Ready for Harvestعينة

The Harvesters

Read Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭8.‬

This passage doesn’t actually mention the words “harvest” or “crop.” So what is it doing in this series on the harvest? Well, it’s important to understand that the original records of Jesus’ life had no chapters or verses. To help in reading and referencing the text, chapters were added in the 13th century and verses in the 16th century. Originally, Matthew’s gospel was one long scroll and this passage followed straight after the passage we read yesterday. The original scroll would have read like this (in Greek of course, not English):

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.” Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness … These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

That was a very fast answer to prayer. The disciples prayed for harvesters and then Jesus sent them straight out to bring in the harvest. They were the answer to their own prayer. This is the first time that Matthew mentions the “Twelve.” Maybe the disciples he asked to pray (9:38) were a wider group and just the close band (the twelve disciples) were commissioned by Jesus to go out into the harvest fields. We don’t know exactly. But certainly, some of the pray-ers became the answer to their prayers.

It's so easy to see evangelism as someone else’s job. It’s true that some Christians are more gifted in evangelistic reaping. When I church planted with my co-worker Mark, this became obvious to me. I would preach the gospel as clearly and as passionately as I could and get a meagre response, and then Mark would say a few words after I had spoken and people would respond readily. He was constantly leading people to Jesus. We’re not all strongly gifted in evangelism like Mark. But neither were the disciples. They were commissioned by Jesus as harvesters, not necessarily gifted as harvesters. Being part of Jesus’ inner circle meant they had a job to join Jesus in bringing in the harvest. Even Judas was included. Jesus’ commissioning of the Twelve reminds me of Paul’s instructions to his protégé Timothy: “Do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” (2 Tim. 4:5). Paul is saying, “It’s your calling Timothy whether you feel adequate or not.”

I believe that it’s your calling too. With the fields ready for harvest, we need as many reapers as possible. Recently, there have been sad stories from farmers of good fruit rotting on trees because no one was available to pick it. Imagine if this is happening spiritually. Imagine if people were ready to receive Jesus but there was no-one to tell them. How distressing. You are part of the answer to your prayer for workers to reap the harvest.

If this worries you, that’s okay. I’m sure it worried the Twelve too. But Jesus promised spiritual authority and power to them and you have even greater access to God’s power through his Spirit. Muster your courage, cry out for help, and get out into the harvest.