LESSON V.--OCTOBER 30.

THE HARVEST AND THE LABORERS.--MATT. 9:35-38; 10:1-8.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--Freely ye have received, freely give.--MATT. 10:8.
      TIME.--A. D. 28.
      PLACE.--Somewhere in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Matt. 9:32-34; Mark 3:6-19; Mark 6:7-11; Luke 9:1-6.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. Laborers for the Harvest; 2. The Twelve Chosen; 3. The First Commission.

INTRODUCTION.

      The commissioning of the apostles opens the Sixth Period of our Lord's history upon earth. It is the period of his expanding ministry. His apostles go forth; the Baptist retreats from the world; the fame of Jesus fills the palace of Herod; and the faith of his disciples is so established that at the next period he commits to them the keys of his kingdom, and prepares for his departure.--Whedon.

      I. LABORERS FOR THE HARVEST.--36. When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. The Lord seldom looked upon a crowd of the poor, [297] lost, human beings without being moved with tender compassion. It was his compassion that brought him to the earth, that led him to travel his weary ministry and to die; it was his compassion also that led him to send his preachers out to save. Our compassion, if we have Christ's spirit, will lead us to preach the gospel and to send others to preach it. Because they fainted, and were . . as sheep having no shepherd. A figure representing their spiritual condition. They "fainted" under the burdens placed on them by pretended shepherds, Pharisees and scribes. They wandered, as sheep left without care.

      37. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. First the people are represented under the figure of sheep, scattering abroad, without a shepherd's care; next as a ripe and abandoned harvest, ready to be lost unless reapers are sent to gather it. This same figure is used in John 4:35, 36, and underlies the parables of the Sower, and the Tares. The people were ready to hear, but the preachers were lacking.

      38. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest. The Lord of the harvest is Christ. When we pray the Lord for anything we must work to fulfill our own prayers. If we pray for laborers we must be willing to become laborers ourselves, or to send and sustain other laborers. A prayer is hypocritical if we do nothing to fulfill it. The sequel to these words, and the answer to this prayer, is in the sending forth of the Twelve, as narrated immediately. They were bidden to pray for laborers, did no doubt pray, and their prayers were answered, for the Lord of the harvest sent them. Do you pray the same prayer with an entire willingness to do his will, and perhaps he will send you.

      II. THE CHOSEN TWELVE.--10: When he had called unto him his twelve disciples. It is not said that the Twelve were now chosen. It had been done on previous occasions. They had been for a considerable period under the direct teaching of Christ and he now sends them forth to preach. Henceforth they are "apostles," those sent forth. Two reasons appear to have led [298] to this commissioning of the Twelve: first, the growing eagerness of the people to hear the news of the kingdom could not be satisfied by one preacher; second, the growing opposition of the Pharisees made apparent the necessity of not only appointing, but training, men to preach Christ's gospel when he should be slain. This commission was, however, for a purely temporary service, and the instructions which accompanied it apply directly only to this singular preparatory mission. And he gave them power. To do the same kind of works of mercy which Jesus had done, and thus to carry out his mission. Works of mercy and love are inseparable from the true preaching of the gospel. They were to be the leaders and teachers. It was needful that they demonstrate their commission by their credentials.

      2-4. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. Of the twelve apostles there are four lists, found in Matt. 10:2, Mark 3:16, Luke 6:14, and Acts 1:13.

