Today's message was a little short, so I'm going to try to cheat a little at the start, and explain something that may open up the Bible to you in really unexpected ways. And then, I'll try to show you a little how it works, and how cool this is, as I go through today's passage. My hope, is that I'll give you a tool to forever change how you read your NT-- especially NT stories-- and you don't have to learn a single Greek word.
Let me start by teaching you a little about how Greek verbs work. I'll use an English example-- I promise-- no Greek. So here's the sentence:
"One day Randy was fishing,
and he fell out of the boat."
In the first line, we have the verb "was fishing." In Greek, this would be an imperfect verb, but English uses a helping verb-- "was/were" doing X. Imperfects are used for three main, overlapping, purposes (there are other less common uses I'll ignore; this is based on Albert Rijksbaron's book):
(1) To paint a background picture. It used be, in children's church, that teachers would tell stories using flannel boards. There would be this background material-- the Jerusalem temple, or the Red Sea, or the Garden of Eden. You pick the background that matches the passage you're teaching on. And then the teacher would attach people to the front of it, and move them around, and tell the story.
Imperfect verbs often work like flannel boards. They paint pictures, and flesh out details in the story.
(2) To create an expectation that something else is going to follow. When you read that Randy "was" fishing, you expect that something else is going to happen.
(3) As a summary statement (see Acts 2:42-47, "was" and "were" verbs in Young's Literal Translation, biblegateway.com, and compare even to a KJV. In today's passage, John 4:42).
So that was imperfect verbs. Imperfects are the flannel board verbs. Now, let's return to my example:
"One day Randy was fishing,
and he fell out of the boat."
In the second line of my English example, we read this: "and he fell out of the boat." In the Greek, in narratives, this would be either an aorist (=simple past tense) or present tense (=historical present). Aorist and present tense verbs form the backbone of stories-- the sequence of events: Randy fished. Randy caught fish. Randy went home. Randy bragged about his fish to his friends. Randy told no one he fell out of the boat.
These verbs provide the story line-- the sequence of events.
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Albert Rijksbaron, The Syntax and Semantics of the Verb in Classical Greek, Third Edition, page 11:
"Imperfect and aorist indicative are predominantly used in narrative texts. By locating the various states of affairs in time relative to each other they serve as the most important structuring elements in a story.
Since the imperfect characterizes the state of affairs as 'not-completed' it creates a framework within which other states of affairs may occur, while the aorist indicative characterizes the state of affairs as 'completed', as a mere event. The difference in value between imperfect and aorist indicative is significant for the way in which a story is told. The imperfect creates a certain expectation on the part of the reader/hearer: what else happened?; the aorist indicative, on the other hand, does not have this effect; the state of affairs has simply occurred."
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When we read biblical stories, knowing how these verbs work (=function) helps us appreciate how authors tell their stories, and they help us focus on the things we are supposed to. Once you understand this, it's really, really cool.
Our problem, as readers of English Bibles, is that translations don't necessarily believe this. They don't understand how important it is to be able to see what's an imperfect, and what's an aorist or present tense. They mess with them, and change them, and the newer translations (NIV, NLT) are more likely to do this than the older ones (NASB, KJV). But really, there is only one single translation that is usually careful to show you, the reader, what's an imperfect: Young's Literal Translation (which can be found at biblegateway online).
As I was reading John 4, I was struck by how AJ alternates between imperfects, and aorists/present tense. So what I'll do today is put sentences with imperfects in italics. I'm not going to make a big deal about all of them-- I'll leave some comments to the footnotes. But I think it helps you to see the flow of the story, and it really helps us understand the story at a critical point (4:30-32).
[And what you could do, maybe, is buy a copy of Young's Translation, and highlight sentences that have an imperfect "was/were" verb.]
So. Let's start by simply rereading John 4:1-26. Only this week, I'll put sentences with imperfect verbs in italics (which sermoncentral readers can't see, sorry):
(4:1) Then, when Jesus knew that the Pharisees heard
that Jesus, many more disciples he is making and baptizing than John--
although Jesus himself was not baptizing,
but his disciples--
(3) he left Judea,
and he departed again for Galilee.
(4) Now, it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria.
(5) Then, he comes to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
(6) Now, Jacob's well was there.
Then, Jesus, having become tired from the journey, was simply sitting at the well.
It was about the sixth hour.
(7) A woman of Samaria comes to draw water.
Jesus says to her,
"Give to me to drink."
(8) For his disciples had gone to the city,
in order that food they would buy.
(9) Then, the woman-- the Samaritan one-- says to him,
"How are you, a Judean being, from me to drink you are asking-- a woman of Samaria being?"
