“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”
My Notes
What Does John 4:34 Mean?
Jesus reveals his deepest motivation: my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. The will of the Father is not just Jesus' assignment. It is his sustenance — his food, his nourishment, what keeps him going.
The word "meat" (broma) means food — the thing that sustains life. Jesus is saying that the Father's will functions for him the way food functions for the body. Without it, he would starve. With it, he is nourished.
"To finish his work" — the will of God is not just to be done but to be completed. Jesus is not interested in partial obedience. The work must be finished. The assignment must reach its conclusion. The finish is as important as the start.
The context is the Samaritan woman at the well. The disciples have gone to buy food and return to find Jesus satisfied — not by physical food but by the spiritual nourishment of doing the Father's will. The conversation with the woman was his meal.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does Jesus describing the Father's will as 'meat' change obedience from duty to nourishment?
- 2.What does 'finishing his work' add that 'doing his will' alone does not?
- 3.What currently nourishes your soul — and is it the Father's will or something else?
- 4.How was the conversation with the Samaritan woman 'food' for Jesus?
Devotional
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me. My food. My sustenance. The thing that keeps me alive and energized. Not bread. Not rest. The will of the Father.
Jesus is not just obedient to the Father's will. He is nourished by it. The doing is not duty. It is food. The obedience sustains him the way a meal sustains the body.
And to finish his work. Not just to start. To finish. The completion of the Father's assignment is part of the nourishment. Half-done obedience is a half-eaten meal. Jesus is sustained by finishing what the Father gave him to do.
The disciples returned with physical food and found Jesus already full. He had been fed by doing the Father's will — in this case, revealing himself to a Samaritan woman at a well. The conversation was his lunch.
What nourishes you? Not what you eat for dinner. What sustains your soul. What energizes you when everything else depletes. For Jesus, it was singular: the Father's will.
If your soul feels malnourished — if you are running on empty spiritually — the issue might not be what you are consuming. It might be what you are doing. The will of the Father is the food your soul was designed for. When you do it, you are fed. When you ignore it, you starve.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Jesus saith unto them,.... His disciples:
my meat is to do the will of him that sent me. The Ethiopic version reads,…
My meat ... - Jesus here explains what he said in Joh 4:32. His great object - the great design of his life - was to do…
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me - In these words, our blessed Lord teaches a lesson of zeal and…
We have here the remainder of the story of what happened when Christ was in Samaria, after the long conference he had…
My meat is to do the will, &c. Literally, My food is that I may do the will of Him that sent Me and thus finish His…
Cross References
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