Meanwhile the disciples pressed him: ‘Rabbi, eat.’ He said ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another: ‘Surely no-one can have brought him something to eat?’

Jesus said to them ‘To do the will of the one who sent me, and to finish his work is my food.

‘Do you not have a saying “There are still four months before the harvest comes”? I say to you look! Lift up your eyes and see the fields that are white for the harvest. Already the harvester is earning their pay and gathering a crop into the life of the resurrection age. So ‘the sower and the harvester rejoice together.’

See, the saying is true: “One sows and another harvests.” I have sent you to harvest something you have not worked hard for. Other people have worked hard and you reaped the benefits.’

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm