4:38
In ministry (used in its widest sense) there is a tendency to think it is all about us, it is all up to us. This is not so. “I sent you to reap for that which you did not labour.” All that God sends us to do is continuing the work of others, or building on the work of others, or reaping the fruit of the work of others. Sometimes we may be labouring, but someone else will do the reaping. The emphasis here is on reaping because Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, has come.
4:39-42
We get back to the Samaritans now, and many “believed” in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony. So the witness of the woman is valuable and is part of God’s plan. But the aim is for people to come to Jesus. So they came to Jesus and asked Him to stay with them, which He did for a couple of days and taught them. As a result many more believed. It is actually quite amazing that Samaritans should want to listen to a Jewish rabbi. Verse 42 is summing up how the gospel works. We are to witness, people need to hear from us, but ultimately they need to come to Jesus themselves, to hear Him speak to them. Then their faith is based directly on Jesus, not just on hearing about Him. It is possible that Philip’s witnessing in a “city in Samaria” (Acts 8:4-8) was in Sychar, and so he was building on the work described in this incident, but there is no certainty about this.
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