Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:35
In the movie, Schindler’s List, one of the most moving scenes is near the end of the drama. Oscar Schindler had invested his energy and his fortune in saving the lives of hundreds of Jews who would have been killed in Hitler’s holocaust. At the end of the war, the Jews he saved would become free men and women; while Schindler would become a fugitive. He walked to his car with his Jewish friend. The others are around them and Schindler began to cry. He looked at his watch and knew if he had sold it, he could have saved another life. He looked at his car and knew that he could have exchanged it for additional lives. He said to his friend, “I could have done more.” Oscar Schindler knew he could have done more to save Jews from perishing in the death camps. We could do more to save people from perishing without a Savior!
Jesus did all He could. “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness,” Matthew 9:35. If we are to see lives saved and won to Christ, we need to see the harvest as Jesus saw it, spiritually lost people dying and facing a Christ-less eternity. The population of the world is in the excess of 6 billion people with the population of the United States over 300 million. Not only was the harvest of people great, but the people brought tears to Jesus’ eyes. He loved them! “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd……the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Matthew 9:36-37. The word used for compassion is the strongest word for pity in the Greek language. It describes the love that moves a person to the depths of their being!
On another occasion, Jesus said to his followers, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” John 4:35. I understand wheat takes on a golden hue when ready for harvest. If reaping is delayed, the grain begins to turn a pale white and will soon fall to the ground. To speak of the fields “white” is to stress the importance of getting into the fields before it is too late! There is always a sense of urgency to bringing in the harvest. Of the over 300 million people in our country, it is estimated that 41 percent of them are unchurched. They never go to church at all! Not at Easter, Christmas or weddings or funerals. They never darken the doors of a church and if they were to die, they would die without knowing the love of Christ.
When I was in Israel, I was told the Samaritans still worship as they did in Jesus day. For their worship services, they don white robes and wear red caps on their heads. Because of the message of the Samaritan woman, they believed her words and wanted to see this Jesus for themselves. They came running across the fields in their white robes, ready to worship the Lord. “Open your eyes….they are ripe for the harvest!”
What can we do? We can take responsibility for our field! Think of the people we contact each day: family, friends, neighbors, work associates, the woman at the cleaners, the guy at the gas station, our racket ball buddies, the checker at the grocery store. That’s our field! We are responsible for them! Pray for the harvest! Pray for the salvation of the lost! We can share our story! When we see people as Jesus saw people, it will cause us to take responsibility, to pray, to go and to tell! We can do more!
Your friend, Jean