The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few

Matthew 9:36-38 (NASB)

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 you think of Jesus what descriptions come to mind immediately?  Love?  Mercy?  Compassion?  I am reminded of a very beautiful segment of the old (1961) movie “King of Kings” where Jesus is performing all kinds of healing miracles.  In one scene a blind man who is using a stick along a wall to guide him comes into the shadow of Jesus. The camera shows his eyes without color, then as the beautiful theme music (by Miklos Rozsa, composer also of the music for “Ben Hur”) becomes louder, you see the blind man’s eyes turn to a deep blue and he can see again.  Then the camera turns to Jesus’ face and you see a face filled with love, mercy, and compassion.  That’s the image I love to think about when I think of the person of Jesus.  And it is that image that is portrayed in these verses from Matthew. 

Jesus saw the crowd, the multitudes of people and was moved with compassion. The Greek word translated as “compassion” here and in eleven other verses in the gospels (or some translations use the phrase “felt sorry for”) means literally “to be moved as to one’s bowels”.  That does not seem right, but bowels are all our inward parts and Scripturally bowels mean the same as heart.  As someone once said, it would not be right to say to someone, “I love you with all my bowels (!)”, but again, in Scripture, bowels are the same as the heart.  Jesus was moved to the deepest part of His being, as bowels and heart represent. 

Jesus saw everything that was wrong with every single person---every physical deformity, every hurt, every worry, every need.  Deep within His heart, yes, His bowels, He felt compassion for all these distressed and dispirited people.  Other translations use words like harassed, helpless, weary, scattered, troubled, confused, hurting, and worried to describe these people following Jesus.  Jesus feels everything you feel, both the physical and the spiritual.  The Bible is clear that Jesus cares for you and wants to help you if you will put your trust in Him (Mark 5:19, John 11:33-38, I Peter 5:7). 

When Jesus looked at all these people and both felt and knew all their needs, He then told His disciples that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  That seems like an odd response to the compassion He felt.  Yet, the harvest represents the souls of those who do not know Jesus personally as Savior and Lord but are ready to receive Him just like a ripe crop is ready for reaping.  The Greek word for harvest means “the gathering of men into the kingdom of God”. 

Yes, the harvest is always plentiful, there are always many people ready to receive the Lord into their lives to help them deal with all their needs, but who is willing and available to work?  Who is willing and available to work for Jesus who sends His followers to bring people to Him?  Are you a worker for Jesus?  Are you helping the hurting people within the sphere of your life understand how they can find the Lord who will give them what they need to deal with their hurts?  Most people will not admit their hurts, but they are there, you must be assured that they are there.   

All the physical hurts and all the needs that all these people had can only be resolved by coming to Christ and letting all His love and strength and peace enter their lives.  Another image in my mind as I think about this passage and what Jesus saw in the multitudes are the words of the Steve Green recording “People Need the Lord”---“Everyday they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes.  Empty people filled with care, headed who knows where?  On they go through private pain, living fear to fear.  Laughter hides their silent cries, only Jesus hears.  People need the Lord, people need the Lord. At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.  We are called to take His light to a world where wrong seems right.  What could be too great a cost for sharing life with one who's lost?  Through His love our hearts can feel all the grief they bear.  They must hear the Words of Life only we can share.  People need the Lord, people need the Lord at the end of broken dreams, He's the open door. When will we realize that we must give our lives, for people need the Lord.  People need the Lord.”  Amen.