The Harvest Is Plentiful
For years I’ve read Luke 10. I’ve studied it and gone over it too many times to count. In most of the ministry circles I’ve been in, it’s viewed as a central missiological passage. For many it is “the” missiological passage for both the need for workers and the model by which we are to fulfill the Great Commission. Most ministries I’ve ever been a part of hold up Luke 10:2 as a rallying cry of expectation. God’s bringing an amazing harvest!!
Most enter ministry anticipating that they’ll be part of that harvest. No one enters into ministry expecting to fail. I don’t know a single missionary who’s gone into ministry with any paradigm other than: success is imminent. After all the harvest is plentiful. The expectation of returns and success is woven into the very fabric of the missions world. While never explicitly said, the underlying assumption of any ministry we’ve ever been a part of is: they want what we have to offer.
In Luke 10 Jesus, speaking to his disciples proclaims, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Ministries the world around have made this the central passage for the impending drive to launch more ministries, more missionaries, plant more churches, and pray for more “workers of the field.” While undoubtedly the need for more workers is obvious as Jesus says. If we stop here, we miss a wider reality of the implications and expectations of life in ministry.
The Missional Plan For Harvest
Luke 10 has long provided a missional blueprint or game-plan for engaging with any cultural context. Send teams out into the harvest field, look for people of peace, teach them about Jesus, and see the harvest come in. Undoubtedly the entirety of the “plan” is much more nuanced than this, but this is the idea in its simplest form. The problem however, is that it misses a significant part of the passage and thus seems to miss the fullness of Jesus’ point.
In Luke 10 Jesus sends out the 72 to go ahead of him and bless the houses that receive them. Jesus says very little about the method with which the twelve are to proclaim he Kingdom. In fact, He keeps it pretty simple. But Jesus does send them out with expectation. But the expectation is not one of overwhelming success, but of hardship. Jesus tells them, they are being sent out as sheep among wolves. In other words, the work is rife with danger and hostility awaiting them. The expectation is that some places would receive those sent out and while others would outright reject them. Rejection is clearly expected. The 72 could not have known who would receive the Kingdom invitation and who would reject them before going.
Best Laid Plans
Curiously, the only planning Jesus had them do, was to pack light. They were to go with as little as possible. They were to go, bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them. There was little else in the way of planning and preparation. Often I wonder why so much is made of planning and preparation in the context of ministry. Over the past 15 years in ministry, the sheer amount of time I’ve spent in meetings planning and strategizing about what we will do would shock you.
It seems Jesus wasn’t quite as concerned about the plan or the strategy. The 72 went out, and upon returning, Jesus makes it quite clear: he honors those whose faith is simple (like little children). Ultimately it is those who are marked by a simple, child-like faith who see God move. It’s not the sharpest. It’s not the most winsome. It’s not the best leaders. It’s not even the ones who had the best plan. It is not those who rest in their own wisdom and expertise who see fruitfulness. It is the simple, child-like ones whose faith rest fully in God. God is the one who brings in the harvest, not man.
Success Is Not A Given, But Danger Is
Luke seems to be showing the absolute necessity of reliance upon God when the workers are sent out. And even then, many will be rejected. This would seem to indicate that those who are rejected as they proclaim the Kingdom of heaven are just as faithful as those who don’t. After all, it wasn’t a failure to plan or inability to communicate the Kingdom truth that led to rejection. This was, and is always part of the ministry reality.
To create a missional “plan” out of Luke 10 without acknowledging the difficulty, danger, and rejection that comes with ministry is simply dishonest and unhelpful. That there will be a harvest we can be sure, but too often ministries and mission organizations are fool-hearty in believing that their plans will always work and that everyone wants what they are offering. It sets an impossible and unfair expectation to all ministries and missionaries that find themselves in the towns that outright reject the Kingdom. That God allows His people to enter into towns, cities, and countries that will reject Him we can be sure. When our plans are buffeted by an expectation of success alone we set the workers up for unnecessary disillusionment and disorientation.
Our plans must be light and balanced with expectations of God’s faithful provision AND expectation that there will be suffering and rejection along the way. We must find ways as ministries to support those who walk into the homes, cities, and countries of rejection. I’m increasingly more and more convinced that if we spent more time cultivating character than we did crafting missional plans, we’d see God move in ways that would blow us away.
Kingdom Dependence
To read Luke 10 as a missional playbook for success undermines Jesus’ clear ministry implication: it’s the poor in spirit who experience the Kingdom. It’s the ones who are completely dependent upon God who will see fruitfulness. But even the most fruitful will be rejected. There are many who actually do not want the Kingdom. That His Kingdom will be built is certain, but the pathway is much less certain for those of us who minister. May we be men and women whose hearts are marked by our complete dependence upon God for all things in all circumstances. To be sure, this is the only real plan we need, for God promises to do the rest.