For Judeans don't have dealings with Samaritans.
(10) Jesus answered,
and he said to her,
"If you had known the gift of God
and who is the one speaking to you,
"Give to me to drink,"
you would have asked him,
and he would have give to you living water.
(11) She says to him,
"Lord/sir, neither a bucket do you have,
and the well is deep.
Then, from where do you have the living water?
(12) You, not greater than our father Jacob, are you, right?,
who gave to us the well,
and he from it drank,
and his sons,
and his livestock?"
(13) Jesus answered,
and he said to her,
"Everyone drinking from this water will thirst again.
Now, whoever drinks from the water that I will give to him,
will absolutely never be thirsty [again] for eternity,
but the water that I will give to him will become in him a well of water springing up to/for eternal life.
(15) The woman says to him,
"Lord/sir, give to me this water,
in order that I shall not thirst,
nor come here to draw [water]."
(16) He says to her,
"Go.
Call your husband,
and come here."
(17) The woman answered,
and she said to him,
"I don't have a husband."
Jesus says to her,
Rightly you said (that),
"A husband I don't have."
(18) For five husbands you had,
and now, the one whom you have isn't your husband.
This, truthfully, you have said."
(19) The woman says to him,
"Lord/sir," I perceive that a prophet, you are.
(20) Our fathers on this mountain worshipped,
and you (plural) say,
that in Jerusalem, the place is where it is necessary to worship."
(21) Jesus says to her,
"Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming
when neither on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem you will worship the Father.
You (plural) worship what you don't know.
We worship what/who we know,
because salvation, from the Judeans, it is,
but an hour is coming, and now is,
when the true worshippers will worship the Father in/by the Spirit and truth.
For, indeed, the Father such ones, He seeks [to be] his worshippers.
Spirit, God is,
and the ones worshipping him, in/by the Spirit and the truth must worship."
(25) The woman says to him,
"I know that the Messiah is coming-- the one being called the Christ.
Whenever that one comes, he will disclose to us everything."
(26) Jesus says to her,
"I am-- the one speaking to you."
At this point in our story, the scene shifts (and we find ourselves in new verses). Jesus' disciples had gone to the city in order to buy food. Here, in verse 27, they return:
(27) and at this [point], his disciples came,
and they were marveling that with a woman he was speaking.
However, no one said,
"What are you seeking?",
or, "Why are you speaking with her?"
(28) Then she left her water jar -- the woman--
and she departed into the city,
and she says to the people,
"Come! See a man,
who told me everything I ever did!
This one isn't the Messiah, right?
In the Greek, the woman's question here is asked in a way that shows doubt (see NRSV). The woman is far from convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. But, her doubt is in some ways understandable. Who would actually expect the Messiah to show up, and randomly talk to them at a well?
But notice this: even though she doubts, her doubt doesn't get in the way of her being a faithful witness (h/t Gail O'Day). Despite her doubt, the woman does everything right here-- she invites people to come to Jesus, to see him for themselves, and to make their own decision about him.
Verse 30:
(30) They went out from the city,
and they were coming to him.
(31) In the meantime, his disciples were asking him, saying,
"Rabbi, eat."
Let's pause here. Can you picture the scene AJ has painted (with imperfects)?
There are two things we are supposed to visualize here. (1) Off in the distance, we see a group of Samaritans who "were coming" to Jesus. And when read this verb, we are supposed to understand that this is (part of a cluster of verbs that is) faith language. If you believe Jesus is the Messiah, you come to him. It's the first thing you do (John 1:39, 46-47; 3:20-21; 5:40; 6:44).
The surprising thing here-- the new thing-- is that it's Samaritans who are coming to Jesus.
(2) Much closer, at the same time, Jesus' disciples "were asking" Jesus to eat.
AJ here uses these two imperfect verbs ("coming," "asking") to raise anticipation for what comes next. And we are supposed to keep both of these verbs/actions in view, and understand that what Jesus is about to say, is a response to both of these things. Our flannel board is set.
Verse 32:
(32) Now, he said to them,
I, food , I have to eat,
that you don't know.
What is Jesus' food?
(33) Then the disciples were saying to one another,
"No one brought to him to eat, right?"
If Jesus has food, who does it come from? The disciples are pretty sure the food wasn't from them. They all had gone into town to buy food. Does that mean-- shockingly-- that he shared food with the Samaritan woman? She fed him, and he's no longer hungry?
What we see here, is the disciples misunderstanding Jesus. They hear Jesus' words about food from a lower, earthly perspective. And when they do this, they sound like basically every other human in the gospel of John.
