Jesus’ compassion and his command
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Sermon: Sunday, 21st March, 2021 Matthew 9:35-38
Do you have good eyesight? I don’t mean are you long-sighted or short-sighted. Sometimes, we can see people but we don’t really see them. For example, we walk down the High Street, and we’re in a rush, and buy a few things and walk home. We haven’t really noticed the homeless man, those queuing outside the chemist, the men walking into the betting shop, or the young mum struggling to get up the hill with 3 kids and her shopping. Of course, we see them, but we don’t really see them. Why not? Probably because we are so caught up with our own needs and concerns. We are busy people, and we have our own family concerns, and the needs of others, more often than not, don’t even register.
Can you relate to that? I can. We are a culture which often doesn’t take an interest in others, and even when we do ask someone ‘how are you’ we don’t always listen to the reply, far less act upon it. We live in an independent, self-absorbed age. My needs and concerns trump others. Or you see your neighbours and notice what kind of car they drive, what kind of clothes they wear, how attractive they are, but you don’t see them as people, valuable to God, made in his image.
1. Jesus’ eyesight and ours
What is Jesus’ eyesight like? When he sees a crowd, he really sees.
‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ (Matthew 9:36)
Matthew wants us to understand something about Jesus: he has 20:20 vision. He’s not so self-absorbed in his own needs, desires, feelings, and aspirations that his eyes glaze over, and he rushes by on the other side, ticking off something else on his ‘to do’ list.
What does Jesus see? He sees people who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
What does this actually mean? Is Jesus concerned because Israel is occupied by the Romans and they are politically helpless and downtrodden? Or are they helpless because they don’t have enough money? Or is he upset because of their lack of education, or the poor quality of their homes? Jesus’ main concern is not their clothes or other externals. He seems them holistically. He sees them as valuable people with eternal souls. He sees their spiritual need. Huge spiritual need.
• They are harassed: this speaks of people who are spiritually oppressed.
• They are helpless: in other words, they are unable to rescue themselves or change their situation.
In one sense, it shouldn’t have been this way, because the people had spiritual shepherds who ruled over them. The problem was, these shepherds were false shepherds, and rather than bringing the people the spiritual truth, teaching and comfort they needed, they actually made things worse for the people.
Listen to how Jesus describes the Pharisees and teachers of the law: ‘They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them’ (Matthew 23:4)
It’s no small matter to be like a sheep without a shepherd. Sheep don’t cope well without a shepherd. They are susceptible to being preyed upon by wild animals. If they become ‘cast’ they are unable to get up again and can die. They can suffer greatly from hunger and thirst, and are likely to wander into real danger. Jesus sees sheep who are dependent and yet remain unprotected, uncared for, and lost.
Sheep without a shepherd; this is Jesus’ image, not just for the crowd back then, but for all people of every age who don’t have him as their Shepherd. Without God leading us, we are spiritually lost, estranged from God, living without true purpose, unforgiven, and spiritually messed up.
You might think, hang on a minute, how can you be so sure that Jesus is so focussed on the spiritual needs of the human condition? Well, because the phrase ‘sheep without a shepherd’ is used all throughout the Old Testament in this exact way. Matthew is using the image deliberately.
‘Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.’ (Ezekiel 34:2-6)
In fact, the Lord prophesies what he is going to do for his people. ‘I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.’ (Ezekiel 34:22-24)
In Ezekiel 34, the Lord prophetically tells us that what the sheep really need is Jesus to be their shepherd. The sheep need to be saved, and as we know, this will come about through Christ’s death on the cross, where he lays down his life for the sheep.
If Jesus looks at people and sees their spiritual need, then we must look at people with the same eyes. Jesus looks at the paralysed man in Mark chapter 2 and what is the main thing he sees? A cripple? No, he sees a man who needs his sins to be forgiven.
As we go about our lives, and see our work colleagues, neighbours, friends, acquaintances, family members, what ought we to see? We ought to see people without Jesus. People spiritually lost. Often, we look at them and might even envy them; they might seem to have things so ‘sorted’. They might seem happier than we are. They might seem to be enjoying their lives more. But we’re not seeing things clearly. The truth is, they too are sheep without a shepherd.
2. Jesus compassion and ours
‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ (Matthew 9:36)
What is compassion? It is an inward sense of pity, which propels us to action. It’s not just feeling sorry for someone and then walking by on the other side without getting involved. Love involves far more than feelings. Love involves action. Love is action.
