339th Post Jesus On Admonitions & Exhortations Con't. - Charging His Disciples Con't. - John 4:35 - 38

John 4: 35 - 38.
Do you not say, "There are still four months and then comes the time for harvest"? Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: "One sows and another reaps." I sent you to reap that which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.
This was spoken by Jesus very early in His earthly ministry. Jesus had not yet called all of his disciples yet. The setting for this passage takes place at the well in Samaria, after Jesus had talked to the woman, Jesus revealed to her that He is the Messiah. She ran into the town and told the leaders that she may be talking to the Christ (Messiah). The people were coming up the road from the town to meet Jesus. When Jesus saw the crowd coming up to meet Him, is when He tells the disciples to look at the fields. You have to remember that when Jesus walked the earth, farming was the major industry in that part of the world. When Jesus told His disciples about reaping they would think about actual farming instead of the harvesting of souls that Jesus was talking about. That is why Jesus mentions the part of four months away from harvest. Jesus clearly teaches here, that there is a time lapse between when people are exposed to the truth, and the time they decide to make a decision to follow. We seem to have forgotten that, and we try to sow, water and harvest all in one meeting. It can work that way, but I don't think that is the message Jesus is trying to show here.