John 4:35-42   

A friend of mine has a wide angle photo of the first face off of the first NHL game played at GM Place. The picture showed all the ice surface and all the seating opposite the camera. Among the ten thousand people in the picture my friend was able to pick himself out.

One of the great lessons our Bible text for the day teaches us is that when we look through God's telescope we develop harvest eyes that see the multitudes Jesus died on the cross to save. His telescope always takes us to one person, to sit where they sit to feel the pain and hopelessness of life without Jesus.  In our Bible text for today Jesus uses an agricultural word picture to teach us an eternal truth or principle that operates in our world. Everyone who heard Jesus that day understood the principle of sowing and reaping.

There is a high probability that some people present today have never planted a garden from which they harvested fruit. In Jesus day everyone knew about soil preparation, planting, watering and the expectation of a harvest. This message is part of the story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well.  Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.  Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the 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.