ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Help Wanted

You’ve probably seen a lot of businesses lately with “Help Wanted” signs displayed in their windows. That’s because post-pandemic workforce numbers are still well short of where they need to be. According to U.S. labor statistics, as of last month we had far more job openings than workers. There simply aren’t enough laborers.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses this same problem, as much a challenge in the first century as it is in the 21st. This is the Gospel where we hear Jesus say, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” In fact, Jesus gets quite specific, talking about labor force participation (all twelve apostles, by name), demographics (“go … to the lost sheep of Israel”), work tasks (“cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons”), workplace leadership (“he gave them authority”), and economics (“without cost you are to give”). Add to that what we hear in the first reading, where we learn about an employee's relationship with his employer (“If you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession”). 

This is transformative direction. But notice what is not talked about: the place and hours of work; the rate of pay; meal breaks and rest periods; sick time; and, perhaps most significantly, workplace safety.

Jesus doesn’t promise us immunity from suffering or pain. He doesn’t want a  transactional relationship; he is asking to be in communion with us. To address the spiritual labor shortage Jesus is concerned with, he is calling us to join our hearts with his, and to be, as we hear in the responsorial psalm, God’s people, “the sheep of his flock.”  This is something we continually need to be reminded of. 

There will always be shifts in society – and in our Church – that affect the labor supply, and the needs may seem overwhelming. No matter. Jesus needs our labor to bring his kingdom about. However different that may look for each of us, our work is essential. In today’s Collect – the prayer drawn from the readings and said at the end of the introductory rites – we ask for God’s grace in following his commands so that we may please him “by our resolve and our deeds.”

--JIm Healy
Send Us Forth are reflections written by St. Matthew parishioners and friends.