Friday after Quasimodogeniti
Scripture: St. John 4:28-38 (NKJV)
4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 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! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
Devotion
In John 4:6 we learn that Jesus was fatigued from His journey, arriving at noon as the sun was at full strength. While the disciples purchase food, Jesus ministered to the Samaritan woman with the Law and Gospel. The disciples return to find a crowd of Samaritans around Jesus, who is vigorously teaching them the Gospel. Although He had been fatigued, doing His Father’s work sustained Him and revitalized His strength.
The apostles join Jesus in His labors on the night of His resurrection when He breathes on them, giving them the Holy Spirit and the Office of forgiving and retaining sins. They will go into the field of the world after Pentecost and reap a bountiful harvest that they did not sow themselves. This ministry is labor that wearies body and soul, but it can also be refreshing as they gather fruit for eternal life, namely, more and more people for God’s kingdom.
Christ still sends workers into the harvest—His called and ordained pastors—to sow the seed of the Word, to water it, and to harvest it. They do this through preaching the Word and administering Christ’s sacraments. Like all labor, the ministry will bring fatigue. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would refresh your pastor’s spirit through the Gospel, so that he may always sow the Word with joy, and ask Christ to bless your pastor’s sowing with a bountiful harvest in you.
Prayer: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who have celebrated the solemnities of the Lord’s Resurrection may, by the help of Thy grace, bring forth the fruits thereof in our life and conversation; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
