Pray to the Lord for more harvest workers! (Matthew 9:27-38)

[Stephan Choe]

April 16, 2026

Key verses 37-38:       “He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’”

Harvest workers at the harvest [1]

Jesus came into the world, made the blind see, and proclaimed the Good News. His Messianic work, however, was severely limited in time and space. Therefore, he needed many harvest workers to reach all people on this earth with his Good News. That is why he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Jesus also says to us, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” We should take Jesus’ words for the harvest workers seriously and pray for them. Today we want to learn why Jesus asks his disciples to pray for more harvest workers.   May God help us to serve as harvest workers and to pray for more harvest workers.    

1. The Healing of Two Blind Men and One Mute (9:27-34)  

Jesus had previously raised Jairus’ dead daughter from the dead. Afterward, he continued on his way. Two blind men followed him. Being blind is a hard life. Let me introduce you to a novel. It's called "Blindness" by the Portuguese writer José Saramago, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998:  

At an intersection, a driver suddenly went blind. Gradually, everyone in his immediate vicinity also went blind. There is neither an explanation for the sudden blindness nor a cure for the disease. The baffled government locks the afflicted in an asylum to prevent further infections. But more and more people go blind, and the asylum becomes overcrowded. Soon, aggression and violence reign in the asylum, and a group of blind people take control of the food supply to survive while the others starve.

Amidst all this chaos, there is one woman who can still see. She only pretended to be blind so she could accompany her husband into the asylum. She reveals nothing of this, but secretly helps wherever she can. When she kills the leader of the criminal gang, a full-blown war breaks out, and the asylum burns down. The sighted woman gathers a small group around her and returns with them to the city. By now, everyone has gone blind, and inhumane conditions prevail: filth is piling up in the streets, there is no electricity or running water, and hordes of blind people desperately search for food and shelter. Many of them die. The woman manages to use her sight to ensure the group's survival. Completely unexpectedly, the driver who was the first to go blind regains his sight. Gradually, everyone can see again.  

We can compare Jesus to the sighted woman in this novel and the two blind people to the blind people who followed her. People with healthy eyes often only superficially understand the difficulties faced by the blind. Let us nevertheless try to understand their situation. Let's imagine we are in a pitch-black place on a night with neither moonlight nor lamplight. We can neither read nor work nor do anything.  

The two blind men in this Bible story had to endure the darkness all the time. They could neither read nor work. But they had to do something to survive. All they could do was beg. But one day they heard good news: Jesus was passing by! He could also make blind people see. They didn't want to miss this opportunity. So they began to cry out, "Oh, Son of David, have mercy on us!" They called him "Son of David!"

At that time, "Son of David" and "Messiah" were synonymous. For example, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowd shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matthew 21:9). So the two blind men believed that Jesus was the Messiah and could make them see again. Therefore, they asked him for his mercy.  

Jesus Christ is merciful and gladly helps people who seek his mercy. Unfortunately, we don't understand the merciful God well because we have become critics in this world. We want people to get what they deserve. Therefore, we think it's just that people should pay back what they have earned. God is perfectly just, yet he is very rich in mercy. That is why he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to show us his grace and to save us. If God had acted only according to justice, he would not have sent Christ at all. Out of his mercy, he sent his Son and sacrificed him for our sins. This is what it says in Romans 3:23-24, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but by grace we are justified through Christ Jesus" (New Living Translation).

God became human and was named Jesus Christ. He is gracious and merciful to us. We may believe in this Christ and gratefully accept his grace.  

The two blind beggars had faith in the merciful Christ. Their faith brought about a miracle. Now we want to experience that. Jesus asked the two beggars, "Do you believe that I can do this?"

With this question, Jesus wanted to confirm‎ their faith. We can compare faith in Jesus Christ to a water pipe through which God's power and grace flow.  

When I was little, there was no running water in my birthplace. And the well was about 50 meters from our house. My mother had to fetch water every day. That was hard work. How wonderful it is to have running water in the kitchen!

Jesus Christ is our water pipe. Through him, we receive God's grace abundantly without effort. Without him, we would have had to work hard to be recognized by God as righteous. But we can receive God's grace abundantly through Jesus Christ. All we need to do is turn on the tap of grace in Christ. Turning on the tap of grace means confessing our sins and believing in Jesus Christ.  

Now we want to learn how the two blind men turned on the tap of grace. When Jesus asked the two blind men, "Do you think I can do this?" they answered, "Yes, Lord!" (28). With their answer, they turned on the tap of grace. Then Jesus touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith, let it be done to you!” He blessed their faith and restored their sight. In doing so, he emphasized their faith. Similarly, in the healing of the Roman centurion's servant in chapter 8, he had emphasized the centurion's faith and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 8:13).

