John 4:36, The Sower Rejoices!

ἤδη  36 ὁ θερίζων μισθὸν λαμβάνει καὶ συνάγει καρπὸν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ἵνα ὁ σπείρων ὁμοῦ χαίρῃ καὶ ὁ θερίζων.

The one who reaps now receives wages and gathers fruit into eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps might rejoice together.  John 4:36

This is for all of the pastors who have started churches!  The real reward belongs to you!

In greek, if the writer wanted to show emphasis on someone or something, they would put that at the beginning of the sentence or clause.  In this case, the one who sows (ὁ σπείρων) or sower, appears at the beginning of the clause, and the one who reaps (ὁ θερίζων) or reaper is at the end of the clause.  In other words, the sower is the main subject of this clause and is the one who should really rejoice.  That makes a lot of sense because there would be no harvest if there was no sower.  No sower = no harvest and no harvest = no rejoicing.

To quote Daniel Wallace, “It is significant that in this dominical saying, prominence is given to the sower: This is the one who really rejoices!  How different this attitude is from many modern-day evangelist whose criterion of successful ministry is in the number of the scalps, not the depths of the plowing*.” 

*Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics, page 402.