Praying for Laborers

A mere glance at Matthew 9 reveals the sad human condition. It is broken, needy, and dependent. There is the death of a young girl (9:18), the sickness of a woman who touches the hem of Jesus’ garment (9:20), the shouts of not one, but two blind men (9:27), and the spectacle of a demon-possessed man who had also lost his ability to speak (9:32). It’s a snapshot (and a kind of metaphor) of man’s fallen and ruined condition.

Rather than repelled, Jesus is drawn to these afflicted people in sympathy and He heals them everyone. After all, they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were wanderers, reeling to and fro. No wonder the demons were having a heyday!

As readers, we are apt to pass over these grievous experiences Jesus encounters without letting them hit our hearts. But imagine a day in your life like this. To encounter all this yourself, you would have been at the funeral of a dear child, the hospital med/surg unit with your wife or sister, the ophthalmologist surgical ward for your blind brothers, and a long-term care unit in the mental hospital for a man in your neighborhood. All this in one afternoon! The overwhelming sadness is devastating.

Jesus responds to this all (and more) with compassion (9:36). His heart is moved with pity for those so desperately trapped in their fallen, broken condition. While it would have been far easier to remain aloof or stand upon a rock and shout insults and invectives against the darkness of the times, Jesus, the Light of the World, shines into the darkness and brings healing and gladness wherever He goes.

But Jesus is also realistic. He is aware that His bodily mission on earth is a short-term one. He will soon be returning to the Father and giving over these responsibilities to His chosen people to carry out in His strength. So, Jesus offers a metaphor about harvesting and laboring to help us understand the need and the solution, and prayer as the way to connect these.

As noted above, Matthew could not have given us a more vivid snapshot of human need. Death. Sickness. Demon-oppression. Matthew summarizes this in verse 36: “the multitudes… fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” This is an apt description of today’s world. How many people do you know who are fainting by the way and scattered abroad, wandering as sheep with no shepherd? Statistically speaking, our young people are facing anxiety and depression at unprecedented heights. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear (Luke 21:26). Everywhere one looks, it seems there is a war against our very humanity – harassment, bullying, oppression, abuse.

All these outward manifestations of dysfunction are but a picture of the much deeper crisis – the need of salvation through Christ Himself. Since we are fallen, our greatest need is not better eyesight or a tongue that can speak clearly. Our greatest need is to be cleansed from our sins and healed of the soul’s diseases. This great need, Jesus came to meet and when He cried, “It is finished” on the cross, we are assured that the need has been completely satisfied in Him.

But what of these wandering sheep? What of these fields so ready for harvest?

For these sheep who are living without a shepherd, Jesus prescribes laborers, shifting the metaphor to harvesting a ready crop. “The harvest is plenteous,” He says, “but the laborers are few.” The solution is not to adopt a business model. It is to have more laborers.

Much of modern Christianity has lost a subtle but important distinction here. Jesus’ emphasis here is laborers, not “leaders”! While “leadership skill” may be a good thing, most people envision a leadership model similar to business or political leadership and this is a great mistake in God’s Kingdom. We have one Leader: Jesus Christ. Everyone else is a laborer. This is not to say God has not ordained under-shepherds for His church, but these who lead are to reflect a Christ-mentality, rather than a worldly model. One author, rightly urging churches to move away from a CEO-styled corporate leadership, writes: “The leadership model is attractive insomuch as it gives power to certain church people. However, when leadership is the primary metaphor, we begin to see the fallout in abuses of power, infidelity, and moral decay.”

Leading with strength, confidence, persuasion (sometimes coercion), and power has so become the order of the day that few Christians even notice that this is not the Jesus way! In no way does this kind of leadership capture the spirit of the Man who walked and lived among his disciples as meek and lowly.

Laborers like Jesus are a gift to the Church! They roll up their sleeves and get messy with the reality of life. They see the needs with compassion and aren’t afraid to plunge in, even if no one sees them and offers them recognition for their work.

This image is radically different from the contemporary church mentality. Yet it is the one Jesus gives.  “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” Oh for laborers, suffused with humility and not driven by anxiety for numbers and noses!

How, then, do we get such laborers in the Kingdom? Again, Jesus does not resort to the typical archetypes of the world. There is no true laborer-manufacturing facility in the world! But there is a God in the Heavens who hears and answers prayer! So, not surprisingly, our Lord tells us to turn our faces upward – to lift up holy hands in prayer for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest. And while this can be applied to every child of God, it may be particularly directed toward the calling of men for the full-time, life-long work of the ministry. The need is great. The solution is clear. The way is prayer—earnest, often, and expectant.

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."