But he said to them, I have food to eat which ye do not know.
The disciples had gone into the town, bought food, and come back to find Jesus still sitting by the well. They urge Him to eat. His answer points to a supply they had not carried back and did not recognise.
Scripture uses the word "eat" in more than one way. One of them fits this verse: the contentment a person finds in the work in front of them.
Besides its common use, this word also has a symbolic sense of consuming or destroying: they "eat up my people as they eat bread" (Ps. 14:4)… It also covers receiving, digesting, and delighting in God's words: "Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart" (Jer. 15:16)… And it expresses the satisfaction of doing the work that is before the soul. The Lord said, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." John 4:32.
Set this scene beside another. In Mark 4 sleep restores Jesus after a hard day. Here He is restored before the food arrives.
In Mark 4 He had gone through a day of toil, and in the evening He was tired, as nature will be after labour. Sleep then comes to Him, to restore Him to His work when the morning came. In John 4 He is weary again, hungry and thirsty too. He sits on the well at Sychar, waiting for the disciples to bring food from the village. But when they come back they find Him already feasted and rested. He had had a different refreshment from any which they could have brought Him, or sleep have provided Him. He had been happy in the fruit of His labour… A poor, careless sinner had been made happy by Him.
His rest came from a different spring than the one He sat beside.
See the Lord refreshing His spirit when the pride of man rejected Him! Not with the water of the well, but with love that finds its joy in hearts full of misery. He drank from the one refreshing well-spring that has visited this world! He had food to eat His disciples knew nothing of.
His body's need was real. A deeper need in His soul went beyond it.
In His soul there was a deep need that went far beyond the need of the body. He had been meeting that need of His soul, while the disciples looked after bits of bread for the body. He hungered and thirsted until He had fully done the work His Father sent Him to do.
He says this to the men closest to Him, and it shows how far their thoughts were from His. Older translations read "meat" here where the ESV reads "food."
How humbling to find His disciples at such a time occupied with the body and its wants. And this the Lord makes them feel by His answer. They did not yet know such food, disciples though they were. People often quote it as "His meat and His drink," but that is not what He said. Beyond doing His will and completing His work, there was an inner spring of loving and delighting in His Father. But this was His food. He came to do His will. In this He was never wearied, nor should we be even now, whatever the fatigue of the body.
The verse also teaches how to serve. Commentators differ on where His refreshment lay. Bellett points to the fruit of His work; Stuart points past it.
Labourers are too often influenced by whether results appear or not… Was He indifferent to results? Far from it, as Isaiah 49:4 and Matthew 11:20-24 declare. But He was the perfect Servant, perfect in everything else. His food was to do the will of Him who sent Him and to finish His work. True, in doing it He must have had joy we cannot measure. He saw one poor sinner's heart open under His teaching, like a flower opening in the warmth of the sun… But His food came from elsewhere.
- Food — "Eating" stands for the satisfaction of doing the work set before the soul. Jeremiah "ate" God's words the same way and found them his delight.
- Hidden — The supply was real, but the men who had just bought the food could not see it. They thought about the body; He drew on another source.
- Deeper — Under the body's hunger lay a hunger of soul. It would not rest until He finished the Father's work.
- Refreshed — One woman's blessing rested Him more than food or sleep could. He drank from love, not from the well.
- Untiring — That food was the will of the One who sent Him, and it never wore Him out. The same table stands open to His servants today, whatever the body's fatigue.
The disciples therefore said to one another, Has any one brought him [anything] to eat?
Jesus has just told His disciples He has food they know nothing about. Instead of asking Him what He means, they turn to each other for an ordinary explanation. Their question assumes someone carried a meal to the well while they were away. It shows how far their thoughts were from His.
The disciples had gone into the city to buy food. They came back worried that He had not eaten. Their care was real, but it reached no further than His body.
"But He said to them, I have food to eat which you do not know." How humbling to find His disciples at such a time occupied with the body and its wants. And this the Lord makes them feel by His answer. They did not yet know such food, disciples though they were.
Earlier in the chapter the Samaritan woman heard Jesus speak of water and thought of the well. Now the men closest to Him hear Him speak of food and think of a lunch basket.
He seemed to take no interest in the food the disciples had bought in the city. Yet He did have refreshment and food, as He talked with the woman at the well. "Master, eat," His disciples asked Him... His answer, "I have food to eat that you do not know of," told of something they had not brought, which fed Him. They could not grasp His meaning, for their thoughts, like the woman's, were tied to earthly things. So He kindly explained it.
Kelly notes that the comparison is an old one, and that it clears the woman of any special blame:
Augustine remarks here that we should not be surprised that the woman did not understand the water Christ spoke of to her. After all, His own disciples misunderstood what He said about food.
Their blank response was not just slowness. Darby traces it to something they did not yet have.
The disciples came up and marvelled. They could not understand the glory His Sonship set Him in. He could have sympathy with none but the Father here; the thing was out of their reach. He was talking with a Samaritan woman; what was the meaning of this? They did not have the Spirit, and could see nothing of how large the harvest would be. The Spirit dwelt in Him without measure, and would bring that harvest in as the minister of the Father's love.
They asked whether some man had brought Him something. The answer is no. No errand into the city could supply what fed Him: sinners believing.
The Lord Himself found it so. This He did in Samaria. How free and happy was He there, whether at the well of Jacob or in the village of Sychar. He was there, as at home, for two days; for the ground had been freshly ploughed up and visited. Sinners were learning salvation, and their faith spread a feast for Him. He had food to eat there — food that even the hard work of those who were always with Him could not supply.
