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“Don’t you have a saying it's still four months until the harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest,” John 4:35

This is along the same theme as last week. Ask God of the harvest to thrust or throw out labourers into the harvest field.

The phrase lift up your eyes or open your eyes. This phrase is a call to awareness and a change of perspective, urging believers to see the world (for us, Mangere and Manukau) to see our city as God sees it: full of people ready to receive the message of the Gospel. Let’s not be blinded into becoming so busy with church stuff that we miss why we are here. It is to be a light to those around us. We are called to shine every day when we wake up every morning. The harvest is already ready. Sometimes we need to ask God to open our eyes to see the harvest which is already ready, and to even pray, Lord, thrust me into your harvest field and believe God to lead us to people who are ready to hear the good news and the courage to speak boldly when the opportunity arises. Jesus is telling his disciples to change their perspective from a literal 4-month wait for a physical harvest to an immediate spiritual harvest happening around them. What was the harvest before them, the Samaritans? They were despised by the Jews and were regarded as outsiders. Half castes. Rejected by God. Jews weren’t allowed to even talk to them. Here, Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman, which wasn’t allowed. Because of the disciples' own religious prejudices, they were blinded to the harvest. They were shocked and totally blinded, and feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation, even in going to the Samaritan town. It says many Samaritans believed in Jesus because of the women’s testimony. They stayed there for 2 days and reached a huge harvest. Our prayer, Lord, open our eyes and thrust us out into your harvest field and see what God does. It might not be the people we expect or imagine. Lord, have mercy on us.