The Harvest

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” These words of Jesus hit me hard every time because I consider the context in which they were shared. In the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus shares these words after he has healed two blind men, a paralyzed man, and a sick woman. All of these people in Jesus’ time would have been considered damaged and unwanted by society. The Pharisees criticized Jesus for literally and spiritually touching them. I would like to think we have progressed in our society to a point where no one is considered unwanted, but the truth is we haven’t. We still have marginalized people experiencing discrimination and exclusion (social, political and economic) today because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions. The early church was focused on abolishing unequal power and the church today should be focused on that as well. Why have we not made that one of our primary foci? I believe the answer could be found in our shopping habits.

The other day, I was shopping for groceries and when I arrived to the produce section I noticed something new. There was a section for what they called “damaged and unwanted” produce. Apparently, fruits and vegetables with cosmetic imperfections which are deemed too unsightly for regular purchase are generously marked down in order to sell them. Somehow these small blemishes, scars, and wonky shapes make perfectly good food perceived as less valuable. Wow! It is almost as if we place more value in what is pleasing to our eye, rather than the actual nutritional value of the product. I believe the same can be said for how we place value in people.

People who fit into a certain perception of what we may call normal are given greater value than those who do not. The term marginalized is used to describe people who are treated as insignificant or peripheral in our society because they do not fit into our societal norm. One of Jesus earthly ministry’s primary foci was on reaching the marginalized and going to the people that others considered “unclean”. When Jesus said that “the harvest was plentiful” he was literally saying that there are people that God values ready for the Word and we should not neglect our responsibility to reach them. This Sunday during worship at 8:30 and 10:45 AM, we will be diving into this discussion and exploring how we need to refocus our energy towards reaching the people that society has deemed “damaged and unwanted”. Join us for worship and this conversation.

In God’s grip,

Pastor Chuck Church