You may have heard that our society is plagued by staffing shortages. There aren’t enough nurses, pastors, pilots, or tradespeople to go around. People who need or want a variety of services are delayed or denied in receiving them because there are not enough providers. I’ve seen people wait to be seated in restaurants, not because there weren’t open tables but because there weren’t enough servers and cooks to fill orders. So we have to reimagine ways to cover all the bases that need to be covered. That generally means asking fewer people to do more, older people to put off retirement, and admitting more skilled immigrants to America. Eventually, the dynamics of money and work and forces of supply and demand will rebalance things, at least for a while.
Seems like an ancient problem. Jesus once said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). He told his disciples that his kingdom was missing opportunities because of staffing shortages. Afterall, he did everything he could. He taught everywhere he went, he proclaimed the good news of his kingdom, and he healed the sick. Crowds followed him, and he had compassion on them because they were lost like sheep without a shepherd. He would die trying to meet their spiritual needs. He said, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (verse 38). He gave opportunities to help then. And he offers opportunities to help now. Let’s get to work.
