The Laborers Are Few

Isaiah 66:10-14; Psalm 66:1-9; Galatians 6:7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

And Jesus said to them: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

As we read last Sunday, Jesus has begun his travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to become the King, to become the anointed one (which is what Messiah means in Hebrew, the anointed one, the chosen king), to become the one who ushers in the Kingdom of God. And to each town Jesus plans to visit along the way, Jesus sends an advance team of disciples – to let the town know, the Kingdom of God is coming near.

To each town, suffering in its own way under Roman occupation. To each town, filled with people who are sick, people with unclean spirits – people who have buckled under the weight of all the ills of their time – to each town the disciples are sent to announce the good news: The kingdom of God is coming near. Jesus is coming through, he’s on his way to Jerusalem, the rule of God that you are waiting for, it’s almost here.

And in each town the disciples of Jesus announce the coming near of the kingdom of God by enacting the rule of God in their actions. They travel in pairs – there are no lone rangers in the Kingdom of God, people rely on and help each other. They do not travel with baggage or wallets – they put their trust not in their own possessions or their own abilities to provide for themselves, but they make themselves vulnerable, they rely on the community, on the God who has provided the world with enough for all people. They enter any house that will welcome them with a prayer for peace – any house that welcomes them, no questions asked. They do not make sure that the people of the house practice good family values or are worthy of the honor of hosting disciples of the Lord – after all, the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God is for everybody.

They do not move from house to house, seeking the most comfortable accommodations for themselves. They eat whatever is set before them – no checking first to see whether it’s a kosher kitchen or not. If the people do not welcome the disciples, there is no punishment, no curse, no vengeance – the disciples just shake the dust from their feet, announce the good news anyway, and move on.

Francis of Assisi is often quoted as saying, “Always proclaim the gospel. If necessary, use words.” Unfortunately, there is no good historical evidence that St. Francis actually said that, but the sentiment is a good one. The disciples of Jesus announce the gospel in words: The kingdom of God has come near to you. But by their actions they announce that the kingdom of God is already here, if by faith you begin to live according to its ways, you can already begin to experience it.

And the disciples do experience the kingdom of God. They return from their mission full of excitement, telling Jesus – We were able to free people from all the evil that possessed their lives! And Jesus says, I know it. “I saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” We might say it this way: “I saw the Evil One going down in flames.” That’s what happens when people have the faith to start living according to the ways of the Kingdom of God. Still, Jesus tells the disciples, don’t be impressed with your power over evil, as if you have anything to do with it. Just be thankful that you have been drawn into the rule of God.

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to inaugurate the kingdom, the rule of God. But his disciples are invited to begin living the kingdom by sharing the good news with people along the way, and by practicing the kingdom it in the way that they carry out this mission. And along the way they do a lot of good for the people they interact with, but Jesus wants them to remember: you didn’t do it yourself, just be thankful that you got to hear the good news and were invited to start living it.

Do you know of any communities that need to hear the good news right now? Do you know any people who need to hear: The kingdom of God is very close to you right now? Do you know anyone feeling crushed by everything that’s going on in the world right now? Do you know anyone wondering, When does it ever let up? When does it get easier? Why are things going backwards? Do you know anyone who is afraid for the future, who is feeling powerless in the present, or who is burdened by the weight of the past? Because there is good news for them: the kingdom of God is near, it’s very close, you can almost touch it, you can almost taste it, if you are able to trust that it’s here. Someone just needs to tell them. Even more, someone just needs to show them, in actions even more than in words, that the rule of God is already here for those with the faith to risk living according to its ways.

The harvest is plentiful, Jesus said. The harvest is plentiful, but (look around the sanctuary) the laborers are few.

And, let’s be honest, a lot of the laborers need to hear the good news themselves these days. Many of the laborers are also feeling crushed by what’s going on in the world today, a lot of the laborers are burdened by their past, feeling powerless in the present, a lot of you are afraid for the future. We know that in baptism we have each been claimed by God for the kingdom, and yet that promise can feel very far away. Who will remind us that the God is faithful to God’s promises, that the kingdom of God is actually very near to us, right now? Who will show us that the kingdom of God is being lived right now, that we can see it and feel it and taste it right here?

Well, that’s why Jesus didn’t send out the disciples on their own. That’s why we need each other. That’s why we need to remind and encourage one another with the good news: God loves you, God forgives you, God empowers you, God cares for you, God will not leave you alone and, with the help of God, neither will I. That’s why we come here to this table, to hear the promises of God announced once again, to see and feel and taste what the kingdom of God is like.

And then we will be sent out from this place, as Jesus sent out his disciples, not alone, but walking with each other, helping each other, encouraging each other, into a world that is full of people who are ready to hear the good news.

And when we share that good news, Jesus tells us in this gospel text today, we do not put guilt trips on people. We do not threaten anyone, we demand nothing from them, we do not put any conditions on the good news: the kingdom of God is very near, the grace of God is at hand, if only you will accept it and receive it. We do not demand that people come to us and become like us in order to fit in; we meet them where they are and are happy to be their guests and live according to their customs and ways. And all we do is show them that it is possible to live with trust in the God who provides all that we need, it is possible to live with honesty and vulnerability, it is possible to heal sicknesses and confront evil, it is possible to share with others and leave judgment to God.

There may not be many laborers – certainly the world that needs to hear the message needs many more laborers than we have here this morning. But this has always been true – and Jesus advised his first disciples not to worry about that, to leave it in God’s hands, to pray that God will raise up other laborers of which we know nothing and need to know nothing. It’s for us just to do the task that has been given to us. And we may well see the evil that weighs upon us and our neighbors start to go down in flames – and wouldn’t that be exciting? Still, Jesus says, the main thing is to be thankful that we get to experience the presence of the kingdom of God. And the way we get to do that, is by having the faith to live the kingdom of God for the sake of our neighbors.