I truly admire those of you who love to garden. My husband and I were walking around our community and noticing the hard work of our neighbors who put in beautiful flower beds, raised vegetable gardens, flourishing bushes, etc. We walked back to our house and noticed the stark contrast. We have not planted one single thing in the fourteen years that we’ve been here. We just aren’t gardening types, but we do admire our neighbors’ hard work. The truth is, I am struggling right now to keep a basil plant alive in little pot in my kitchen. Plants fear me, with good reason.

I do like to think that I have been involved in a different type of gardening, though. I water the seeds of Scripture that the Holy Spirit has planted in people’s hearts. My life’s vocation has been attending to a harvest of a different sort. This is the kind of gardening we are all called to do.

In our Scripture today, we see Jesus calling his 12 disciples and giving them their cultivation tools. In the Message version, he called them his “harvest hands.”

Matthew 10 (The Message)

^35-38 Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!”

The Twelve Harvest Hands

10 ^1-4 The prayer was no sooner prayed than it was answered. Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe fields. He gave them power to kick out the evil spirits and to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives.

I love the language here. We are called to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives around us. My mind instantly goes to the Stephen Ministers in my church and the lovely Care Team that delivers delicious casseroles to homebound people. Wouldn’t it be nice if they also volunteered to do some gardening for the gardening-challenged? I might bring this up at our next meeting!

This is the list of the twelve he sent:

Simon (they called him Peter, or “Rock”),

Andrew, his brother,

James, Zebedee’s son,

John, his brother,

Philip,

Bartholomew,

Thomas,

Matthew, the tax man,

James, son of Alphaeus,

Thaddaeus,

Simon, the Canaanite,

Judas Iscariot (who later turned on him).

^5-8 Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge:

“Don’t begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.

Here is the charge to us as well. Go to the lost, confused people right in your neighborhood. Touch the untouchables. Live generously. And proclaim the good news of Jesus’ kingdom come. We are God’s harvest hands, and it’s time to get down in the dirt and get the work done.

What is God calling you to do today? Plant some seeds? Water what has been planted? Prune some over-growth? The charge is clear. May we pick up our tools and follow him.

Huge Harvest by Kathy Schumacher