Help Wanted: Laborers

"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"
-- Matthew 9:37-38

This passage comes at the end of this particular chapter, after Matthew related five miracles Jesus performed: healing a paralytic, curing a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years, restoring the sight of two blind men, raising the daughter of a ruler from the dead, and casting out a demon from a mute so that he might speak. This short, but action-packed chapter also included discussions with a group of Pharisees and another with some disciples of John the Baptist, as well as Matthew's conversion. In other words, it was a very busy time for Jesus, during which he encountered throngs of people needing His mercy, and even more questioning His words and deeds.

Matthew recounts that as Jesus traveled through the cities and villages, He came upon so many people in real need of His teaching, so many longing to hear Him preach, so many so desperately seeking His healing touch. And just as the woman who sought merely to touch the hem of His garment, whose faith made her well, all that believed in the power of Jesus, and that His power came from God, were made whole once again. All that needed to hear His word were made or allowed to listen. But there were so many of them, so very many, more than one man could attend to, more than even the mortal Son of God could see to in the time He knew He had remaining. The harvest of souls needing God's loving touch indeed was plentiful. But at that point, only one laborer worked the fields - Jesus Himself.

In the first verse of the next chapter, Matthew tells us that Jesus spoke to his disciples and "gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease." (Matthew 10:1) Jesus recruited His twelve trusted and faithful followers to go out and labor in the fields alongside Him. He knew that His time with them grew shorter with each passing day, and He wanted to ensure His work would go on long after His ascension and return to the Father. And He instructed them to pray that more follow in their path, that even more laborers join them.

The greatest, most wonderful harvest we can imagine is our loving Father gathering His children back to Him so that they may live with Him for eternity in heaven. He is still in the business of harvesting souls, and He still enjoins us to pray that more laborers help in the great effort. Just as the twelve disciples were simple men before laying aside their past to follow Christ and to join Him in the harvest, so may we mere men and women also take up the cross and clothe ourselves with His word and help with His harvest. We may not see the direct effects of cast-out demons or illnesses slowly cured. But if someone sets aside the temptations of the devil and accepts Jesus as their true and only Savior, then we have indeed been empowered by Christ's own words and have rid that person of their personal demon that had otherwise bound them for hell. What more glorious gift could we give our Father, our Lord and Savior, than to help bring one of His children home?

Make no mistake... If we should prove successful in helping to turn even one soul back to Jesus, it is not by our acts or deeds, but by the power of God working through us as His tools. We are just laborers, working in the bountiful fields of the Lord, helping to bring in His harvest.

The harvest truly is plentiful. Pray that you may be a laborer for the Lord of the harvest.