And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9:35-38
After Jesus raised the little girl from the dead, He went through all the villages and towns teaching and proclaiming the Gospel. By this time, Matthew had joined the group of Jesus’ Disciples. He writes here, in chapter 9, that Jesus had compassion on the crowds of people He encountered. Matthew tells us that Jesus’ compassion was because the people “were harassed, helpless and, like sheep” with no shepherd to guide them. At some point, Jesus said to His Disciples, “the harvest is plentiful.” Jesus, also, said there were few workers for the harvest. Next, Jesus tells His Disciples to “pray earnestly” for the Lord to supply more workers for His harvest. Jesus demonstrates to His Disciples how He expects them to be and do when He has ascended to our Heavenly Father and is building His church through His Apostles and others, great and small, who committed to spreading the Gospel message. Later, we learn of Jesus’ Disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. Prayer, for the Christian, today, is a must. James 5:16 tells us the prayers of a righteous person have great power in its working. Now, no human is righteous. The Christian’s righteousness is imputed to him by God from the righteousness of Jesus’ perfect, sinless, earthly life. Though God is omniscient, He wants to hear from His adopted children regularly. Prayer puts the Christian in a humble position before Almighty God. The Christian who prays regularly is less likely to succumb to the sin of pride. Christians are not to think more of themselves than they actually are, chosen vessels to be part of the body of Christ, in this world, involved in worship, sanctification, edification of other saints and, proclaiming the good news of the works of our Savior and Lord, Christ. If you claim to be a Christian, how are you doing in your prayer life?
Source: S C Ball January 28, 2023
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