Matthew 9:1-17
“Snapshots of a Savior”
Vs. 1-8 Sending Away Sin
Vs. 9-13 Matthew: An Invitation To The Sick
14-17 New Cloth Wine
Intro
In this section of scripture, we are given a glimpse of our Lord Jesus. For the first time, He has opposition, which He has to deal with. Change is a difficult thing; we often get on a course that we refuse to divert from. We state our position and refuse to budge, so doing we look very foolish.
An actual transcript of a radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10-10-95.
Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, DIVERT YOUR COURSE!
Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS, AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO INSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
Canadians: This is a lighthouse! Your call!
Vs. 1-8 Sending Away Sin
As we come to this chapter, we are given 6 more miracles, one of which is general (verse 35). Jesus has shown Himself as over sickness, storms, and demonic possession, but what about sin paralysis?
Again, remember that these miracles, though testified of who he was, were not for that reason alone; they were personal to minister to the needs of those who suffered. As you read through the gospels, it is amazing to see how many people were afflicted with something. I believe that their sickness was in part due to their unfaithfulness to God’s covenant. In Ex. 15:26 (NLT), we are given the words of God to them: “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and laws, then I will not make you suffer the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
Vs. 1-2 As we saw last week, Jesus never stayed in a place that did not want Him, so He leaves to go back to what is clearly His headquarters. The other gospel accounts tell us that “they” refers to four men, whom we believe to be his friends. As well, we are told how he came to be in the presence of the Lord by being let down through the roof.
Note: Here we see the balance between faith and works. It says here that these men brought this paralytic man to Jesus “when He saw THEIR faith. The “their” here clearly refers in part to the paralytics, for Jesus says that his sins are forgiven, but the word “their” must also include the four. These men had faith that their faith worked in bringing their friend to Jesus.
Note: Now knowing the other gospel accounts the effort they put into bringing their friend to Jesus, His words must have been a letdown to them: “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” “Hey Lord, that’s neat, but we didn’t come through all these roof crowds just to hear some spiritual statement.” They no doubt would have much rather heard the second part of this found in verse 6. “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
. Is this not great though? We are so often prone to the superficial in our lives. “Lord!” we cry out. “Take away my heartache!” And instead the Lord is dealing with why that area is a heartache at all. That’s what He is doing here. He is saying, Yes, this man’s inability to move is terrible, but what is worse than this is the paralysis of sin in his life.
Now, by the wording of this, it appears that perhaps this man was aware that he was a sinner and that he was weighed down under the weight of his sin. Not all illness is caused by personal sin, but all illness is caused by sin at the fall. Now tradition tells us that he was paralyzed because of venereal disease, due to an immoral lifestyle, but this is not for certain.
Note: The great parallels between sin and paralysis. Both bind a person and separate him from the essential joys of life. There is a lack of movement, and so on.
Jesus uses a very interesting word for “forgiven.” He could have used a word that meant to be “gracious to or to overlook.”. Many people today want God just to overlook their sins. Their idea is that Jesus died to overlook their sins. The implication is that the sins are still there and that Jesus just becomes blind to them. Here though, He uses the word which means to “send away.”.
Put it in the phrase before us, it becomes quite powerful: “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are sent away from you.” In a practical realm, let’s say that you go to the doctor to remove a cancer growth on your face. Instead of sending it away from you by cutting it off, he hands you a bottle of makeup so you can cover it up so others will overlook it. Folks, you would still have the cancer; Jesus does not overlook sin in our lives; instead, as we come to Him confessing our sin and trusting Him, He sends it away!
Vs. 3-6 Here we are told the response of some of the scribes who heard Jesus’ words, sending this man’s sin away.
Now first of all, the moment He knew what they were thinking, you would have thought that would have been a clue to these guys that this Jesus was more than just your average person, but they don’t.
Next we have Jesus’ words to their thoughts: “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?” The key to understanding what Jesus meant by this question is the context. They believed that Jesus was blaspheming God because He, being man, made Himself equal to God, for only God can forgive sins. They are questioning His authority to do what He has said. So he in turn says, “Which is easier to say? That is the key word. He does not say do but say. Well, that is easy to answer; it is easier to say, Your sins have forgiven you, because that does not require any proof. But if I go over to a paralytic, say arise, take up your bed, and walk; that requires the power to heal, which again only comes from God. Both from man’s perspective are impossible for us to do.
