The Harvest and the Workers (June 18, 2023) Mt. 9.35-10.8(9-23)
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In the years preceding World War 2 there was what was known as the Great Depression. You might have heard of it. During this time unemployment was high because there were not enough jobs to go around for those who were wanting to work. Then came the war.
World War 2 was a Godsend for millions of people in this country because now there were jobs to be found and to be filled. In fact, there were many jobs, but the workforce was few. Part of this manpower shortage had to do with the fact that millions of young men were serving in the armed forces, and they were not available to fill the new jobs. So, companies had to come up with ways to fill the jobs that were unfilled. They reached out and hired women, the ubiquitous Rosie the Riveter. But then because they ran out of the white population, they did the unthinkable for many people; they hired African Americans. The laborers were few, so, they had to get those that were available. They asked around who would do the work and found the ones who would do the work.
Today’s text is one of mission. Jesus was on a mission. He “…went round all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every kind of illness and infirmity.[1]Jesus’ mission was to the people that came to him and who were in need. It was not to the religious leaders or the temple crowd that Jesus came. It was to those, as he said, who were harassed and without a shepherd.
It is interesting that the word for harassed means to be distressed or chased like an animal. When they are chased like an animal, they are chased like one that is being hunted. The one hunted is exhausted and needs to lie down and rest but there is no rest available for them. This is what it means to be harassed and helpless.
To be without a shepherd was more than just saying that the people were like sheep. It was to say that they were without a king, a prophet, a Messiah. Kings in the ancient Near East were seen as shepherds, guiding and leading the people in the ways that they should go. Think of Psalm 23 and you will understand the implications of what it meant for the king to be a shepherd. Prophets were also shepherds. They were the ones who called the people back from their apostasy and led them back to God. When the people listened to them.
A Messiah was what they were needing. An anointed one. One who would be like the kings and prophets of old. And that one was obviously Jesus. But the people did not recognize this one as the Messiah. He came not as the one they expected, coming ready to lead a military expedition to overthrow the hated military occupiers, the Romans.
Jesus then begins another metaphor. There is a field ready to harvest. It is full of the grain that was grown. But there are not enough laborers to work the field. And so, the harvest will begin to rot in the field. It is like trying to get all the produce out of a garden, but not being able to because one is only one person when more are needed. Jesus tells the disciples to pray to God to send laborers for the harvest, to do the hard work of reaching out to the people that are gathered and ready to become the disciples that Jesus is calling them to be.
Then Jesus drops a bombshell. The laborers that the disciples are to pray for are standing right there in front of Jesus. It is themselves. They must have felt that they were surely not up to the job. After all they were disciples, students still learning from the master what needed to be taught. They were in no way, shape, or form ready to go and do the work that needed to be done.
But Jesus gives them the authority to do what he does: have dominion over unclean spirits, being able to cast them out, to cure all diseases and every sickness. This authority was given to Jesus by God and because of this Jesus can give this authority that is his to the ones who are called to labor in the fields.
It is here that we meet the disciples as a group for the first time. There are many disciples but here we meet the twelve. This group is made up of twelve to emulate the twelve tribes of Israel. They are to go out like Israel was to go out and tell the world about the God whom they worshiped and who had redeemed them from the slavery which they were in in Egypt.
These twelve make up a motley group and it is interesting to see how they are listed in the Gospels. There are some different names, but Peter is always first, followed by Andrew, James and John. These four were the first called by Jesus to go and fish for people for they were fishermen. The other disciples are known just by their names but three are given a description. The first is Matthew, known as the tax collector. He was one who followed Jesus when called, leaving his place of collection and work to follow. He was a member of a despised class because he worked for the Romans therefore collaborating with those who were the oppressors. His work oppressed those who could pay little and who were the “harassed”, the ones to whom Jesus came to minister. The second is Simon the Cananaean. He is also known as the Zealot. These were members of a group that was opposed to Romans, to the extent that they would later take up arms against them and lead a rebellion that would lead to the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. But he may also have been zealous as a religious follower, one who was zealous for the law and the teachings of Judaism. The fact that Matthew and Simon were in this group together is a testament to what Jesus could do with the people who were given to him by God. These two could not have been more different and they probably did not like one another. It would have been similar to saying “Here is Matthew the Republican and Simon the Democrat called by Jesus to work side by side together for the Kingdom.” It would have been hard to believe.
