The Compassion of Jesus for the People

Matthew 9:35-38

Jeff Janca

First Baptist Church

March 23, 2011

It is quite obvious to all who observe the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus that He had a great compassion and love for the hurting and lost people of Israel. As we have gone through these first 9 chapters of the Gospel of Matthew His love is very evident, as the Lord Jesus reaches out to the dejected, the discouraged, the diseased, and the distraught.

In verse 35 we read that Jesus literally went to many cities and villages teaching, preaching, and healing. Now it is easy to race through this verse but let us pause for a moment to consider these words.

Teaching. The Lord Jesus spent time teaching the people the truths of Scriptures. We are told in God’s Word that Jesus spoke and taught with authority. He did not teach as the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees. They taught tradition and their own interpretation of the Law to the people for the most part. There teachings only seem to push God further and further away from man’s reach. While in contrast, the Lord Jesus not only drew God closer but also revealed God very plainly and clearly to mankind.

The people were hungry for the truths of God. They were spiritually starving to hear someone plainly and clearly articulate the truths of God’s Word to them. They had an ache, a craving to know of the God who created them and set their nation apart. They had a desire to hear from God for He seemed so distant and aloof.

The Lord Jesus painted a clear picture of God using His teachings and parables as brush strokes. He made it clear that Jehovah God really did care for them and love them and that He had not forgotten them, though they had forgotten Him. Through the teachings of the Lord Jesus, they realized that God not only desired fellowship with the people of His creation but He also deeply desired to have a relationship, an intimate relationship with all who would respond and receive the Messiah. He also made it clear that the Lord looked on the heart and that just going through the motions fell very short and missed the mark.

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Preaching. Not only did the Lord Jesus teach with authority, He also preached with authority the Good News, the Gospel. Jesus preached that mankind must repent and turn with a whole heart to Him receiving Him as both Lord and Christ.

Healing. Jesus not only demonstrated in Word but also in deed as He healed many of diseases and cast out demons, and fed thousands upon thousands. Those bedridden, broken of body, and blind were miraculously healed and set free from what had once bound them. Rich or poor all were received and healed. The common threads that they all had were that they were desperate and had faith.

Here in verse 36 Jesus saw the multitudes, the throngs, the crowds and He was moved with compassion, pity, and sympathy for them. The hundreds and thousands of people who came to Jesus were weary and scattered. They were looking for someone to lead them. Yes all were empty and they were searching to fill that emptiness. Some were looking for God that is clear, while others were looking for what they could get out of it. Some were thrill seekers. Some might have come out of curiosity.

Yet Jesus saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Sheep without a shepherd go in many directions. The shepherd tends to keep them going in the right direction like the streams, springs, and rivers of waters and to those meadows and fields of grass. The shepherd is the one to protect them from the enemy, yet the enemy had scattered these sheep these people for many years.

The original Greek here indicates that Jesus was describing their spiritual needs and not their material needs. It goes further to indicate that they were under spiritual harassment and bewildered spiritually.

The Lord Jesus saw all their needs, hurts, broken hearts, and empty souls and He became overwhelmed with compassion for them.

Jesus declares in verse 37 to His disciples that the harvest, the work to do is very great and that there is a great need for laborers to help in the work. Years ago I remember going through a corn field outside of Ellinger, Texas to pick corn. It was not easy. It took effort. The ears of corn just didn’t jump into my basket.

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So also a spiritual harvest will take effort from the laborers.

In verse 38 Jesus tells His disciples to pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send out laborers. They were to pray for the lack of laborers and they were to pray specifically for the Lord of the Harvest to send them out.

Going back to the literal Greek here we read that Jesus was telling them to pray that the Lord of the Harvest would literally thrust and force out the laborers.

The verb ek-ball-o literally means to drive out, to push out, to draw out with or without violence. To send out using force.

One thing that hits me is that we are to pray that the Lord of the Harvest moves people out of their comfort zones and into the fields white for harvest.