By Bill Cashion, director of Volunteer Missions, IMB
Adapted by Felicity Slemp

First, let’s establish that the concept of harvest is biblical. It’s a term you’ve probably heard a lot at church, but I encourage you not to accept any teaching about Jesus, God, and the Bible just because someone tells you it is true, even your pastor. Check it out for yourself! Here’s how to check out the concept of harvest:

Look up the word “harvest” in the back of you Bible in the concordance. If you’re not familiar with a concordance, it looks similar to a dictionary, except that a concordance show you where key words are used in the Bible instead of defining the words. If your Bible does not have a concordance, find a friend who has one, or use a Bible from your church library or campus ministry that has one. You can also buy a small concordance to put in your Bible at most Christian bookstores.

How many times does the word, “harvest” occur in the Bible? In the New Testament?

In my New International Version, I find 15 occurrences of the word. In the New American Standard, there are 26 occurrences. The best way to check out the meaning of a word is to read through all the passages that use that word and compare the way the word is used. If you have time, please read all the verses. If time is short as you near mid-semester, focus on the uses of “harvest” in the gospels.

Read John 4:35. Write this verse below in your own words.

Did you write something like, “Are you expecting the harvest to come sometime in the future? Open your eyes right now and see that the harvest is ready right now!” That’s the general idea that Jesus was communicating to His disciples.

Where was Jesus when He said these things? (Hint: Look at the verses from 4:1-35. You might even have headlines or maps in your Bible to give you a clue.)

Jesus and His disciples were in the region called Samaria. It’s where Samaritans were from like the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable, though most Jews did not think of Samaritans or Samaria as “good.” What else do you know about Samaria?

Samaria was known at this time as
1. a land of religious hostility – just read John 4:19 as an example.
2. a land of racial bigotry – see John 4:9.
3. a difficult place

Now turn to Matthew 9:36 – 37. When Jesus said this, to what area was he referring? (Hint: it’s the area he was ministering in at the time. John 9:1 gives a clue).

Jesus was in the region where his hometown was. His hometown was Nazareth and the region was Galilee. That’s like saying he was ministering all over North Texas and his hometown is Dallas. What do you know about Galilee? See Matt. 4:15 and John 1:46 for a few ideas.

Galilee was
1. a land of heartache because the boot of Roman oppression was heavy there.
2. a land of utter contempt. Galileans were considered rebellious and breakers of the Jewish law.
3. a difficult place.

Finally, read Luke 10:1-2. Where was Jesus directing the attention of His disciples on this occasion? You may only be able to find the answer to that question in a commentary on Matthew, but your church library or your pastor would have that resource if you’re up to the challenge.

For those of you who choose to save commentary research for another Bible study, Jesus was sending his disciples to the region on the other side of the Jordan called Perea. What kind of place was Perea?
1. a neglected place – neither priest nor prophet would go to this place. In fact, the primary reason people went to Perea was to avoid having to go through Samaria on their way from Judea to Galilee.
2. a forgotten land – the Aboth of Rabbi Nathan states that Judea presented the grain, Galilee the straw, and Perea the chaff. See Matthew 3:12 as a reminder of what chaff was good for.
3. a difficult place

In these passages, Jesus refers to three distinct regions of the world in which he lives, Samaria, Galilee, and Perea. What do all three regions have in common?

None of these areas were hotbeds of response to His message, yet Jesus still called them “harvest fields.” The point is clear. Jesus sees harvest fields all across the earth, among people groups that are responding to the gospel and even in those areas that we would call difficult – or even dangerous – places. And the bottom line is that Jesus is calling us to all those places.

Your campus is a harvest field where God wants you to labor for His glory during school terms, but what about in between semesters and during the summer? Will you pray to God to send out laborers to the harvest fields as Jesus asked us to do? And will you ask God to show you the harvest field(s) to which He would send you in your out-of-school days and weeks?

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” John 20:21