      They differ in the following particulars: Luke, in the book of Acts, does not insert the name of Judas Iscariot, who was then dead; both in his Gospel and in Acts he entitles the Simon who here and in Mark is called the Canaanite, Simon Zelotes; Matthew gives as the tenth disciple, Lebbeus; Mark calls him Thaddeus; Luke and Acts, Judas of James, i. e., either son or brother of James; and Mark says that James and John were surnamed by Christ, Boanerges, i. e., the sons of thunder. In other respects the four lists are identical, except that the names are given in a slightly different order by the different writers. They all agree, however, in putting Simon Peter first and Judas Iscariot last; and all agree in arranging them in groups of four, Simon Peter being first of the group, Philip the second, James the son of Alpheus of the third. There are three pairs of brothers among them: Andrew and Peter, James and John, James the Less and Judas or Thaddeus. James and John I believe to have been own cousins of our Lord. With the exception of Judas Iscariot, all were Galileans; several of them were by trade fishermen, a laborious and profitable calling; they were all laymen, that is, there was neither priest nor scribe among them. They have generally been regarded as illiterate men (Acts 4:13); but by this must be understood, not that they were specially ignorant, but that they were not versed in the rabbinical literature, the scholastic theology of their age. Philip and Peter [299] both appear to have been acquainted with the Greek. This is indicated by the application of the Greeks to Philip (John 12:20, 21), and by the fact that the Epistles of Peter were written in Greek. Matthew was a ready and methodical writer; John evidently was a man of culture, as his writings show, and his social position was such as gave him ready access to the high priest's palace during the trial of Jesus (John 18:16); and there are unmistakable indications that several of the Twelve possessed wealth or wealthy connections, for the father of James and John had hired servants, Peter apparently lived in his own house, and Matthew had the means to give a large party to many friends (Mark 1:20; Luke 4:38; 5:29).--Abbott.

      III. THE FIRST COMMISSION.--5. These twelve Jesus sent forth. The twelve had been "disciples" or learners, for a long period in order to fit them to be "sent forth," or to become "apostles." Their training was under the personal teaching and example of Christ. Immediately after their appointment as apostles, Christ uttered his wonderful Sermon on the Mount, the declaration of the principles of his new kingdom. It behooved him to select a number of men, in whom the riches of his life might be unfolded in every direction. For this end he needed, above all, men in whom the glory of his spirit and the peculiarity of his work might be distinctly identified; laymen, who would not chain his work to existing priestly habits; unlearned men, who would not mix up his wisdom with traditional schemes of philosophy; even comparatively uneducated men, in order that the dulled taste of a diseased worldly civilization might not disturb the culture which the spirit of the incarnate Word was to impart to them. It was through fishermen, country people, and publicans, that the word of God in the life and doings of Christ was to be declared in its purity.--Lange. Commanded . . Go not into the way of the Gentiles. There are two commissions, one before and the other after the resurrection. In the first the apostles are forbidden to go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, and are confined to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In the second they are commanded to go into "all the world" and to "preach the gospel to every creature;" to go "first to Jerusalem, and to Judea, and to Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth." The first commission is Jewish; the second is world-wide. Yet both are given by the same Lord; why this wide difference? Because the new dispensation was not ushered until after the resurrection. The Jewish law, national, exclusive, a wall of partition from Gentiles, was yet in force. Christ, "born under the law," and the apostles were debtors to it until it was removed. They could not keep it and yet become missionaries to the Gentiles. But when Christ died the old dispensation, the law, died with him. "The handwriting of ordinances was nailed to the cross." The old covenant passed away when the [300] new came into force, sealed with the blood of Christ. After the death and resurrection, the law ceased to be binding upon the apostles. The distinctions of Jew and Gentile were destroyed. Hence, under the new covenant, the world-wide covenant, there was called for a new commission that would send the gospel to all the world. Any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. Religiously there were three divisions of the human race; Gentiles, embracing the whole heathen world, all not of the blood of Abraham; Jews, who were the direct descendants of Abraham; and the Samaritans, a mixed race, partly of Jewish and partly of Gentile blood. They inhabited the district between Judea and Galilee, and were the descendants of heathen tribes who were sent into the territory of the Kingdom of Israel when it was destroyed, who inter-married with Jews, and were partly instructed in the Jewish region. They received the law of Moses, had an altar on Mt. Gerizim, and expected the Messiah. The Jews regarded them as heretics, and had no dealings with them. They received the gospel with greater readiness than the Jews. A small remnant of the Samaritans still have a synagogue at Nablus (the ancient Shechem or Sychar), an ancient manuscript of the Pentateuch, and annually celebrate the passover on Mt. Gerizim.

