Commentary - Matthew 9:35-38

Bird's-eye view

In this brief but potent section, Matthew provides a summary statement of Jesus' ministry that also serves as a crucial transition. Having demonstrated Christ's authority over disease, demons, nature, and sin itself, Matthew now encapsulates the essence of His work: a tireless, itinerant ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing. This summary is not just a look backward; it sets the stage for the commissioning of the twelve apostles in the next chapter. The sight of the leaderless, harassed crowds stirs the Lord's compassion, revealing the divine heart behind the mission. He then reframes the problem for His disciples, shifting their perspective from the overwhelming need of the people to the glorious opportunity of a harvest. The passage concludes with a command that is both a call to prayer and an implicit call to action, urging them to beseech the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers.

What we have here is a perfect snapshot of the gospel engine. The work is Christ's, the motivation is compassion, the problem is a labor shortage, and the immediate solution is prayer. It is a foundational text for understanding the nature of Christian mission. The need is vast, but the resources are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest. Our task is to see the fields as He sees them and to pray accordingly.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 35 And Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Matthew here gives us a summary of the Lord's work, and it is a whirlwind of faithful activity. Notice first the scope: "all the cities and villages." This is not a settled, comfortable ministry in one location. This is an itinerant, tireless, comprehensive work. Jesus is taking the kingdom to the people, wherever they are. He is not waiting for them to come to Him. This is the pattern for all gospel ministry; it is missionary by nature.

The content of this ministry is threefold. First, He was "teaching in their synagogues." Jesus worked within the existing structures of His people. He went to the place of Scripture reading and instruction and taught with an authority that stunned them. He was unfolding the true meaning of the Scriptures that pointed to Him. Second, He was "preaching the gospel of the kingdom." This is not simply a message of moral improvement. The gospel, the good news, is that the King has arrived. The rule and realm of God has broken into human history in the person of Jesus Christ. He is announcing that the long awaited kingdom is here, and He is its king. This is a political announcement with cosmic implications. Third, He was "healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness." The healings were not the gospel, but rather powerful attestations to the truth of the gospel. They were signs that the kingdom He preached was a reality. The King was demonstrating His authority to restore and make whole, undoing the curse of sin in a tangible way. This was the kingdom in miniature, a foretaste of the renewal of all things.

v. 36 And seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd.

Here we see the engine behind the action. What drove this tireless ministry? It was not ambition, or a desire for fame, but rather deep, visceral compassion. The Greek word suggests a stirring in the bowels, the seat of the emotions. This was a profound, gut-level pity. When Jesus looked at the masses of people, He did not see a nuisance or an interruption. He saw their true condition.

And what was that condition? They were "distressed and downcast." The first word can mean harassed, troubled, or mangled. The second means thrown down, dejected, helpless. They were being torn and cast aside. And Jesus provides the diagnosis for this condition: they were "like sheep without a shepherd." This is a direct echo of Old Testament passages like Numbers 27:17 and Ezekiel 34. Sheep without a shepherd are utterly defenseless. They are vulnerable to predators, unable to find pasture, and prone to wander into danger. They have no one to guide, protect, or care for them. This was Israel's condition. Their appointed shepherds, the religious leaders, were failing them, and in many cases, devouring them. Christ's compassion is stirred because He is the true Shepherd, and He sees the sorry state of the flock.

v. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”

After seeing the problem through the lens of compassion, Jesus turns to His disciples and reframes the situation. He does not say, "The need is overwhelming, and the problems are intractable." Instead, He uses a different metaphor entirely. He switches from shepherding to agriculture. "The harvest is plentiful."

This is a staggering statement of optimism. Where we might see a sea of problems, a mob of needy people, Jesus sees a field ripe for harvest. A harvest is a time of celebration, of gathering in the fruit of much labor. It is a moment of immense potential and wealth. The problem, therefore, is not with the crop. The grain is golden and ready. The problem is a labor shortage. "The workers are few." The issue is not the opportunity, but the lack of manpower to seize it. This is a complete reorientation of how we are to view the world. The world is not a lost cause; it is a waiting harvest. The great evangelistic challenge is not a lack of interest on the part of the lost, but a lack of laborers on the part of the church.

v. 38 Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Given the diagnosis, what is the prescription? It is not to form a committee, or to launch a new program, or to work up our courage. The very first thing we are commanded to do is pray. "Therefore pray earnestly." The task is God's, the harvest is His, and the workers are ultimately His to provide.

And notice to whom we pray: "the Lord of the harvest." We are to appeal to the owner of the field. It is His crop, and He is the one most invested in seeing it brought in. We are not begging a reluctant owner to care about His own business. We are aligning our desires with His. We are asking the Master of the harvest to supply the very thing He desires: laborers for His field. The verb "send out" is strong; it's ekballo, the same word used for casting out demons. It has the sense of thrusting out, of compelling. We are to pray for God to sovereignly thrust out laborers into the field. This prayer is itself the beginning of the work. And it is a prayer that God delights to answer, often by sending the very ones who are praying.

Application

This passage is a foundational charter for the mission of the Church. It defines our work, our motivation, and our primary strategy. Our work is to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, teaching the whole counsel of God, and demonstrating the reality of that kingdom through acts of mercy and healing in our communities. We are to be a people who bring wholeness in the name of the King.

Our motivation must be the compassion of Christ. We must learn to see people not as political opponents, or demographic statistics, or annoyances, but as harassed and helpless sheep who desperately need the true Shepherd. If our hearts are not moved with compassion, our ministry will curdle into a joyless duty or, worse, a self-righteous crusade.

Finally, our strategy begins with prayer. Faced with a world of overwhelming need, our first impulse must be to turn to the Lord of the harvest. We must recognize that the central problem is not the hardness of the world, but the shortage of laborers. We must therefore pray that God would raise up and thrust out workers, starting with us. When we see the world as a plentiful harvest, and when we earnestly pray for laborers, we will find ourselves with sickles in our own hands, joyfully bringing in the sheaves for the glory of God.