Matthew 9:37,38 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Then saith he to his disciples To quicken their devotion and zeal, The harvest Namely, of souls to be gathered in, is plenteous The multitudes that followed Jesus, and expressed so earnest a desire of receiving his instructions, gave him occasion of making this reflection. He compared Judea and the neighbouring countries to fields covered with ripe corn, where nothing was wanting but reapers. See John 4:35: and L'Enfant. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest Whose peculiar work and office it is, and who alone is able to do it; that he will send forth labourers into his harvest The word εκβαλη properly means to thrust out, plainly implying the exercise of some degree of force. For it is an employ not pleasing to flesh and blood; so full of reproach, labour, danger, and temptation of every kind, that nature may well be averse to it. Those who never felt this, never yet knew what it is to be labourers in Christ's harvest. He sends them forth, when he calls them by his Spirit, furnishes them with grace and gifts for the work, and makes a way for them to be employed therein. “Christ's example here,” says Baxter, “teacheth preachers to compassionate a willing multitude, when they want sufficient teachers, and to pray God to send forth more labourers when there are too few; and not to give over labouring themselves without being utterly disabled, though men forbid them. Some parishes in London have each about seventy thousand souls, some sixty thousand, some thirty thousand; and all the city and county, and much more, have but one bishop, and the curates or preachers cannot be heard [each] by above three thousand at once, or thereabouts.” But how much greater is the population of London with its environs, and of the whole country, at the present day, than it was in Mr. Baxter's time!