First, they walked through the plains where he had planted wheat, barley and other valuable grains for the benefit of the citizens of his land. They also went through the well tended vineyards bursting with grapes. Finally, they went to the hillsides where they observed all kinds of orchards and olive groves, each one with an abundance of fruit according to its kind.
When they all returned to his mansion, that evening, the Lord called his managers together and asked them about what they had observed, saying, "In which of the fields will there be a harvest?" They began saying one after the other that "The time and conditions of the harvest will be different for each field, but certainly there will be a harvest in each one. Some are grain fields, and they will be harvested soon, others are grapes and we will need to wait longer. Still others are fruit trees and olive groves that will have to wait until the end of the harvest season."The Lord responded to them and said "Excellent! You have said well that each harvest will come in its own time. Blessed and wise is the person who understands the rhythm of the different harvests and prepares to reap and store the produce so that none of my harvest will be lost."
A while later, the Lord of the harvest fields called his managers and put them in charge, to be responsible in reaping all of the produce of his domain. He gave them instructions to look after each crop according to its nature and take care of the produce until his return. Then he went on a journey to work with the managers of his other holdings.
In his absence, the managers began to consult one with another on the different aspects of the harvest. They observed that clearly the wheat fields were ripe unto harvest. So they went out with their great and powerful harvesting machines. In a short time they had reaped an abundant harvest of wheat, barley and other grains. Therefore, they concluded, the other fields must be just like these were. But when they came to the vineyards they discovered that the harvesting machines that worked so well with the grains didn’t work as they had at first. On entering the vineyard, they damaged the plants and they lost the fruit of the vine, reaping little of the harvest. On seeing the difficulty of harvest in these places and the lack of effectiveness of their machines to reap this harvest they decided to return to their warehouses and concentrate on tuning up the machines and making the wheat storehouses bigger.
When the Lord of the harvest fields returned from his trip, he called his managers to account for the harvest he had left under their care. They began to speak with great joy of the harvest of the grains, of how they had powerful harvesting machines and of the great wheat storehouses they had constructed. But when the Lord asked them about the harvests in the more delicate and difficult crops, they became strangely silent. Noting their silence, the Lord was moved with great sadness saying, "Every part of the harvest is precious to me and useful for my domain." He reproved them for being so zealous for one kind of harvest and for forgetting the importance of reaping each part of the harvest according to its own nature.
Good and faithful is the manager that understands and practices the wisdom of the parable of the different harvests.
Author Unknown
