Jesus motive and Jesus motive and method of ministrymethod of ministry

Mathew 9:36 to 38Mathew 9:36 to 38

INTRODUCTION to the topic and contextual background

At this point Matthew has concluded the section on Jesus’ attestation of His divine authority and His messianic credentials (chaps. 8-9). In chapter 10 Matthew focuses on Jesus’ commissioning of the disciples and His initial instruction and training for their apostolic ministry.

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The verses we read bridge between these two sections, as Jesus temporarily turns away from His public ministry to the multitudes and begins to concentrate exclusively on discipling the twelve. Until this point His disciples have simply been listeners and onlookers, observing and learning. All of the actual ministry—teaching, preaching, and healing—has been performed by Jesus Himself. Now Jesus shows the reason and need to begin involving the disciples. In the three verses of our text we are given a glimpse of Jesus’ MOTIVE and METHODS in preparing the disciples for their joint ministry with Him.

I – HIS MOTIVES (Mathew 9:36-37a)

A.) COMPASSION - “And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them”

. “Splanchna”, the noun form of the verb behind felt compassion, literally refers to the intestines, or bowels. More often, however, it is used figuratively to represent the emotions, The Hebrews, like many other ancient peoples, expressed attitudes and emotions in terms of physiological symptoms. As most of us know many intense emotions—anxiety, fear, pity, remorse, etc. directly, and often immediately, affect the stomach and the digestive tract.

To the Hebrews, the heart, on the other hand, was associated more with the mind and thinking whereas the bowels were the responder, the reactor. Jesus therefore used the common term of His day to express His deep compassion for the great crowds of people who were suffering. But His care was not merely figurative, because He felt in His own body the symptoms of His deep caring. Jesus compassion was recorded a lot of times in the Gospel. In contrast to the God portrayed by the religious leaders of Jesus day and the gods of the pagans, Jesus cared for people.

B.) CONDITION – Man’s lost condition - “ . . . because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd. . . ” (9:36b)

. Jesus saw that the real need of the people was not that their physical sickness be healed but that they be freed from their bondage to sin.

“Skullo” (to be distressed) connoted the ideas of being battered, bruised, mangled, ripped apart, worn out, and exhausted. Jesus saw the multitudes as being inwardly devastated by their sinful and hopeless condition.

“Rhipto” (to be downcast) has the basic meaning of being thrown down prostrate and utterly helpless, as from drunkenness or a mortal wound.

Jesus saw the downcast multitudes as sheep without a shepherd to protect and care for them. They were helpless and defenseless, spiritually battered, thrown down, and without leadership or supply. Their religion was a burden instead of being a relief.

C.) THE COMING JUDGMENT Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful,” (9:37a).

. The harvest here not only speaks of those that are lost but of the coming judgment. (Mathew 13:30, Revelations 14:14 to 20)

Jesus ministered compassionately and tirelessly because He could see the ultimate consummation of divine judgment toward which every person in the multitudes was headed who did not trust in Him. Our Lord, however, knew the tragedy and anguish of a destiny of Hell (Mark 9:43-44), and it grieved His heart that even one person should be there, because it is not His will “for any to perish” (2 Pet. 3:9).

Paul the Apostle said, “Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11), and in another letter he reminded his readers of the vengeance of God (Rom. 12:19, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

II – HIS METHOD (Mathew 9:37b-38)

“ . . . but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest. “

. After right motives are established in we need to look at how to win the lost for Christ. The next step in Jesus’ method is prayer. Christ’s workers are to pray for more workers. The Christian’s first responsibility is not to go out and start working as soon as he sees a need but to come to the Lord in prayer.

It is interesting and significant that Jesus did not command the disciples to pray for the lost, although this is needed (1 Tim. 2:1-8). It is ok to pray for someone’s salvation but when we sincerely ask the Lord to send someone to witness to them, we place ourselves to be available to become one of the workers.