You cannot see a person’s sin forgiven, can you? But you can see a person healed! For these scribes who questioned His authority in their minds, if He could heal, then He could forgive sin. Thus His words in verse 6, “That you may know that the Son of Man has power (ability) on earth to send away sin, take up your bed, go to your house.” The One who could make the paralytic walk was the only One who sent away sin.
Folks, don’t miss this for your own life. It is Jesus that we need; it is Him we must come to set us free from the things in our lives that bind us. If you yourself aren’t bound, then you can do what these friends did; you can bring those that are to His so that He can set them free!
Vs.7-8 Just in closing this section, notice how the paralytic responded and how those that witnessed this miracle responded. First the paralytic went forward in obedience and faith. Second, the multitudes were filled with wonder and awe and glorified God. Jesus always touched people in such a way that those that witnessed it glorified the Father. All too often, we tend to praise the instrument instead of the author.
Vs. 9-13 Matthew: An Invitation To The Sick
Vs. 9 Here we are told the story of how the instrument of this gospel became a follower of Jesus. Again, we are in one of those discipleship interludes. We know that Matthew was also called Levi, which tells us that he came from the priestly tribe of the Levites. It was their responsibility to care for the worship at the temple, but old Matthew was worshiping money for the things of this world. Matthew was a tax collector under the Roman government; he was given a quota that he was to collect; everything above that amount was his to keep, so that is how they got rich and why they were so hated. His name means “Gift of God,” yet he was living anything but that kind of lifestyle.
Now what amazes me is that the Lord sees him sitting at his corrupt job and goes right up to him and asks him to follow Him. There are two elements in this call that are the same for all who hear it:
A.) Trust
B.) Obedience
You just never know how someone will respond to the gospel, do you? This guy just did not seem as though he would follow the Lord, but it says that he did! How many would go over to the worst sinner you know to ask them if they would like to go to church? Not many, but you never know when the Lord might touch a heart.
Vs.10-11 I really like what Matthew did when he had a great big party; he invited all his old sinners to meet his new friend Jesus. Is it great that God calls sinners not saints? I mean, if he called saints, none of us would have been invited. How about you call sinners or saints to meet Jesus?
Vs. 12-13 It is not a person’s sin that keeps them from coming to Christ; it is their pride that refuses to acknowledge their need before Him. Oh, all we know would learn that they are in need so that they would have the doctor come to make them whole. Jesus comes to invite the sick to be made well free of charge. Folks, there’s only one thing necessary for every individual to go to heaven, and that is that they have to admit that they don’t ever deserve to be there! Think about it!
14-17 New Cloth Wine
Vs. 14-17 Now we close this section with Jesus’ radical teaching by way of two illustrations of the new covenant and the old. First the context; it centers around an observation of John the Baptist’s disciples, two of whom were at one time Andrew Philip. They had simply noticed that Jesus disciples did not fast as they nor the Pharisees did.
1.) John’s disciples fasted for humility to prepare the way of the Lord.
2.) The Pharisees did so to be seen before men as spiritual.
There will come a time when fasting will be appropriate for His disciples’, but it is after He is gone, not while He is in their midst. Too many times I think we Christians, in our desire to be holy, fail to demonstrate that we are full of the joy of the Lord. Jesus says that He has not come to “patch up” something old because His is a relationship, a “new cloth.” It will only make the tear worse.
The same is true of old wine skins. In those days, they would ferment the wine in new leather bags, so as the process started, it would stretch out the leather. Now if you tried to do that in an old leather bag, it could not handle the freshness of fermentation, thus bursting the bag and ruining both.
Folks, we too can become stagnant in our approach to the Lord, not open to His word in our lives. I just love the fact that God is always stretching me with His new wine.
Matthew 9:18-26
Vs. 18-26 Twelve Years of Life Death
Intro
Here we are given four more miracles that show Jesus as more than just a teacher of precepts. Then we have yet another discipleship interlude in verses 35-38. It is always interesting to look at parallels contrasted in the stories of those who encountered Jesus. We have four such stories to look at this morning.