Everyone struggles to keep up with Jesus-- to reach for the higher, heavenly level of meaning in John's two story story. The woman struggled to understand what Jesus meant by "water"; the disciples struggle to understand what Jesus means by "food." (And AJ uses the imperfect verb "were saying" to create a framework for, and anticipate, what Jesus says next)
Verse 34:
(34) Jesus says to them,
"My food is,
that I do the will of the One Who Sent me,
and that I complete his work.
Don't you say,
"Still four months there are,
and the harvest comes."?
LOOK! I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and see the fields,
that white they are for harvest.
Already the one who reaps, wages he receives,
and he gathers fruit for eternal life,
in order that the one sowing, together may rejoice-- and the one reaping.
(37) For in this instance the saying is true,
that one, The one sowing is,
and another, The one reaping [is].
I sent you to reap,
what you didn't work for.
Others have worked,
and you into their work have entered.
So picture Jesus, sitting with his disciples. In the background-- on the flannel board-- we see this crowd of Samaritans coming to Jesus. And Jesus says, LOOK! SEE the fields, that WHITE they are for the harvest!
The disciples had gone into the Samaritan town to buy food, and returned, without realizing that there was a harvest ready all around them. They didn't have the eyes to see that the time to harvest is NOW. And they didn't have the eyes to see that the harvest could be found among Samaritans, and not just Galileans.
Now, let me pause here and talk about something that scholars disagree about. Jesus says to his disciples here, "I sent you." But AJ hasn't described Jesus as sending them at any point in the gospel yet.
Explanations in commentaries are that (1) AJ here sort of accidentally reveals his sources, which are slightly awkward for him (something like Luke 10:1-2) and he didn't feel he had the freedom to modify it at all (which is really unlikely I think-- AJ isn't a slave to his sources; everyone would say he has at least some freedom in adapting them, and changing a single verb tense is no big deal), that (2) AJ has Jesus speaking past the disciples to a post-resurrection church, putting words on his lips more suitable for us (and a good doctrine of inspiration/inerrancy should have no problem with that, if AJ thought doing that was okay), or (3) that AJ simply hasn't recorded Jesus saying that to his disciples, but we hear learn that he did in fact send them at some point in the gospel.
Although I think #2 is in some sense right-- AJ wants us to hear these words as addressed to us-- I think the aorist (simple past tense) verb here "I sent" is an example of performative speech act theory. The idiot's guide to what this means-- and this is all I know, and can try to teach-- goes something like this:
There are times when language "does" things:
God says, "let there be light," and there is light. His word accomplished this.
A pastor "declares" two people husband and wife, and they are.
A judge "declares" someone innocent or guilty, and they are.
An employee says, "I quit," and they are no longer an employee.
Performative speech, at least in Greek and Hebrew, uses perfective verbs-- qatals in Hebrew (God told Joshua, "I gave this land to you"), and aorists in Greek.
So what we have in this verse, I think, is Jesus' commissioning of his disciples for ministry-- for evangelism.
Jesus, and the woman, and the Father (John 4:34), have already done the hard work. Others have sown. And now the fields are ready for harvest.
What Jesus wants, is for his disciples to lift their eyes, and really look, and accept their commissioning. Finish what others have started.
Our story continues, verse 39:
(39) Now, from that town, many gave allegiance to him of the Samaritans,
because of the word of the woman testifying that,
"He told me everything that I did."
(40) Then, when the Samaritans came to him, they were asking him to abide with them,
and he abided there two days,
(41) and many more gave allegiance because of his word,
and to the woman they were saying (that),
"No longer because of your speech/chatter do we give allegiance.
For we ourselves have heard,
and we know that
this one is truly the savior of the world."
The Samaritans, by the end of the story, become full disciples of Jesus. At first, they "gave their allegiance to Jesus" because of the woman's word (verse 39). The woman, despite her doubts, successfully pointed others toward Jesus, and invited them to come and see. And they came, and saw, and they took an initial step of faith and commitment toward Jesus.
Then, after Jesus abided with them for two days (verse 40), even more give allegiance because of Jesus' word. And their allegiance becomes more firmly rooted. Let's reread their words to the woman:
"No longer because of your speech/chatter do we give allegiance.
For we ourselves have heard,
and we know that
this one is truly the savior of the world."
When you witness to Jesus, and invite people to "come and see him," what's supposed to happen after this, is that you become less, and Jesus becomes more. You are like John the Baptist, and the Samaritan woman (h/t Gail O'Day). At first, your testimony is really important. But people's allegiance to Jesus doesn't rest for very long on your testimony. Everyone who comes to Jesus, and sees Jesus for themselves, has to make their own decision about Jesus. And once they come to Jesus, and see him, and give their allegiance to him, and abide with him, your importance fades away.
