This records Jesus’ own reaction to the extensive tour of Galilee, in which the opposition of the Pharisees had been so evident, with the consequent confusion and distress of the people. Christ viewed the situation with profound pity for the multitudes and proposed, at once, to correct it by sending out His disciples as missionaries to bear widespread testimony to the truth.
It was always the work of Jesus to go about teaching and preaching, Matthew 9:35. He didn’t stay in one village but went to everyone He could physically go to during His ministry.
The emphasis here is on healing every kind of sickness and disease; there was no physical sickness that was too difficult for Him to heal, Matthew 9:35. Unlike what many people claim today, we obviously can’t miraculously heal people today, but we can certainly pray for them and help them where we can.
Jesus, as always, was sympathetic to the physical needs of the people, Matthew 9:36. As a church, it is always good to be on the lookout for people in need and try to meet those needs, James 1:27. If we personally can’t help someone, find someone who will, Matthew 14:14 / Mark 1:40-41.
The word ‘compassion’, gives an insight into the benevolent and gracious heart of Christ. It indicated a combination of love, pity, concern, and deep emotional feeling for the ‘lost sheep’ of the house of Israel, Matthew 9:36.
The multitudes had no spiritual leader who would guide them unto the truth of God, Matthew 9:36. How sad this is and still true today among many churches. No leadership or weak leadership often leads to a watered-down version of the truth, Numbers 27:16-17 / 1 Kings 22:17 / Ezekiel 34:5 / Mark 6:34.
Those religious leaders who were in their presence were only leading the people away from God through their traditions. Traditions can become a real problem for some congregations, and in some places, the tradition becomes law, Mark 7:1-9.
The people were being blindly led by legalistic teachers whose ambition was to maintain their own positions and power over the people. There were a few among the people who were spiritually leading the people according to the grace and love of God.
It’s so important not only to recognise a harvest but to be able to lead them to the truth of God’s word and not bind on them things which God never asked to be bound, Matthew 9:37 / 1 Corinthians 4:6.
It’s always the case that there are too few labourers for the need of harvesting, Matthew 9:37 / Luke 10:2 / John 4:35. Christians live in a world where much preaching of the Gospel must be done to reach the whole of the world, Matthew 28:19-20 / Mark 16:15-16.
The problem is usually that the harvesters are diverted from the harvest to use their talents on things other than preaching the Gospel to the lost. People are busy working and involved in their pastimes and hobbies, but they forget they can still share Jesus with others while they are involved in those things. We must also keep in mind that no one really has a right to hear the Gospel a second time when countless millions have never heard it once.
Christ asked His disciples to pray for that which He himself was about to initiate, namely, the sending out of more witnesses to the truth of the kingdom, Matthew 9:37. The sending out of the twelve was Jesus’ own response to the marvellous opportunity for reaping a great harvest of souls, Matthew 10:1-42 / Mark 6:7-13 / Luke 9:1-6.
Significantly, Christ asked the disciples to pray about it, and He, Himself, continued all night in prayer before naming the twelve, Luke 6:12-13. In view of this, should Christians today undertake any project without prayer for guidance and blessing? I believe that some Christians get this the wrong way around sometimes. They want the harvest, but they don’t pray first.
They hit the streets with Bibles in hand, proclaim the Gospel to others and ‘after’ they’ve finished, they get together to pray! We should pray first, we should pray that the message is presented clearly and present it carefully with love, Colossians 4:2-6.
If Jesus leaned so heavily upon prayer, how much more should His disciples ask, and seek, and knock to obtain that providential support? Matthew 7:7-8. One of the commands Jesus gave concerning prayer was that we express in our prayers a plea for more evangelists to take the good news to the people, Matthew 9:38. It’s the duty of every Christian, therefore, to pray for more messengers to proclaim the Gospel to the lost, 2 Thessalonians 3:1.