He answers their puzzled question by naming His food outright. That answer sets a measure for everyone who serves Him.
In reply to their questioning, the Lord shows us how blessed the path was that He walked. He says, "My food is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." Here was One who met all the sorrows of earth and the trials of the way. Through it all, one object held Him up: doing the will of the Father. His way was perfect. Seeing that, we may well ask our own hearts what motives keep us going day by day. If we are honest with ourselves, will we not have to admit that at best our motives are very mixed?
That is why bodily hunger did not rule Him at that moment:
The servants of God get hungry and tired as well as other men. Even the Son of God sat in weariness on the well of Sychar while His disciples went into the town to buy food. But the spiritual rises above the physical. The immediate needs of the body are forgotten when powerful spiritual interests are at work.
- Question. The disciples ask each other, not Him, whether someone brought Him food. Their question is about the body; His mind is on the harvest.
- Pattern. They repeat the woman's mistake: she heard "water" and thought of the well; they hear "food" and think of a meal.
- Cause. They did not yet have the Spirit, so the size of the harvest He saw was out of their reach.
- Answer. No one had brought Him anything. His food was the faith of sinners, which His closest companions could not buy or carry.
- Standard. He names it Himself: doing the Father's will. That single motive sustained Him, and it measures the mixed motives that sustain us.
Jesus says to them, My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me, and that I should finish his work.
The disciples urge Jesus to eat, and He answers by speaking of a food they know nothing about. His reply shows what kept Him going, and what true service is.
The chapter holds two conversations, and each has its own pupil. One writer sets them side by side:
The woman had learnt her lesson — that the Christ had come; the disciples were to learn theirs — the spirit in which true service should be performed, as illustrated by the example of the Master Himself. His answer, "I have food to eat that you do not know about," told of something they had not brought, that gave Him support.
Why call it "food"? The word names what carried Him through the day, as bread carries us:
Where did it lie? Not merely in outward acts of service. What a character these words give His whole path! His food, the very sustenance of His life, was in carrying out the Father's will.
The verse is sometimes quoted in a longer form. One writer objects, because the words as they stand point to something deeper than obedience:
How humbling to find His disciples at such a time occupied with the body and its wants. And this the Lord makes them feel by His answer. They did not yet know such food, disciples though they were. People often quote it as "His meat and His drink." That is not what He said. Beyond doing His will and completing His work, there was an inner spring of loving and delighting in His Father. But this was His food.
He speaks as one sent. That is a chosen position, not a limitation forced on Him:
As Son, He had the divine right to exercise His own will. But having come into Manhood, He took the place that belongs to man — subjection to His Father's will. He found His sustenance and pleasure in carrying out the will of His Father. He had just been making that will known in relation to worship. What joy there was for the Son in bringing the Father's grace to sinners! And what joy for the Father in seeing His Son make His will known and fulfil it!
That same fixed purpose ran the whole length of His life. Nothing bent it:
Satan tempted Him with "the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them." It failed completely to influence His thoughts or His movements. The Pharisees showed envy and scorn. The Sadducees mocked Him with their materialism. His brothers did not believe Him. Crowds gave Him passing praise and wanted to make Him a king. None of it turned Him aside from His steadfast path of unswerving devotion to the will of God.
He does not only speak of doing a will; He speaks of completing a work. The conversation just ended shows part of what that work contained:
Jesus had come to work in this world, as He said in John 4. Now He says, "I have finished the work which You gave me to do." His words in chapter 4 show that His work included securing a company of worshippers for the Father, who would worship Him in spirit and in truth. For this the cross was necessary. Every barrier that kept His own from full blessing had to go.
He felt joy when one sinner's heart opened. But that joy was not the fuel:
Was He indifferent to results? Far from it. But perfect Servant, as perfect in everything else, His food was to do the will of Him who sent Him, and to finish His work. True, in doing it He must have had joy — a joy we cannot measure. He saw one poor sinner's heart opened up by His teaching, like a flower opening under the warmth of the sun. He knew that the blessing given to her would bear fruit for many a soul in that city. But His food lay elsewhere.
Good intentions and hard work are not the same as service. The difference is who sets the task:
It is not enough to act even with a right motive, if we are acting simply on our own initiative and doing what seems right in our own eyes. A man employed in a workshop may be a good workman, but a poor servant. Service, then, is not just work. It is not even good work, or Christian activity of the most scriptural sort. It is such activity under the direction of the Lord.
One writer turns that to our own motives:
If we are honest with ourselves, must we not admit that our motives are very mixed at best? And yet, how much simpler our lives would be if we realised, in our little measure, that the Father has a will about us and a plan for us. Then our one desire would be to do the Father's will and finish the work He has given us to do.
- Food, not duty. Obedience was not a burden He carried but the sustenance of His life — what He lived on, as we live on bread.
- Sent, therefore subject. As Son He had every right to His own will; as Man He took the place of subjection to the One who sent Him.
- Will before results. He rejoiced when one sinner's heart opened, yet His food lay elsewhere. Faithfulness never rose or fell with visible fruit.
- Work to be finished. The work begun at the well ran on to the cross. Only there did every barrier fall, so the Father could have His worshippers.
- The pattern for us. Service is not activity of our own choosing. It is activity under His direction — and the Father has a will and a plan for each of us to finish.