I went out yesterday evening to harvest the beans. And lo and behold, the tomatoes were ripe. So, I harvested them too.
As I stood in the middle of the garden, surrounded by beans on one side and tomatoes on the other, I noticed the bright orange sun beginning to go down in the west. And I couldn’t help but think of all the sermons I have heard over the years about “Harvest.”
The key verse which is always referenced in “Harvest” sermons is: “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” – John 4:35
And of course, the images which always go along with “Harvest” sermons are beautiful photos of a glowing sunset over a field of ripe wheat.
Here … I submit, is your “garden version.”
Another verse which is always part of “Harvest” sermons is: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send workers into his harvest field.”
– Luke 10:2
Standing there in the middle of my garden yesterday evening, I pondered what it meant to actually go into the “harvest field.”
Any time I go into my garden to “harvest” I always make sure to wear grubby jeans, socks & grubby garden shoes … and I always, always make sure to wear a lightweight rain jacket!
Why a lightweight rain jacket??
Because I need to be completely covered from head-to-toe when I “harvest.”
Because I get dirty!
To harvest is to get dirty!
Green beans grow in clusters up underneath the leaves, so you have to search all up underneath the leaves in order to find & pick the beans. Bean leaves make your skin scratchy and itchy! Therefore, if your arms & legs are not covered, your arms & legs will wind up terribly scratchy and itchy!! … as if you have some sort of rash!
“Harvest” sermons … which I have heard in the past … while sitting in a beautiful “perfect” auditorium, surrounded by “perfect” people, decked out in their “Sunday best” clothing … with there being 3 beautifully alliterated points to the sermon … nobody ever tells you that your arms will get covered in an itchy scratchy rash!!
Furthermore, green bean leaves are like velcro! They stick to you! The bean vines grow everywhere … up over top of you, and down the other side! So … to pick green beans you are literally crawling and navigating in amongst the vines and getting “clung to” by leaves everywhere!
When you finish, you discover bean leaves are now clinging to your pants, to your arms, to your socks, to your hair, etc. You must stop and pause and give yourself a good “look-over” in order to pick off all the clinging leaves. (hence, why it is important to make sure you are completely covered.)
A lightweight rain jacket works good, because it is made out of slippery fabric … therefore the bean leaves don’t “grab” and “cling” quite so bad.
The verse comes to mind: “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” – Hebrews 12:1
Sitting in a beautiful auditorium, surrounded by “perfect” people in their “Sunday best” and listening to a sermon about “Harvest” … nobody ever mentions that you will wind up getting “stuff clinging to you” when you go into the “harvest field.” Nobody ever mentions the “clinging stuff” which you have to stop and pick off.
When it comes to harvesting tomatoes … tomato vines stain! If you so much as lightly brush up against a tomato vine (or leaf!) and if you happen to be wearing something light-colored or white … that green stain is not going to come out! Ever! (spoken from experience!)
Hence, the need for a lightweight rain jacket to cover your arms. And grubby jeans! Because it’s a dirty business. You will get stained!
The sleeves of my grubby lightweight rain jacket were smeared all over with green tomato stains yesterday evening. And my fingers were stained with green.
The verse pops to mind: “Hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh [aka: sin!].” – Jude 1:23
Sitting in a beautiful auditorium, surrounded by “perfect” people in their “Sunday best” and listening to a sermon about “Harvest” … nobody ever mentions that you will wind up getting stained! Nobody ever mentions that you will get dirty!
Speaking of getting dirty … part of getting dirty is getting sweaty!
After all, it’s still summer. So it’s hot. Who in their right mind would want to wear a lightweight rain jacket when it’s hot to start with??
But you’ve got to wear something to cover your arms to protect your arms from getting an itchy, scratchy rash from the bean leaves! And you need something to cover your arms to protect your arms from getting covered in green stains!
So, you wear your lightweight rain jacket … and you sweat! The whole time you are harvesting, you are sweating!
Sitting in a beautiful auditorium, surrounded by “perfect” people in their “Sunday best” and listening to a sermon about “Harvest” … nobody ever mentions how sweaty you will get! To go into the “harvest field” is to sweat! Nasty, sticky, stinky sweatiness is part of harvest!
In this photo here you can see there are tomatoes growing way back in there which I cannot reach from where I am standing. No matter how far I stretch my arm, I still can’t reach the ripe tomatoes needing to be harvested.
I need to get back in there. I need to meet the tomatoes where they are at.
When it comes to spiritual “Harvest” … we’ve got to “meet people where they are.”
We’ve got to “get back in there.”
In this photo, I am now back in the “middle of it all” where I can actually reach the ripe tomatoes.
But do you notice something curious about this vantage point?
I am right down next to the ground. In fact, I am on my knees here.
