Time For Harvest

Mat 9:36-38 NASB

(36)  Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

(37)  Then He *said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

(38)  "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

Jesus was going through the cities proclaiming the gospel and healing the sick.  Verse 36 says he felt compassion for them.  He compares them to sheep without a shepherd.  The shepherd’s job was to protect the sheep.  Sheep without a shepherd will be distressed and dispirited.  They will not know which way to go and will find themselves walking into danger.

Let’s take a closer look, picture a sheep tangled in thicket.  Now look in another direction you may see one starting to head down a steep slope into a canyon.  Turn around you will see a young sheep who has lost its mother to wolves.  The shepherd keeps all this from happening. 

Now let’s look at this in human terms.  You see one person who has gone through a divorce and is worried about facing life alone.  Turn around you see another person who has started hanging out with the wrong crowd and is hooked on drugs.  Look over to the left or the right you will see people just struggling every day to keep their families together. 

These are the people Jesus felt compassion for; He met their physical need so He could address their spiritual need.  Jesus tells us the fields are ripe and ready for harvest.  The problem we see in verse 37 is that workers are few.  In verse 38 He tells us to ask God to send workers into His harvest.  How many times do we come in contact with people each day to which we could give our witness?  People need to hear about Jesus.  If we don’t tell them who will?

Tell someone about JESUS this week.