Most of us would assume that the Lord laughed at some point during His earthly ministry, yet the scripture never focuses on this point. Rather, the scripture seems to focus on the fact that He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). We know very little of any laughter, yet we do know that He wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35). He further lamented over Jerusalem because of their rebellion (Luke 13:34). We also know that He sighed at the healing of the deaf man who had a speech impediment (Mark 7:34). Heaven affords the Lord great rejoicing, yet His earthly ministry was consumed by heartache rather than mirth. This most likely was a result of dealing with the consequences of man’s sin.
The context of our passage shows the disciples gathering some food while the Lord dealt with a Samaritan woman alone. When the disciples returned, the woman left to tell others she had found the Christ. The disciples were confused when they saw the Lord talking with a Samaritan woman. They immediately seemed to focus on His physical needs and begged Him to eat. To their shock, the Lord suggested that He had meat to eat that they knew not of. What was this meat to which He referred? His meat was to do the will of His Father (i.e., mend broken lives). The Lord instantly turned the disciples’ attention toward the harvest, only the harvest involved the souls of men rather than earthly sustenance. Christ pointed out that the time to labour was not some future date, but here and now. The fields were already white to harvest. There was no time for excuse or delay. Now was the time for diligence!
