Harvest Plenty-Labourers Few
Ex 19: 2-6; Rom 5: 6-11; Mt 9:36-10:8
Fr. Nelson Lobo OFM Cap
(Time to reach out to the people just like Jesus did?)
Story: Philip Yancey tells the story of Dr. Paul Brand who had devoted his life to treating leprosy patients in India. In the course of one examination Brand laid his hand on the patient’s shoulder and informed him through a translator of the treatment that lay ahead. To his surprise the man began to shake with muffled sobs. “Have I said something wrong?” Brand asked the translator. She quizzed the patient and reported, “No, doctor. He says he is crying because you put your hand around his shoulder. Until he came here no one had touched him for many years.”
Mother Teresa has said, “We have drugs for people with diseases like leprosy. But these drugs do not treat the main problem, the disease of being unwanted. That’s what my sisters hope to provide. The sick and poor suffer even more from rejection than material want. Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”
The Gospel says when Jesus saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them. So, he summoned his disciples and gave them authority to reach out to the people in need. But before we attempt to reach out to the people in need let’s have a look at the life of the Good Shepherd Jesus himself who has given us the great commission.
HOW DID JESUS BECOME THE GOOD SHEPHERD TO HIS SHEEP?
Christ Went to the People. Wouldn’t the salvation story be totally different if Christ waited for people to come to him? What would happen if he waited for the hurting, the needy, the spiritually sick to come to him? Christ actually saw them individually. He didn’t just see a bunch of people, a crowd. But He looked into every single soul. That’s why he felt compassion for them.
Christ intentionally entered into the lives of these people: He worshipped with them in their synagogues. He went to weddings with them. He worked with them on their fishing boats. He helped harvest the fruits of the field. He cried with them when one of them died. That’s why he felt compassion for them.
Christ saw more than what is observable. Most of us are pretty good about hiding our true hurts and pain. People can smile, yet inside they are weeping because of the emotional & psychological pain. That’s why he felt compassion for them. Today our churches are full of such people. Beautiful and smiling but crying within.
Jesus saw them as having no shepherd. Sheep are dumb, helpless, vulnerable, powerless. Sheep without a shepherd are aimless and lost, hopeless and forsaken, unprotected and feeble. They are easy prey for the enemy. I wonder what would happen if we made it a point to ask God to help us see people from the inside instead of the outside. Would that change the way we prayed for them? Would that change the way we respond to them? Since many priests today are busy with their administrative work, they have no time for pastoral concerns. Our people are left vulnerable and in need. No wonder today there are thousands of churches. People go where their need is met.
After Jesus experienced life in the towns and villages, after he taught them in their own synagogues, after he preached to them the Good News, after he touched the sick and healed them, after he raised the dead and after he experienced tremendous compassion for them Jesus said: “The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”. One preacher puts it this way “Christ did not present a clear and powerful presentation of what it would take to be an effective evangelist unless he had gone through the process! UNTIL he saw the people; UNTIL he felt their needs; UNTIL he experienced their pain; UNTIL he was gripped with compassion”.
HOW CAN WE REACH OUT TO THE NEEDY
JUST LIKE JESUS DID?
- SEE PEOPLE JUST LIKE JESUS. See what he saw. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. 1 Sam 16:7 “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
- TOUCH PEOPLE JUST LIKE JESUS. Feel what he felt. (Mk 1:40-42) A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees for healing. The amazing part of this healing is how Jesus did it – Jesus TOUCHED him! Physically leprosy patients don’t feel pain, but they suffer. Almost all the pain they feel comes from the outside, the pain of rejection and loneliness.
- SERVE PEOPLE JUST LIKE JESUS. Do what he did. (Mat 25:40) “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”.
Conclusion
Story: “Put the Flag Back!” In a combat between the British and French many years ago, a small battalion of British soldiers were holding out against the enemy. Their flag was knocked down by enemy fire. The soldiers cried out, “Put the flag back! Put the flag back!” A brave soldier dared the line of fire, rushed out and put it back into its place, to the cheers of his comrades. That’s what we need to do in the church—put the flag back—the flag of Missions. Make it our rally cry. Indifference and selfishness have knocked the “C” out of the Great Commission. Its time for Christians to shout, “Put the “C” back! —the C that stands for Conviction, Concern, and Compassion.
Jesus when he felt compassion did not think of self-protection. He went all out of his comfort-zone to reach out to the sick and the dying, to the ignorant and to the wayward. And we the followers of Jesus called to walk in His footsteps to proclaim the Good News must forget our comfort zone and do what Jesus did. We are the labourers Jesus prayed for. May he grant us the grace to be compassionate. Amen!
WHEN ANY CHURCH LOSES THE SPIRIT OF THE GREAT COMMISION, IT SURRENDERS THE VERY REASON FOR IT’S EXISTENCE.
Mission is not a SIDE LINE! It is the LIFELINE of the church.