Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Matthew 9:35-38
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
When a farmer or a gardener begins their work for the season, they have a big task ahead of them. First the ground must be prepared: grass and weeds cleared away, soil turned and loosened, rocks removed. Then the seeds are planted, waiting to spring into life. Along the way, there are challenges to meet: too little rain, too much rain, too hot, too cold, insects eating the new greenery, wild animals eating the emerging fruit or grain. But the sower persists, looking for the time of harvest and the rewards of his labor.
God’s Seed
The Bible was written in the midst of an agrarian society that understood this process instinctively. But, even so, Jesus had to explain His “parable of the sower” (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, Luke 8:4-15) to His disciples. They knew that seeds sown onto hard ground would not come up, that those choked by weeds would not produce a good crop, and that those planted in fertile soil would yield a fine harvest. But what seeds was Jesus talking about, what was the soil, and what harvest was hoped for?
As Jesus explained, the seed is the Word of God. As a sower — whether an Old Testament prophet, a disciple, a modern Christian, or even Jesus Himself — spreads the news of God, the hearers receive it with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Some want nothing to do with it. Some are intrigued but not willing to give full attention. And, some rejoice to hear that God loves them and wants a relationship with them.
God’s Sowers
Jesus’ commission to His followers was to work in His garden. We are to plant seeds, sharing God’s word with everyone we can reach as we go about our lives. We are also to nurture our seeds, along with those planted by others. We do this by consistently living an authentic Christian life that demonstrates the value of a healthy relationship with our Savior. The goal is for the field where we live to have the best environment possible for new lives to be added to the “crop”.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6
Paul told the church at Rome that he was trying to make his way to them so that he could have “some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles” (Romans 1:13). He was one of the workers that Jesus said was needed, and he wanted to do his part toward a good harvest.
That is true still today. We are surrounded by people who need Jesus. We have the seeds: We know what the Bible teaches about God’s infinite love; we know that Jesus came to rescue sinners; we’ve had Him do so in our own lives. But that seed doesn’t do much good sitting in the storehouse, kept to ourselves. We need to spread it far and wide. Then we need to be ready to nurture each little sign of growth until the harvest is complete.
God’s Harvest
Finally, the Bible speaks of the reward as the result of our labors. In the parable of the sower, when the Word of God landed in a fertile soul, it produced an abundant crop of full of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
John 4:35-36
This is not to say that the sowing, growing, and reaping is quick, easy, or trouble-free. There are plenty of hard-packed hearts to reject us. Our society is full of weeds competing with the Gospel for attention and focus. Paul’s efforts reaped a huge harvest, but along the way he was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and often in great danger (see 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 for the list). Eventually, he — like all the Apostles and many, many Christians since then, including today — was killed for his work in God’s field. But he, like all the rest, was assured of a harvest that was worth the effort.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
Psalm 126:5-6
He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
The passage above is echoed in the old hymn (written in 1874), “Bringing in the Sheaves“. I wonder what seeds I have planted, and which ones I should have planted but didn’t. Will I have a harvest to offer when I meet Jesus?
Will you?