Tuesday – 14th Week in OrdinaryTime

Gospel – Matthew 9:32-38

Help Wanted!

Harvest Time, outside Jerusalem

This is a story about four people named Everybody,  Somebody,  Anybody, and Nobody. There was an
important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have
done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.  And the job never got done!

Walk down any street these days and you will see it!  Help Wanted Signs!  Cook needed!  Wait Staff!  Looking for clerical staff!  Customer service rep!  Start immediately!  Summer Lifeguards!  Signing bonus available!  Every business imaginable is hiring.  And yet if you look more closely, you will also notice so many restaurants, stores, and businesses closing because of a shortage of staff!  The jobs are out there but no one seems to be responding.

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;  so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

I don’t think Jesus can make it any clearer.  God is hiring!  The harvest is here and it is abundant.  He needs laborers (disciples) to bring the crops in!  And yet the same problem is apparent – nobody is applying!  Everybody seems to recognize the problem!  God is accepting Anybody!  But Everybody says that Somebody will apply, but not me!  We look to blame everyone but ourselves.

So what is stopping us from applying?  What is holding us back from working God’s fields of abundance?  Too hard?  Too tiring?  Too much trouble?  I have other things to do?  Not my job!  2000 years later Jesus is still calling for laborers, still searching for disciples to carry on the Mission.  That Mission, to share the Word, is offered to us, to YOU, to me! 

It is not just someone else’s job!  It is OURS!  The signs are all around us!  God needs laborers for the harvest!  Will we apply?  Will you apply? 

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