First of all, the parallels:
A.) All these folks, no matter who they were, are at the end of themselves. Some had exhausted their finances; others were so bad off that someone else had to bring them there, but they were all desperate.
B.) Though their route to help hope was radically different, their destination was the same, Jesus. Many say there are many roads to God, but the fact is there is only one way to the Father, and that is through Jesus Christ. With that said, there are many ways to Jesus; now I did not say many Jesus’, I said many ways to the one Jesus.
C.) Lastly, all of these folks find hope and help in Christ. That is all are made whole. Name one doctor, one politician, or anything that can claim a 100% success rate. The only thing that has that kind of success is death; even this is defeated by Jesus.
Now the contrasts: As I said, they are as varied as we are as people. Some come to Jesus by way of the front door; others are seeking Him secretly. Some can’t see, but they sure can yell, while some can see fine but can’t say a word.
Vs. 18-26 Twelve Years of Life Death
Vs. 18 In the 8th chapter of Luke, the same story is recorded for us; there we are given his name as Jairus, which means “God will enlighten.” Again, Luke tells us that he was a ruler of a synagogue, but I think it is important here to understand what that meant so that we can see what it cost to come to Christ as well as how desperate the situation was that brought him.
A.) First, synagogues were started during the Babylonian captivity, where they were no longer able to worship at the temple, so they established synagogues wherever there were 10 Jewish men. The name means “gathering place” or “house of instruction.” The place would serve as a schoolhouse, a civil court, a place where the people could learn about the law precepts of God. A person would be elected “ruler” out of the 10 elders of the synagogue. The ruler would be a man of tremendous importance, one in whom the whole community looked up to.
B.) Second, look at what brought him to Jesus’ feet. He had a daughter, who we are told in Luke was 12 years of age. So for 12 years this young girl was the apple of his eye; she played at his feet and brought the greatest joy into his life. 12 years of sunshine was suddenly becoming dim.
Jairus was a busy man, a man of prestige, a man who, on his own, would have never come out to see this man named Jesus, but the circumstances left him with no other choice. Folks, I think this is true of those who come to Christ; the awful truth is that it is the terrible circumstances of our lives that draw us to seek His presence, but it is His goodness that keeps us there!
Look at what this man of prestige does in the midst of all of those people; he came to his feet worshiping Him. This word worship appears 60 times in the N.T. and means “to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand, to prostrate oneself in homage.” Notice that Jesus does not refuse this worship; by the way, this is the same word used in Matt. 4:9, where Satan says to Jesus that He can have all the kingdoms of the earth if He will just “fall down and worship him,” to which Jesus replies, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” So if Jesus does not refuse this worship, then who is He?
Then the simple request, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” This is an unfortunate translation into English here, for that is what he said; it is not what is meant; this phrase means “at the point of death” or, if you will, “as good as dead.” Luke tells us that it was as Jesus was still speaking that someone who came told Jairus not to bother Jesus for death had claimed his little ray of sunshine.
Notice the hope that Jairus had: “Come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Here is the situation that caused Jairus to go beyond pride, position, wealth, and reputation. Now he does not have the faith of the centurion back in 8:5–13, for he believes that she must have the Lord’s physical touch. Let me stop for a moment and ask you here this morning, “What would it take for you to come seek the Lord’s touch?” Would it take something as awful as this to drive you to His feet? Why wait? Why not just come now when there is no crisis?
Vs. 19 Is this not great? Jesus does not say a word; He does not debate theology with this man; He does not say for $19.95. I will come. Not a word of rebuke, why? Folks, what Jesus is interested in—that He may respond for all human hearts—has already taken place in Jairus; surrender! Jairus had surrendered all of himself. Our dog, Brandy, does this every time she comes into the house to spend the night. If I go over to her, she will just look at me with those brown puppy dog eyes, and licking my hand won’t stop until I move it away.
Brandy is communicating the same thing that Jairus is here: I surrender. So Jesus, Jairus, and the disciples start towards Jairus’s house. Can you imagine the desperation that drove him there now—the sense of hope that must have filled his heart? Oh, I’m sure there was still a great sense of urgency, trying to move the mass of people that were trying to get at Jesus.
