harvest.
   • Second, those who reap the harvest, beginning with the words, “And he who reaps receives wages.”

   Concerning the first point, he does two things:

   • First, he states the simile concerning the natural harvest.
   • Second, he discusses the spiritual harvest, beginning with, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the fields, which are already white for harvest.”

8. From his words, “Do you not say, ‘There are four months and then the harvest comes’?” we can see that, as stated, Christ left Judea and traveled through Samaria right after John was arrested, and that all this happened during the winter (Matthew 4:12). Since the harvests there ripen according to the season, there were four months from that time until the harvest. Thus he says, regarding the natural harvest, “Do you not say... ‘There are yet four months and then the harvest comes’?”—that is, the time for gathering the harvest. But speaking of the spiritual harvest, he says, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the fields, which are already white for harvest.”

9. Here we should point out that harvest time is when fruit is gathered, and so any time fruit is gathered can be regarded as a harvest. Now, fruit is gathered at two times. In both temporal and spiritual matters, there is nothing to prevent what is fruit in relation to an earlier state from being seed in relation to a later one. For example, good works are the fruit of spiritual instruction, as are faith and similar things. These, in turn, are seeds of eternal life, because eternal life is acquired through them. So it is said, “My blossoms” (in relation to the fruit to follow) “bear the fruit of honor and riches” (in relation to what preceded) .

   With this in mind, there is a gathering of a spiritual harvest that concerns an eternal fruit: the gathering of the faithful into eternal life, of which we read, “The harvest is the end of the world” (Matthew 13:39). We are not concerned with this harvest here. Another spiritual harvest is gathered in the present, and this is understood in two ways. First, the gathering of fruit is the conversion of the faithful to be assembled in the Church. Second, the gathering is the very knowledge of the truth, by which a person gathers the fruit of truth into their soul. We are concerned with these two types of harvest, which correspond to different interpretations.

10. Augustine and Chrysostom understand the gathering of the harvest in the first way, as follows. “You say” that it is not yet time for the natural harvest, but this is not true of the spiritual harvest. Indeed, “Behold, lift up your eyes”—that is, the eyes of your mind, by thinking, or even your physical eyes—and “look at the fields, which are already white for the harvest,” because the entire countryside was full of Samaritans coming to Christ.

    The statement that the fields “are already white” is metaphorical, for when sown fields are white, it is a sign that they are ready for harvest. By this, he simply means that the people were ready for salvation and to hear the word. He says, “See the fields,” because not only the Jews but the Gentiles as well were ready for the faith: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). And just as harvests are made white by the burning heat of the summer sun, so by the coming of the Sun of Justice—that is, Christ—and by his preaching and power, people are made ready for salvation. It is said, “The sun of justice will rise on you who fear my name” (Malachi 4:2). Thus, the time of Christ’s coming is called the time of fullness: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4).

11. Origen deals with the second type of harvest: the gathering of truth in the soul. He says that one gathers as much fruit of truth in the harvest as the truths one knows. He says that everything stated here—“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then the harvest comes’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the fields, which are already white for harvest”—should be understood figuratively. In this passage, the Lord does two things: first, he presents a false opinion, and second, he refutes it with the words, “I say to you.”

    Some thought that a person could not acquire any truth about anything. This opinion gave rise to the heresy of the Academics, who maintained that nothing can be known for certain in this life. Concerning this, we read, “I tested all things by wisdom. I said: ‘I will acquire wisdom,’ and it became further from me” (Ecclesiastes 7:24). Our Lord refers to this opinion when he says, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months and then the harvest comes’?” This means that this whole present life, in which a person serves under the four elements, must end before truth can be gathered in another life.

    Our Lord rejects this opinion when he says that this is not true: “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes.” Sacred Scripture usually uses this expression when presenting something subtle and profound, as in, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things” (Isaiah 40:26). For when our eyes are not lifted away from earthly things or from the desires of the flesh, they are not fit to know spiritual fruit. When they are lowered to the earth, they are prevented from considering divine things: “They have fixed their eyes on the earth” (Psalms 16:11). Sometimes they are blinded by concupiscence: “They have averted their eyes so as not to look at heaven or remember the judgments of God” (Daniel 13:9).

12. So he says, “Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they are already white for the harvest,” meaning they are such that truth can be learned from them. By the “fields” we specifically understand all those things from which truth can be acquired, especially the Scriptures: “Search the Scriptures... they give testimony about me” (John 5:39).

    Indeed, these fields existed in the Old Testament, but they were not white for the harvest because people were not able to pick spiritual fruit from them until Christ came. He made them white by opening their understanding: “He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). Again, created things are harvests from which the fruit of truth is gathered: “The invisible things of God are clearly known by the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20). Nevertheless, the Gentiles who pursued knowledge of these things gathered the fruits of error rather than truth from them, because as we read, “They served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). So the harvests were not yet white, but they were made white for the harvest when Christ came.

13. Next, when he says, “He who reaps receives wages,” he deals with the reapers.

    He does three things:

    • First, he gives their reward.
    • Second, he mentions a proverb, beginning with, “For in this the saying is true.”
    • Third, he explains and applies it, beginning with, “I have sent you to reap.”

14. Concerning the first point, we should note that when the Lord was explaining spiritual water earlier, he mentioned how it differs from natural water: a person who drinks natural water will become thirsty again, but one who drinks spiritual water will never be thirsty again. Here, too, in explaining the harvest, he points out the difference between a natural and a spiritual harvest. Three things are mentioned.

