Scripture Notes: Laborers for the Harvest (Matthew 9)

Jesus looked at the people around Him, those He was ministering to, teaching, healing, loving. These people were troubled, abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Their leaders had failed them. They were supposed to be God’s covenant people, yet many of them probably did not know much about God or His covenant. Jesus’ heart moved with compassion for them.

So Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” The harvest was the people. Deep in their hearts, they longed for God, just like we all do. But they needed direction and guidance. They needed to be plucked up from their focus on the world and harvested for God’s kingdom.

That is what Jesus came to do, but He invites others to cooperate with Him. He told His disciples, “so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” The master of the harvest is Jesus Himself, of course, and those laborers are His disciples, both then and now. We are to ask Jesus, the master of the harvest, to send us out into the fields to gather in people who long for God (even if they do not recognize that longing).

We are those laborers. Our clergy have a special role in harvesting people for the kingdom of God, but we lay people are also involved in an intimate way. We are, after all, in the world. We are among the people all the time in our work and our leisure. So we have a responsibility to draw people to Christ through our words and actions. We should be like Jesus, filled with compassion for those who are troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. And we must lead them to our Shepherd so that He may be their Shepherd, too.