If we want to know what God is like, we look to Jesus, because Jesus is God. So, let us be clear, God is a God of compassion. He looks down upon the world with compassion, and with that sense of pity which leads him to action: 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3 v16). This is our God: a God who cares and a God who acts. Jesus’ heart is a wonderfully compassionate heart. How could we doubt that when we know that he would soon lay down his life for the sheep. Could he have done any more for us? Could he do more to convince us of his love and care?
Of course, Jesus cares about poverty too, and ill health and poor housing and loneliness and social justice. He spends time healing the sick in the crowds. But he does much more: ‘Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.’ (Matthew 9:35)
How will we respond if we see those around us in their true spiritual need? As we copy Jesus, our role model, may our churches be those who help the poor and downtrodden, but who also proclaim the good news of the gospel, because that’s what people need more than anything else. We need to be bringing people to Jesus, by bringing them to church and bringing them to the Bible. Would you like to read a passage in the Bible with me? We can ask our friends that. Would you like to come to church with me some time? There’s no harm in asking!
Let’s pray that God would help us to see things as they really are. We will see lots of people in the weeks and months ahead. Some might be poor, and others will have a lot of disposable income. Some might be depressed and others quite chirpy. Some will be healthy and others unwell. But what they all have in common is this: they desperately need the Lord Jesus as their Shepherd and Saviour. May the Lord give us compassionate hearts which long to see them be saved.
3. Jesus’ command and our response
Follow the chain here: Jesus sees, he has compassion and then he responds. How does Jesus respond? He responds by commanding his disciples (and by extension he commands us today) to pray to God to send more workers out. Jesus’ command to pray for more workers makes it crystal clear that he sees the main need of the people as a spiritual one; what people need is to hear the good news. And so, Jesus commands us to pray for harvesters, for workers. What are they harvesting? Souls!
Crops are ripening in the fields. It is harvest time. There is an urgent need to have workers bringing in the crop – as otherwise the harvest will be ruined. That’s true at harvest time. The farmer has a window in which to gather in the corn and wheat and so on. And if he misses that window then all will be lost. We have a window to gather in souls- the time is now.
What an amazing statement of Jesus: ‘the harvest is plentiful’. There are many who will be saved. The problem is the lack of willing people ready to work.
In our own Presbytery there have been 4 men applying for ministry, and it has been very encouraging to interview some of them. One of the members of Presbytery commented ‘God is answering our prayers for more workers in a wonderful way’. It is important to be thankful for the fact that the Lord continues to raise up workers.
However, we must not be complacent in our praying. To put it bluntly, do you regularly pray that the Lord would be raising up workers? I need to do this more and more. And not just any old harvesters, but those called by God, equipped by God, and faithful to the gospel message. We don’t need self-appointed men, without the gifts required.
When we pray this prayer regularly, with a real compassion for souls, and with a desire to God to be known and loved, another thing often happens, we ourselves become more aware of our own responsibility to share the gospel with others. We might even end up being part of the answer to our own prayers.
Some people take Matthew 9:38 and pray every morning or evening at 9:38 for God to raise up more workers. In our own denomination, there is a desire to plant 30 churches by 2030; this means there is a huge need for new workers, especially when we factor in ministers who are retiring in the next few years.
Of course, we can’t all be gospel workers in the Matthew 9:38 sense. But I hope you’d all agree that we can all be involved. We can play our part as we pray, and give to gospel work, and connect with more and more unbelievers in the circles into which the Lord has placed us. Imagine every single Christian in our church prayerfully seeking to connect with others for God’s glory. That’s much more powerful than just a handful of people doing it. This is what we must aim for.
Don’t just ask, but plead with, beseech the Lord of the harvest to do this for us. The gospel need in Scotland is enormous. Let’s end on this note of encouragement. We are told in verse 38 that the harvest field belongs to God, and that he is the Lord of the harvest. This is great news. It means that it’s not all down to us. In fact, we cannot save a single person. Michael Green puts it helpfully: ‘We are not responsible for the growth of the Kingdom. He is. And he seeks our co-operation, in prayer and in going.’
Our job as a church is to be faithful in our praying and faithful in our going. Sometimes we get discouraged when we aren’t seeing many conversions in our own land. But let’s keep on going, remembering that the harvest is plentiful and that as Paul reminds us: ‘Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.’ (1 Corinthians 15:58)
‘Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.’ (Psalm 126:6)