Reflection by The Ven Dr Deborah Broome

The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. 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 labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”  Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.  These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.            Matthew 9:35-10:8

How many of us I wonder, hear the sending out of the Twelve, and the metaphors about the harvest being plentiful and the labourers few, as a story about back then, for those people?  Certainly, the harvest metaphors don’t connect that well today – although if we phrase it as “lots of apples or kiwifruit but no one to pick them” it might get more of our attention.  But I suspect many of us hear this as something about back then and are trying really hard not to hear this as about now, as about God calling us.  It’s all very well for Jesus to say “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” but we can all remember those times we’ve prayed about something, only to realise that God’s going to answer our prayers through us.  How many of us hear about the Twelve being sent out to preach and heal, get worried about us being asked to do the same, and are responding with doubt and disbelief?  (“Seriously God, you’ve just got to be joking!”) 

But the thing is, the task of the disciples is rooted in Jesus’ own activity. We see him going about all the cities and villages, teaching, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing those who were sick. Above all, we see him having compassion for the people in the crowd. It’s because of that compassion that he wants his disciples to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” and then he sends the Twelve out. Up to now, Jesus has been the sole missionary: now he’s making the disciples his partners in preaching the gospel and in healing. And yes, this isn’t just about the twelve disciples way back then, the ones whose names are given (and what a mixed bunch they were). This is also about today – and this might be the point at which we start to feel nervous again and begin to doubt our ability to carry out anything that resembles this mission. Where we go, “Seriously God, you’ve just got to be joking!”

This is where it helps to remember two things.  First, that this all comes out of Jesus’ compassion for those people.  That’s why he taught and healed, that’s why he sent out the Twelve. In what they were asked to do, and in what we’re asked to do, the focus is less about producing spectacular displays of supernatural power than it is on showing concern for God’s hurting people. Jesus is inviting us to show compassion to those who are struggling, to assure people – by our actions as well as by our words – that God cares about them. To heal the wounds of loneliness, to be kind and not judgmental especially to those who are overcome with a sense of failure, to tell people the good news of God’s love and grace by sharing with them the difference this has made in our own lives. This mission isn’t about us – it’s about those to whom we’re sent.

And the second thing to remember is also that this mission isn’t about us – it’s about God. The mission is primarily God’s, not ours. That’s why the disciples were told, first of all, to pray, to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” The effectiveness of the proclamation – its very fruitfulness – comes down to God, not to us. We just need to be faithful, and God can do the rest. 

Now isn’t that a relief!