LABORERS FOR THE HARVEST

Today's Gospel Mt 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest."

Today's Gospel was one that was such a great consolation to me. The first few verses could not better describe what I feel I experience here on a daily basis. To go where He goes, so often means daily encounters with those who are in need of deep healing. Emotionally, spiritually, and physically... there are so many in need of healing. And so many who seem to be aimlessly searching but without any direction.. "like sheep without a shepherd" Matthew 9:36.

It is so often easier for us to see and attend to the needs of others when they are so apparent... like when you are caring for those poor in material goods... what they need is evident. They need a warm coat. They need a new pair of shoes to protect their feet. They need a meal. But, the poverty the Lord has sent me to care for in this season of my life is much different. It is a poverty of faith.. a poverty of truth. And, hearts that are wounded by such a poverty. In both of these ways of poverty however, there is one remedy that seems to never fail... it is the remedy of LOVE. To love without condition is how He always cares for us. And it is the way He asks us also to love.

And the more our eyes are open to the needs of others... the more we recognize how much need there really is. Isn't this also what was unfolding in this passage from Matthew. In the presence of Jesus ALL that woundedness is illuminated and Jesus' heart desired for each of them to be made whole. And so it must have seemed overwhelming for the disciples as they begin to walk with the Lord... suddenly crowds of people needing healing, needing direction were made known to them. And Jesus said, "ASK". He said, "ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for the harvest." Matthew 9:38

This is what I have been praying since I arrived..."Father, please send others. Please send more missionaries here to England." And, what a great blessing that He IS sending others. He is sending 2 other missionaries to SPEC.

Please pray for Nick and Amanda who will be coming to England in January. They were both missionaries through Life Teen Missions. And, they are both very dear to me. What a tremendous gift that God would make a way for there to be 2 positions here at SPEC and for them to be sent here at the same time. I am amazed at the careful orchestration of God! There is nothing He can not do!

Today's gospel is also a reminder... everywhere in the world today it seems there is the need for more laborers. Today, you and I will continue to have encounters with those who are in need of healing and who are deeply in need of love. May the Lord help us to recognize and respond to these needs... to be present to everyone we encounter. And, let us all continue to do as Jesus said, and ASK for more laborers!