Pray Accordingly

Today’s Gospel Text: After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. 2 And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages; do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9 heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' Luke 10:1-9

Reflection: The present global recession has created a demand supply glut of laborers in the market place. Many are jobless and even though they are professionally qualified, some on account of the pink slip they have got due to poor business or loss by the company in which they have worked.

Not all these unemployed can be employed even by governments and private enterprises any where. There are so many factors to look into before employing any of these workers.

Similarly, in God’s vineyard there may be many workers or laborers who may be willing to work, some well qualified and others not so qualified but the prerogative belongs to God to send them in his vineyard.

Just as the employer would direct his Human resource department to appoint and send appropriate workers to particular departments similarly we are called upon to pray to God to send laborers into this vineyard.

Hence there may be many volunteers willing to work for God and are willing to offer themselves in service to the Lord, yet it is the Lord who ultimately sends them forth into his vineyard to labour and work.

“Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (vs. 2)

One of the most unfortunate part of our prayer to God has been our blindness not to see the harvest as plentiful. He who directed us to pray also opens our eyes to see that which can only be seen in faith; a plentiful harvest.

Do we see the harvest which the Lord directs us to see? What is that harvest to us?Maybe we just pray for the laborers to be sent into the harvest.

Here the farmer sees his empty land, but looking at the soil and availability of water he sees a plentiful harvest in faith and makes preparation to employ laborers to till the land first so as to sow the seed. It is that which doesn’t exist now but yet surely belongs to the farmer.

Likewise, do we a see the plentiful harvest that Jesus is showing us and then pray accordingly as true servants of his?

Prayer:  Lord, help us see and identify the kind of harvest and pray accordingly for harvest

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