“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38 (Read also Matt. 10:1ff; Luke 10:1ff.)
When our Lord Jesus saw the multitudes of people wandering aimlessly through life, not knowing their sinful and lost condition or Him as their Savior, He was moved with compassion and told His disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would send out laborers into His harvest.
Jesus recognized that He by Himself, in His state of humiliation, could not reach all the people (not even in Israel) with the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Therefore He urged His disciples to pray for more workers in the kingdom, and He sent out the Twelve and then the Seventy (Matt. 10:1ff.; Luke 10:1ff.) to preach the Gospel to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Is our day any different? All around us are multitudes of people wandering aimlessly through life. They do not recognize their sinful and lost condition, nor do they know Jesus Christ and the gift of eternal salvation which He has won for them by His holy life and innocent sufferings and death on the cross. They are unwittingly headed for the eternal torments of hell.
Can a Christian pastor, doing the work of an evangelist, reach them all? If our Lord Jesus needed to send out the Twelve, and then also the Seventy, should we not also pray to the Lord of the harvest that He send forth laborers into His harvest?
And should we not also make the task of “discipling the nations” a congregational endeavor? Cf. Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Eph. 4:10-16; Acts 8:4; etc.
What would Jesus have us do? What would Jesus have you do?
O Dearest Jesus, thank You for bearing upon the cross the guilt and punishment for our sins, and for causing us to hear and believe the saving Gospel of Your kingdom. Move us to pray for more workers in Your kingdom and to be willing to serve You and share with others around us the good news of forgiveness of sins and life eternal through faith in Your name. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]