The third one to have a description is the last in the list, for this list and for all the lists in the Gospels. It is Judas Iscariot “who betrayed him.” This last one is to show that Jesus would even use the ones who would do him harm for the work of the kingdom. It is with this in mind that we remember that God can and will use anyone for God’s work and that work will be accomplished even when it is hard to imagine the one worker.
These twelve are sent out. They are to “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”[2]Israel is the group who is without a shepherd, and it is to those that Jesus calls his disciples to go and find. There have been Gentiles come to Jesus and they have been welcomed, but they were not sought out by Jesus. And later the disciples will be told to go to the Gentiles, but now is not the time. The Samaritans are also a group to whom they are called to not go to. This was a group of those who were left by the invading armies when the kingdom of Israel was conquered. They mixed with those foreigners who were brought into the company and comprised what became known as a “mongrel” race. Jesus is not sending the disciples to them, not yet. Maybe it was because the disciples were not ready or maybe, again, it was because they were to be sent to the nation of Israel. What we do know is that they were not to be sent to them.
The disciples are sent to proclaim the good news and that the kingdom of heaven was coming near. The good news was that there was a Messiah, one who would lead the people back to God and who would heal the broken and those who were in need. They were also to call that God’s kingdom of heaven was come near, the time of the reconciliation of God with the world was upon them.
And they were to do what Jesus called them to do: Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons. Sounds like a tall order. Could they do it? Of course. Jesus had given them authority and they were able to do what Jesus did because they were given that authority. But they are also to tell the good news and do these things without payment. They were given the authority and grace free of charge, they are to not charge as well. In our day we see many hucksters who charge for the “blessings” that they tell people will come their way if only they will contribute to their “ministry.” There are few things that make me angrier than this group who propagate what is known as the “Prosperity Gospel.” This is “…familiar to our experience where commercialized ministries of televangelists may be very profitable, and the profiteers discredit the proclamation. Living simply and free of material excess better serves the credibility of public witness.”[3]The disciples, and us as well, are to live without ostentatious wealth. They, and we, are to give rather than receive.
There are other commands that Jesus gave that I read this morning, but I do not have the time to go into them. Needless to say, they are tough commands that Jesus tells his disciples to carry out the mission on which he sends them.
But how does this apply to us today? We are called to go and do mission as well. We are called to cast out demons, cure the sick, raise the dead and cleanse the lepers. But how do we do this? We are not given the authority the disciples were given. Or do we have this authority? I believe that we do. Anna-Case Winters says this: “The charge to cure the sick may include all kinds of healing—addressing the full range of things that hurt them or diminish their lives. Raising the dead could include challenging the death-dealing systems and structures and things that crush people and suck the life right out of them. Cleansing lepers would surely include not only physical healing but also the social restoration of those who are outcast, the “untouchables” of our own time and place. To cast out demons expands to include setting people free from whatever holds them in bondage—everything from addiction to political oppression.”[4]This may take the form of protesting, calling representatives, or being what is known as an ally, one who will love those who are considered unlovable by many. It is also known as following one of the Great Ends of the Church: the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven. How do we do that? By living the gospel, by loving people and by reaching out to help those in need. We are called to work “the field of souls” as Wayne Watson sings. The fields are full and ready. Where are the workers for whom we pray? Look in a mirror and see. Amen.
[1] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print.
[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.
[3] Case-Winters, Anna. Matthew. Ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher. First edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015. Print. Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible.
[4] Case-Winters, Anna. Matthew. Ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher. First edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015. Print. Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible.