John Chrysostom, On "The harvest indeed is much"

let us take up what has been read, and we shall try to lead you into the meadow of the divine Scriptures; for the things from there are like a meadow. For just as in a meadow the flowers are different, yet all in turn are most beautiful, each one of the things seen drawing to itself the gaze of the beholder; so indeed it is also possible to see in the divine Scriptures. For the blessed David draws our mind to himself, and the apostolic saying spoken concerning Timothy; and moreover the bold Isaiah philosophizing about human nature, and their Master Jesus conversing with his disciples and saying: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Come then, if it seems good, let us bring this saying into our midst and unfold its meanings; for though it is somewhat brief in measure, yet it shows us a vast sea of thoughts. Therefore, we will proceed to it with much diligence. For when he saw, it says, the multitudes harassed, he says to his disciples: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

What harvest, tell me, and for what reason did he so name this teaching? And yet the harvest is the end of the matter. For when the seed, having been cast into the loins of the earth, has received moisture, then having become soaked and having swelled, it takes hold of the adjacent soil, and unfolding into many fibers it sends down its roots to the depth, it first peeks out from the surface, then little by little being nourished by sun and rain and air, it grows by the nature of the earth, and becomes first a green plant and puts forth tender leaves, then it brings forth an unripe ear of grain, and when spring arrives, again being ripened little by little into stalk and chaff, it yields the full fruit. Then, at last, the farmer, having sharpened a sickle, enlists reapers, and having gathered the fruit, he stores it at home. Whence indeed the harvest is the end of all labor and of agriculture. How then, tell me, does he call it a harvest, when matters are still in their beginnings? For impiety prevailed everywhere in the inhabited world, and altars were being kindled, and idols were being worshipped, and Jesus was dishonored, and a deep night held all things, and it was a harsh winter, with the sea raging, with wild spirits cutting through human life, with the passions tyrannizing, and with all things being submerged. For everywhere there was fornication and adultery and licentiousness; everywhere avarice and robberies and wars; and blood on the earth, and blood in the sea, with pirates bringing their murders even there, and continuous wars and battles and civil slaughters and murders more heinous than all other murders; for even children were being slaughtered to the idols; and nature was being ignored and kinship was being overturned, and everywhere were cliffs and reefs and submerged rocks and heavy ledges, and no man was pilot; or rather, there were a few pilots in the nation of the Jews, but no one listening, with the sailors being at variance with one another, and cutting one another down and sinking one another. For Scythians and Thracians and Moors and Indians and Persians and Sauromatians, and those inhabiting Greece and those inhabiting Epirus, and all, so to speak, under the sun was given over to demons, and by those avenging spirits were both country and city and desert driven to frenzy, and land and sea, and barbarian and Greek, and mountains and glens and hills; only the nation of the Jews, which seemed to be pious, had prophets and small seeds of the knowledge of God; but even these in time were being buried, and the teachers of that race became bitter accusers of their sins; and they were so far from teaching others and leading them by the hand to piety, that they in fact became a cause of scandal to others at that time; and the prophet, making this clear, said: Because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations.

ἀναγνωσθέντων ἁψώμεθα, καὶ εἰς 63.519 τὸν λειμῶνα ὑμᾶς εἰσάξαι πειρασόμεθα τῶν θείων Γρα φῶν· καὶ γὰρ λειμῶνι ἔοικε τὰ ἐκεῖθεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τῷ λειμῶνι διάφορα μὲν τὰ ἄνθη, πάντα δὲ ἐφεξῆς κάλ λιστα ἀνθέλκοντα πρὸς ἑαυτὰ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἕκαστα τοῦ θεατοῦ τὴν ὄψιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐν ταῖς θείαις Γρα φαῖς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ μακάριος ∆αυῒδ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀνθέλκει τὴν διάνοιαν τὴν ἡμετέραν, καὶ ἡ ἀποστολικὴ ῥῆσις ἡ περὶ Τιμοθέου λεχθεῖσα· ἔτι μὴν καὶ ὁ τολμη τὴς Ἡσαΐας περὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως φιλοσοφῶν, καὶ ὁ τούτων ∆εσπότης Ἰησοῦς τοῖς μαθηταῖς διαλεγό μενος καὶ λέγων· Ὁ μὲν θερισμὸς πολὺς, οἱ δὲ ἐρ γάται ὀλίγοι. Φέρε οὖν, εἰ δοκεῖ, ταύτην εἰς μέσον τὴν ῥῆσιν ἀγαγόντες, ἀναπτύξωμεν αὐτῆς τὰ νοήματα· εἰ γὰρ καὶ βραχεῖά τίς ἐστι τῷ μέτρῳ, ἀλλὰ πέλαγος ἡμῖν νοημάτων δείκνυσιν ἀχανές. ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὴν μετὰ πολλῆς βαδιούμεθα τῆς σπουδῆς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶδε, φησὶ, τὰ πλήθη ἐσκυλμένα, λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς· Ὁ μὲν θερι σμὸς πολὺς, οἱ δὲ ἐργάται ὀλίγοι.

