Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge: “What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.” -- Luke 10:1-2Something struck me odd about these two verses.
Jesus had his pick of some number of people – for the sake of argument, let’s say he had 150 too choose from. But he only chose 70. And then he says to the 70, ‘I wish there were more of you!’
But … if he wanted more than 70, why not just choose more people? I mean, why not pick 120 people to send? Or just send all the people he had to ‘select’ from, instead of selecting some of them and leaving the rest out?
I think the reason is probably very simple. He chose all the ones who were ready.
Ready to take on the assignment. Ready to be obedient, whether we feel like it or not. By ‘ready’ I do not mean ‘perfect’ – no one is perfect except Christ. But while we won’t be perfect until we’re made perfect in heaven, I do believe there are stages to our development, and I believe that God will typically assign tasks to us based on our readiness and ability to complete the tasks.
Paul might have used a different word than ‘ready’; I think he might have said ‘worthy’. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul is writing to believers, and at one point (2 Thessalonians 1:11) Paul actually prays that the believers would be ‘worthy’ of God’s calling, and that they would accomplish every act that is prompted by their faith. I think Paul was praying that they would be ready – actively practicing obedience in order to be in the groove when they are prompted by their faith to particular actions.
You know. Ready.
So. Are you ready?
4 comments:
Brian,
Whatever number of people Christ could have chosen from, I think it was insignificantly small when compared to those that had not yet learned of Christ and his mission (the harvest). I believe that's the point. Doesn't it seem, sometimes, that we're up against insurmountable odds when trying to preach the gospel and live a Christ-life? But, the truth is that when we rely on God's love and grace, the impossible somehow becomes possible.
Lance - I agree with you. My point was more along the lines of believers needing to take whatever steps we need to take to be ready to work the harvest. As I pointed out, not all of those following Christ, hearing his teaching, etc were selected to work the harvest, and I think there is a reason for that. I think there were people who were spending time with Jesus, going out to hear his teaching, etc, but who were not that committed to the kingdom, and were instead listening because of the novelty of the speaker or the attraction he represented or because their friends were going, etc.
And for those of us who go to church on Sundays and maybe even have done so all our lives, we need to consider whether we are committed, active, ready to be used by God, or whether we're in spectator mode.
That's my point. :-)
Good thoughts, Brian. Thanks for encouraging actual engagement in the kingdom.
Excellent point. Jesus never forced anyone to follow him or to carry out his mission. I think it was Jimmy Allen that used to always say, "One man....and God make a majority." It is not about how many there are, but about the willingness of those who do follow. As a minister, this reminds me not to be overly concerned that God's purposes will not be carried out if everyone is not on board. Thanks for your thoughts.
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