Vs. 20-22 It is then that through this mass of people that a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years came to seek to touch the Lord.
Now in Jewish culture, this woman was like the lepers I spoke of before; she was unclean, thus she could not participate in society or in religious life. She was not allowed to be around other people. Again, Luke tells us that when this started out, she was quite well off and had spent all of it on trying to find a cure. 12 years of ill health, 12 years of separation, then poverty.
Jairus came publicly; this woman came privately, secretly. Yet they both came. She was superstitious; her theology was all messed up. There was a thought prevalent in that day that if you touched the hem of a spiritual leader, there was power there. We are told in Matt. 23:5 that the Pharisees had enlarged their hem’s tassels in order to seem more spiritual. This practice came from a word of the Lord to Moses in Num. 15:37-40. “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘Throughout the generations to come, you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.
You will have these tassels to look at, and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.”
Now Luke tells us that thousands of people were crushing upon Jesus and that the moment this woman touched Him, He knew that she had done so by faith. In fact, the disciples were quite amazed at Jesus’ words about who touched Him, but Jesus always knows who has grabbed a hold of Him by faith. She too had surrendered all.
With marvelous simplicity, Matthew records Jesus’ words to her here in verse 22. Again, Luke tells us that Jesus made her come forward and tell us all in sweet confession of her surrender.
Vs.23-26 Now we switch back to Jairus’s great need; no doubt this delay has caused him grief. Time is his enemy. This woman who was not even supposed to be in this crowd has caused a delay. Do you ever feel this way? You have some pressing need in your life; others around you are having their socks blessed off by God; you become anxious, then bitter?
Look at this another way, and you will see that Jesus, on the way to touch Jairus’s daughter, was still able to heal a woman who needed His touch; she touched Him. This ought to have encouraged Jairus; I’m not sure that it did, but it should have. Folks, God working in others’ lives ought to encourage us in our circumstances!
Again, Luke tells us that the news came as Jesus was speaking to this woman. “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher.” Wouldn’t your heart sink into your throat? The finality of death and the circumstances are beyond hope now. Luke records Jesus’ words to Jairus; the N.L.T. captures this quite well: “Don’t be afraid. Just trust me, and she will be all right.” The only thing is that literally Jesus says keep on trusting me.
Oh, how many times do we face situations where we start out trusting Jesus until the situation is greater than our ability to trust? What great reassurance this was. Nothing is ever too late, for the Lord Jairus would need this reassurance.
Vs. 23 Now we know that at this time these “flute players” were minstrels who, for the right price, would come out to mourn for the family. Poor families would have only a few, but wealthy families would have lots of them. Part of the reason was to drive away demons and the like. So perhaps there are 20 or so of these folks who are not sincere but are there for other reasons; what a ruckus going on. Jairus there morning, the loss of his daughter, yet remembering the words of Jesus.
Vs.24 The problem was obvious: there were so many of these people in there that Jesus could not get in.
A.) Now we have those words of Jesus concerning her condition. Jesus says that she is not dead but sleeping. It had already been reported that she was dead, so I’m sure from a medical perspective that she was dead. Luke, who was a doctor, tells us that they knew her to be dead. It is obvious that they took Jesus to mean that she was not dead physically in part; that is why they laughed at him to ridicule him. Jesus was speaking of a believer’s death here.
When a believer dies, they do not die a permanent death; no, they go home to be with the Lord. For the believer, death is just a little nap. I heard of a story of a man who wanted to send some flowers to a friend of his who had just relocated his business. So he ordered some flowers and had them sent with a card that read, “Congratulations on your new home.”
Well, some time passed and the man had not heard anything from his buddy, so he called him to ask if he had gotten the flowers, to which he replied, “Why did you send such a weird card?” Why do you mean the man asked? ” Well, your card read, “Our sincere prayer at your time of loss.” The florist had switched the cards inadvertently and sent the card that read Congratulations on your new home to a funeral instead. That’s the idea here; she’s not dead in the finality of human defeat; she is just taking a nap.
Vs. 25-26 Notice that He put the crowd out, folks; that is what we need to do with our noisy unbelief. Then He took her by the hand; she arose. Now Luke tells us that afterward He instructed them to give her something to eat. Now there are three instances in scripture of Jesus raising the dead:
1.) Jairus’s daughter: 12 year old who is hungry after she is raised.
2.) Luke 7:15: The widow at Nain son: Who spoke after he was raised.
3.) John 11:44 Lazarus: Who walked after he was raised.
Is it not interesting that these are the same characteristics that are found when we are spiritually reborn? We ought to have a hunger for the word; our speech ought to be different, as ought to be the way we conduct our lives.
Matthew 9:27-38
“Teaching, Preaching, Healing”
Vs. 27-34 Power Over Darkness Demons
27-31 The Sight of the Blind
32-34 The Speech of the Mute
35-38 The Lord of the Harvest
Intro
As I said last week, all of these events happen the same day. Jesus handles each person as if they were the only person put on earth. This morning we will look at two more miracles as well as a discipleship interlude. As I read the last part of chapter 9 and hear my Lord beckon us to pray to Him and ask for laborers, it causes me to examine my own sacrifice in light of His!
I heard of an African lady who was very poor who had received Christ. One day an evangelist came to her area. To support the outreach, those that could bring love offerings to be sold. She was very poor and had nothing to give. On the last night of the crusade, the pastor observed her putting in one silver coin worth a dollar—not much to us, but in this area it was a great sum of money.
The pastor, fearing that this woman had somehow obtained this coin dishonestly, went to her afterward with the coin and asked her where she had gotten it. Her response was that she had been a slave on a plantation most of her life several years ago. After becoming a Christian, she had been granted her freedom.
Seeing that she had nothing to give to see others experience the freedom she had in Christ, she had gone back to the plantation and sold herself back into slavery for life so that others may be set free! This woman with her sacrifice was a laborer!
27-31 The Sight of the Blind
Vs. 27 We are told of six blind men that Jesus healed; each He did a different way. It appears as if these two fellows followed Jesus from when He left Jairus’s house for some distance. The words “crying out” literally mean to scream as a rooster. These guys were relentless in their speech and no doubt had friends who were helping them follow the Lord.
Now what they said reveals that they believed Jesus to be the Messiah, that they ask for the right thing, “have mercy upon us.” Blindness is a picture of unbelief, yet these guys clearly saw spiritually better than those who were religious could see. So far we have seen a centurion who had more faith than a ruler of a synagogue, a tax collector who gives more away than those who are supposed to be servants.
All too often, those who say they trust the Lord do not do so, so those who are desperately needy demonstrate their trust. So here then is the point: we must constantly realize that we are needy folks!
Vs. 28-29 Notice that Jesus challenges their faith, that is, that what they say they want must go beyond just intellectual ascent; “Do you believe that I am able to do this thing?” It is not enough to agree that penicillin is able to cure infections. You can run around saying this all you want while still having a fever. One commentator says, “Faith is the hand that takes what God offers.” I just love the simplicity of their reply, “Yes Lord!”
Vs. 30-31 Here we see that right away their eyes were opened and that it was according to their faith that this was done. Now it was not faith in their faith; it was not power in their words. Look carefully at Jesus’ words, “Do you believe that I am able to do this thing?” There was no formula here, only simple trust in God, who said He was able to heal. Faith does not guarantee healing, but it does show that you are trusting in the Lord for what is best for you!
Next, he warns them not to go out and tell everyone, but why? I think it is because of the fact that people have the tendency to worship the miraculous over the message and the gifts more than the giver. Or perhaps Jesus is worried about them getting into trouble with the Rabbis; we are not sure. I just love the fact that they could not keep their mouths shut before they could see; they can’t keep them shut now after they could see. Before they were crying out for mercy after their eyes were opened, they were “spreading the news about Him.”
They are not spreading the news about what He did for them; they are speaking of Jesus. The N.I.V. carries the literal meaning of this word “spread,” where it says, “spread the news about him.” These guys made him known! I believe that this is what we need to be doing today: making Jesus known to a blind world. We who were once blind, but now we can see telling others who are still blind about Jesus who can give them their sight.
32-34 The Speech of the Mute
Vs. 32-33 Here we see that this man was brought to Jesus; he did not come on his own. We also see that demon possession can cause physical afflictions.