      6. Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is often the case that men, as well as sheep, are lost, and are not conscious of it. It was so of the Jews. Priests, scribes, doctors, Pharisees, were all lost, were out of the true paths and had wandered from God, though they knew it not.

      7. Preach . . . The kingdom of heaven is at hand. John the Baptist, and Christ also, both had preached, "The kingdom is at hand." It had not yet been inaugurated. So the apostles were still able to preach. It was near, but not in existence. There was no such charge in the second commission. Then "all power in heaven and on earth was in the hands of Christ." He was King. The Kingdom was set up. Nor were the apostles now directed to explain in what the kingdom of heaven consisted; they were simply to proclaim that it was near. In this respect their teaching was to be patterned after that of John the Baptist. Matt. 3:2. It was their office in this mission not to instruct the nation, but simply to raise an expectancy, and so prepare the way for instruction which Christ afterward afforded, and which the apostles themselves were afterward directed to give the Gentiles. Matt. 28:19. It is not a law nor even a precedent for us; but is it not always the first work of the preacher to awaken a spiritual appetite, even if it be not very intelligent at the beginning.

      8. Heal the sick, cleanse lepers, etc. To those who see in the external acts [301] of Christ's ministry a parable of his spiritual work, and especially in his ministry to the body a type of his ministry to the soul, it will not seem fanciful to trace that parallel here. The wise apostle of Christ will sometimes treat sin as a sickness to be cured, (comp. Gal. 6:1, 2), sometimes as a leprous pollution to be cleansed away, (Acts 8:22, 23), sometimes as a spiritual death, the remedy for which is a spiritual resurrection, (Eph. 2:4, 5), sometimes as a possession of the soul by an evil spirit that must be cast out. Acts 13:10-12; 19:18, 19. He needs to exercise sometimes gentleness and long-suffering, sometimes the purifying power of loving-kindness, sometimes spiritual vehemence, sometimes courage in combat with opposing evil.--Abbott. Freely ye have received; freely give. The gospel and the power to work miracles were bestowed upon them without money or price. They were to impart them as freely to others.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      The disciple of Christ who prays for laborers for the Lord's harvest must be willing to go himself as a laborer.

      The worker for Christ must be chosen, called, and commissioned of Christ himself.

      The worker for Christ needs, and may possess, an endowment of power for his task.

      The worker for Christ bears benefits to men's bodies and blessings to men's souls.

      The worker for Christ should be plain in life, and unincumbered by worldly affairs, that he may give all his time and thoughts to his work.

      For the work of preaching the gospel Christ seeks men, and not angels; men saved from sin; men trained in his work; men who have communed with himself.

      PREACH THE GOSPEL.--Scott, in one of his poems, refers to the beautiful custom of ancient Scotland of assembling their clans by means of the fiery cross. A light cross of wood was charred at its point, and the flames quenched in the blood of a goat. This was sent around to the villages and homes of the clan, each one sending it on to his next neighbor, with only the name of the meeting-place. And every one was bound under fearful anathemas to obey the sign.

So is Christ's cross, scorched with his sufferings, stained with his blood, the summons to every disciple to go forth and preach the gospel.--Peloubet.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Note the Lord's compassion, what for and what it has led him to do. 2. Note the contrast between the " Good Shepherd" and false shepherds. [302] They lose their sheep; he saves them. 3. Note that we must have Christ's compassion, and its fruit is missionary effort. 4. Observe that we cannot sincerely pray for laborers unless we are ready to labor. We must say, Go, help others to go, and go ourselves. We must be willing to send our sons, as well as other people's sons. 5. Point out distinctly the difference between the First and the Second commission. 6. Ask the class to name the three most important of the apostolic band and to outline their lives. 7. Emphasize that all Christians are called to carry on the beneficent work of Christ. (1) We find what is the beneficent work of Christ. (2) The call to enter upon that work. (3) We see that power to do the work is given with the call. And (4) we consider who are called, and the great variety of workers needed in Christ's vineyard, each with his own work to do.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: