Passage: Matthew
9:35-38
Last week we heard of Jesus’ calling Matthew to follow Him—and His call to
us and all who need a doctor, a Savior. Today we’ll turn a few pages over in
Matthew to see Jesus with His disciples as He is about to send them out to
others to preach and heal. Jesus calls us to follow Him, and then sends the
Church out to call others to follow Him.
In our passage for today, we heard about Jesus’ ministry, and then His
compassion for the crowds, who were “like sheep without a shepherd.”
We had many different pets when I was growing up, including ten chickens.
My siblings and I had named most of them, and we could recognize each of
them...Chestnut, Sunset, Zebra, Watermelon, and others. We would collect the
eggs in the morning, and then let them out of their pen for the day. Every
evening, we would call them back to their coop so that they would be safe from
predators. I still remember—we would clang the lid of their feed can and call
“Here, chicky-chicky-chickies!” and they would come flocking from all corners
of the yard.
Well, one particular afternoon, we were away from the house for a couple
hours, and when we came back we were faced with an awful sight...We saw two
large dogs in our yard chasing after our chickens, our own pets, some of whom
they had already killed and left lying around the yard; others running
frantically to escape. It was an awful afternoon. We were angry, but also very
sad. Our pets, those we had named, fed, cared for, been inconvenienced by, but
still enjoyed and cared for as our own pets, were running around the yard,
harassed and helpless. They were being chased and scattered, running wildly
around the place that should have been their home, and without anyone to chase
away the dogs, and gather them in to safety as we had done each evening before.
As we look at our passage this morning, we’ll first think about the
situation of the crowds around Jesus—the people Matthew describes as “harassed
and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” perhaps not too different from
our chickens that one afternoon.
A Spiritual Problem
The first thing that we come across in verse 35 is the mention of sickness
and disease. In the Old Testament, these terms can sometimes refer to the consequences
of disobedience—what would happen if God’s people turned away from Him.[1] Although
sickness was certainly not portrayed as always caused by sin in the Bible (the book
of Job shows this very clearly!), [2] it
was also not seen just as a physical problem, but something that could also
have spiritual significance—perhaps even a wake-up call.[3]
So the mention of these people who needed healing probably wasn’t just to
show that they didn’t wash their hands well enough. No—Matthew seems to leave
room for us to wonder if these are actually broader evidences of Israel’s
disobedience and wandering from God.[4] The
people in this passage probably don’t just have a physical problem, but a
spiritual problem as well.
One thing to note: At this point in Jesus’ ministry, He is focusing on the
nation of Israel. But as we know from later on in Matthew, His mission doesn’t
stop with the borders of Israel; it goes into the whole world. So even while it
is important to keep in mind that this passage is in some sense specifically
about Israel, there is also relevance for us as well.
No Shepherd
In verse 36 of our account in Matthew today, we see that the crowds around
Jesus were “harassed and helpless.” Here we come to even better understand the
problem. They are without a true leader; they are “like sheep without a
shepherd.” So what might this mean?
Sheep are not the best animals at self-defense on their own away from their
flock—so they are vulnerable animals. Like our pet chickens were around the
dogs that one day. Sheep also tend to follow each other, even if the “leaders”
are jumping off a cliff or going somewhere else dangerous. They are in a
dangerous place without a shepherd.
We can maybe begin to imagine crowds of people Jesus sees in our passage
today, milling about Him, some pushing this way, some that. They are trying to
see Jesus, some looking for healing, perhaps others just out of curiosity. They
are pressing around, right, left, and center. They may be even looking to
Jesus, but eyes clouded—it seems they don’t yet fully understand who He really
is. They are being led by people for whom Jesus reserved some of his harshest
words due to their hypocrisy. Perhaps some of these people around Jesus are
profoundly thirsty, but not just for a drink of water. Perhaps some are hungry,
but it’s not a hunger that physical food will satisfy. Perhaps they are lost,
but don’t know how to find the way back. Or perhaps they don’t even recognize
their need for Jesus...they mill about, blind to their own condition.
These people are scattered—away from God—and they are vulnerable, like
sheep without a shepherd. They need to be brought back into relationship with
the One who created them in love, and to the One who daily cares for them, and
the only One who can save them. They need someone to gather them back to God—the
only source of life; they need a shepherd. [5] If they
aren’t gathered back to God, then they are goners, like sheep wandering alone
in a land full of wolves.
