Send The Light

Rev Albert Kang

Send The Light

Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 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: 35 –38)

In John 4, Jesus had helped a Samaritan woman to find the “living water” then He told His disciples that the spiritual harvest was ready. The purpose was to impress upon the disciples that God was not only going to revive the hearts of the Israelites but also people of other races and nations. There would be a great harvest of souls and the disciples would be deeply involved in this. Reaching out to the Samaritan woman was the Lord’s way of beginning the mission outreach to Samaria.

The Samaritan woman was not the most well accepted person in her part of town. She had five husbands. She was not exactly a prostitute but a woman who was looking for love. She was brave enough to retaliate and leave those men who treated her badly. In those days, the Middle Eastern culture had provided men with such an arrogant position, so much so that women were often treated worse than pets. This woman had become a social outcast and that was the reason why she came alone to the well. She had waited until all the women in the village had drawn their water, then she came. It is true that she was no doubt a sinner but it is also equally true that those who despised her were sinners themselves. We must remember that Jesus never condemned sinners. He came to save them and not to condemn them (John 3:17).

Jesus broke all the Jewish tradition by not avoiding the Samaritan towns and villages on his journey and by speaking to a despised Samaritan woman. He was indeed the greatest missionary of all. Apart from coming from another world to provide mankind with the way of salvation, He also made every effort to reach the unreachable. The Jews had become very arrogant because they thought that they were the special people of God. They had developed a religious system that rejected all other races. Little did they realize that they were called to be a nation of servants so that through their servanthood, God might usher in the Saviour of the world. They were so confused about their spiritual roles that they ultimately rejected the Saviour whom their prophets had expounded for years. It was of little wonder why God did not speak to Israel through a prophet for more than 400 years until the time of Christ’s birth.

Throughout Christ’s ministry, He had consistently repositioned relationships and shifted paradigms. He showed that in order for men and women to have true peace in their hearts, they have to place God first in their lives. This spiritual relationship is of foremost importance to mankind because it addresses where the human souls would spend eternity. Then He rearranged the relationship between Israel the chosen nation and other nations. He also corrected the gender prejudices and placed men and women on equal par. A woman would never need to take a subservient role to a man but a complementary one. He planted the seeds of social justice, equality and human rights.

That encounter with the Samaritan woman also revealed the loving heart of Jesus. He would never allow all these prejudices to prevent Him from touching the life of a person whose heart was bleeding with grief. Jesus understood what it was like to be despised. He was born not in the palace but in a manger. Most people doubted the way He was conceived. Even though science was not that advance at that time, people still questioned the possibility of a virgin birth. He grew up in a home of a poor carpenter. It took a lot of humbling on Christ’s part, being the most powerful being in the universe, to accept such humiliation. When Peter took out his sword and cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants who was among those who came to arrest Him, Jesus said to Peter, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” Jesus willingly laid down His life so that we might not need to suffer eternal death. The heart of our Lord continue to pulsate with this eternal love for us. Do we in turn have the same kind of love for our Lord?

The famous missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, had the right attitude towards mission. On one occasion, he interviewed a group of young mission applicants. He asked them for their reasons to become foreign missionaries. One of them said, “I want to go because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Another enthusiastically added, “I want to go because millions are perishing without Christ.” Various others gave their opinions. After listening for a while, Hudson, the wise veteran missionary then gave a most essential advice: “All of these motives, however good, will fail you in times of testing, trials, tribulations, and possible death. There is but one motive that will sustain you in trial and testing; namely, the love of Christ”. To love the Lord God is the heart of mission! We cannot express the love of Christ if we do not have the love for Christ. We would be like a vehicle running on empty tank. No matter what kind of adventure we want to experience in our journey, without fuel, our journey is but an illusion.

In 1893, three young men, the oldest being only 25 years old, went into the interior of Sudan to preach the gospel. Walter Gowans and Rowland Bingham of Toronto, Canada, and Thomas Kent of Buffalo, New York wanted to establish a mission station known as SIM (Serving In Mission or Sudan Inland Mission) so as to reach out to 60 million Sudanese.  Before the year was over, Gowans and Kent died of diseases. Bingham returned alone to Canada and brought some of Gowans’ belonging to Gowans’ mother. Mrs. Gowans met him with extended hands and they stood in grief, silently recollecting the memory of Walter Gowans, who was hardly 21 years old when he died alone in an African village. Then Mrs. Gowans broke the silence by saying these words: “Well, Mr. Bingham, I would rather have had Walter go out to the Sudan and die there, all alone, than have him home today, disobeying his Lord.”

What a remark of faith! Mrs. Gowans was no ordinary mother. She had raised her children to love God dearly. Her son, Walter was not the only missionary from the family for Mrs.Gowans had another daughter who served as a missionary in China. The sacrifice of Gowans and Kent was not wasted. The mission organization that they helped started went on to become the Society for International Ministries. Today, this ministry has 1,600 active missionaries in 5 continents and 50 countries.

What happens if you were not called to be a missionary? You can be a missionary on your knees. We all can be missionaries and let’s do so because we love our Lord and Saviour dearly. Here is a wonderful poem by Sandra Goodwin that says it all:

Last night I took a journey

To a land far 'cross the seas;

I didn't go by boat or plane,

I trusted on my knees.

I saw so many people there

In deepest depths of sin,

And Jesus told me I should go

That there were souls to win.

But I said, “Jesus, I can't go

And work with such as these.”

He answered quickly, “Yes, you can

By traveling on your knees.”

He said, “You pray; I'll meet the need,

You call and I will hear;

Be concerned about lost souls,

Of those both far and near.”

And so I tried it, knelt in prayer,

Gave up some hours of ease;

I felt the Lord right by my side

While traveling on my knees.

As I prayed on and saw souls saved

And twisted bodies healed,

And saw God's workers' strength renewed

While laboring on the field,

I said, “Yes, Lord, I have a job

My desire Thy will to please;

I can go and heed Thy call