At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them 
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Then he summoned his twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits
to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the twelve apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus,
“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.

The harvest is truly abundant, getting bigger every day, and there are less and less laborers. Not only are they getting fewer in number, they are getting less and less zealous. The culture of our time is indeed very strong, and the pull of it is very very powerful. It is not cool to be faithful, and obedient to you lord. maybe it never was, but upon studying history, it does seem worse than ever, but I dont know what it was like to live in worlds run by dictators, and tyrants. So maybe it is not as bad. but I feel the strength of the pull on culture on our young people and it is very powerful. They are atheists, because it is cool, they are questioning their identity because they want to be seen as an ally of those friends who are struggling. Families are being torn to pieces and being replaced with same sex marriages. And all the while the culture cheers this dissordered nonsense on from the sidelines. What are we to do. I guess what this passage is saying is that if we are laborers, and we choose to work in God’s vineyard, we have to go out and work. We need to start with our families, teach them, help them and give them the tools they will need to reject the pull of the spirit of the times. when you get done with that, move out to the community, and the state, and the government, and if you get all that figured out, you can set out to change the world, but I suspect most of us will not get past working on our families first. but that is all that is really needed. if all mothers and fathers set out to work on the faith of their children, most of the worlds problems would be solved. But alas, this is not so, and so we are all called to work all the harder. You may not see success in this world, but you will see it in the next. and hopefully then God will say to you “well done my good and faithful servant. I cannot think of another 7 words that I would rather hear.

So lets get to work, and not let the harvest rot in the fields.