Closer to Home...
So far we’ve been talking about “these people,”
as if they are others distant from us. But we might recognize that we and many
others around us are not always so different. Even after becoming believers, we
still wander from God so easily—as one hymn puts it that we sung a few weeks
ago: “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love...” And if
this is the tendency even of those who know Jesus as their shepherd, what about
those who don’t yet know Him? It is all-too-easy (and sad) to see the evidence
of those all around us who are living and dying without knowing the One who
will come back after them when they are wandering, correct and forgive them.
Last year I subscribed to Times Magazine, and
sometimes it was overwhelming to see all the problems in the world—the wars and
hopelessness and needs. It’s not too hard to see evidence of how there are so
many in our world who are not too different from the crowd around Jesus.
And there are others who seem to be living “good
lives” but don’t know their Creator and God...who don’t even recognize the danger
of the road they’re going down.
In New England, so many people are living with no
truly deep foundation. People are pursuing other things that are supposed to
make them happy, but never last.
In Scripture we learn that over, above, and
despite all these other messages comes the invitation of Jesus, to trust in Him
and follow Him. But so many still have not heard or been made aware of that
invitation.
What Next?
We may respond to this challenge in one of
several ways. We may respond with apathy—after all, if the task is so huge and
so difficult, what significance will our actions have on the problem as a
whole? Related to this, we may be tempted at times towards discouragement and disillusionment
at the enormity of the task before us. I know I have felt this. There are so
many people who don’t know God, and so many ways that things are not yet as
they should be. This can easily lead to a profound disillusionment with our
mission and even with God Himself.
But Jesus, seeing these crowds of people around him and their great need,
does not respond as we might. He doesn’t respond with apathy or hopeless
discouragement. He responds as a shepherd.
There’s a wonderful
passage in John in which He refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd—an image
that may be helpful: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep
and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep
that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to
my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:11-16, NIV)
So Jesus Himself is the Good Shepherd, gathering the lost of Israel to Himself.
In verse 35, also, we see Jesus going through Israel, teaching, proclaiming,
and healing. He is gathering the people in this way as well.
Here we are given a glimpse of the kingdom that Jesus is preaching.
Considering that physical illnesses may indicate the spiritual condition of
Israel, Jesus’ healings are not just physical healings, but actually may hint
at spiritual restoration as well![6] Jesus
is pointing to a complete restoration of people into right relationship with
God, forgiven and cleansed people, people who are gathered together and made
whole by God Himself.[7]
In verse 36, Jesus sees the crowds as we do, but
as we have seen, He does not respond in the way we might expect. Jesus is
deeply concerned for the lost, and His love is far deeper than ours. But His
response is neither apathy nor disillusionment, but compassion and prayer. And
so he addresses the enormity of the task head-on: He first tells the disciples
to pray. Pray for more workers to be sent out to gather people in.
Yes, there are many who do not know Christ, the
Good Shepherd, so pray! Wherever you are—whether at church or with your family
or by yourself, Pray that God will send out more people who will gather these
crowds to Jesus. Pray! The first response, after we read of Jesus’ compassion,
is prayer. Prayer and dependence on God should be a foundation and beginning of
our work and witness to others in our lives and in our churches. Revival seems
to often begin in prayer.
In prayer, we are bringing before God the needs
we see, and although our ability is small, thank goodness God is not limited by
our weakness. Let’s turn our frustration or questions or apathy or
discouragement or disillusionment with the problems in the world into prayer,
turning our discouragement over to God. In prayer we come before God unable,
needing His work, and in prayer He does big things. In our prayers, we may find
ourselves equipped and sent out as well—even in some way like the apostles are
sent out in the very next chapter! We are sent out to share the truth of Jesus
with others who are “harassed and helpless.”
Not Some Random Field
Next, we see in verse 38 that the disciples are told to pray to the “Lord
of the harvest.” This harvest is not just a random crowd of people; they belong
to God—they are God’s harvest.
Here Jesus focuses only on the Jewish people, as they are the first ones
God has willed to especially hear the message. But in the Great Commission at
the end of Matthew, we see that the final harvest, the people to whom we are
sent, are from “all nations.” We can be encouraged, because the people for whom
Jesus also calls us to pray, and to whom He also sends us as members of the
Church, belong to God.
