"I tell you open your eyes and look at the harvest."The reason they couldn't see the harvest is that they thought it didn't include Samaritans, Gentiles and officials in corrupt Herod's reign. An old adage in sports is that you go with what the defense gives you. But the box the disciples have put their mission in blinds them to the opportunities and relationships around them. What is the harvest that St. Barnabas called to glean? What opportunities are right in front of us to make disciples of Jesus Christ and we're not seeing it? How is that true also of our personal, neighborhood and work lives? In verse 42, it was these thought-to-be outsiders who are next to proclaim Jesus as "the savior of the world."
The other thing Jesus emphasizes is that there have been those who have done work ahead of them. For instance, my own ministry at St. Barnabas has been blessed by the pastors and the committed lay people who were here before me. In fact, if things had not been started before I got there, it would be much tougher. Have you taken time to think about all the people who have shared of themselves so that you can enjoy the life that you do? Once again, we see the people taking Jesus literally ("Did someone already bring him some food?") when he was talking about something else. Of course, that also means that sometimes we are called to be the sowers (the ones who invest the time and sacrifice with no visible results) so that others can experience the joy and results of the harvest.
A second miracle is set up in Cana, but takes place in Capernaum. The official asks Jesus to come and heal his son. Jesus pushes back at first because he tired of people only wanting him for his miracles. I call them "miracle junkies" or "blessing junkies", and I think there is a little or a lot of that in all of us. We want the blessings of being a follower of Jesus but we don't want to pay the price that comes with it (that whole "take up your cross" thing). The distinctive thing about this miracle is that the child was healed not by Jesus' touch, but by Jesus' word on the day before. One of the things we have to get used to with Jesus is the great variety of ways he did healing. Sometimes he touched people and sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he used techniques others used and sometimes not. Sometimes he required them to have faith and sometimes not. To follow Jesus requires that we "hang loose" and be open to the great variety of his ways of grace. We have to let go of the controls and allow God the freedom to act and move - a tough one for most of us. Have a great day.
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