"Come Unto Me" - Day 10

Welcome to “Come Unto Me” as we journey together through the gospel of Luke. Let us pray: Gracious God we thank you for the Living Word that gives witness to the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. May your Holy Spirit open our souls to this Living Word. Amen

Monday, July 20 / Luke Chapter 10

I have spent most of my ministry serving congregations that were located in rural communities where the season of harvesting was central. In Finland, MN loggers harvested timber. In Greenbush, MN farmers harvested wheat and sunflowers. In Danforth, IL the farmers harvested corn & soybeans much like the farmers here in the Elroy area. “The harvest is plentiful” – these words of Jesus would excite most farmers. I can recall riding in a combine with my dear friend Lynn Wilken as he brought in the harvest. He would spend months getting ready for the time when he could harvest his corn & soybeans. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

Unlike the farmers of Finland, Greenbush, Danforth & Elroy, Jesus was talking about a different harvest. These seventy that he was sending out were to simply proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God. The waiting was over for the coming of their long awaited Messiah. But did you catch Jesus’ pep talk to those seventy? Jesus did not candy coat the truth of what they would face. “See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” (Luke 10:3) That’s some kind of pep talk. But they went into the towns and villages. They didn’t know how their message would be received. All they were certain of was that it wouldn’t be easy. I recall the words to one of my favorite WEBS songs – “I just wanta be a sheep ba ba ba ba. I just wanta be a sheep ba ba ba ba. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” Do I really wanta be a sheep?

I recall the first time walking into a Sunday School room at St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Streator as a freshman in college. The pastor had convinced me to teach the junior high Sunday School class. Really?? I was not at all sure what I was walking into that Sunday morning. But like those seventy Jesus sent out who came back with stories to tell of what they saw God doing. I, over time began to see what God was doing in the lives of these young men & women as the Holy Spirit stirred in their souls. The harvest is plentiful here in the Elroy – New Lisbon area. Maybe one thing we can learn from this story of the seventy is to be prayerful. That’s what I did every time I walked into that Sunday School room. Praying that the Lord would bring in the harvest. How is God working through you empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring in this plentiful harvest?