Evangelism is full of missed opportunities.
1. Evangelists are to seize every opportunity.
– 4:35. If this is literal, it must have been December or January, about four months before the normal spring harvest. J. C. Ryle and Leon Morris understand this as a proverbial saying which means ‘There is no hurry’. Whatever the case, there is a gap of about four months between the sowing and the reaping. ‘White for harvest’ may refer to garments. The seed was already sown; she already knew something about the Messiah (John 4:25).
2. Evangelists rejoice together in eternity.
– 4:36. Augustine: ‘They had dissimilar labours in time, but the rejoicing they shall enjoy alike equally; they shall receive for their wages together eternal life.’
– Amos 9:13; Psalm 126:5-6; Dan. 12:3.
Evangelising is eternal work. Robert Morrison (1782-1834) spent 25 years in China where he translated the whole Bible but only baptized ten Chinese believers. When he first arrived, he was asked if he expected to have any spiritual impact on the Chinese, and he replied most wonderfully: ‘No sir, but I expect God will!’
3. Evangelists work together.
– 4:37-38. J. C. Ryle: ‘A pointed proverb is often remembered when a long moral lesson is forgotten.’ Oscar Cullmann points forward to Acts 8 where Samaria was finally evangelised – Acts 8:1-8. Leon Morris and Don Carson point back to John the Baptist and his followers (note John 3:23). There is a hiddenness in gospel work – Mark 4:26-29. – 1 Cor. 3:5-8.