The harvest is plentiful
Today in the Gospel we read that “at the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus is moved by compassion and he feels the need to help us when we are anxious and depressed. It is great to see that Jesus knows our troubles and he is ready to find a way to solve our problems. Most of them are created by our own imagination, pride or selfishness. Instead of feeling down and full of self-pity, we should go to Jesus asking for help. He is the only one who can fix them completely.
Then he says to us: “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; so ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” There is plenty of work to be done in the harvest of the Lord. There is no unemployment. These days governments find it difficult to create jobs for everyone. The job market is constantly changing, and it is not easy for universities to figure out what’s going to happen in the future. They say that people are being prepared now for jobs that are not going to exist in the future. Nevertheless the harvest of the Lord is always there, every generation a new one, and there is always work for the apostle. The reward is excellent: a hundred percent here and eternal life afterwards. You cannot find better return in any other business.
Jesus is telling us today that he needs people to give him a hand, to make this world better. He does it in a subtle way: pray to the Lord that he sends workers. Looking around we realise that there is a need for people to give their lives to God. He doesn’t need us; he can do everything by himself, but he wants us to cooperate with his work of salvation. He wants us to think that we are doing something useful. Like a father when he allows his toddler son to help him in the garden. He is more than a nuisance, but he thinks he is helping dad big time. The same happens with us when we give God a hand.
We see that nowadays not many people are ready to give their lives to Jesus. Maybe they can do something for God for a while, for few years, but their whole life? Young people are afraid of commitment: How do I know what the future is going to be? Maybe I’ll change my mind. They think that their lives are precious. We need to compare our lives with God: Who am I in front of an Almighty God? What Jesus is telling us today is that all we need to do is to ask. How often do we pray for vocations, for priests and religious life? Sometimes we complain about the lack of good priests, but we don’t pray enough for them. We have the shepherds that we deserve.
Why there are only few labourers in the Lord’s harvest? Why is not God sending more people if there is so much evil in the world? Because Jesus normally uses few people to reach big crowds. He chose only twelve apostles at the beginning, to be the foundations of his Church. You don’t need much yeast to bring up the dough. Today it is a good day to think if we are ready to give our lives to God; if we want to give him a hand. This readiness should be the disposition of every Christian.
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