Looking For A Harvest

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

LOOKING FOR A HARVEST

Luke 10:1-16

10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5 "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. 13 "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.  16 "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

 

This is a large chunk of scripture, but how do we break up the words of Jesus in his instructions to the seventy-two that he sent ahead of him. What we can do is focus on some of the things Jesus said. First, let us concentrate on the harvest being plentiful, and the workers are few. We wonder how often we look at the field as if there is a plentiful harvest. Of course, we are not thinking about a field of corn planted by a farmer, but about those who yet know the good news about the kingdom of God. How many people are actually unaware of the good news? Have we lost sight of the fact there is still a plentiful harvest? In a society that seems to be full of people who say they are Christians or believe in God, it would appear there are not too many to harvest. Yet, if we were to consider how many of them are born again, Spirit-filled followers of Jesus Christ, with the full knowledge of the goodness in the kingdom of God, then perhaps that field is still full of a plentiful harvest. We wonder if we too are called to be one of those workers. However, are not all believers called to go into the world and preach the good news about the kingdom of God? Have we slacked off because we think, either that is not our calling, or we just got lazy, or that we are satisfied with us four and no more? Well, more than us four, but all of us in the local church are fine with just us and are not too concerned, or not concerned at all about the plentiful harvest. Maybe we should start looking around in the field, and seeing who is ready for the harvest. We should be looking for a harvest.