The harvest truly is plenteous

Tomorrow morning we're slated to do a presentation about prayer in our adult class. Apropos of that, today's New Testament reading includes this passage from Matthew 9:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to end forth laborers into his harvest."

Matthew 9.36-38

Jesus says the harvest is plenteous, and indeed more people decide to follow Jesus in any given year than decide to follow anybody or anything else.

And he says the laborers are few, which one can see anywhere.

Then he tells his disciples to pray... for revival? For an outpouring of the Spirit on an unbelieving world? For God to open the eyes of those blinded by the "god of this world"? Nope. Interestingly enough, he tells his disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.

We often ask for the eyes of the blind to be opened, for the existing laborers to be strengthened and protected, and so on. But we don't often ask the Lord to send out more laborers. Maybe because we're afraid that we'll be asked to labor in the fields too? But how bad could it be?

H'm...