Is this passage in John about indulgences?

[Link0126]

John 4:36-38:

“He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’** I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor**.”

 

[NHInsider]

I think that’s a stretch. I think it’s about the work of evangelization - all of us are called to proclaim the word - one may plant a seed that isn’t harvested for decades, when someone else invites a response. The work of the Lord Jesus, and the work of the Apostles and their successors, builds on the work of the prophets before them.

 

[Link0126]

Well, I wasn’t saying it was, just wondering. Guess it does make more sense what you’re saying b/c right after that it says "Many Samaritans from that city believed him b/cof the woman’s testimony.

 

[thistle]

John 4:36-38:

“He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’** I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor**.”

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 38. By these words our Saviour testifies to his disciples, that the prophets had sown the seed in order to bring men to believe in Christ. This was the end of the law, this the fruit which the prophets looked for to crown their labours. He likewise shews that he himself that sent them, likewise sent the prophets before them; and that the Old and New Testament are of the same origin, and have the same design. (St. Chrysostom in St. Thomas Aquinas)

 

[mdgspencer]

I am writing an article on John 4 and I have read all the important commentaries on John from the Fathers on, as well as numerous journal articles on John 4, and none of them say this about these lines. I would take my reading on these lines from the many commentators with special insights on John and have to say this passage definitely is not about indulgences. Not that out-of-the-way insights are not possible–but frankly this seems to be reading something into these lines for which there is no genuine evidence. The Gospels elsewhere speak of a harvest, which rather is a harvest of salvation for men.