Until He Comes, Go!

“Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 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 pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’” [MATTHEW 9:35-38]. [1]

You will not have been a follower of Christ the Lord for many days before you are informed of His command charging His followers to disciple others. You will either be confronted by the divine charge while reading the Gospel accounts, or you will hear a preacher cite those words during a message. However you are informed of this command, you will be brought face-to-face with the reality of the reason why Christ has left you here. Jesus’ last words before His ascension serve as a command for His disciples to seek out others, bringing them into the Faith. The Risen Saviour charged followers, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” [MATTHEW 28:19-20].

In the text before us this day, you will note that Jesus makes two highly significant observations that are applicable to Christians in this day. Based on what He observed as He cast His eye across the vast panorama of sin-sick lives, lives blasted by the brokenness of sin, the Master issued a command that is frequently mentioned though seldom obeyed among those who name His Name. The Master saw a harvest that is ready now, a harvest of souls that must be gathered from the fields where they now languish. Then, Jesus saw that there are not enough labourers. Clearly, His statement implies that many who name His Name are complacent and they are thus disobedient to His will and to His command.

Because this is the case, the Master charged His followers to pray. Specifically, all who follow the Lord of Glory are charged to pray that labourers will be sent into His harvest. We who follow the Risen Son of God are expected not only to tell lost people of the life that is freely offered in the Risen Lord of Glory, but we are also responsible to ask the Father to send more labourers into the fields so that the harvest may be gathered. We are to be aware that without our participation through our prayers, the harvest is liable to rot in the field. While I don’t pretend to understand how such “rotting” is possible, Jesus’ words make it evident that it is essential that you and I realise is that His command has never been rescinded. If you are His follower, you are responsible to pray for harvesters to bring in the harvest which the Lord has prepared.

Not only are we to pray, but we are to make ourselves available to be an answer to our prayer, if a parable Jesus told had any meaning. Supporting this view, you may recall a parable which is recorded by Matthew. “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go” [MATTHEW 21:28-30].

As with all Jesus’ parables, the application was rather pointed, for this parable was spoken to the chief priests and the elders, the leaders of Jewish religion. These religious leaders might have pretended to be confused as to Jesus’ reason for telling this parable. Jesus, however, did not permit them to shrug off His meaning. He compelled them to grapple with what He intended by asking them a simple question they could not avoid answering before giving them a pointed and precise application. There was no escaping the intent of the Jesus’ story; and you may be certain that the religious leaders didn’t receive what He said with enthusiasm!

When Jesus had spoken this parable, He asked these religious leaders, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” And the religious leaders, unaware of where this was leading, answered truthfully, “The first.” At their answer, Jesus pinned their ears back when He warned them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him” [MATTHEW 21:31-32].