Our Hunger and God’s Mission (John 4:31-38)

I had a season of my life when I would regularly read parts of a book called Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. It is a famous Protestant book written in the 1500’s by a man named John Foxe. It tells the stories of Christians who suffered persecution and death for Jesus and lets you see their courage and faith. It includes people who were tortured, drowned, hung, burned at the stake, beheaded, and stoned. And in each case, these people had resolve and courage that made no sense to the world. Most of them were given the chance to recant and receive a quick, easy death or even be set free. But, none of them did.

There was something that motivated them, something that fed them that went far beyond their own comfort and safety. You can’t read this and not ask, “What motivated them? What did they see that I don’t?” This is the type of faith Jesus explains in this passage.

Jesus had just talked with the woman at the well and the disciples returned from town with food and said, “Rabbi, eat.” But, then Jesus said something rather strange. I have food to eat that you do not know about. The disciples thought he had usome extra food stashed away somewhere, but Jesus wasn’t referring to food. He was referring to a harvest of souls.

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs created a sense of both curiosity and conviction in me. And I had to answer three really important questions to understand something that Jesus addresses clearly in this passage.

  Question 1: Why are we so often wrong about what we need? 31-33

After Jesus tells the disciples that He has food that they do not know about, they very logically begin to ask each other, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” They aren’t being foolish, they are being literal. They are interpreting Jesus in the most natural way to them: the physical level.

And they are not the first in John’s gospel to hear Jesus speak about spiritual realities and instinctively translate His words into material categories. Nicodemus hears being born again and thinks about physical birth. The Samaritan woman hears about living water and thinks about well water. And now the disciples hear food and think about bread.

John Calvin observed that, “Their minds were fixed on the present life, so that they did not consider the heavenly life.” In other words, they weren’t simply confused, they had been conditioned. Their instincts had been trained by a world that teaches us to interpret hunger in purely earthly terms. And the same thing is true of us.

I know from walking with people and in my own life that when we feel empty or restless, most of us don’t easily ask spiritual questions. We assume the solution must be more rest, more comfort, more money, or more control. We look for relief in things we can do under our own power. Things that can be measured…things that can be scheduled…things that can be purchased…things that can be achieved. Now, to be clear, Scripture isn’t against those things. It never condemns the goodness of physical needs. Jesus Himself sleeps. He eats. He withdraws to quiet places. He practices the Sabbath. He hangs out with His friends. But, what Jesus exposes here is something deeper. The possibility that what we experience as exhaustion or dissatisfaction can actually be a spiritual hunger wearing a physical disguise.

I think about the old Scooby Doo cartoons I grew up watching. At the end of the show, they have captured the bad guy who is still wearing the mask and they pull it off to reveal who the bad guy really is. If this passage were a Scooby Doo episode, I think the villain’s mask is exhaustion, but the mask comes off and the true villain is spiritual hunger.

We can think about this in reverse as well. Our souls can be starving while our lives appear full. We can be busy, entertained, and even outwardly successful, but still feel an ache we just can’t seem to name. And because we misdiagnose our hunger, we prescribe the wrong remedy. We try and fix a spiritual emptiness with adjustments to our circumstances. We rearrange our schedules, we chase new achievements, and we seek greater comfort. But we keep feeling that deeper restlessness inside. 

Jesus is gently confronting His disciples, and us, with this reality. There is a kind of nourishment they have not learned to seek yet. There is a satisfaction that does not come from consuming…it comes from participating. Their thinking is still earthbound, but Jesus is inviting them into a heavenly way of understanding what truly sustains human life. Not just our bodies, but our souls. That is why we are so often wrong about what we need. 

   Question 2: What actually satisfies the human soul? 34

In verse 34, Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” The Greek word Jesus uses for food is a very broad word for nourishment. The kind of nourishment that truly satisfies. He could have used the word for bread or eating or consumption, but He doesn’t. Jesus is saying something incredibly important and profound. Doing the Father’s will is what nourishes Him. It is what energizes Him. It is what gives Him life. 

