The Harvest and the Laborers
Dr. James Smith
Matthew 9:35-10:4
18 January 2004
The Book of Matthew is unique in that the author structures his book by carefully collecting the gospel material and then arranging it into 5 sermons or discourses of Jesus.
- The Beatitudes (5-7)
- Missionary Discourse (10)
- Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven (13)
- Community Discourse (18)
- End Times Discourse (24)
Over the past year we have studied the 1st & 3rd of Jesus’ discourses or sermons in the gospel of Matthew; The Beatitudes (5-7) and the Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven (13).
And over the next 4 weeks, in preparation for our annual missions conference at the end of February, we will be studying the 2nd discourse in Matthew that functions as Jesus’ Missionary sermon (10).
Here in Matthew 10, we find many important and practical themes that include Jesus’ concerns about the harvest of souls & the need for laborers, the mission of his 12 apostles, persecution of missionaries as well as the need for missionaries to trust in God and to be loyal to Jesus.
In Matthew 9:35-10:4, we find the conclusion to Matthew’s epic portrayal of Jesus’ mission that began in Mt. 4:23, the commencement of Jesus’ missionary discourse and its “big picture” concern for the spiritual harvest of souls and the need for laborers in the harvesting fields.
What had been discussed more generally earlier in the gospel, now becomes more explicit. Jesus’ words and deeds are to function as both instruction and a model for the church.
Matthew 9:35 summarizes Jesus’ teaching and healing mission to the villages and towns of Israel and sets the stage for Jesus to extend His own mission to his disciples.
Matthew 9:36-37 presents to us two vitally important principles. These two ideas according to Jesus’ own thought and practice must precede any discussion and practical execution of Christian missionary work by His followers.
Notice in Matthew 9:36 that “Jesus saw the crowds”; these overwhelming & amorphous collections of hundreds and perhaps even thousands of men, women and children.
Each of these individuals was made in the image of God, each had their own hopes, desires and needs. How could one, including Jesus not be completely overwhelmed by such great need?
When I personally think of such great human need, it’s hard for me to hold on to myself, sanity and well being.
And if we really had any idea of the great need of those crowds in Jesus’ day as well as our own, wouldn’t that be enough to send any of us into a panic attack?
As I was thinking about this idea over the week, I found myself strangely sympathizing with Jim Carrey who played the lead acting role in the thought provoking movie, “Bruce Almighty.”
In this movie, after finding himself wallowing under an unbearable load of his own self pity, “Bruce” (Jim Carrey), began to rant and rave against God. At first, his blasphemous comments made me sweat a bit, but then “God” stepped in.
He was annoyed with Bruce and decided to allow him to take his job over for Buffalo, NY. Needless to say, Bruce despite his temporary divine powers was completely unfit for the job.
He was completely overwhelmed and couldn’t handle the prayer requests of Buffalo and so he organized 3 million prayer requests into a computer program called, “Yahweh.” Even then it didn’t help, so he decided just to say, “Yes” to all the requests.
Needless to say, chaos ensued; from the burning of the city after their hockey team, the Buffalo Sabres won the Stanley Cup, to so many people hitting the lottery numbers that the payout was only $17.
Jesus had something that Bruce definitely did not . . . Compassion & pity for the overwhelming crowds.
Look at verse 36, Matthew likens them to dumb and helpless sheep who didn’t have a shepherd to lead, guide and protect them.
The merciful heart of Jesus was touched by these countless individuals who were “nobodies” in Jewish society. In fact, the Greek word behind this is that Jesus felt so moved by the physical and spiritual plight of the crowds that literally His “guts” churned inside of Him.
And while this idea is hardly elegant, its point is crystal clear. Authentic missionary work begins when our hearts break and burn and when our guts churn for the lost.
The second vital principle in our passage this morning as it relates to the Christian missionary endeavor is the image of the harvest.
Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, the harvest is an image of the end time judgment. (See Is. 18:4, 24:13, 27:12, Jer. 51:53, Hos. 6:11, Joel 13:3 ff.).
Later on in chapter 13, Matthew will continue this idea of the end time harvest and judgment in the parable of the wheat & the tares.
Any farmer, at any time in history would tell us that the crops must be harvested in a timely manner by a sufficient number of workers before the end of the season or the precious crop will be wasted.
The end time harvest is coming whether we are ready or not and whether we like it our not. The question before us then is this; Are there enough harvesters in Jesus’ service to bring in the whole crop?
While it may be difficult for us to answer that question, we all would probably agree that there is no such thing as too many harvesters in all of the fields in this world.
Thankfully, Jesus reminds His disciples of then and now, that His Father is the Lord of the Harvest and that we can have an active part in praying that God would send more laborers out into His fields.
Finally, in Matthew 10:1-4, we find that the deep and heartfelt compassion of Jesus, coupled with His call to pray for more laboring harvesters is practically incarnated in the form of commissioning his disciples to carry on His mission.
And it is important to realize that this is the only time in the Gospel of Matthew that the disciples of Jesus are formally designated, commissioned and called “apostles.”
These “sent ones” of Jesus were not simply left on their own, but in that formal commissioning, Jesus endowed each of them with his own power & authority over all sorts of things that had been “harassing” the sheep and keeping them in a state of helplessness.
Jesus named 12 men, whom Matthew with his love of numbers and organization, lists in 6 sets of 2.
These 12 disciples who were divinely commissioned as apostles were sent to regather together the scattered and lost 12 tribes of Israel.
As we consider the beginning of Jesus’ missionary discourse in Matthew 10, we must remember that:
- The Christian missionary endeavor always begins with deep and heartfelt compassion and especially a churning of our “guts.”
- The end time harvest is coming soon, whether we like it our not. As we labor, we are to pray that the Father would send more and more harvesters into His fields.
In this new year, do these two vital missiological principles characterize your Christian life and experience?
Are you passionate for the lost? Are you praying for more harvest laborers?
Does your heart go out to those in your family, job, school or neighbors? Are you a harvest laborer yourself or are you content simply content to sit on the sideline bench?
Jesus’ missionary call was not simply intended for his 12 disciples. Matthew 9:35-10:4 reminds us that discipleship must lead to apostleship and that this call is for every follower of Jesus Christ . . . including you and I.
Let’s Pray
