Today's Gospel

Gather God’s Harvest

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. There's genius in the gospels. We live in the world, and the challenge is to live the gospels in the midst of the world. And very often the gospel is in direct opposition to the world. Or rather, the world is in direct opposition to the gospel. And that's why it becomes a challenge to live it out. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Luke 10:1-12. After this, the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them on ahead, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into his harvest.

Go your way. Behold, I send you as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and salute no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be on this house.' And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him, but if not, it shall return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide for the laborer deserves his wages. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you.' Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.

I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that town." What jumps out at you? The verse that jumps out at me is verse two. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the lord of the harvest to send more laborers into his harvest." When I was in my late teens and I was praying about what I was going to do with my life and really having a conversion, a reversion, just like a reawakening to the genius of Catholicism, I was really struck by this passage and I prayed a lot about this passage and I asked God, like, "What do you want me to do, God?" And then there wasn't clarity, that's back in '90, '91, '92. I started speaking and writing in 93. But there in '90, '91, there wasn't anyone doing what I'm doing today. And I thought, "Okay, God--" I felt called to do something and I thought, "Okay, well, God must want me to be a priest, because that felt like the only way to do what I felt like God was calling me to do. But I didn't have really any idea what he had planned for me. And of course, I was trying to work out the next 50 years, and he was trying to work out the next 50 minutes. And so the call in all of that for me was like, "Okay, do what you can do today. Do what you can do today." And that's how we got here. I just kept waking up each day and doing what I felt called to do that day. But this phrase, "The harvest is plentiful. The laborers are few." We are the laborers of God. We're the laborers of God. We're the laborers being sent into the harvest. The world is the harvest, right? And the harvest is plentiful. I find this interesting phrase here at the end of this verse, "Pray, ask the lord of the harvest to send more laborers into his harvest." Those two words, his harvest. And we've got to remember that it's his harvest. We're the workers. We're the laborers. We're just trying to help him gather his harvest. So as you go out into the world today, try to recognize the harvest, try to recognize how great the harvest is, and try to recognize how few laborers there are. And ask God to give you some clarity about what is he calling you to do in all of that. How is he calling you to be a laborer of God? Have a great day. Be bold. Be Catholic. I'll see you tomorrow.