CHRIST TEACHES THE SAMARITANS.



WHEN the disciples returned from the city, they were astonished at finding their Lord in earnest conversation with a Samaritan; "yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?" 

The woman, however, had become so thoroughly aroused that she left her water pot, and hastened to the city, where she said, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"

"In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work."

Although wearied by travel, and much in need of food, our Lord was so intent on teaching the way of life to this despised people that his weariness and hunger were alike forgotten. It was sweeter to impart the words of life than to partake of food. 

And so with us it should be more than meat and drink to do our Master's will. Physical discomfort should never prevent our working for God, and worldly affairs should always be held secondary to spiritual interests.

Turning to his disciples, Jesus said, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." By this allusion to harvest, we see that the visit to Sychar must have been in the early part of December, while the grain was yet young and tender. But Jesus referred to the harvest of souls, that were ready to be gathered into the garner of the Lord. At one time, Christ says, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" and it is clearly taught that the gospel was to be preached first to the Jews, and afterward to the Gentiles: but here, long before the general' harvest, Christ finds a field prematurely ripe; for the people of Sychar were eager to receive the word of truth, by obedience to which they would finally be brought into the kingdom of glory.

Continuing his discourse, Christ says, that already, "He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." This truth had just been exemplified by the readiness with which the Samaritan woman had believed on Christ. The Holy Spirit had by some means prepared the hearts of the people of Sychar to receive the light, and Christ says: "Herein is that saying true, One soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.

"And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them; and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own words; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying; for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."