    First is the similarity between the two harvests: the person who reaps either one receives a wage. The one who reaps spiritually is the one who gathers the faithful into the Church or who gathers the fruit of truth into their soul. Each of these will receive a wage, according to the verse, “Each one will receive his own wage according to his work” (1 Corinthians 3:8).

    The other two points concern the differences between the harvests. First, the fruit from a natural harvest sustains the life of the body, but the fruit gathered by a spiritual reaper concerns eternal life. So he says, “He who reaps”—that is, who reaps spiritually—“gathers fruit for eternal life.” This fruit is the faithful, who will obtain eternal life: “Your fruit is sanctification, your end is eternal life” (Romans 6:22). Or, this fruit is the very knowledge and explanation of the truth by which a person acquires eternal life: “Those who explain me will have eternal life” .

    Second, the two harvests are different because in a natural harvest, it is considered a misfortune for one to sow and another to reap; the one who sows is saddened when another reaps. But it is not this way with spiritual seed, “so that both he who sows, and he who reaps, may rejoice together.” According to Chrysostom and Augustine, the ones who sowed spiritual seed are the fathers and prophets of the Old Testament, for “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11), which Moses and the prophets sowed in the land of Judah. The apostles, however, were the reapers, because the prophets were not able to accomplish what they wanted to do—that is, to bring people to Christ. This was done by the apostles. And so both the apostles and the prophets rejoice together in one mansion of glory over the conversion of the faithful: “Joy and gladness will be found there, thanksgiving and the voice of praise” (Isaiah 51:3).

    This refutes the heresy of the Manicheans who condemn the fathers of the Old Testament, for as the Lord says here, they will rejoice with the apostles.

    According to Origen, however, the sowers in any field of knowledge are those who establish its first principles, while the reapers are those who proceed from these principles to further truths. This is all the more true of the science of all sciences. The prophets are sowers because they handed down many things concerning divine matters, but the apostles are the reapers because in their preaching and teaching they revealed many things the prophets did not make known: “Which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles” (Ephesians 3:5).

15. Then he says, “For in this the saying is true: that it is one man who sows, and it is another who reaps.” It is as if to say: “For in this”—that is, in this situation—“the saying is true,” meaning the proverb in common use among the Jews is fulfilled: One person sows, another reaps. This proverb seems to have grown out of the statement, “You will sow your seed in vain for it will be devoured by your enemies” (Leviticus 26:16). As a result, the Jews used this proverb when one person labored on something, but another received the benefit from it. This, then, is what our Lord is saying: the proverb is fulfilled here because it was the prophets who sowed and labored, while you are the ones to reap and rejoice.

    Another interpretation is this: “For in this the saying is true”—that is, what I am saying to you is true—“that it is one man who sows, and it is another who reaps,” because you will reap the fruits of the prophets’ labor. Now, the prophets and the apostles are different, but not in faith, for they both had faith: “But now the justice of God has been manifested outside the law; the law and the prophets bore witness to it” (Romans 3:21). They are different in their manner of life, for the prophets lived under the ceremonies of the law, from which the apostles and Christians have been freed: “When we were children, we were slaves under the elements of this world. But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we could receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:3).

    And although the apostles and prophets labor at different times, they will nevertheless rejoice equally and receive wages “for eternal life, so that both he who sows, and he who reaps, may rejoice together.” This was prefigured in the transfiguration of Christ, where all had their own glory: both the fathers of the Old Testament (Moses and Elijah) and the fathers of the New Testament (Peter, John, and James). From this, we see that the righteous of the New and Old Testaments will rejoice together in the glory to come.

16. Then, with the words, “I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labor,” he applies the proverb.

    He does two things:

    • First, he calls the apostles reapers.
    • Second, he says they have entered into the labor of others, with the words, “Others have done the work, and you have entered into their labors.”

17. Concerning the first point, he says that “it is one who reaps” (because you are reapers) “and another who sows,” for “I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labor.” He does not say, “I will send you,” but “I have sent you.” He says this because he sent them twice.

    One time was before his passion, when he sent them to the Jews, saying, “Do not go on the roads of the gentiles... but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5). In this case, they were sent to reap what they did not work for—that is, to convert the Jews, among whom the prophets had worked.

    After the resurrection, Christ sent them to the Gentiles, saying, “Go to the whole world, and preach the good news to every creature” (Mark 16:15). This time they were sent to sow for the first time. As the Apostle says, “I have preached the good news, but not where Christ was already known, so as not to build on another’s foundation. But as it is written: ‘They to whom he was not proclaimed will see, and they who have not heard will understand’” (Romans 15:20). And so Christ says, “I have sent you,” referring to the first time they were sent.

    This, then, is how the apostles are reapers, and others—the prophets—are the sowers.

18. Accordingly, he says, “Others have done the work” (by sowing the beginnings of the doctrine of Christ), “and you have entered into their labors” (to collect the fruit): “The fruit of good labors is glorious” . The prophets labored, I say, to bring people to Christ: “If you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me also, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:46–47). But the prophets did not reap the fruit, so Isaiah said with this in mind, “I have labored for nothing and without reason; in vain I have exhausted my strength” (Isaiah 49:4).