Jesus Harvested

What Did Jesus Do?

“Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”
John 4.35


It's fine to sow, if nothing is sown noting can be reaped. But even if good seed and good soil combine to yield thirty, sixty, a hundredfold, the fruit will rot on the plant if it is not harvested. When you look at a field and see its lush green is turning to white, well, you better get busy, because the crop is drying out and will soon die right there in the field if you don't harvest it. Having established that Jesus was a sower (See WDJD 8/24), we need to know that He finished the job. Jesus sowed, yes, but also, Jesus harvested.

It would be, I believe, a mistake for us to too quickly jump to the conclusion that all whom Jesus healed were saved. Sure, the blind celebrated their sight, the deaf were excited that they could hear, and the lame leaped about and danced on legs miraculously strengthened. But think about the time ten lepers were healed. How many actually returned to acknowledge and thank the Lord? One. (See Luke 17.11-19) While I believe it is pretty safe to say that that particular Samaritan was saved, I am not sure we can automatically come to the same conclusion about the other nine. But, surely, Jesus harvested that Samaritan for the kingdom of God.

And there were definitely others. There was Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector from Jericho with the bad reputation. His entire household was harvested for the kingdom of God the day Jesus declared that He needed to stay at the home of Zacchaeus,


“Today salvation has come to this house...”
Luke 19.9


Even when He was dying on the cross, the Lord continued to labor, harvesting souls for the kingdom of God. Remember the two thieves? One mocked and taunted the Lord (Luke 23.39), and his fate is uncertain, though the Lord had already pleaded for all who that day acted in complete ignorance of the truth (Luke 23.34). But Christ's harvesting of the other thief is certain,

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Luke 23.43

On the cross Christ was completing His work, but the harvesting would continue. But is sowing and harvesting all there is to salvation and the building up of the kingdom? It would be nice to think that all it takes is the planting of the seed of the Word and the immediate response of a brief prayer, but then where is the maturing and the ripening, where is the fruit? In between the sowing and the harvesting is there no work, and hard work at that, that must be done? Is there no growth that must take place?

Jesus most certainly sowed. And, thanks be to God, we can be sure that Jesus also harvested. But between the sowing and the harvesting the Lord continued to work out in the field, so to speak, cultivating and watering, continually feeding the faith of His disciples, that they would grow strong and healthy and, in time, produce a great harvest for the kingdom. Being sowers is important, and Jesus wants us to sow every day. And the Lord would have us be ready for harvesting as well when it is time. But Christ also needs us to be working for the kingdom in between the sowing and the harvesting, helping the field to ripen, for it is to be a great harvest. Sow. Work. Harvest. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4