The Exposition of Matthew 9:35-38
Written by Jimmie Burroughs
(Miracles of Jesus)
Introduction
We began our study of the miracles of Jesus’ Gallian ministry a few months ago, and now we are coming to the end and getting ready to move into Matthew chapter 10 next week. We are at the point when things are about to change in Jesus Gallian ministry. When we come to chapter 10, there is a transition beginning, leading up to big changes in Jesus’ entire approach to His ministry.
What is that something big? Israel rejects Jesus as the Messiah. When Israel rejected the offer of the kingdom, everything changed from that point forward.
We will have to wait until we get to chapter 12 for the full story. This did not take Jesus by surprise; He knew from the beginning that His people would reject Him, and now He begins to prepare His disciples and the crowds. That preparation is the subject of Matthew’s 10th and 11th chapters, which we will be entering into next week. Actually, the pretransition had already begun at the end of chapter 9 where our study ended last week; so, we will pick up at chapter 9 verse 35.
Matthew 9:35-36 35“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”
Mathews gives a summary of Jesus’ Gallian ministry in verse 35: “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” This is relatively a large area including around 240 towns and cities. We were not able to visit all these towns in January, but we were in several of them.
The purpose of Jesus’ Gallian ministry was sharing the truth concerning His identity and purpose for coming to earth. The miracles of Jesus were more than enough proof that He was the promised Messiah. As early as chapter 4:23, Matthew had outlined Jesus’ Gallian ministry in that Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease among the people.
In between Chapter 4 and chapter 9, Matthew has recorded the miracles he chose to give ample evidence that Jesus was who He claimed to be, the promised Messiah. In these miracles Jesus evidenced the power and authority that only comes from God. Jesus accomplished an amazing lot in His three-year ministry, so much in fact that John recorded at the end of the gospel of John, John 21:25 25, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.”
In verse 36, we begin to see Jesus beginning to transition in His priorities as He considers His approaching rejection by the Jews: “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion [“pity”] on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Why did Jesus Pity them? It was not because they were poor, needy and sick. He had already spent nearly a year among them teaching and healing them, as their Messiah, the good shepherd, preaching the coming of the kingdom. Instead of being filled with joy with His presence they were the opposite, distressed, which means they were worried and troubled. Why was this? Matthew gives the answer at the end of verse 36: “…because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”
Shepherding is commonly used in Scripture to describe the relationship between Jesus and His followers. It is an accurate metaphor for comparison but not necessarily a complimentary one, since sheep are dimwitted. Their only interest seems to be finding food to satisfy their appetite. Does that not sound a lot like the world today that has become all about “me,” my money, my job, my house, my car, etc. They have the tendency to wander away (All we like sheep have gone astray, so says the Bible) and find themselves in danger. And an easy prey since they are defenseless. Without out the shepherd to guide them, sheep are lost. Unlike cattle, sheep cannot be driven from behind; they need a shepherd to lead them.
Sheep depend on the shepherd to lead them and to keep them from danger and when they don’t have a shepherd, they become distressed and scattered. At this point Israel was confused. They were being pulled in one direction by the Pharisees and the scribes who pretended to be their guiding shepherd and they were being pulled in the other direction by Jesus who claimed to be the promised Messiah. Therefore, they were distressed, wandering around not sure which way to go.
It was impossible to ignore Jesus because He was doing things that amazed them, things they had never witnessed before. Jesus their good shepherd was right in their midst and yet they are distressed. How can this be explained? There is no middle ground with Jesus. You have to either receive Him or reject Him and these Jews were in a state of indecision. They had plenty of evidence to make the right decision. Isn’t that the same today among the multitudes?
There were several ideas floating around to explain the power of Jesus, as we see later in Matthew 16:13-14: 13”When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.”
Did you notice the one important thing missing in this verse? Messiah is not mentioned, which is the obvious explanation of who Jesus is. Ironically, even with His display of powers, the Jews still did not recognize Him as the Messiah. By the way, they still don’t even until this very day. The Pharisees even tried to explain the powers of Jesus as coming from Satan. Jesus countered that by saying, “And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand,” Mark 3:24. They fainted or was dispirited, meaning they were downcast and discouraged spiritually.
They were willing to believe the Pharisees rather than the King, coming so close to their redemption yet so far away. They failed to embrace their good shepherd even though He was right in their midst. Their self-acclaimed leaders, the Pharisees, were stumbling blocks who stirred them away from the Messiah.
Jesus had some strong words for these blind leaders: Matthew 23:13, 13“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”
Today we see the same dilemma. The world refuses to recognize Jesus as Lord and savior. Therefore, they are without a shepherd, wondering about in a world of hurt and discouragement. In these last days there are false, corrupt teachers who are teaching to itching ears and becoming stumbling blocks, deceiving many, causing distress and discouragement.
All across America people are giving up on church. I think the pandemic of 2020 is pushing that belief. It will be interesting to see how many faithful church members are left when the pandemic is gone. According to what I see at present, there will far less than at the beginning. I hope I’m wrong. Too many today consider church a waste of time and God’s Word becomes irrelevant and useless.
