In Matthew’s gospel, we have an account of Jesus going to towns and villages, teaching, preaching to everyone who will listen and healing every disease and sickness. As he looked out to the crowds, his heart broke and was filled with compassion for them, ‘because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Mt 9:36a). The solution, “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest-ready fields’” (Mt 9:37).
Firstly, Jesus’ solution to any situation is prayer. Is that yours as well? Secondly, the problem has never been the harvest. It is both plentiful and ready, hence his instructions to his disciples to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. Guess what? He has done that. John 20:21-22, “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’.
The ‘you’ is all of God’s people, ordinary folks, young and old, sent to bring God’s message of hope and salvation through Jesus Christ to their family, friends, neighbours and workmates. The Bible is littered with stories of God using unremarkable, unqualified, flawed, ordinary people to carry out his purpose on earth (read Acts 4:13-14).
Here is Susie’s story…
“It was the last training day of the term in primary school. Exhausted doesn’t even come close to how we were all feeling…I walked into my classroom, where one of my colleagues was talking to a new member of my team. I heard them say: ‘Susie’s the one to talk to’. I thought I was going to be quizzed on my subject expertise or a classroom organisation query.
‘How can I help?’ was my reply. ‘I feel there’s a gap in my life. I’m searching for something. Are you religious?’
In that ordinary place, in the room where I spend most of my working hours, what followed was a conversation about faith, how heaven meets earth, how God is knowable yet completely other, and how relationship with Jesus helps me in my everyday’. As it came to an end, my new colleague’s last comment was: ‘Please can I talk to you again?’…
In her devotions that morning it was on John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. Susie writes, “How graciously and subtly he prepares us for opportunities we have no idea are coming our way. And it didn’t end there. With schools having reduced opening hours this term, I’ve been working with different colleagues, and they’ve been so many opportunities for me to openly share my faith and pray with others before lessons start. I thank God for leading me and for giving me courage and boldness. And I thank him that even when I’m taking blu-tac off the walls, moving desks, and organising shelves, I’m still about my Father’s business.”
Indeed, the mission of God has always been in the hands of ordinary people!
Mark
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