How to know for sure that you are favored: the harvest is plenty (day 2 of 5)

This is the second post in a series on Matthew 9:35-38. To read the first one, click here.

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Matthew 9:35-38English Standard Version (ESV)

And so He went, from town to town, with his motley crew of disciples. Teaching and healing and making wholeness out of brokenness. 

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for 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 laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

It’s too easy to gloss over verse 35. Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. We’ve read these verses, but have we looked up what Jesus says this gospel actually means? What was the gospel of the Kingdom that, once proclaimed, drew crowds of people?

Here is what Jesus said when He went from town to town:

Luke 4:16-21

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

 because he has anointed me

  to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The Author of life was holding a surprise public reading, allowing time for some Q&A, maybe signing your torah afterwards.

And if their hearts were soft, His words gave them a hope that they’d never known before. But if their hearts had been hardened by the hardness of life, or if they were simply apathetic, they left unchanged. And therein lies a complete tragedy.

And the Nazarenes knew the verses, but hearing them this time was different. Maybe after He read each line He locked eyes with particular people in the room- those who needed to hear the words of hope the most.  

The Gospel.

It literally means the good news.  I have come to set it right. Debts are erased, sins are forgiven, prisoners are set free, and the blind see. And Eden, the garden you were once banned from, is back on the table. 

Here’s the good news for us:

It’s not, nor was it ever, about the rules, rituals, or not hanging with “unrepentant sinners,” or lobbing shame grenades. It’s not even about knowing the doctrine. It’s about the relationship. If we have the rules and rituals without the relationship, we have nothing. 

He loves us even though we are still sinners. So greedy and jealous. So finicky. Myself being chief of all finicky sinners. So in need of a Savior, because sometimes we can’t simply stand being in our own sinful skin anymore. 

He didn’t die because of your sin, he died because of His love and His intense desire for a friendship with me and with you. For God so loved the world. Not, For the world was so sinful and depraved and hopeless and yuck. 

It’s about your heart. Who has your heart, friend?

Here’s why this matters:

See that part where Jesus says, “this is the year of the Lord’s favor”? This year was supposed to come once every fifty years. In the year of the Lord’s favor, the trumpet would sound and debts were erased, slaves were freed, and families were restored. And the guilty were made innocent.

But historically, it never happened. It wasn’t financially advantageous to bring in the year of the Lord’s favor. People who held all the power would never be so merciful. So the God of power came down from heaven to bring the mercy Himself. 

Friend, it is still the year of the Lord’s favor. And He favors you. He is for you and with you. You have His heart. May He have yours.