White for Harvest?

35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

(John 4:35 ESV)

As Christians we have been given a direct command from the Lord Jesus to take the Gospel to the world. It is not only our responsibility, but it is also our privilege. Although God in no way needs us in order for His people to be Saved - He could just as easily and more efficiently and effectively do it by Himself - He entrusts us with the task of bearing His Good News to all nations. John 4:35 is a verse is often used as an encouragement in evangelism to the effect that people are ready to hear the Gospel and for you to reap harvest when you give them the truth. Though I, in no way, want to detract from the call to evangelize the world I do believe that an examination of this "white for harvest" principle is necessary to rightly understand it and how it applies to us today.

First let us take a look at the context in which this verse is given (John 4). This is shortly after Jesus has begun his public ministry. Most recently, He has had His famous encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Notice here how readily she received the truth about Jesus being the Messiah and believed. Look a few verses later and we see a similar event when she went to the town and told them about this man, Jesus, who was the Messiah. The people of the town believe and see that He is "indeed the Savior of the world" (vs. 42). A key to understanding Jesus' words in verse 35 is in verse 38, where Jesus tells the disciples that the harvest which the had seen that day and which they would see throughout their ministry was because of the work of others before them. Because of the faithfulness of those who had come and planted before, Jesus and the disciple were now reaping their harvest. The ones who had come before such as the prophets and, specifically, John the Baptist had taught the people about the Messiah who was to come and His significance. So, we see then that by the time Jesus came these people were ready for the truth about Messiah and forgiveness of sins.

I do not see, however, the same circumstances in our culture today. Although most people in America have heard about Jesus the do not properly understand Him and who He is. Aside from that, the whole idea of truth itself is being tossed out by our world today and replaced with a faulty and illogical notion that there is no absolute truth and "everyone is right as long as it's right for them." Any rationally thinking person can easily see that this is utterly illogical and inconsistent. So, I do not believe that we are at all in the same type of context as Jesus was when He said these words. I think we must realize that we cannot always simply come to people proclaiming Jesus and expect a harvest. We must begin more basically in our evangelism. We must get people first to realize their sinfulness and their desperate need for a Savior. For why would a sick person want help if he does not know that he is sic (understand, though, that we are dealing with even greater consequences here - unsaved men are not simply sick and in need of a cure, but dead and in need of life). A person cannot be Saved until he realizes there is something from which he needs to be Saved (i.e., sin and its penalty - death).

So please do not misunderstand me. I do not at all intend to minimize the call and command to evangelize. I attest whole-heartedly that this is a practice which all Believers are to make a part of their lives and daily practice. But, I do believe that in order to be effective we must be diligent in preaching to people what they need to hear (although "effective" is a relative term - only God can make believers and produce fruit in people). And, in today's culture, I think that involves some foundational work which had already been given in Jesus' day. Although we must be careful that we do not compromise the truth of the Gospel, we must also be sure to get to the basics with people in order to effectively communicate the Gospel and see fruit from our labor.