The Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38

Sometimes it's interesting for me to see the context of a familiar text. I've frequently heard, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few" text (Matthew 9:37),but I didn't notice the verses that came right before it.

What comes before "The harvest is plentiful" is a description first of what Jesus does:"Jesus went through all the towns an villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness" (Matthew 9:35). Then a description of how Jesus views people: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36).

How do we enter the harvest? We teach, we preach, and we heal. Ultimately, we meet people's needs. And in doing this we gain the perspective of Christ--we understand how often people are harassed and helpless, and we look on them with compassion. We know that the harvest is plentiful then. We see how much work can be done if we simply choose to do it,but in choosing to work we also come up quickly against how little we can do. And like Christ we pray for more workers.

"Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field" (Matthew 9:18).