I said this last week, but the challenge of walking through a book like this with little chunks each week is that we can forget the immediate context of the passage. What happened right before this? The woman at the well. A Samaritan woman had come to the well under the searing heat of the noon sun because she was ashamed and didn’t want to see anybody else there. But, Jesus revealed Himself to her as the Messiah and she went running into the town she was hiding from to come see Jesus for themselves. She came looking for water, but she found something so much greater. And now the town is following her back to the well. 

Seeing people come alive to God is the joy that nourishes Jesus’ heart. Humans weren’t designed to just consume throughout our lives and die. Back in Oxford, there was this all you can eat buffet. The first time I walked in I was pretty excited and filled up my plate. Then I filled up a second plate. By the time I had finished, I wasn’t satisfied, I was actually pretty miserable. I had eaten like 2000 very unhealthy calories. My stomach hurt, I felt like I needed a nap, and I just felt gross in general. And, a quick scan of the room would tell you that this wasn’t really going well for anyone there:)

Our bodies were not designed to simply consume endlessly. They are designed to be nourished in a specific way and for a specific purpose. And the same thing is true for our souls. The human soul was never designed just to take in experiences, comforts, and pleasures until we die. A life that only consumes will eventually become a life that cannot feel alive. We were not created to sit at the table of this earthly life forever. We were created to be nourished by the mission of God. We were created to participate in something meaningful. 

This is the reason why most people often feel most alive when they are serving, when they are loving sacrificially, when they are helping others in specific ways. These are all in the orbit of God’s mission. But the bullseye of the target of God’s mission is glorifying Himself through His people encountering His love and grace. This is the food Jesus is talking about. 

But, Jesus doesn’t stop with talking about His own satisfaction, He turns and begins to reshape the disciples' vision of the world. He does this because once your hunger is rightly diagnosed, and once you begin to taste what truly satisfies, our understanding of ourselves and this world starts to change. 

   Question 3: What happens when we begin to see what Jesus sees? 35-38

In verse 35, Jesus uses some beautiful imagery to help us see what He sees. He says, Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest?’ That was a common proverb of the day. Plant now, wait months, then comes the harvest. But there is likely something even deeper going on here. The prophet Amos spoke of a day coming when God’s salvation would be so abundant that sowing and reaping would seem to overlap. When the plowman would overtake the reaper. It was a picture of a future age when the long awaited harvest of God’s kingdom would finally arrive. And now Jesus is saying that that day is here. The harvest is not months away, it’s unfolding in front of them. 

Then, Jesus says, “Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.” Why would he say that? Biblical scholars like D.A. Carson, Kostenberger, and Riderboss really believe that the Samaritans from the town are literally walking through a field toward Jesus. The woman has told them about the man who told her everything she did and that He is the Messiah and the town is walking through a field to the well wearing their light colored robes that probably looked like a white field ready for the harvest. What the disciples see as an ordinary field, Jesus sees as the fulfillment of God’s ancient promise.

As Jesus watches the crowd approaching across the field, it is almost as if He is saying, “This is my food.” That would sound really creepy. But, it only sounds strange because we are still thinking on the physical level. Jesus is not talking about consuming people. He’s talking about the deep satisfaction that comes from seeing lives brought into the kingdom of God. 

That is what Jesus sees. And when we see things like Jesus, three things happen. First, mission stops feeling like an interruption. So much of our frustration in life comes from feeling like meaningful things are constantly being disrupted. You save up to buy a car, but then the A/C unit goes out. You want to be out in the world, but little ones keep you at home. You want to be married, but the relationship you had hoped for falls apart. We have our plans and goals for how our days and lives should unfold, and interruptions like these can be incredibly discouraging. 

But, Jesus teaches the disciples to interpret the moment very differently. The disciples have seen the Samaritans as more than an inconvenience and Jesus’ interaction with them as more than an interruption. But, the Samaritans are the very reason He came. But, the disciples are about to experience the joy of a harvest they did not initiate. This is why Jesus says in verse 38, “I sent you to reap for which you did not labor.” In other words, God has already been at work. Seeds have already been planted. He is inviting them to simply step into what He is already doing and share in the joy of seeing lives changed. 