When a nation of people turns away from God, what is left? All that is left is obviously the wisdom of the world. What good is the wisdom of the world? Can it tell us about a God without Him revealing Himself to us through His Word? We need strong shepherds to lead the people of God lest they stumble and fall. However, today there are plenty of weak shepherds who rather compromise with the world than to stand against it. Obviously, bad shepherds are completely sabotaging the purpose of the Lord, replacing it with a purpose of their own, alien to God.
Like Israel, misled believers are wandering like sheep without a strong shepherd, falling into danger, confused and distressed. They are starving for lack of spiritual nourishment and are lost and in danger of the wrath to come. They are like foolish sheep without a shepherd, led to the slaughter. When we have a strong, godly shepherd, we are to respect them as our leader and obey the Bible: Hebrews 13:17: 17“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
But at the same time, we must be wise and learned, discerning who leads us and who teaches us lest we too fall into error. When our leaders show themselves to be ungodly, unable to discern and preach or teach the inspired Word of God, we need to look elsewhere or become as sheep without a true shepherd.
But there is good news: even though good shepherds are in short supply the Good Shepherd in Heaven will never forsake us His sheep. The Holy Spirt of God is within every believer to comfort and to minister. We can depend on the Holy Spirit to alert us when there is danger of the influence of false teachers. We have a growing sense of dissatisfaction, or that something is missing and is not quite right. The Spirit does not drive a person to straighten things out and cause a fight, but compels him to find a better place of worship.
Now the Lord’s compassion for His people, as we see in v.36, brings us into the next section of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus begins to prepare His disciples, in this new section, for Israel’s rejection of Him and His Kingdom. His disciples are instructed that they must become a new generation leading God’s flock away from the false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees and in the truth of God’s Word. This part of the ministry of Jesus is referred to as the private ministry of our Lord.
Jesus begins to train them to assume the shepherding duties of the people of God, those who received Jesus as the Messiah. They were not to follow the Pharisees method of leadership but to turn to an entirely new way. Jesus emphasizes the need for new leaders to lead the flock in verse 37 and 38:
Matthew 9:37-38 37“Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38“Pray ye therefore the LORD of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
It is time for harvest but the labors are few. The metaphor of verses 37 and 38 is easily understood: The world is the field ready for harvest and the grain represent the lost people of the world. God does not leave it all up to us; He prepare the hearts of the lost through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, without which no one can be saved. This is encouraging because before He calls His Church to go out and seek the lost, He has already conditioned the hearts of some to receive the gospel. Not everyone we witness to will be receptive, but those who have received God’s solemn invitation for salvation will be.
In the time of Jesus, the Jews thought because they were God’s chosen people, they were automatically part of the kingdom. They had to be convinced that they were lost and in need of a savior. Jesus, just before He ascended into heaven gave the church what is called the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing those who believe and teaching them these things Jesus taught His disciples.
In centuries past, Israel waited for their Messiah to appear based on the promises of Scripture. However, now that the Messiah had come, they had difficulty believing and as a nation they rejected their own Messiah. This required Jesus to change courses. He would seek out believers to become evangelists, seeking disciples which would later include the gentiles. This is the kingdom work in which we are still involved until this day.
God’s approach now would require the disciples of Jesus to take a new radical approach different from Israel’s present leaders. The Pharisees were self-righteous, self-serving, and self-satisfied, but workers of the kingdom must be the opposite; they must be compassionate and humble. They were to be self-sacrificing, placing their priorities on higher things of Christ with a compassionate heart for the lost. These kinds of leaders were not in good supply at the time of Jesus nor are they today.
Many today are much like those of Jesus’ day, men who loved power, money and the praise of people more than they do the kingdom work. Israel’s rejection of Jesus their Messiah resulted in that generation losing the kingdom, which was the ultimate price.
The fields are white for harvest but the labors are few. Therefore, we need to pray for strong leaders, unwavering in the faith to lead the flock of God to evangelism instead of compromising with the world and becoming a house of entertainment and organization of programs.
There is another facet of ministry that we cannot afford to ignore any longer and that is our own part in the work of the kingdom. Not only should we be praying for leaders and workers for the kingdom, we should be praying that God will prepare our heart and open doors for our own involvement in the kingdom work. Prayers work not only to get God’s will in our life but also to help our understanding concerning God so that we will grow to align the desires of our hearts with the will of God.
Our prayers should always include asking God to direct our hearts toward His will and His mission for our lives. We are not to just pray for God to send someone else but to show us where he wants us involved in the kingdom work. Jesus instructed the early disciples to pray for workers for the harvest, little knowing that they were those future workers. In those days the church was growing by leaps and bounds and workers were desperately needed. Today the church is always in need of workers; although there are plenty members there are still few willing to take part in the kingdom work.
As you pray that God will send workers to the harvest, don’t forget that He might be preparing your own heart to take up a position, working in His kingdom.