Sowers and harvesters

Not a functional but historical process
By José Bernardo

There is a strong tendency to see evangelization as a process of sowing, watering and reaping. However, this tendency does not reflect what the Bible teaches. Paul, exhorting the Corinthians about the different roles he and Apollo had (1Cor 3:5-11), goes through agriculture and construction talking about the history of that specific church. He never intended to establish a general process for evangelization. On the contrary, when Jesus contemplates the task of evangelization ahead he says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Mathew 9:38.

In John 4, the Samaritan woman leaves towards her impressive harvest, evangelizing the city that the disciples had just visited albeit, bearing no fruit. Again, it’s the reaping and not the sowing which is at stake. Jesus explains this as a permanent principle: “Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." John 4:37,38. The sowers are left in the past. The vocation of the disciples is to reap what they have not worked for. The will of the God who sends is for us “to finish his work”. Sowers of the past and harvesters of the present will rejoice together in the future with what is reaped.

Jesus not only defines evangelization as harvest, determining that we no longer contemplate sowing, but he also explains both the failure of the disciples and the success of the woman: “Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:35. The well-trained disciples went to a city and reaped nothing. A woman, a Samaritan, a heretic and a sinner, was reaped by the Lord in an hour or so and immediately brought a full crop. The disciples could have seen the fields ripe for harvest, if they only took their eyes from minor interests to focus on a multitude running toward the Gospel.

The insistent idea of sowing, the concept of a long and slow process of evangelization is quite risky, preventing the harvest, causing the disciples to divert from their calling and transgress the will of the Father. The problem is that the focus is on the person to be reached, as if evangelization were equivalent to any other communication. This causes our vision to be limited by our audience’s cognitive process. On the other hand, when we put the focus on the work of God, we see that Jesus has already been sent, the Spirit has come, the Word of God was given, and nothing more is left for us to do than simply finish his work. It’s about the harvest now!
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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.