And that's a good thing. Jesus' words are the ones that really matter. Jesus is the one who must become greater. New Christians are Jesus' disciples; not your disciples.
And that's what happens here. Many from the Samaritan town come to know... what?
Who is Jesus?
Jesus is truly the savior of the world.
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Everyone who hears Jesus' words has to make a decision about two things:
(1) whether or not Jesus is who he says he is, and
(2) if he can really offer what he claims to offer.
Is Jesus really from God, the Savior of the world, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world?
Is Jesus really superior to Moses, and Jacob, and Judaism?
Is Jesus the Messiah that God promised to send?
Can Jesus really give you living water that springs up inside of you, for eternal life?
You either believe Jesus about all these things, or you don't. But you have to make a choice.
If you believe Jesus' testimony/word about who he is, and the gift of God that he offers, what should you do? You come out of the darkness toward the Light. You give your allegiance to Jesus. You ask for the water he gives. You get baptized. You abide with him.
But all of this depends on whether or not you think Jesus is truthful. Who is Jesus, really? What do you think about Jesus, really?
The Samaritans are models for how all of this should work. They came to Jesus, open-minded, willing to consider the possibility that Jesus is Messiah. Then, they accepted Jesus' words, and acknowledged that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
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My guess is that most of us view the world like the disciples did. We go through life, buying food, or whatever, and we don't think that there is a harvest all around us. We don't think a harvest is ready NOW. We look at our coworkers, and friends, and family-- people who haven't come to Jesus-- and we think to ourselves, "They are so lost. Maybe in four months, maybe in a year, maybe in 10 years, they will be open to hearing the good news about Jesus."
Or maybe as a church, we get excited thinking about big, expensive outreach programs (because they are safer and easier than personal evangelism). We think, with enough planning, and money, someday we can pull together a big campaign to reach our city. We can start the slow process that maybe, down the road, will lead a few people to come to Jesus.
Or, maybe, we could do a bunch of thing to make us more attractive to our community: we could change the name of our church to something trendy, get a new sign out front, spray the weeds, repaint the building, and pave the parking lot. Maybe if we did all that, we'd get a few new people to "try" church. And maybe a few of those people would at some point be open to coming to Jesus. And maybe, with a little luck, we can keep the doors to this building open a few more years.
But we never think the harvest is ripe, or that it's big. And we never think the time is now. Instead, we think that Jesus came to save this tiny little church, and we are like a righteous remnant, grimly hanging on until Jesus returns.
Jesus here pushes his disciples-- and us (, through AJ)-- to see the world much differently. The truth of the matter is that there is a harvest ready, right now. Others have already done the hard work.
Let's cheat ahead to John 6:44:
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
Our Father has already been hard at work drawing people to himself (John 4:34).
[And I would say, that if God draws people, that this is something we should be praying for specific people in our lives. We should pray that God would soften their hearts, make them open to the gospel (Acts 16:14), and draw them toward Himself. God doesn't force anyone to take that final step. But He is hard at work, drawing people toward himself.]
If Jesus' words are true, then we are, basically, total failures. What we want to say is that our stagnation is because the fields aren't ready. We want to say there's nothing yet to harvest-- but "someday" that will change, maybe.
And when we share the gospel, we tend to think the harvest isn't ready. We share apologetically, embarrassed. We share, ready for them to say, "Not right now." But usually, we don't bother to share. Maybe, down the road. Someday.
What if the fields are white?
What if the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, have already been hard at work, sowing all around us?
If the fields are white, ready for the harvest, then I need to radically change how I live. I need to stop putting off telling people the good news about Jesus. I need to meet with coworkers outside of work hours, and invite them to come to Jesus. I need to pray for boldness (Acts 4:29-31), and pray that God would draw people to himself-- and then I need to get to work. I need to be bold. If the fields are white, then the time is now.
My food needs to be Jesus' food:
(4:34) Jesus says to them,
"My food is,
that I do the will of the One Who Sent me,
and that I complete his work.
Jesus is the Savior of the world. But Jesus doesn't save the world, apart from us. He has sent us, and expects us to tell people about him. He expects us to finish his (and the Father's) work.
So today, LOOK! See the world for how it really is. See that the harvest is ready. All that's needed, is lots and lots of farmers.
May it not be said, that God is seeking people (who worship Him in the Spirit and in the truth; John 4:24), and we are not.
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