When our eyes are lifted up to the harvest, we begin to see that many of the moments we call interruptions are actually opportunities to participate in the work of God. What if these aren’t just distractions from life, but the opportunity for real life? What if not being able to buy the car you want or even need gives you the opportunity to tell someone how the gospel enables you to accept that disappointment? What if the little ones at home aren’t the distraction, but the mission? What if the failed relationship frees you up for a few more months or years of missional work that single people, like the Apostle Paul, are uniquely able to do? Or what if the failed relationship gives a single person the opportunity to witness to others that their relationship with Christ is far and away more valuable than an earthly partner. It’s not about shoving the pain deep down, it’s about seeing things in a way that brings great joy into our lives. 

Second, when we see things the way Jesus does, obedience begins to produce joy. Jesus goes on to say in verse 36, “Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.” This is actually quite striking. The world assumes joy comes from comfort, achievement, and success. But Jesus describes joy flowing from participation in God’s plan of redemption. There is a kind of happiness that only exists on the other side of obedience. A deep gladness that comes from seeing fruit that will last for eternity. A joy that comes from joining in the greatest mission the world will ever know. And notice that it is shared. Sower and reaper may rejoice together. The kingdom of God is not built on isolated accomplishment, but communal celebration. Some plant seeds, some water, and some see the harvest. But, God is causing the growth and all who participate in God’s work taste this unique satisfaction. 

Then, third, when we see things the way Jesus does, we begin to experience the satisfaction we were created for. Jesus reminds the disciples in verse 37 that One sows and another reaps. In other words, your life is a part of a story that began long before you arrived. The prophets of the Old Testament had sown. John the Baptist had sown. Jesus Himself has just sown the truth into the heart of one Samaritan woman. And now the disciples are being invited to the joy of reaping what others sowed. 

When we begin to see what Jesus sees, we stop living merely as consumers of this world and start living as participants in the kingdom of God. We discover that our deepest hunger is not for comfort, but communion. Not merely to receive from God, but join Him in what He is doing in the world. God isn’t a divine Santa or slot machine where we put a prayer in and see what happens. He’s a personal God who wants a relationship with us, but we won’t see that if we are focused on earthly consumption. And when we do, the restlessness we once felt begins to make sense. That restlessness wasn’t a sign that life was futile or failing. It was a sign that our souls were meant for more. They were meant for the harvest. 

Once I understood these three questions, I realized that those martyrs I read about weren’t actually spiritual superheroes. They were people who had discovered the food Jesus is talking about. They had lifted their eyes and seen the harvest. 

All of us know what it is like to feel hungry in ways we cannot fully explain. There is a thirst in the soul that refuses to go away. So we try and fix it. We tell ourselves we just need more rest. Or more success. Or more entertainment. Or more control. And, for a while, those things seem to help. But then the ache comes back. 

If we are honest, many of us are tired. Tired of striving, tired of pretending, and tired of chasing satisfactions that promise so much, but deliver so little. I just want us to ask ourselves, “How is it really going?” Are you becoming more alive…or more numb? More satisfied…or more restless? 

John’s gospel exposes what we often refuse to admit. That our problem is deeper than we think. We are like the Samaritan woman who came looking for physical water, not realizing she was longing for living water. We are like the disciples carrying bread, not realizing that true nourishment comes from joining the work of God. And Jesus offers something radically different. 

What would it be like to be fully known? To have someone see everything you have ever thought or done…and instead of turning you away, they move toward you in love? What would it be like not to just be tolerated, but to be cleansed of you shame and given a new dignity you did not earn? What would it be like to wake up with a sense that your life actually matters? That you are participating in something eternal instead of merely consuming another day? 

Jesus says that this kind of satisfaction is real and attainable. Not because we accumulate more, but because we follow Him and join Him in what He is doing in the world. Jesus did more than talk about mission, He accomplished it. He stepped into the ultimate harvest field of human lostness. He entered a world of sin and longing. And on the cross, He experienced the deepest thirst and hunger that we might drink the living water and feast on the bread of life. 

This chapter begins with a thirsty woman hiding at a well and ends with an entire town believing in Christ. The fields are still white and Jesus’ invitation still stands. We were never meant to simply consume life until we die. We were created to be satisfied by Christ, nourished by His grace, and sent into His world so others might live. Only when we see this will our restless souls find the food we are looking for. 

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