“Now having seen the crowds, He was moved with compassion concerning them, that they had been distressed and had been dejected, like sheep not having a shepherd. Then He says to His disciples, "The harvest indeed [is] plentiful, but the laborers few. Therefore, implore the Lord of the harvest, in order that He should send out laborers to His harvest." Matthew 9:36-38

"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” John 10:11-15

The expression “to lay down his life” is not at all “shepherd-ish,” it is more “lamb-ish,”, it is more a gesture of a lamb who does not resist when being put on the altar and is giving up its life. And for the sheep?! A shepherd would feed and look after the sheep in order that he might feed and clothe himself with what the sheep produces and then even slaughters the lamb to enjoy its meat. But who ever heard of such a crazy shepherd who does the opposite: leaving himself to be slaughtered in order to feed his own sheep by his own flesh!

Jesus observed about the multitude: They were like sheep not having a shepherd, but they were not like sheep having no hired hand. The problem with that is the hired hand will rob and make the flock destitute before running away and leaving them.

“The harvest indeed [is] plentiful, but the laborers few.”

The situation always seems to persist, to be the same: the true laborers, the good shepherds are few — or even none? But the hired hands are plentiful, and that seems to be a constant crisis. But God has a different perspective on what seems apparently a critical situation. He can be glorified in the crisis, exactly when the laborers are just a few compared to the plenty of the harvest. Think of Gideon, when the LORD said to him: "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, 'My own power has delivered me.'” (Judges 7:2)

"Therefore, implore the Lord of the harvest, in order that He should send out laborers to His harvest."

“Therefore,” — what for? Not ‘for there are few laborers’, but for God’s glory! He does not need us, He can even do it better without us, otherwise we might get the impression that the harvest is too big for a God like ours. He is in trouble, let us help Him. He is in need; He needs us; He can’t do it without our contribution! But He says, “I am the Good Harvester, the Good Shepherd, implore Me”, and not that I am imploring you to send out more missionaries, more laborers, more experts for my work. No, not at all! The Lord alone is the Good Shepherd (yes, indeed the “Bonus Pastor”!), and He has done what was needed: laid down His life for the sheep. Implore Him to send out laborers. In other words: it is His harvest and it is He who sends out, not us. The field is His, so the laborers and even the harvest are also His. And He is interested in the harvest, in the laborers, in the sheep the most—in contrast to the hired hand.

The hired hand is not concerned with the sheep, says the Lord. The word concerned in the original means: not having an interest, not having a profit in the sheep. This is interesting! Reality usually seems to be quite the opposite: if a hired hand works for wages why is he not interested? Where is he invested if not in the sheep?

Well, the Good Harvester, the Good Shepherd put His interest in the field, in the sheep—He invested in the flock.

Jesus is neither hypocritical nor prudish about the importance of investment and profit. It seems that the hired hand is more profit-oriented: he works for money. Although the shepherd does not work for money, yet he would not work for nothing. He does not invest in his wages, but in the sheep. The value of the sheep is not in themselves, but in the measure of sacrifice (of laying down of his life) provided for them by the shepherd. You are precious to me because I died for you. Your value equals my life’s value.

The Communists tried to build a new economy on something other than profit and value, and they failed. Jesus builds on our higher interest in real values. He is raising the value of humans and invests in eternal things, in the things that last rather than in things that pass away quickly. Paul says the same: “If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:3. Love is the best investment, otherwise "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

My soul’s profit is the Lord, and the Lord’s profit is my saved soul. Can I invest in it? The hired hand sees his profit in his wages, the shepherd sees it in his flock—even in the most ignored and marginalized ones, so He can invest in them for eternity. I think both the laborers of Bonus Pastor Foundation and its supporters should always remember: our greatest gain is in humans, let’s invest in them by prayer, counseling, sacrifice, sharing, giving and dedication. Then and only then can we say boldly with Paul: “For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward (profit!)? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.” (1 Corinthians 9:17-19)