Many of the ripe tomatoes were growing right down next to the ground. So it required me to get down on my hands and knees in order to reach all the ripe tomatoes down there.
When it comes to spiritual “Harvest” … we can’t simply stand “along the edges” and expect to reach people. We have got to “get in the middle of it all.”
We have got to “get down on our knees” in prayer! We can’t “harvest” without prayer!
We have got to “get down on our knees” in humility! We can’t “harvest” without humility!
Many of the people who are “ripe for harvest” are down next to the ground. They have been through some tough stuff in life and are feeling “very low.” God wants us to reach these people with the good news of Jesus! God wants us to “get back in there”!
God wants us to “get down on our hands and knees” when we “harvest.”
But … when we “harvest” … and when we attempt to “get back in there” – we find that oftentimes our way is blocked. Here, in this photo you can see that the beans have grown across into the tomatoes … and the tomatoes have likewise grown across into the beans. The way is blocked.
But there is a ripe harvest back in there!
There are many beans to pick back in there!
There are many ripe tomatoes which need to be harvested back in there!
So we push forward … and reach through the barriers in order to access the harvest.
And in the process, you can see that some tomato vines (which were blocking the way) have been knocked over.
They looked like they were part of the harvest. But they were blocking the way.
This same thing also happens when it comes to God’s spiritual “Harvest.” People who look like they are part of the “harvest” [they “look like” they are Christians; they “look like” they belong to Jesus Christ] … oftentimes it is these people who “block the way.”
But God calls us to harvest! There are people we must reach with the good news of Jesus Christ! So we push forward … we press ahead through the barriers in order to access the harvest.
And in the process, the “look like” people will feel like they have been “stepped on.” They will get their feelings hurt! They will feel like they have been “squashed.” Just like these squashed tomatoes on the ground, here in this photo.
The “look like” people who have been blocking the way will then lay all over the path “going rotten” and “making a big stink.”
Sitting in a beautiful auditorium, surrounded by “perfect” people in their “Sunday best” and listening to a sermon about “Harvest” … nobody ever mentions how that it’s the people who “look like” Christians who will oftentimes cause the “biggest stink.”
To go into the “harvest field” is to have your way blocked by people who you thought were on your same team. It’s having to deal with people who “looked like” they were part of the harvest, lying around on the path “going rotten” because they got their feelings hurt.
And last but not least … we have bug surprises in the harvest field!
Spiderwebs are practically invisible when it comes to picking beans.
So also (for the most part) are the spiders who built those spiderwebs! Hence, the need to wear a lightweight rain jacket … with the hood pulled up!
I do not want this guy winding up in my hair!! (it’s happened before!)
I’m guessing you probably wouldn’t want this spider in your hair either!
The verses come to mind about the covering protection of God’s armor. (Ephesians 6:10-17)
This passage speaks of being “covered” in God’s protection.
In the same way, I make sure to be completely covered from head-to-toe when I harvest in my garden!
If I’m not completely covered in protection … my arms & legs will wind up scratchy & itchy from the bean leaves! … and my arms & legs will wind up stained green from the tomato vines! … and my arms & legs will suffer numerous painful mosquito & bug bites!! (not to mention the bugs getting in my hair!)
Sitting in a beautiful auditorium, surrounded by “perfect” people in their “Sunday best” and listening to a sermon about “Harvest” … nobody ever mentions how vitally important it is to be completely covered in spiritual protection when you go into the “harvest field!”
If you are going to go into the “harvest field” for God’s Kingdom … you’ve got to be completely covered in spiritual protection from head-to-toe!
A few final thoughts about “Harvest” …
In all the sermons I’ve heard about “Harvest” … nobody ever mentions the fact that “harvest” is inconvenient! When the beans get ripe … you’ve got to go pick them! Whether it’s a convenient time or not! Whether you feel like it or not!
If you’ve got other plans and you ignore the ripe harvest of beans, ready to be picked … then when you come back later, the beans are no longer good anymore. They are overgrown, they are tough, they are hard. You missed your “window of opportunity.”
If you would rather do something fun instead of getting sweaty, sticky, and dirty picking tomatoes … then when you come back later, the tomatoes will have fallen to the ground and be rotting. The opportunity is gone.
“Harvest” is inconvenient!
To “harvest” is to get out there and do the work when you don’t feel like it!
Furthermore, “Harvest” requires patience!
You can’t pick beans fast. You have to hunt through the leaves. It takes time. It’s time-consuming!
So also, when it comes to the spiritual “harvest” for God’s Kingdom, it requires patience! You can’t “harvest” fast. It takes time. It is time-consuming!
But it’s worth it!! Check out our harvest yesterday evening when I finally came back inside.
“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. [you can bet this was exhausting, tiring, sweaty, inconvenient, dirty business!]
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'”
– Matthew 9:35-38
