11/10 – Luke 10:1-12 – The Harvest is Upon Us

Grace, peace, and mercy be to you in Jesus’ holy Name. Amen.

This is the time of year when we think about all those farmer’s fields that last spring were empty brown earth, wet with melted snow. As the fields dried the farmers started breaking the soil and then planting the seeds. There were times when the smells of those fields could be described as ripe, as the plants were fertilized, but we all know that kind of ’ripe’ has nothing to do with harvest time. As Spring ended and Summer started those fields were greening and growing. Throughout the Summer months the plants grew to their full height and the evidence of the crop to be harvested began to show. Ears of corn started growing, grains of wheat started to form.

Now in Autumn we see those plant stalks starting to brown. The plants are dying and the harvest time has come. Those many seeds that were planted last spring have died. They were lost in the ground and forgotten. Now our thoughts focus, not on those seeds that were planted, but rather on the wonder that is arrayed before our eyes. That small ugly seed is gone and what stands before us now is a proud plant full of blessing. Now we see the bounty of God’s generosity in a harvest that is ripe for the gathering. As you drive through the country side you will see those farmers working in their fields gathering in the many grains and grasses. You will also see them gathering the dead stalks. Those are discarded in various ways. In the past at times burning them in fire.

Those are for some nostalgic thoughts that might prompt some of you to take a relaxing drive through the countryside after church this Sunday to see the wonder of God’s hand and how through His blessing, which we often take for granted, He will bring food to our tables throughout the Winter months to come. It is interesting to think that those tractors, combines, trucks and other equipment are handling the food that will soon be on our tables.

If you are moved to take that drive through the countryside, I want you to think of something else as well. I want to you to think about Jesus’ words when He said, “The harvest is large, but the workers are few.¹” I want you to also think about when He said, “He will send out his angels, and from every direction under the sky, they will gather those whom God has chosen.²” Finally I want you to think about when He said, “His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clean up his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into a barn but he will burn the husks in a fire that can never be put out.³”

Throughout much of the Bible agriculture was used as an example that can be applied to life. It is used to explain our lives here on this Earth, the trials of life and the temptations we endure as we live here, as well as what happens after we die, and what our lives will be like eternally. That is what we are going to focus on today as we use the harvest as our example.

Lets start with the Springtime. It is a time of joy as we all crawl out of our houses and homes back into our yards and streets. With the dead of Winter past we are excited to get back out into the air and sun. Birds return and start singing again and little critters of various sizes start to scurry about on the damp ground. Not long after that smaller versions of those various critters start scampering about clumsily as well. Springtime is a time of awakening and new life as flowers start to grow and bloom, and the Winter is quickly forgotten.

In so many ways Springtime is an example for our own lives. We are born into a world where we do not yet know the trials that lie before us. Like all those little creatures that have no knowledge of the cold of Winter we are naive. The plants that pop up are only concerned with reaching out and up to the sun. They do that best when they get a healthy dose of water poured over them.

Little children are born into a world with no knowledge of the troubles that will come. Likewise new Christians often come into a church with no knowledge of how Satan will regularly attack them to try to drive them back out. It is our Baptism, a healthy dose of water, that keeps us strong when the winds blow and the storms come. Through our Baptism we are rooted in a foundation that will not break.

Summertime exemplifies our lives as well. All those newborn animals are wrestling and playing. The young birds are trying out their new wings and getting a birds eye view of the world they are only just starting to discover. They are fed well and grow stronger everyday. The trials and efforts of life are present but not too problematic. Everything can be solved by a nights rest and a new dawn rising ushering in a new day.

As we grow physically we also learn of some struggles of life though nothing that mommy and daddy can’t handle; nothing so horrible that a nap won’t cure it. We start spreading our own wings as we explore this world God has created for us. We also grow and are fed on the plentiful food that is available for us. Food that changes from mushed goo-paste to things we can chew on and enjoy. Maybe we relish that first juicy stake cooked over a charcoal grill.⁴

New Christians experience many of these same things whether they are very young, or not so young, when God called them to faith. Life in Christ starts out easy. We are fed on God’s Holy Word and grow stronger everyday. We eventually go through Confirmation and are then allowed to enjoy that foretaste of the feast to come, the Lord’s Supper.

So life goes on. We grow physically and spiritually in life and life goes on, sometimes seemingly forever. Yet we know it will not last forever. Just as Summer must come to an end, and the crops must be taken from the fields, so also life on this Earth will not last forever. The day will come when there will be and ending. An end to all life on this Earth, an end to this Earth, and in fact an end to all of Creation. There will be that final Winter in this Creation when Satan and all his control over us will be forever removed from us. We will be taken to a new Creation, a new Heaven and a new Earth, free of all the trials and troubles. A place of perfection, pleasure, and joy.

Before that final Winter on this world, that Judgment Day, there will be another season. Just as between Summer and Winter there is an Autumn, so also there must be a time between life here and life in the hereafter. That is the season Jesus calls the harvest. When is the harvest season? When will it start? When will it end?

The harvest time is the most complex to understand as Scripture describes it. To help us grasp its wisdom I have divided it up into six parts, three that fill people with joy, and three that fill people with dread.

First the dread:

The first is the harvest of the wicked. Those who do evil things will reap what they sow.⁵ Criminals are caught and punished. Those who fill their hearts with bitterness and contempt live lives of bitterness and loneliness. They refuse to take the Golden Rule⁶ to heart and reap the repercussions of their conduct. They find when they need a neighbor there is no one left whom they have not driven away. They are the Scrooge of their own life’s story.

The second is the harvest of the grave. As you drive through the countrysides you will see the harvest in progress, and can see in that example that much of the materials gathered from the fields are dead. Though the plants are full of grains and fruits the plants themselves have died. The harvest of the grave is something which everyone of us must face, because everyone of us is sinful. No one can escape that harvest. The grave will have its way with you.

The third is the harvest of God’s wrath. The end of the harvest will come and all those dead plants, harvested by the grave, will be cast away. They can no longer produce fruit, and have no value. They are refuse so they are cast away. For those who have rejected God and denied Him the day will come when all is eternally lost.

We all know people close to us who do not know Jesus or have rejected the promised salvation He offers. These thoughts, thoughts which remind us of their future, are troubling to us. They plague us because we want them to know and trust the truths and promises of God. It is because of those people whom I know that I often remind myself of the words of Charles Spurgeon when he said:

If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees, imploring them to not to go. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled against the teeth of our exertions, and let not one person go there unwarned and unprayed for.

Our joy would be found most in their salvation. Which leads me to the three joyful examples of the harvest:

The first is harvest of the fields. The grains and fruits of the field are gathered into barns and through this bounty the people are fed. Through that harvest we enjoy the earthly blessings which God gives to us. In fact blessings which God gives to good and evil people; to believers and to those who deny Him. God’s grace abounds for all people and all have been given the opportunity to see and enjoy His grace, so when their time comes they will stand alone before the throne of God without excuse.

The second is the harvest of every Christian. Every Christian is simultaneously planting and harvesting. We all plant as we share the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people and pray for their salvation. We harvest as we see that planted seed of God’s Word grow and flourish into faith. Parents see their children grow to be faithful productive members of the church. Our harvest is found as we see unfaithful become faithful through God’s power found in God’s Word.

The Third is that harvest of Jesus. The Day will come, a day we call Judgment Day. The final day of this creation’s existence. On that day all those who have died, as well as all those who are still alive, will be gathered together. Then Jesus will separate the faithful and the unfaithful.⁷ The faithful He will gather not into barns but into mansions where the weeds of Satan’s work will never touch our lives again.

The harvest time for the faithful in Christ is a time of joy, prosperity, comfort and peace. Our hearts and minds should be brimming with the wonder that, in spite of our failings, God still loves and cares for us, and desperately desires our salvation. This is the joy you can find as you drive through the countryside watching the harvest happen. Knowing that just as the farmer planted seeds to be gathered, so God has planted seeds which He too will gather. God will not abandon His children.

As you drive through the countryside today and watch the harvest happen think about these things. Let them tap your heart and call you to a closer walk with God for your own life, and a more bold and courageous proclamation of God’s truths through your words and actions. Always praying in Jesus’ name that we and all whom we love would be saved.

Amen.

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