Reaping The Harvest

Mt. 9:36-10:8

What could be more frustrating than a task made unnecessarily difficult due to lack of help? Or a mission threatened by the lack of volunteers? Jesus in today’s Gospel tells us that the harvest of a farmer is rich, but it faces a serious threat. The threat is not blight or bugs, for the growing season is finished and the crops are hanging with fruit. The threat is not the weather, for the rain and the sun have already given their gifts. The harvest is threatened by the most frustrating of all perils. There are not enough workers to bring the fruit into the safety of the farmer’s barn. What the farmer does not have is a lot of time. If he doesn’t act soon the harvest will be a waste and all that hard work and preparation of sowing during the winter months and tending the crop during spring will have been wasted. Just imagine if you were the farmer, whose hard work had brought the crop to this ripe stage, and whose family depends on this harvest for a year of living expenses. How would you feel if the harvest was lost because the workers could not be found?

Well, that is how Jesus feels. He looked at the crowds following Him and referred to them as a field ripe for harvest. He surveys the wondrous possibilities of redemption in the world and there are so few labourers.

Notice three things about this ripe moment of harvest.

First, the harvest has come. Jesus asks only for workers to put the final finish on the work well under way. It is the harvest workers that Jesus is recruiting. Workers at this hour are building on the prior labour of those who have planted, weeded and watered. God has already been at work long before He asks people to enter the scene. God may ask us to say the kind word, to perform an act of charity, to give the helpful hand or the generous gift. This may be all that we can give and all that is needed to bring someone into the safety of God’s kingdom.

Second, all Jesus asks of us is that we pray. We don’t have to worry. He is not asking us to carry that burden. If we were the farmer, we would probably gather workers in a frantic fashion. Under the threat of losing the harvest we might become anxious and fearful. That worry might tempt us to gather workers however we could, using threats, showing anger, bargaining and even tricking them to work. God is not like that. We do not see God wringing His hands over the need for workers, even though God loves the harvest, and is more invested in that Kingdom harvest than we could ever imagine. All Jesus asks of His disciples is that they pray that God would send workers.

We might think, “Why waste time praying, when there is so much work to do?” Jesus would say, “You can’t afford to skip praying. Remember prayer in the wilderness was my first priority when I began My public ministry and the amount of work was particularly overwhelming.” Prayer reminds us that the harvest belongs to God, not to us. Prayer makes our work more efficient and can settle our spirit. Prayer keeps us from running all over the place, burning ourselves out, and thus rendering ourselves useless for the harvest.

Are you concerned that there will be a shortage of priests to look after the next generation? Are you anxious that recent scandals will keep young men and women from considering a vocation to the priesthood and religious life? Are you fearful over the lack of volunteers doing the worthwhile work like being Ministers of Holy Communion, sacristans, Church cleaners and workers? Then pray. Worry and fear do not bring workers into the harvest field, but prayer does.

Finally, no sooner did the disciples begin to pray when God sent workers into the harvest, for the Gospel tells us Jesus sent seventy-two disciples to work in the harvest. Sometimes when we pray we end up becoming a part of the answer to our own prayers. Have you ever prayed that God would bring a happy solution to a broken relationship, only to find that your prayers for the other person’s heart ended up changing your own heart towards that person instead! In the same way, if we pray earnestly for workers in the Church, God may reveal to our praying heart an area of service He is calling us to fill. In bringing in the harvest we are not only helping others but we may find indescribable joy as we discover our true purpose in the world, that is, to be a partner with God in the joyous conclusion of His redeeming work in the world.

Lord Jesus, today we are very aware that the harvest is rich but the labourers are few. May we pray daily begging You to send us good and holy priests and religious to do Your work.