"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few"

From Bible Gateway

Matthew 9

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

The Workers Are Few
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Luke 10
Jesus Sends Out the Seventytwo
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.'
6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.
7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'
10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,
11 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.'
12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

As with the time of Jesus walking upon the earth, too many get it wrong. They think the mission of "workers" for Christ is to force faith upon them, but it isn't. You can see clearly what the thoughts of Jesus was when he gave instructions to his disciples. Their mission was to heal them to show the love of God and the mercy of Christ who sent them. The harvest was plenty because there were some many people hurting and in need of comfort, compassion, love, hope and healing. The workers were those who made the choice to follow Christ, but there were too few of them at the time to reach everyone in need.

Today we see that being repeated yet again. The workers in this case are the people who work for the VA. The vast majority of them are fine people who were willing to work for a lot less money in order to help the veterans as a way of paying them back in their own way. Yet today, even still, there are less workers in the VA than there were following the Gulf War. There are less psychiatrist and psychologist, less mental health nurses and not enough Chaplains. 20% of the facilities use Chaplains. This fact I found devastating when I posted it the other day on this blog. The needs of them many cannot be filled by the few.

While there is a problem with the fact there are people more interested in getting more members into their own branch of Christianity and evangelizing more than they are serving the needs of people as Christ commanded, I do not have a problem with Chaplains serving. Big difference. As a Chaplain I am required to take care of the spiritual needs of all people no matter which branch they belong to and no matter what faith they have. This means that if they have no faith at all, I am still required to serve them equally as one of God's children. I am not there to condemn them, embarrass them or walk away from them if they lack faith. Just as Christ sent out the 72, if they want my help, I have to give it. If they do not, then that's up to them.

Working with veterans, the first thing is to get them to understand that PTSD is a wound, has nothing to do with their bravery or courage, their patriotism or anything other than the fact they are normal people exposed to abnormal events and having a normal reaction to what most people never see. It's my job to get them to understand what comes with PTSD and it is also my duty to get them to stop feeling as if God abandoned them or condemned them. I am there to support them no matter if they agree with what they did serving or not, no matter if they are practicing Christians, or any other faith or of no faith at all. They are wounded people who need help and if they see the compassion of Christ within me and the love of God, then I am doing my job. Where they go and what they do after is up to them but they will walk away knowing a side of God they may not have known before. Too many remember the parts of the Old Testament and know very little from the New Testament. It's very hard for them to understand all the love there is within the pages of the Bible.

When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, the wounded man did not say what he believed, did not say he was a member of any faith at all. The Samaritan was helping someone in need and took care of a stranger everyone else just avoided. In this is love. In this is mercy. In this is compassion. When Christ said that we were to treat others as we would want to be treated, he added nothing to that. It was not commanded we first ascertain their faith base before we help them. This again is the mission and the duty of a Chaplain. Yet some will condemn the "heathens" with no faith, will condemn the homeless and the poor and the needy as if they have no right to live at all.

Jesus told the doubters that if they did not believe in who he was then they should believe in the work he did. It's about time we got to work the way he intended us to do the jobs he called us to do. It's about time we returned to the original mission and let God lead them where He wants to take them after.

I am Greek Orthodox, yet was administrator of Christian Ed for a Presbyterian Church, my best friend is Methodist and I have a lot of Catholic friends as well as some family members. Do you think I would say to any of these people I care about their faith is not as worthy as mine? Do you think I would tell them they are wrong? Who am I to judge any of them? Jesus started one church and one Christian faith, not many. After all there was only one of him who died on the cross and the faith is named after him.

We need to get back to the original mission and that is to serve those in need. The VA needs to utilize these people to serve the far too many in need today, not months and years from now.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos