Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407)
priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
Homily on the abundant harvest, 10, 2-3; PG 63, 519-521
“The harvest is abundant”
All the farmer’s work naturally leads towards the harvest. So how could Christ call a 'harvest' a work that was still in its initial stages? Idolatry reigned over all the earth…Everywhere there was fornication, adultery, debauchery, greed, theft, wars… The earth was filled with so many evils! No seed had yet been sown there. The thorns, thistles and weeds that covered the ground had not yet been pulled up. The ground had not yet been plowed, no furrow had yet been drawn.
So how could Jesus say that the harvest was abundant? … The apostles were probably distressed and frustrated: “How are we going to be able to say anything, to stand upright before so many people? How can we, the Eleven, correct all the inhabitants of the earth? Will we who are so ignorant be able to approach scholars; will we who are so stripped of everything be able to meet armed men; will we who are subordinates be able to approach people in authority? We know only one language – will we be able to argue with the barbarians who speak foreign languages? Who will bear with us if they don’t even understand our language?”
Jesus did not want such reasoning to discourage them. So he called the Gospel a harvest. It is as if he told them: “Everything is prepared, all the preparations have been made. I am sending you out to harvest the ripe grain. You will be able to sow and reap on the same day.” When the farmer leaves his home to go out and gather the harvest, he is brimming over with joy and shining with happiness. He thinks neither of the suffering nor the difficulties that he might encounter… Christ says, lend me your tongue, and you will see the ripe grain going into the king’s granaries. And so he then sends them out, telling them: “I am with you always, until the end of the world.” (Mt 28:20)