“’One Sows And Another Reaps’”

Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

John 4:35-38

Jesus said to his disciples: “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for.”

God lets us enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labors, such as when we share our love for Jesus with a friend whose family – unbeknownst to us – has been praying for her for years.

We also love the implied limits of Jesus’s words, for we may plant seeds that we will never harvest but someone else may. Therefore, we can rest in the tasks before us, not being hookwinked into thinking that we are responsible for the outcomes. God’s work after all, doesn’t depend on us. He has all of the resources for a bountiful harvest; and we are privileged to pay a role in it.

We can reap what others have sown.

Our Daily Bread – August 22, 2017