We might wonder how this applies to our world today—to the “harvest” that
needs to be gathered in like so many fields of corn will be here in the fall,
of sheep without a shepherd, of people living distant from God. We don’t live
in first-century Palestine—a place that had been steeped in God’s Word for
hundreds of years even before the disciples were sent out by Jesus. How can we
be confident that our world, that Vergennes, Vermont so far removed from
ancient Israel, also belongs to “the Lord of the harvest” and is not unprepared
for the gospel?
First, we must remember that this church and others are part of the harvest
being gathered in by Jesus. All Christians are themselves evidence that the
world belongs to God.
In his book “Peace Child,” the missionary Don Richardson tells of his and
his wife’s work among a cannibalistic tribe of people in Indonesia. Here, in an
area that would seem to be totally unprepared for the gospel, they actually
discovered an amazing analogy to Jesus’ work within the culture itself. The only
way peace could be achieved between two warring tribes was if there was a child
(called the “Peace Child”) born in one tribe, who went to live with the enemy
tribe. The child could not be harmed, and as long as the child was alive, there
would be peace between the tribes. What a preparation for the people to begin
to understand Jesus as the Son that God had given, to reconcile us to God so we
could be at peace with Him. We had killed this One who was the true peace child,
but God raised Him from the dead to live forever. Even though we had done the
worst thing, God used this very thing to save us. When the missionaries
presented Jesus in this way to the people, there was an amazing conversion
among the people.
God was already at work in these people, preparing His harvest for Jesus, even
before the missionaries arrived. If this is true across the world, we can be
confident that wherever we go, we are not entering foreign territory, for God
has already been there. He is the Lord of the harvest, and the harvest—all
people He will bring to Himself—belong to Him.
Remember: We are not the ones who begin or ensure the outcome of this “harvest;”
God is the One at work, and He calls us to participate in what He is doing in the
world. God uses people, but it is still His
harvest, and He is the One who will equip and send us to accomplish the work in
His power, enormous though it is. So we don’t have to be discouraged; we are
called to pray that God will send out more workers, and we can trust Him to do
so.
The True Shepherd
Wherever we are in our lives now, Jesus invites all to come to Him and
follow Him as our Savior and shepherd. Let’s come to Him, and pray earnestly
that God would send out more people to gather others to Him as well.
On that awful day when those dogs attacked our chickens, I remember, after
the dogs were chased away, trying to coax my particular favorite—Chestnut—to
come to me. She had been badly frightened in running from the dogs. But we were
there to gather her, to gather them all in again, to bring them back where they
belonged, safe from being scattered or hurt by the dogs.
But even we, in this situation, could not fully guarantee our pets’ safety.
We were only human. But we serve a God who is far greater in compassion and
strength than we ever could be with our pets. Jesus’ compassion is greater, His
gathering of us and of the lost is more certain and skillful, and His
shepherding, nourishing, and protecting are infinitely better than ours could
ever have been.
Jesus is gathering the lost to Himself, restoring them to God. He is our
Good Shepherd, and we are called to participate in His mission, His work of
gathering the lost to Himself. Even though the harvest is great and the workers
may be few, we can come to Him in prayer and be ready to go into the world in
faith, knowing that He is able to accomplish the work and gather His lost
people to Himself!
[1] See Hosea 5:13-15 & Deuteronomy 28:59
[2] See the account of Job & John 9:3
[3] See James 5:13-16
[4] See Exodus 19:3-8
[5] See
also Deuteronomy 28 a couple verses after the passage we read earlier, parallel
with the crowds in Matthew 9 being described as “sheep without a shepherd:”
“Then the Lord will scatter you
among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will
worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors
have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for
the sole of your foot. There the Lord
will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.
[The Holy Bible : Today's New International Version., Dt 28:64–65 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2005).]
[6] “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his
benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases...” (Psalm 103:2-3)
[7] Jesus
is traveling around, restoring, and gathering people in. In Deuteronomy we read
that, if Israel did not obey God, He would “scatter you among all
nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other
gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65Among
those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your
foot. There the Lord will give you
an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.[7]” And in our
account today, we read of those who are “harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd”—this doesn’t seem too far from the picture we have in
Deuteronomy. But now Jesus is restoring them; now He is gathering them to Himself.
He is the Good Shepherd!
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