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“The harvest”
—what do those words bring to your mind?
A resplendent, golden season
with plentiful work and good food?
Yes, but isn’t it also true
that the harvest implies urgency?
A harvest can’t wait.
The crop has to be brought in.
The rains might cut short
the days or soak the grain.
Everyone is needed to get the job done.
And what does that suggest
about the way in which
we must work during the figurative harvest
that Jesus was talking about here?
Let’s examine the context of Jesus’ words
beginning at Matthew 9:35,
and notice what Jesus was doing,
how it made him feel,
and what specific actions
and attitudes he recommended,
either directly or by his example.
At Matthew 9:35,
it says: “Jesus set out on a tour
of all the cities and villages,
“teaching in their synagogues
and preaching the good news of the Kingdom
and curing every sort of disease
and every sort of infirmity.”
This was Jesus’ third tour of Galilee.
He was teaching, preaching, and curing.
What effect did it have on him?
Verse 36: “On seeing the crowds,
he felt pity for them,
because they were skinned and thrown
about like sheep without a shepherd.”
The footnote tells us
that the verb here for pity
‘denotes a feeling experienced
‘deep inside the body, an intense emotion.
‘It is one of the strongest words
in Greek for compassion’
—compassion for people who were,
as the footnotes indicate,
maltreated, harassed, wounded, helpless,
exhausted, dejected, and neglected—
crowds who needed God’s Kingdom.
Thus, Jesus said in verse 37:
“Yes, the harvest is great,
but the workers are few.”
“The harvest”
—he called it—a short period of time
in which many people are needed
to accomplish a great work.
What would Jesus recommend?
Well, notice verse 38, fervent prayer:
“Therefore, beg the Master of the harvest
to send out workers into his harvest.”
But did Jesus just leave it at that?
Not at all.
Notice the next verse
in chapter 10 and verse 1.
“So he summoned his 12 disciples
“and gave them
authority over unclean spirits,
“in order to expel these
and to cure every sort of disease
and every sort of infirmity.”
This was the very work
that Jesus was doing back
in chapter 9 and verse 35.
So here we find Jesus delegating authority
and giving his disciples
permission and real power
to perform mighty deeds.
He also organized his apostles.
In verses 2-4, we find their names.
But this is not
just a list of names like the one
we find at Luke 6:13-16.
The Luke listing centers
around events that occurred months earlier
before Jesus’ second tour of Galilee,
whereas this listing in Matthew
deals with Jesus’ third tour of Galilee.
And whereas Luke’s list contains
12 names and 11 commas
between the complete names,
this list separates the names not by commas
but by the word “and”
—used not 11 times but 6 times.
Yes, this is a list defining six teams.
So in verses 2-4, the apostles get a partner;
in verses 5 and 6, they get a territory;
in verse 7, they get a message
centering on the Kingdom;
in verses 11 and 12,
they’re told to search out each city
for deserving ones at their homes.
And by the way, did Jehovah,
the Master of the harvest,
answer their plea for more harvest workers?
About a year later, Jesus dispatched
70 more disciples, so 82 in all.
Did that relieve some of the pressure
and reduce
some of the urgency of the situation?
Well, notice what Jesus said about this
at Luke 10:2:
“Then he said to them:
‘Yes, the harvest is great,
“‘but the workers are few.
“‘Therefore, beg the Master of the harvest
to send out workers into his harvest.’”
The wording is identical
to that found at Matthew 9:37, 38, isn’t it?
Jesus’ assessment of the need
was exactly the same.
Well, now, how can we be sure
that all of this applies to us?
Notice what Jesus said
right here in his original instructions
at Matthew 10:23:
“When they persecute you in one city,
“flee to another;
for truly I say to you,
“you will by no means
complete the circuit of the cities of Israel
until the Son of man arrives.”
Yes, these words apply
not only to those living in the first century
but to those living
when the Son of man arrives.
And that also means
that between now and Armageddon,
there will be plenty of territory.
Remember, too, that Jesus said
at Matthew 13:38, 39:
“The field is the world”
and “the harvest
is a conclusion of a system of things.”
So while it’s true
that we have more workers than ever before,
the circumstances keep changing.
When the harvest season began back in 1914,
earth’s population was just then
cresting 1.6 billion.
Well, today, billions more
need to hear the truth.
So we do this work as Jesus instructed.
We pray fervently for more workers,
and we get organized.
We get a partner, a territory,
a Kingdom presentation,
and then we search systematically.
In the past few years,
under the direction of the Service Committee
of the Governing Body,
a number of special preaching campaigns
have been organized
in very remote
or densely populated territories.
And the results confirm
that the harvest is still great
and that the workers are still few.
For instance,
after a recent four-month campaign
to reach Aymara-speaking people
on the Andean plateau of Peru,
an elder reported
that way up in the mountains,
they found a group of people
meeting twice a week
to study My Book of Bible Stories
and The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived.
Well, the group was surprised
to find out that these books
were published by Jehovah’s Witnesses,
and those conducting the meetings
agreed to study
with our brothers during the campaign.
Many attended, and they were happy
to find out about our website.
And now some members of that group
are continuing their Bible study
with Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Even in our current circumstances,
we’ve been able to reach wide audiences
through teleconferencing and broadcasting.
Some regions of Africa,
without suitable Internet,
have been able to use
television and radio to broadcast
not only the Memorial
but their regular congregation meetings.
After one broadcast,
a non-Witness man in Malawi said:
“The Coronavirus has helped me
to hear God’s Word
“explained effectively in a way
“I have never heard before in my whole life.
“I had no idea that Witnesses
could teach so skillfully.
I don’t want to miss
any of these meetings, ever!”
And his comments were typical of many
that were received at the branch office.
Isn’t that beautiful?
There are still places on this earth
where the interest in Bible truth is great
—places with vast unassigned territories
or where travel is difficult
or where other conditions
restrict our movement.
If we’re persecuted in one city,
we flee to the next one
because this is a harvest.
The grain is ripe;
the time is limited;
every worker is needed.
And yet, unlike a literal harvest
where we can sort of size up
the amount of work
yet to be done by the remainder of crop
that has yet to be gathered,
we can’t do that and say:
“We’ve got this.”
We already know
that we will be working right up to the end.
But as Jesus assures us
at Matthew 10:22:
“The one who has endured
to the end will be saved.”

David Schafer: We Live in the Time of the Harvest (Matt. 9:37)