It’s harvest season. While many of us enjoy this time of year for our favorite seasonal treats, color on the trees, and the beginning of the holiday season, there are some for whom the months of September through November represent that time of year when the grind never stops.
In the rural Western Pennsylvania county where I grew up, fall was a time of year when country roads were routinely caked in mud from heavy machinery and lights would shine out across dark farm fields at night as farmers worked long hours to bring in their crops.
In this season, there is important work to be done. Before the Thanksgiving table is spread and loved ones gather to celebrate around the Christmas tree, first comes the push of the harvest season.
In Matthew Ch. 9, the gospel author shares a story with a principle familiar to many of us:
“...Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (verses 35-38)
Many of us tend to think of Jesus’ words in this passage as a straightforward call to evangelism. Certainly communicating the hope that God offers each of us who look to his Son for forgiveness and new life is a great privilege and vital responsibility of the Christian life. But it’s important for us to be mindful that the context provided in the verses preceding Jesus’ teaching in verse 38 provides an even deeper meaning to what he’s communicating in this teaching.
Throughout the gospels, we’re provided with glimpses of what it looks like when heaven touches earth in the miracles that Jesus performs during his earthly ministry. Jesus feeds crowds of hungry people. He provides wine for the wedding of a family in need. He heals the sick, blind, and lame. Jesus even creates physical and emotional safety for his friends by calming volatile weather. Time and time again, Jesus sees those who are vulnerable, helpless, and cast aside. And just as we see in Matthew Ch. 9, Jesus has compassion for them. Jesus sees their real, temporal needs and meets them out of love for them. That said, there’s more to these moments. Jesus consistently meets these needs as a way of showing his unique ability to meet our ultimate human need - our need for a Savior from sin and death. (i.e. “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” Matthew 9:5-6 )
Some of us may clean up better than others, but left to ourselves, we are down and out, lost and needy people. The kind of people Jesus Christ loves and came to save.
Because of his great love for us - expressed in the ultimate way through his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave on our behalf - God has provided for our need (Eph. 1) and guaranteed our good future (1 Cor. 15). There are great celebrations ahead for all who hope in Jesus to look forward to - on that day when he will return to complete the good work he has begun.
But until then - it’s harvest season.
Jesus instructs the disciples to “pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (v. 38). This instruction seems similar to how he also teaches the disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10)
Jesus words in both of these statements can be summed up by this simple word of encouragement for you and me as God’s people today:
May we be people who pray frequently and fervently for the coming of God’s Kingdom, and may we be people who work with equal vigor to bring the Kingdom into reality.
In your work, what opportunities do you have to bring the restorative presence and values of God to the brokenness you see around you?
Who are the needy, mistreated, or forgotten people to whom you can show kindness in response to the favor God has extended to you?
Who can you honor as a bearer of God’s image, who others treat as valuable only for what they produce?
Each of us who has encountered Christ by faith has the opportunity to participate in making this world in the here and now look more like it will when Jesus completes his work of renewing all things. We can do this in a multitude of creative and meaningful ways - as the words we speak and things we do are carried out through the power that Christ so mightily works within us (Col. 1:29).
This may look as simple as speaking a kind word, giving a gift, or honoring someone who is often mistreated. This can be as complex as launching a new business to meet a significant need.
Let’s remember this time of year and every season: The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. Celebrations are soon to come, but first, there’s important work to be done. Let’s pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers and let’s work to bring the kingdom of God to bear on the places where we live our lives through the power of the Spirit who lives inside of us.
