By P.A. Devadoss, CSC –
Readings: Neh 8: 1-4a, 5-6, 7b-12; Lk 10: 1-12
St. Luke in this gospel passage speaks of four things:
1. The urgency of the mission (the crop is ready and abundant),
2. The laborers are few to harvest,
3. The laborers to expand their network and
4) The kingdom of God has come near (there one can no longer wait).
He speaks about the Lord of the abundance, not scarcity. Jesus realizes that the crop is ready and abundant. He appoints another 70 disciples and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He instructs them where they will be sent. He tells his disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest and alerts them that “The kingdom of God has come near.”
He sends his 70 disciples to the villages to gather more laborers of the harvest. He tells them that they need to use their skills and blessings to network with the people who are open to God’s grace and who realize that the kingdom of God has come near.
Thus the team of harvest consists of: The Lord of abundance; The Lord of the harvest; the appointed disciples; and the laborers of the Lord of the harvest who are out there in the world whom the disciples need to identify and invite so that the Lord may strengthen their resolve.