God's children are supposed to be easily recognizable through their love one for another (John 13:35). Today's passage teaches Christians to be both kind and forgiving. In the midst of these two exemplary qualities, the Lord desires His children to show forth a tender heart. This means that our hearts ought to be easily moved when other believers are experiencing either joy or distress in their lives (Romans 12:15). Unfortunately, instead of exemplifying a tender heart, far too many believers are becoming more like the world by displaying a divisive spirit and by devouring one another (Galatians 5:15). Believers who are hard-hearted toward others are generally hard-hearted toward the Lord as well (1 John 3:17).
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!
