Compassion and workers

Jesus went about teaching, preaching, and healing in that region. As He went about, He felt compassion for those He saw.

"And Jesus was going about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd." Matthew 9:35-36

This is what His disciples recognized; Jesus had compassion for those He saw. Compassion was integral to the work He did. The people He saw were not specifically those on the fringes of society; He did not just have compassion on the failures and outcasts. He had compassion on the people of the land; mankind was "distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd". Those He saw may not have felt distressed and downcast; they were living "normal" lives. In comparison to others around them, they were OK.

But Jesus saw them like sheep without a shepherd. Sheep cannot survive on their own. Sheep need care. They are defenseless, near-sighted animals. Jesus, the good Shepherd, looked at the multitudes with the eye of a shepherd. The multitudes needed to be tended to. Sheep need their feet trimmed, or they get foot rot. Sheep need the wool on their rumps trimmed, or they get a load of manure stuck to them. Maggots eat away their flesh under the manure. Sheep need fresh pasture, or parasites build up in their guts. Untended, sheep are not OK. The multitudes were not OK.

But even though Jesus went about teaching, preaching, and healing among these people, He felt compassion on them, for they did not have a shepherd. His very powerful ministry did not fill the role of a shepherd. Jesus turned to His disciples, and told them to pray for workers.

"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Matthew 9:37-38

Workers are needed to be the shepherds for the multitude. Jesus understood that.

We need to understand this as well. The greatest Sunday services do not fulfill this need. Someone is needed who will get his hands dirty tending the sheep.

A dumb man speaks

A man was brought to Jesus who could not talk, yet who was recognizably demon-possessed. After Jesus cast out the demon, the man spoke. Everyone around was amazed at this, saying that nothing like this had happened before. But the Pharisees took exception to the wonder, saying that Jesus was simply casting out demons by the ruler of the demons.

Jesus had cast demons out of people before; the point that seemed to be significant was that the dumb man spoke. This man, who did not speak, also could not communicate in other ways; the evil spirit within him overshadowed any form of sign language. Those who had known this man must have assumed that there was no reason within this human form. They must have assumed the dumb man was an idiot.

Yet when Jesus had cast out the demon, this man spoke. The person, who had appeared to be without any intelligence, could converse with them. For those who had known this pathetic man, a whole man suddenly appeared where they thought there was nothing but a shell. This was something great to all those who watched.

Except the Pharisees could not see the significance of what had happened. A whole man had appeared where only a shell had been before, but the Pharisees did not value common people. This was not significant to them. Their only concern was to maintain a "talking point". They needed to look like they understood what was going on. They knew nothing of demons, or the government of demons; but they confidently stated that Jesus was working with the devil. They found a "talking point" when they knew they did not know what was happening.

What the disciples saw was Jesus casting out a demon through His authority, and in so doing, releasing the whole man from bondage. A man was inside the shell, imprisoned by evil.

Authority can free men from what looks like stupidity.

Blind men following

As Jesus went on, two blind men followed Him, crying out as they went. But Jesus continued on His way until He came into a house. The blind men came to Him, and then Jesus addressed them. He asked them if they believed He could heal them. They said they did; He then touched their eyes, and their eyes were opened. Jesus urged them not to tell anyone, but they went and told everyone in that area.

What is at first odd is that Jesus did not stop along the way to heal these two blind men. Obviously it was difficult for the blind men to follow someone they could not see, down a road that they could not see either. They cried out to Him to have mercy, but Jesus did not stop.

These two blind men must have sustained themselves by begging, sitting beside a travelled road, crying out for mercy from those that they heard walking past. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out to Him, just as they cried out to others for alms.

But Jesus did not address them in that place; He forced them to leave what was familiar to find Him. They may have followed the noise of the crowd; they must have asked directions to find the house He was in. But beggars would have not gone into a house to ask for alms; they left their familiar role of beggars. Jesus came to them, not addressing them as beggars, but as men of faith.

They had asked Him to show mercy; the tacit implication is that they did not know if He would show mercy. But in the house He asked them if they believed He was able to give them sight. Jesus was leading their faith down a path. They said "yes"; they believed He was able. That response still did not address whether they believed He was willing to heal them. Then Jesus touched their eyes, and said "Be it done according to your faith." By touching them, Jesus addressed His willingness to heal them. They then believed He was willing; and their sight was restored. Their faith had been made complete.

These men did not believe Jesus was willing to heal them when they first cried out to Him; they were only begging. But after leaving their familar place, they began a journey that led to faith.

His disciples watched what Jesus did, seemingly ignoring these men's cries, but then later addressed them as men, not beggars. Jesus had made blind men follow Him; He had given beggars faith. Jesus had led them on a journey of faith.

We may not understand His silence at times, or His failure to act. He does not seem merciful to us at times. Yet He is the same today as He was then. He may be trying to lead us away from our familiar place in life; He may want to take us from the familiar into faith.

"Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house..."