In Jesus’ day, the economy was mostly agrarian. Every daily activity revolved around and looked forward to a plentiful harvest. Bringing in the harvest was a big deal. Villages and regions prospered or suffered based on the measure of harvest. Even with this understanding, the disciples did not know completely what Jesus meant when He said, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.” Why? Because Jesus was talking about a spiritual harvest, which was a foreign concept to the religious Jewish culture. Jesus had to change their way of thinking (and ours) because every believer is called into the harvest field of suffering and unredeemed people—His lost sheep.