Most of these weekly contributions tend to reflect on one of the readings for the day, and most commonly this is the Gospel passage set in the Lectionary. The Gospel passages often relate a parable or miracle, but this Sunday is a little different.
Reading the passage once again for myself, I was immediately struck by its continuity with the theme for the last few weeks, – the need for Christians to play an active part in God’s work. We are encouraged to pray, but our prayers are not like magic spells. Prayers are best answered when we allow God to turn our own prayer thoughts and concerns into active service. This understanding of prayer was surely behind the request by Jesus that the disciples should ask God to send out workers into his harvest field. Jesus knew that there was important work to be done and God needed willing workers. If nobody came forward, then it would be like having fields full of wheat, with nobody to go out and harvest it. Such a waste would only be avoided if the disciples were prepared to ask God to provide the labour and then be prepared to answer that call themselves. The Christian life is about hearing and understanding the work of God and then living out the reality in our lives.
Earlier on in Matthew’s Gospel, just after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that anyone who hears His words but does not put them into practice is like a man who builds his house on sand. Those that hear His words and put them into practice are like the man who builds his house on rock. Putting God’s word into practice is therefore tied to having a solid foundation in our spiritual lives. If we don’t commit to action as well as prayer, our faith becomes dry and academic and does not empower our daily lives. Jesus was clearly aware of the temptation for the disciples to do nothing with His teaching but to reflect on the meaning of His words. But he wanted them to get active, with the dual benefit of strengthening their own faith whilst serving God and their fellow men and women. He wanted them to step out in faith and be his active ambassadors in the world. He sent them out as workers in the harvest field. Did the disciples get everything right first time? Scripture would seem to indicate otherwise but they pressed on with the task, encouraged and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
I hope to expand on this a little at St Mary’s on Sunday, and I am sure Alix will have something equally pertinent to say at St Swithun’s.
John Sweeting
Ministry Team