Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:35-38
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness... These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.
Matthew 10:1, 5-7
The verse 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field' is sandwiched in between Jesus seeing the crowd in need and him sending out the disciples. The sending out the twelve (followed later by the seventy-two in Luke 10) seems to be in direct response to Jesus seeing the crowds, harrased and helpless, without a shepherd. He responded by not meeting the need himself but calling his disciples to pray for workers, a prayer that they themselves would prove to be the answer.
Jesus had a mission and his disciples were going to be the means by which it would be fulfilled. Why did Jesus send others when he was so good at preaching himself? Why did Jesus encourage others to go and heal, teach, proclaim the Kingdom of God when he embodied perfectly all the required attributes? Who else would be able to act as he could act? How could his followers hope to compare with his anointing, zeal, compassion and ability?
To try to answer these questions actually misses the point. The mission of God, the missio dei, was always going to be initiated by Christ and then implemented by a bunch of ordinary believers in every nation and across every age. The sending of the twelve and then the seventy-two would be the forerunner to the great commission; 'Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.' (Matthew 28:19) The early church, both men and women, responded to this command by proclaiming and demonstrating the gospel and large numbers of people were harvested for the kingdom.
When we look at the fields on the Gower Peninsula it is easy to fail to see the harvest as Jesus sees it. It is easy to presume that almost no-one is interested in Christ, hardly anyone wants to hear the gospel, that we will never see a harvest of lives coming to know Christ as Lord and Saviour.
However instead of depression and inactivity, can we find the faith to pray that Jesus will send workers into the harvest field, that the Lord of the harvest would provide people who are willing and available to do the work. Perhaps we can also find in ourselves the faith to respond as Isaiah did:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)
