John 4:31-38: a reflection

31In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” 33The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. 36He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ 38I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

When the disciples urge the tired Jesus to eat, he answers with words they do not understand: I have food to eat that you do not know about. When they wonder if someone brought him food, he explains: My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Having just led a Samaritan woman to faith, Jesus found in doing the Father's will a nourishment deeper than bread, a satisfaction that fed his soul. Doing God's will was, to him, like food.

Notice how Jesus describes doing the Father's will: as his food. Just as food sustains and satisfies the body, doing God's will sustained and satisfied Jesus; there was a deep nourishment for his soul in accomplishing the work God had given him. This was not a burden he endured, but a food that fed him, a satisfaction found in obedience to and communion with the Father.

That reframes how we think about doing God's will. We often regard obedience as a duty, even a burden, something we must do rather than something that feeds us. But Jesus found in doing the Father's will a deep nourishment and satisfaction, food for the soul. There is a satisfaction, a sustenance, in doing what God has given us to do, in accomplishing his work, that feeds us more deeply than we expect. Do not regard God's will only as a duty to be performed. Learn, with Jesus, to find in doing it a food that nourishes your soul, a satisfaction deeper than the things you thought would satisfy. My food, Jesus said, is to do the will of him who sent me; let doing God's will become, for you too, a nourishment and a joy.

Lord Jesus, when your disciples urged you to eat, you told them your food was to do the will of him who sent you and to accomplish his work; doing the Father's will was, to you, a nourishment deeper than bread. Reframe how I think about doing your will. I often regard obedience as a duty, even a burden, something I must do rather than something that feeds me. But you found in doing the Father's will a deep satisfaction, food for your soul. Help me learn to find the same: a nourishment and satisfaction in doing what you have given me to do, in accomplishing your work. Let doing your will become, for me, not merely a duty but a food that sustains and satisfies me. Teach me to say with you, my food is to do the will of him who sent me.