Mark Sorensen Fun fact. If you were to go up on the Harvest Worship stage about where the keyboard is located, pull back the wood stage flooring (which I emphatically do NOT recommend :-), you would find the following verse written on the concrete slab:
Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into His field.” — Matthew 9:37–38
Matthew 9 is a chapter filled with some pretty incredible moments. A paralyzed man is brought before Jesus to be healed, and not only is he healed physically, but he is healed spiritually as Jesus adds, “your sins are forgiven” (Matt. 9:1–2). This set the teachers of the law off. Big time. Then Matthew — the TAX COLLECTOR, a position despised by the religious elite — is invited by Jesus to “follow Me.” His life is changed forever when he pushes away from the tax collector’s table and obeys (Matt. 9:9–12). Following this, Jesus heals a woman who was an outcast because she had been bleeding for years. A simple touch of Christ’s cloak leads to the healing (Matt. 9:20–21). Moving on from there we see two blind men pursue Jesus asking for healing. Christ asks, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They say, “Yes.” Jesus’ response? “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matt. 9:27–30). On the heels of that moment? A demon-possessed and mute man comes to Jesus who drives the demon out. For the first time in a long time, the man’s tongue is loosened and he speaks (Matt. 9:32–33).
How’s that for a day’s work?
But wait. He moves on from there. He keeps “proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom” having “compassion” on all He saw because they were “helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:35–37).
And it’s here we find Jesus stop, turn, and tell His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” To look at what comes before this harvest passage sheds greater insight as to what Jesus is truly saying, which is, “What you have seen over this day? The lost, the outcast, and the hopeless? They have been found because I have seen them. I have shown them the Good News of God. And now? It’s your turn. The Good News of the kingdom must be shared.”
Makes me think.
Who do we encounter on a daily basis that could use the “Good News” of the kingdom? How many outcasts do we walk past? How many feel broken and unseen? Indeed, the Harvest is plentiful. So, let’s take the challenge to write this verse on our hearts and let it move from there.
Today, let’s be intentional in the way we love. Let’s acknowledge the stranger. Let’s truly look into the eyes of all we meet. And then? Let’s be bold and share God’s love with all we encounter.
