Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.”

 

Gospel Reading: Luke 10:1-12

 

Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”

 

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus commissions 72 disciples to go out into the world to preach the good news that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus was telling these disciples that there are many who seek God and seek the Kingdom of heaven and we must go and find them. The seeds have been planted and the crop is rich. It is time to harvest the fruits of his labor. We are called to be the laborers of Christ. We must go out into the world and harvest the fields. These seeds have been planted in every human soul. It is our job to make sure that the fruit of the harvest is plentiful. But Jesus also warns his disciples that it will not be easy. He says, “Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.” The Lambs represent the peacemakers and disciples of Christ; those who humbly commit to do the work of God. Yet the world is full of opposition to those who wish to do God’s work. These wolves of society persecute the lambs and try to prevent them from doing their work. We as lambs need to know that God is with us and will protect us in our journey. Those who bend to the will of God will experience the Kingdom of Heaven but those who do not will bring condemnation on themselves and their village. We must accept and fully embrace that we are the laborers of God. This is a grace which God has bestowed upon us. We are either with Christ or against. There is no in between. Once we try to establish excuses or reasons why we can’t, we immediately become consumed by the wolves.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

Lord, I am your lamb and your servant.

The harvest is plentiful and ripe,

Give me the strength to work the field

To build the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon