Sunday 29/09/24

Harvest Festival 

John 1:47-end James 5:13-end

Harvest Festival is a joyful celebration: the crops have come in and we thank our God and provider, for giving us the produce from the earth. To sustain us, to strengthen our hearts. We feel blessed with the provision of his grace. We’ve been celebrating Harvest for centuries, on the basis of biblical teaching, that tells us to share resources with those in need. The foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, in short, the poor, have a special place in God’s heart and a share in his will for his people. There is special provision for the weak in society mentioned in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy but also the book of Ruth talks about the principle of gleaning as an important means for God to develop his plan, even using it in bringing about a new marriage; one that brought forth an ancestor of Jesus…

Leviticus 19:9-10 says:

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.’ Deuteronomy 24:19 adds something else: ‘When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. … Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.’ So many of us have bountiful provisions – and, sadly, there still is much need. The poor are always with you, says Jesus in another context; but he is quite right – they are.

When God created the world and everything in it, he shaped it all just so, that there would be enough to share. God speaks quite strongly against greed – grasping every last ear of corn is only a picture of a much more basic problem that people struggle with all the time: the problem of pride.

Today, with all the advanced technology on combine harvesters, every part of the field is successfully harvested – there is nothing left! Producing higher and higher yields. I may have told some of you before, but when we visited the USA, we went to the mid-west, Iowa. We had an outing to a modern farm and when I say, modern, it doesn’t even begin to describe how advanced it was in technological terms.. The combine harvester that we stood next to, would not have fitted in an average church – the small wheels were so high I couldn’t touch the top. You needed a ladder to get in. And inside, there was a cabin with computer and television screens, climatised, and we were told that at the moment of sowing the seeds, the computer would calculate and forecast a roughly accurate harvest on the basis of the weather conditions etc. AND: the harvest would be sold to Kellogg’s the next day…

So, Harvest, then, at a time when the world is struggling with extreme weather conditions – lots of floods in many places are a case in point – and armed conflicts that seem to be increasing and making the things we take for granted, like a harvest, look next to impossible in several places. At such a time, we may even wonder, what is ‘our’ harvest? What is the metaphorical ‘harvest’ – or the outcome if you like – of our lives? Jesus is complimentary to Nathanael, whom he spotted under a fig tree, and called ‘an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ And James in his letter, speaks about the prayer of the righteous which is powerful and effective. Referring to the prophet Elijah, he recalls that he was ‘human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.’ How are we, then, growing in righteousness, and producing a harvest that is pleasing to God? How do we share the good gifts that God has placed in our hands, not just for our own enjoyment, but for the benefit of others too. Care for ‘the orphan, the widow and the stranger’ is about personal contact, by giving time, showing compassion, and listening. There is work for the Church to do. What are our assets, so that we can meet the current need? How can we provide a space for people who are hurting and are looking for comfort and peace? May we enjoy an abundant harvest, of righteousness, love and joy. Amen.