In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
John 4:31-35
The first part of the F.L.O.C.K. prayer acrostic is “Families.” Family is defined as a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not. A key word in this definition is “social” or pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations. The word originates from the Latin familia, “members of a household.” In the Greek, family is patria which is lineage, ancestry. Family is the essential building block of civilization. Through this friendly companionship with our lineage, society grows in numbers and teaches new members (children) how to live and behave. How do families tie into our verse tonight?
Let’s examine the context of these verses. Just before this passage, Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman. Jesus tells her of “the gift of God.” In the Greek, the gift is dorea which is free gift, gift not requiring repayment. Expounding on the definition further, dorea is a gift, freely given and hence not acquired by merit or "entitlement." Jesus ties the gift of God with living water, water that bestows life not deadness. As she tries to understand what Jesus is saying, the Samaritan woman doesn’t understand the symbolism yet. She still thinks of literal water. Jesus nudges her along expounding her understanding gently revealing her sin. As with most people when confronted by Jesus, she is transformed and believes that He is the Christ. When the disciples rejoin Him, Jesus is still in the glow of seeing the Samaritan woman believe. He cares not for food but for the lost. “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”
The three main feast days of Israel are associated with a harvest. The barley ripens around Passover. Wheat ripens around Pentecost. Grapes ripen last in the fall around the time of Tabernacles. The harvesting of grain in biblical times was not a one to two day chore as it is today. In ancient times, they couldn’t wait for the grain to fully ripe and become golden brown. They would begin the harvest before then so the grain would not fall out of the husk while it was being cut. Even though it was harvested earlier, the grain would ripen on its own. Determining when to harvest was crucial, since cutting it too early would result in immature grain and cutting it too late would mean losing some or all of the harvest.
Christ provides a clue as to when it was the best time to cut the grain, “white for harvest!" White is the transition color between the green of immature grain and the golden brown of fully ripe grain. At this stage, a reaper, using a very sharp sickle, would harvest the grain. In a sentence parable, Jesus is telling the disciples of the readiness and abundance of God’s spiritual crop for harvesting. This is demonstrated by the “many” people who believed based on the Samaritan woman’s testimony. They have all joined the family of Christ.
God uses families to spread the Gospel. We want families to join our ministry to first believe, then become disciples learning the Word, serve the family of Christ, and evangelize the lost. So, for every family in my community, I pray that they will come to church to hear the Gospel so the Holy Spirit can convict them of their need for a Savior. I pray that families will continue to grow in the love and knowledge of Christ. I pray that families will serve in the ministry and in the community to show the love of Christ. These prayers are not for my church to grow numerically, but to reach the lost and teach the believer. The more families God has helping with the harvest, the more people who will believe.
A beautiful picture of the Gospel being spread to families is the story of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:25-34.
But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
