Jesus was probably thinking of the future and of what His work on earth was accomplishing. He may have been contemplating the universal worship of His Father by all of God’s children or He may have been thinking of the Samaritan woman and the other people of the town who were about to be saved, but mixed with these thoughts had to be some pain at the spiritual dullness of His disciples who saw nothing of His talk with the Samaritan woman besides the strangeness of it, nor did they think of anything apart from their task in Sychar which they had just completed. And yet Jesus, with Divine patience, nurses them along into fuller understanding. He is still as patient with us today!

McGarvey points out that “Food has several characteristics: (1) enjoyment; (2) satisfaction of desire; (3) refreshment and strength. God’s work had these characteristics to Jesus, whose life fulfilled the principle that man shall not live by bread alone.” (McGarvey TFG 151)

“him who sent me” = The work that Jesus did was not human work; it was the work of One sent from God.  Jesus did not do that which He thought would be good or would best further God’s plans; He did what His Father told Him to do, period.  The personal application of this may be obvious: are you sent from God and doing His work or are you doing the things you are doing because you think they are the things you should be doing? Certainly there are things spelled out in the Bible that we should be doing, but we must never lose touch with our Master, Who knows the best way of doing them and the best time in which they should be done. Going out on our own is just plain presumptuous. If you just have the Bible and don’t have a continuous personal relationship with the Living Word of God, then you are no better than the Pharisees. Jesus told us that His sheep listen to His voice John 10:27, and also warned that just doing things for Him was not enough — we must have a personal relationship with Him Matt 7:21-23

John 10:27  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Matt 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Jesus gained enjoyment, satisfaction, and strength from doing what God sent Him to do and so can we.  He also gained these characteristics from “accomplishing” His work.  The verb He here uses and translated as “accomplish” (KJV) or “finish” (NIV) is teleo which comes from the same root as the verb translated as “finished” in John 19:30 and they mean to complete or to perfect.  As Morris states, “There is a sense in which each stage of His work may be regarded as perfect and complete. And there is a deeper sense in which nothing is complete without the cross.” (p. 278)

John 19:30  When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.