Amid this year’s drought, it’s hard to remember that not too long ago, the Midwest produced a spectacular corn harvest. The record corn crop ripened earlier than usual and, thanks to ethanol, fetched a record price. I served a church in central Illinois at the time, and all the farmers I got to know beamed with satisfaction. All their hard work had paid off!
Jesus is all about a big harvest, but he’s not thinking of ethanol in Matthew 9:35-38. In this passage, Jesus uses farming imagery to help us understand pastors’ role in helping others come to faith. Matthew also manages to start with a reference to sheep and shepherds — another image that helps us understand a pastor’s calling.
The first part of the passage tells of Jesus’ sadness when he looks at the crowds and realizes that “they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36 TNIV). Now, even if this shepherd/sheep image abounds in the Bible, it’s worth a closer look. After all, as one commentator puts it, “Sheep would not survive long without a shepherd. Sheep are not only dependent creatures; they are also singularly unintelligent, prone to wandering and unable to find their way to a sheepfold even when it is within sight.”
In other words, sheep are so stupid they don’t even know how to get home, even when it’s right in front of them. They are so stupid they can’t find their way into a sheep pen from a distance of three feet.
They can’t live without a shepherd to guide them.
We may not like to think of ourselves as “singularly unintelligent,” but when we’re honest, we have to admit that often when we know we should be heading back into the fold, we simply don’t … even when it’s right in front of our face. It’s not just sheep who struggle to get home. We too need a shepherd.
Jesus knows that we need shepherds … and that we need pastors. Now, as we celebrate pastor appreciation month, it seems particularly appropriate to remember that the word for shepherd and pastor are the same in Greek: POIMEN. We need shepherds, and we need pastors.
They’re the same word in Spanish, too (pastor). I learned this when I lived and worked in Spain, and answered God’s call to go to seminary. My friend Ana told her mom that I was becoming a pastor — a minister — but what her mom heard was that I was becoming a shepherd. The conversation went something like this:
“Chip is moving back to the States to become a minister.”
“He’s becoming a shepherd?”
“Yes, he’s going back to school to get a master’s to be a minister.”
“You have to get a master’s to be a shepherd in the United States?”
“Yes, he’s going to Princeton Seminary to be a minister.”
“He’s going to Princeton to be a shepherd?”
They eventually cleared it up.
I like the confusion, because it reminds me that we need pastors to guide us home. Think about your favorite pastor. I bet he consistently helps you find the place that’s best for you, through preaching or pastoral care. She probably refrains from making you feel “singularly unintelligent,” like those sheep, but she’s shepherding you nonetheless. She’s prodding you and poking you and challenging you to get back in the sheep pen where you belong. In their best moments, pastors are shepherds who have been guided by Christ, and who in turn guide us to follow him more closely.
We need pastors as shepherds — but then Matthew changes the metaphor to farming, and Jesus tells his disciples that “the harvest is huge, but there are hardly any workers” (Matthew 9:37 TNIV). To understand better what this might mean for us, I went to a great authority on such things — Paul. Not the apostle Paul, but “Tall Paul,” one of the custodians at that church where I served in Illinois. Paul farms in his spare time, and he tells me that the harvest is by far the busiest time of the year. He says during a normal fall, farmers look for all the help they can get. At the grain elevator, everyone’s stuck a note up on the bulletin board, looking for help. They’ll take part-timers, retirees, anyone who’s able-bodied. When the corn’s ready for harvest, the farmers take on all comers to bring all the corn in.
It’s no wonder that Jesus uses this same analogy to help us see how important it is to help shepherd people into the faith. Pastors, of course, are farmers, whether they live in corn country or not. They work in the harvest field at all hours of the day and night. They experience the joys of new faith, and the frustrations of challenging calls. In their best moments, pastors are some of the most faithful workers out laboring in the fields, all for a big harvest.
Jesus wants a big harvest, but he knows the numbers: the harvest is huge, but there are hardly any workers — not nearly as many as needed. The numbers look bad — overwhelming even. You’d think Jesus would point this out and say, “So what are you waiting for? Grab your pastor and jump to it! Start spreading your faith! Start helping to heal the world! Start caring for the poor! The numbers are bad, so get out there and put your faith into action!” That’s what you’d think he would say.
But Jesus doesn’t say this.
He says, “Big harvest, few workers, so pray.” Not get to work. Pray, because the numbers are so bad that we can’t do it on our own. Pray.
“Ask the Lord of the harvest…to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:38 TNIV). Pray that the Lord of the harvest will empower workers to join their pastors and explode onto the scene. Pray that God will strengthen folks to love people into the kingdom. Pray that the Holy Spirit will lift up shepherds to care for lost sheep. Pray that Christ will create disciple-making machines out of ordinary folks.
Pray, then, for your pastor. Pray, giving thanks for all the ways she has joined in the harvest. Maybe you or your children are ones that she has brought in by God’s grace. Pray, asking the Spirit to give him strength to be a faithful farmer, even when the odds seem overwhelming.
Pray, too, for your own courage to join your pastors as farmers of faith, so that the odds get a little better. Pray, because Jesus has called your pastor to be a shepherd and a farmer, and the sheep may stray and crops may wither. Pray, because it can be a lonely calling and your pastor longs for you to do ministry alongside her.
Pray, because sometimes pastors feel as harassed and helpless as sheep without a shepherd.
CHIP HARDWICK is director of the Office of Theology and Worship and Education for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
