John 4:27–38

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷Just then his disciples returned^y and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.^z Could this be the Messiah?”^{a 30}They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

³¹Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi,^b eat something.”

³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat^c that you know nothing about.”

³³Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

³⁴“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will^d of him who sent me and to finish his work.^{e 35}Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.^{f 36}Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests^g a crop for eternal life,^h so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ⁱ is true. ³⁸I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”