29th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The idea of a Harvest celebration was suggested at one of our parish meetings exactly ten years ago, in 1998. As you know, Harvest is very important in other religious tradition, most particularly I suppose among our Anglican or Church of Ireland brethren. After Easter and Christmas, Harvest is their next most important celebration. It is not surprising that the Anglican should place such emphasis on the Harvest, because 'harvest' is a very fertile biblical image. Harvest is the season that merits most attention in the bible. Harvest Festival has its roots in the Old Testament. According to the Book of Exodus, on the eve of their entry to the Promised Land, the Lord spoke to the children of Israel as follows: "Each year you shall keep the feast of the grain harvest and the fruit harvest, when you gather in the first crop and other produce from the fields." Today, we, like the children of Israel, thank God for the earth that we inhabit and all that is in it. We thank God for the land that produces the fruits and vegetables we need for food and nourishment. We thank God for the abundance of water that is ours. We thank God for the animals that provide us with milk and meat, clothing and even companionship. We thank him for the sea and its abundant life and nourishment. We thank him, in short, for 'the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands.'
Several times the Lord compares the Word of God to the seed sown. And he carries through the analogy: as the seed is to be watered and carefully cultivated if it is to yield a rich harvest, so too the Word of God. If sown in properly prepared soil and cultivated with great care, the Word of God will yield a great harvest of Good Deeds. But, he reminds us, this will not happen automatically. Labourers are required. "So ask the Lord of the Harvest to send labourers to his harvest" he urges us.
Most of us here are no further removed from the land than three generations. We are still, in our psyche and our spirits at least, a rural people. The word harvest still rings a bell in our brains. But I don't know how long that is going to last. It was interesting to see parents explaining to their young children what the turf was, or what the hay was, and what the whole thing had to do with the church, and why the whole thing now found itself in the Church. If we are celebrating our present harvest, I suppose we are also paying our respects to a way of life that has largely passed away.
You will have noticed from our readings today that this is also Mission Sunday throughout the Catholic world. The local Church is asked to broaden its horizons and to recognize that the gospel and its demands are universal. In fact John's gospel uses the harvest image to convey the notion of Mission: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me. I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life." There is more to life than simply gathering the harvest and eating and drinking. There is the daily, unending task of being faithful to the teaching of Jesus: he demands that we love God and care for one another. We are reminded that God has made us stewards of creation and has given us the task of looking after the earth properly; as well as stewards of one another, gently leading and guiding others in living the fully Christian life.
Paul also uses the harvest image to urge his church leaders to greater efforts in the Christian life: In his second letter, Paul challenges the Corinthians to be generous and bountiful: "Those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly; those who sow bountifully will reap bountifully....He who supplies seed for the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness." The harvest is not intended for individuals; it has been harvested by the community; it should be shared with the community. The sower and reaper rejoice together.