Ποῖος θερισμὸς, εἰπέ μοι, καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν οὕτως ὠνόμασε τὴν διδασκα λίαν ταύτην; καίτοι γε ὁ θερισμὸς τέλος ἐστὶ τοῦ πράγματος. Ὅταν γὰρ τὸ σπέρμα εἰς τὰς λαγόνας τῆς γῆς καταβληθὲν ἀπολαύσῃ νοτίδος, εἶτα γενόμενον διάβροχον καὶ διαφυσηθὲν δράξηται τῆς παρακειμένης γῆς, καὶ εἰς ἶνας πολλὰς ἀναπλωθὲν πρὸς τὸ βάθος καταπέμψῃ τὰς ῥίζας, προκύπτει τῆς ἐπιφανείας πρῶτον, εἶτα κατὰ μικρὸν ἡλίῳ τε καὶ ὑετῷ καὶ ἀέρι τρεφόμενον, τῇ ἐκ φύσει τῆς γῆς αὔξεται, καὶ γίνεται πρότερον μὲν χλοερά τις βοτάνη καὶ ἁπαλὰ τὰ φύλλα προβάλλει, εἶτα τὸν ἄστα χυν ἄωρόν τινα ἐκφέρει, καὶ τοῦ ἔαρος ἐπιστάντος, πάλιν κατὰ μικρὸν πεπαινόμενος εἰς καλάμην καὶ ἀνθέ ρικας, πλήρη τὸν καρπὸν ἀποδίδωσι. Τότε δὴ λοιπὸν ὁ γηπόνος, δρεπάνην ἀκονήσας, θεριστὰς καταλέγει, καὶ συναγαγὼν τὸν καρπὸν ἀποτίθεται οἴκοι. Ὅθεν δὴ τέλος παντὸς πόνου καὶ τῆς γεωργίας ἐστὶν ὁ θερισμός. Πῶς οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, θερισμὸν καλεῖ, τῶν πραγμάτων ἐν προοι μίοις ὄντων ἔτι; Καὶ γὰρ ἀσέβεια πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκου μένης ἐκράτει, καὶ βωμοὶ ἀνεκαίοντο, καὶ εἴδωλα προσ εκυνεῖτο, καὶ Ἰησοῦς ἠτιμάζετο, καὶ βαθεῖα νὺξ πάντα κατεῖχε, καὶ χειμὼν ἦν χαλεπὸς, τῆς θαλάσσης κυμαινο μένης, τῶν ἀγρίων πνευμάτων διακοπτόντων τὸν ἀνθρώ πινον βίον, τῶν παθῶν τυραννούντων, καὶ ὑποβρυχίων ἁπάντων γινομένων. Πανταχοῦ γὰρ πορνεία καὶ μοιχεία καὶ ἀσέλγεια· πανταχοῦ πλεονεξίαι καὶ ἁρπαγαὶ καὶ πόλεμοι· καὶ αἵματα μὲν ἐν γῇ, αἵματα δὲ ἐν θαλάττῃ, τῶν καταποντιστῶν καὶ ἐκεῖ τοὺς φόνους εἰσαγόντων, καὶ πόλεμοι συνεχεῖς καὶ μάχαι καὶ ἐμφύλιοι σφαγαὶ καὶ φόνοι φόνων ἁπάντων ἐναγέστεροι· καὶ γὰρ τέκνα ἐσφάζετο τοῖς εἰδώλοις· καὶ ἡ φύσις ἠγνοεῖτο καὶ ἡ συγ γένεια ἀνετρέπετο, καὶ πανταχοῦ κρημνοὶ καὶ σκόπελοι καὶ ὕφαλοι πέτραι καὶ σπιλάδες βαρεῖαι, καὶ κυβερνή της οὐδεὶς ἄνθρωπος· μᾶλλον δὲ κυβερνῆται ὀλίγοι ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει, ὁ δὲ ἀκούων οὐδεὶς, τῶν ναυτῶν πρὸς αὑτοὺς διαστασιαζόντων, καὶ ἀλλήλους κατακοπτόν των καὶ καταποντιζόντων. Σκύθαι μὲν γὰρ καὶ Θρᾷκες καὶ Μαῦροι καὶ Ἰνδοὶ καὶ Πέρσαι καὶ Σαυρομάται, καὶ οἱ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ οἱ τὴν Ἤπειρον οἰκοῦντες, καὶ πᾶσα, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἡ ὑφ' ἡλίῳ τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἐτελεῖτο, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλαστόρων ἐκείνων ἐξεβακχεύετο καὶ χώρα καὶ πόλις καὶ ἔρημος, καὶ γῆ καὶ θάλαττα, καὶ βάρβαρος καὶ Ἑλλὰς, καὶ ὄρη καὶ νάπαι καὶ βουνοί· μόνον δὲ τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος τὸ δοκοῦν εὐσεβεῖν προφήτας εἶχε 63.520 καὶ θεογνωσίας σπέρματα μικρά· ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα χρόνῳ κατεχώννυτο, καὶ οἱ διδάσκαλοι τοῦ γένους ἐκείνου κατ ήγοροι πικροὶ τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων αὐτοῖς ἐγίνοντο· καὶ τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχον τοὺς ἄλλους παιδεύειν καὶ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν χειραγωγεῖν, ὅτι δὴ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις σκανδάλων αἴτιοι τότε ἐγίνοντο· καὶ τοῦτο δηλῶν ὁ προφήτης ἔλεγε· ∆ι' ὑμᾶς τὸ ὄνομά μου βλασφημεῖται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι.