“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”” (Matthew chapter 9, verse 35-38)
I was recently chatting with a friend in Wellington over breakfast and we were chatting about how life develops in stages.
Our 20s were filled with experimentation and lots of new experiences, trying to find who we were and what fit with that. Our 30s were being characterised by a settling into who we are and a living and working out of who we are.
On the outside, this friend seemed like a friendly, well composed guy in his early 30s who knew what he was about and was taking steps to live it out. However, he commented that he still felt some existential angst despite this supposed settling – a disconnect to how he presented himself.
My friends comment immediately got me thinking on how the gospel soothes the restless searching that so many people undertake. I mentioned how God’s been working in my life recently (refer to my previous articles on formation), and how settling into who I am as God designed me has actually been a great release and peace.
We started chatting more about faith, which unfortunately had to be cut short because he had to go to work. All this brings me to what I’m writing today – do we see those around us as helpless and searching? Do we see them as harassed, scattered, distressed, flayed, rended, mangled, vexed, troubled, annoyed? (these are all synonyms of the Greek used for “harassed”)
Seeing the Sheep
“Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John chapter 4, verse 35)
Chatting with that friend was an eye-opening experience, because he was (by all accounts) living a fulfilled life. While I knew cognitively that he needed Jesus, I struggled to find an opening to share the gospel with him.
However, our God is a gracious God who loves his creation, and knows how much my friend needed to hear the gospel, and provided me with an opportunity in our recent visit. It was just as well that God kicked me into gear to share the gospel with him and to talk more about faith. If I hadn’t, who knows when my friend who have next heard the gospel.
God motivated me to share by opening my eyes to see my friend as Jesus sees him – harassed and helpless. My response echoed Jesus’ – compassion for my friend drove me to share with him. I didn’t want to see my friend suffering and searching, only to satisfy himself with empty promises of meaning and fulfilment from the world.
Hebrews chapter 4 talks about how God invites us into his rest, and how that is a lasting rest because we have found meaning and fulfilment. Unlike the rest of the world, we do not need to spend ourselves searching for true rest and meaning. Rather, we are called to spend ourselves on the gospel.
For such a time as this
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”” (Esther chapter 4, verse 14)
The verse above is seared into my conscience. God could easily raise someone else up to take the opportunities laid before us. Using my conversation with my friend as an example – I could have easily chosen not to share (as is my default behaviour), and God could have raised someone else up to share to my friend.
However, I just so happened to be having breakfast with this friend on a very unlikely visit to Wellington, when we ended up talking about the concerns of life. It felt like I would be actively denying God and slapping him in the face if I didn’t followed the thread of the conversation to its end. For such a time as that, I was raised to share the gospel with that friend.
My brothers and sisters, for such a time as this, that we have each been uniquely raised and gifted with skills, talents, and (importantly) unique opportunities to advance God’s kingdom. I do not know the people you do, neither will it be likely that I will ever meet them.
However, each of us are called to, by faith, step into the opportunities God has placed in our lives to advance the gospel. If the harassed and helpless sheep don’t hear the gospel, how will they ever respond and turn to the Shepherd who loves them and cares for them?