October 1, 2021 - The Lord of the Harvest
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching
in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every
disease and sickness. When he saw the
crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd. Then he
said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to
send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:35-38
A few quick things here. First, Jesus takes time to see what is going
on with the crowds around them. In a
group and even more so with a crowd, my tendency is to focus on what is going
on with me. Jesus has been working hard
and accomplishing much, but He is still looking to the needs of others. There will be a chance to take time for
himself later but for now, He sees the people in their harassed and helpless
state and has compassion (which means “passion, or love with”) on them.
Second, and this builds on the
first, we are the workers that the Lord of the harvest sends out. All of us are responsible for helping
harassed and helpless people find their way to the Great Shepherd. It doesn’t mean everyone has to get a job working
for a church (God forbid). It means that
whatever you do with your life, do it in a way that helps people find the Way,
Truth and the Life. The authority of
Jesus that Matthew has been showing us from nearly the beginning of the gospel
is now beginning to shift from storms, diseases, and demons to Jesus’s
followers in the statement, “the
harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
The “harvest” represents people who
are ready to hear and receive the Kingdom of God. And Jesus assumes that bringing people to
that point is not the job of the “workers.”
Harvesting, not growing is the job of the “workers.” Workers don’t have to convert anyone – that
is the Lord of the Harvest’s work. Workers
just bring them in and care for them. Workers
are their friends, their extended family, and the people who help them to know
they belong to the Lord of the Harvest. The
Harvest eventually becomes more workers.
Question: How do you
see yourself as one of the workers the Lord sends?
Prayer: God, thank
you for sending others into our life to bring us to you. Help us to do the same for others. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people that need a place to feel that they belong.
Song: Rescue the
Perishing -
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