Curious that the last two guys could not see when they were given their sight went all over the area telling people about Jesus, then comes this guy who can see but not speak; he ends up speaking. Satan is always trying to spiritually blind folks or keep them from speaking!
The Jewish understanding of demon possession was that to cast out a demon, you had to know its name, so that a demon that made a man mute could never tell you its name. This is why we see the response, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” Jesus shows the weakness of tradition compared with His authority over the spiritual realm.
Vs. 34 The Pharisees did not deny the miracle, but they did question His authority to do so. This is the beginning of their rejection of Jesus, a charge of being in league with the devil, which they will repeat in chapter 12:22. Jesus will refute that claim and warn them that they are close to committing the unpardonable sin, “the blasphemy against the Spirit.”
I had a woman call me not too long ago, saying that she had been awake for 4 days because she thought she had committed the “unpardonable sin.” So I asked her what she had done, and she told me that in a fit of rage she said that she hated God and did not want Him in her life. As I tried to tell her that this was not a good thing, but had she repented of this, she said she did right after it had left her mouth, but then she quoted this verse and said she could not be forgiven.
It seems some Christian had told her that she was doomed to Hell for what she had done, no matter how much she repented. So I told her what the “blasphemy against the Spirit” is. John 15:26 “But when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.“ The work of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Jesus. When He does so, it is clear that a person knows who Jesus is and then chooses not to believe in Him; then there’s nothing else the Holy Spirit can do. You can see that these Pharisees were heading this way, as they could not debate the miracles; they were now saying that it was by the power of the devil that He was doing healings.
35-38 The Lord Of The Harvest
Vs. 35 Here we get a glimpse into Jesus’ method towards reaching the world:
Teaching: He brought forth the truth in a place where the Jews met week by week. It consisted of interpreting the Scriptures.
Preaching: Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. This was the announcement that God’s kingdom was at hand. It was to get people ready to receive the truth that he was the Messiah.
Healing: That is to say, the practical reality of the truth which He proclaimed. This was the manifestation of His power to work that which He preached. I love the fact that it says “every” sickness or disease. There were no cases too hard for him. Folks, there is no situation too difficult for Jesus today.
Note: As we look at the last part of this section where Jesus tells these men to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers, then we look at this section here, and then I believe that we will know how to pray for ourselves. For in this method of reaching people we see what the worker of the harvest ought to be doing, but more than that we see how he ought to be doing it, “compassion.”.
There is a balance! Yes, teaching, preaching, and healing, but on the motivation of self-brokenness, which produces compassion.
Vs. 36 The greatest need in workers is compassion. The time had come for workers in Chapter 10. He sends them out. There were too many cities—too many—that needed only one of Him. It was a must to have more workers; it was a must because He had compassion.
Folks, it ought to break our hearts to see multitudes that have not yet met the Lord; if not, then what does that say about our spiritual condition? The word “compassion” means that “His bowels were moved within Him.” Bowels were regarded as the seat of tender affection. Today we would use the word “heart.” His heart was broken. He felt the pain of the heartache of lost people. He identified with their pain and suffering so much that He must move in action towards them.
Notice how He saw them: “They were faint and cast aside, as sheep not having a shepherd.” A while back, a neighbor moved out and left many mutts next door. Now I never much liked these two dogs, but after they left I noticed that they were whining all the time. A few weeks passed, and I finally peeked over the fence to see these two dogs chained up, starving to death.
They were so bad that their fur was falling off. So I broke the fence and gave them some water. Folks, the people we see every day that are out there without Jesus are like sheep without a shepherd; we need to reach out to them. Notice that Jesus saw people as sheep, not goats! Lost sheep with all the possibility of becoming a healthy whole. He also saw their condition: flung out, lost, starving, half dead. He also saw the reason for their condition—no shepherd.
You know what is amazing? He wants to be their shepherd! Here is what the Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 33: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them,’ Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.”
“The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.”
That is how Jesus saw the people, for He came to seek to save that which was lost, for He was the good shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.
Vs. 37 So how does He move these disciples?
1.) He gives them His vision of the multitudes, as lost sheep.
2.) Then He told the power, which would be essential to reach the lost, to pray to the Lord of the harvest.
3.) Lastly, He asks them to go out to harvest.