Through this healing, Jesus wanted to encourage all people to believe in Jesus Christ as Christ and his power and to experience his grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ is almighty and gracious. He wants to help us.   How can we experience his grace? By turning on the spiritual tap! That means, believing in Jesus Christ! Jesus wants us to believe in his omnipotence and grace and to accept his help. That is why he asks us, “Do you believe that I can do this?” We should believe in Him and His power and mercy and answer "Yes." Then we can abundantly experience God's help.  

Perhaps one of us has a problem, be it an illness or a relationship issue. They should come to Jesus and ask Him for help. Jesus will not ignore their cry for help. He is almighty and will surely help us. There is no problem that is unsolvable for Him. He asks us, "Do you believe that I can do this?" We should answer Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe!"   After the healed blind men had gone out, the people brought a man who was mute and possessed by a demon. Jesus cast out the demon, and the mute man was able to speak.    

2. Ask the Lord for Harvest Workers (35-38)  

Chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of Matthew recounted Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Beginning in chapter 8, Matthew tells of Jesus' work after his Sermon on the Mount. He healed the sick, lepers, the possessed, and the blind; helped Peter and Matthew become disciples; brought Jairus' daughter back to life; and preached the gospel everywhere.  

Verse 35 summarizes his work: "And Jesus went throughout all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction." Jesus helped almost constantly. He needed to rest. But what does verse 36 say?

It says, “And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were haggard and wasted away like sheep without a shepherd.”

Jesus had great compassion for those in need. That is why he proclaimed the Gospel to them. Jesus knew that all people desperately needed his help and salvation. But he alone could not help everyone, for there are countless people in the world. His solution was to train more disciples and send them out as harvest workers. Therefore, he advised his disciples to pray to God to provide many harvest workers and send them out into the harvest. Thus, in verses 37-38 it says,

“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’”  

Christianity has been missionary from the very beginning; God continually sends out his harvest workers. The online dictionary Wiktionary explains the word "mission" as follows: <In the 16th century, the word "missio" meant sending, dispatching, or sending forth. In the 17th century, the word missio, or mission, acquired the Christian meaning of "sending forth in the name of Christ for the conversion of the Gentiles."> Jesus Christ was a missionary whom God sent to us.  

Why did God send his Son to us? – Because God loves us. He wanted to bring us the message of salvation. Jesus was a good missionary.

Why? Because he knew the Father's heart well and gladly did His will. He knew that his Father wanted to save as many people as possible. That is why he had a big heart for all people.

That is why he said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

We should not only focus on our own needs but also on the needs of others. People suffer from spiritual thirst and urgently need help. Jesus expressed it this way: “The harvest is plentiful, but it is waiting for the harvesters.”   Currently, people, especially young people like students, have little interest in their salvation. But we should listen to Jesus' words: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Various negative thoughts about missions or harvesters abound. Satan rejoices in such negative thoughts. But we should listen to Jesus' words. He encourages us to act as harvesters and to pray for more harvesters.  

Jesus tells us to lift our eyes and look at the field. The harvest is ripe and plentiful, but there are few laborers.   Currently, there are only a few harvesters in Bochum and in Germany. Bochum has approximately 375,200 inhabitants at the end of 2024. The Ruhr area has 5.1 million inhabitants, Germany 83.8 million, and the world 8.2 billion. All people in Germany need the help of harvesters. But only 3% of them attend church on Sundays. The people of Germany need the help of the harvest workers.  

Jesus has great compassion for all people. In his eyes, people look like a harvest waiting for the harvest workers. People are waiting for God to gather them into the heavenly barn through his harvest workers.   Let us remember the students in Bochum. In the 2025/26 winter semester, 37,653 students are enrolled at Ruhr University Bochum (including 6,739 international students), and 3,649 are pursuing doctoral degrees. Bochum University of Applied Sciences has 9,360 students. The Protestant University of Applied Sciences Bochum (EvH Bochum) currently has approximately 2,500 to 2,700 students. In total, around 53,000 people study in Bochum.  

We urgently need more harvest helpers for students and the people. We should ask God to call many harvest helpers and send them out into the world.  

Therefore, we should pray like this: “Lord of the harvest, send students and people to Bible study and worship so that they may believe in Jesus Christ and grow as harvest helpers. Afterward, we want to send them out into the whole world as harvest helpers. Amen!”  

Through our Tuesday programs, God has trained several harvesters and sent them out into the world, such as David to Gelsenkirchen, Yurim to Frankfurt am Main, Anuwat to Thailand, Kaito to Japan, Vitali to Moldova, Chansong Lee to Korea, and so on. God wants to save as many people as possible in the world through them. We should pray for this.   We urgently need more harvest helpers for students and the people. We should ask God to call many harvest helpers and send them out into the world. Therefore, we should pray like this: "Lord of the harvest, send students and people to Bible study and worship so that they may believe in Jesus Christ and grow as harvest helpers. Afterward, we want to send them out into the whole world as harvest helpers. Amen!"

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[1] http://images.sologstrand.dk/images/artikler/anna_ancher_maleri_hoest.jpg