The King's Compassion and the Kingdom's Commission Text: Matthew 9:35-38
Introduction: The Royal Progress of the King
We have a tendency to read the Gospels as a series of disconnected anecdotes, little moral stories with a nice point at the end. But Matthew is not writing a collection of Aesop's fables. He is writing a royal biography. He is presenting the credentials of the King, Jesus Christ. And in this section, we see the King making a royal progress through His domain. He is not campaigning for office; He is inspecting His territory. He is not trying to win votes; He is demonstrating His authority.
This passage serves as a crucial hinge in Matthew's gospel. It summarizes the entire first phase of Jesus' ministry, the demonstration of His authority through teaching, preaching, and healing. But it also pivots, providing the divine motivation for the next phase: the commissioning of His disciples. What Jesus does here in summary, He is about to command His disciples to do in chapter 10. The work is too great for one man, even if that man is the God-man. The plan was never for a one-man show. The plan was always for a kingdom, a vast and glorious harvest, brought in by a multitude of laborers.
So we must see this for what it is. This is not just a tender moment of pity. It is a strategic assessment of the battlefield. It is the King surveying the state of His people, diagnosing their fundamental problem, and initiating the only possible solution. What we see in these four verses is the heart of the King, the state of the world, the urgency of the hour, and the duty of the church. If we grasp what is happening here, we will understand our own place in this great story. We will understand why we are here and what we are to be doing.
The Text
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.
And seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."
(Matthew 9:35-38 LSB)
The King's Comprehensive Work (v. 35)
We begin with the summary of His ministry:
"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 9:35)
Notice the comprehensive nature of His work. He went through "all the cities and villages." No place was too large or too small, too important or too insignificant. The King's business extends to every corner of His realm. This is a direct assault on any kind of sacred/secular divide. The kingdom of God is not a niche interest for religious people. It is a totalizing claim on all of reality.
And what does He do? He engages in a three-fold ministry: teaching, preaching, and healing. He was "teaching in their synagogues." This was His regular custom. He went to the established places of worship and instruction and He taught the Scriptures with authority. Teaching is the careful explanation of God's Word, building up the people of God in the truth. It is foundational. Without sound doctrine, the church is adrift.
But He was also "preaching the gospel of the kingdom." Preaching is not the same as teaching. Preaching is proclamation. It is heralding the good news. And what is that good news? It is the gospel "of the kingdom." The kingdom of God has arrived. The King is here. The long-awaited reign of God, promised by the prophets, has broken into history in the person of Jesus Christ. This is not just a message about how to get your soul to heaven when you die. It is a declaration that heaven's rule has come to earth, and it demands repentance and allegiance.
Finally, He was "healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness." These healings were not just random acts of kindness. They were signs of the kingdom. They were tangible, physical demonstrations that the reign of Christ pushes back the curse of the Fall. Sickness, disease, and death are invaders in God's good creation, consequences of sin. In healing the sick, Jesus was serving an eviction notice on Satan and the curse. He was showing what the world looks like when God is in charge. It is a world of wholeness, of shalom. This three-fold ministry provides the blueprint for the church's mission: we are to teach the whole counsel of God, proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, and be agents of healing and restoration in a broken world.
The King's Compassionate Diagnosis (v. 36)
As Jesus looks out over the crowds, His reaction is not one of a celebrity enjoying his fame. His reaction is one of deep, gut-wrenching compassion.
"And seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36 LSB)
The word for "compassion" here is a powerful one. It refers to a stirring in the bowels, the seat of the deepest emotions. This is not a detached, sentimental pity. This is a profound ache. He sees the crowds, and it hurts Him. Why? Because they were "distressed and downcast." The original words carry the sense of being harassed, mangled, thrown down, and helpless. They were being fleeced and brutalized.
And He gives the ultimate diagnosis of their condition: they were "like sheep without a shepherd." This is a direct and blistering indictment of the religious leaders of Israel. The scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, they were the appointed shepherds. Their job was to feed, guide, and protect God's flock. But they had utterly failed. They were hirelings who cared nothing for the sheep. They fed them the stones of man-made tradition, they guided them into ditches of legalism, and they offered no protection from the wolves of sin and death. Instead of serving the sheep, they were fleecing them for their own gain.
This image of sheep without a shepherd is a recurring theme in the Old Testament to describe the state of God's people under corrupt leadership (Num. 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; Ezek. 34:5). Jesus sees the people, and He sees that their fundamental problem is a leadership vacuum. They are lost, confused, and vulnerable because those who were supposed to care for them have abandoned their post. This is the state of any people, any nation, any church that is not submitted to the headship of Christ. They will be harassed and helpless, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and every predatory wolf.
The Kingdom's Strategic Problem (v. 37)
Jesus then turns from the crowd to His disciples and reframes the problem. He uses a different metaphor, moving from shepherding to agriculture.
"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.'" (Matthew 9:37 LSB)
This is a startling statement. From a human perspective, the problem looked like the hardness of men's hearts. It looked like a field full of rocks and weeds. But Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, sees it differently. He sees a vast, ripe harvest. The problem is not with the crop. The problem is a labor shortage. The grain is golden and heavy, ready to be brought into the barn, but it is rotting in the fields for lack of hands to gather it.
This is a profoundly optimistic and activating way to view the world. We are often tempted to despair, to look at the state of our culture and see only barrenness. We see the rampant sin, the hostility to the gospel, the spiritual deadness, and we conclude that nothing can be done. But Jesus tells us that this is a failure of vision. We are looking at the field with carnal eyes. The Lord of the harvest sees millions of souls, harassed and helpless, ready to be gathered into His kingdom. The potential is immense. The opportunity is staggering. "The harvest is plentiful."
The problem, the bottleneck, is the church. "The workers are few." The issue is not a lack of opportunity but a lack of obedience. There are not enough men and women willing to get their hands dirty in the work of evangelism and discipleship. There are too many spectators in the grandstands and not enough players on the field. This is a rebuke, but it is also an invitation. The great need of the hour is not for more clever strategies or bigger budgets. The great need is for more workers.
The Kingdom's Divine Solution (v. 38)
Given the diagnosis of a plentiful harvest and a shortage of labor, what is the solution? We might expect a command to work harder. "Get out there and start harvesting!" But that is not what Jesus says. The very first step is not perspiration, but prayer.
"Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." (Matthew 9:38 LSB)
The solution begins on our knees. Jesus commands His disciples to "pray earnestly." The word means to beg, to plead, to implore. This is not a casual, polite request. This is desperate, fervent prayer. And who are we to pray to? We are to pray to "the Lord of the harvest." This is a crucial point. The harvest belongs to Him. The work is His. We are not building our own little empires. We are laboring in His field, for His glory.
And what is the specific content of the prayer? "To send out workers into His harvest." The verb "send out" is a strong one. It's the Greek word ekballo, which often means to cast out or to thrust out. It's the same word used for casting out demons. This is not a gentle nudge. This is a divine compulsion. We are to pray that God would sovereignly seize men and women and thrust them out into the fields. We are to pray that He would make it impossible for them to stay comfortable and complacent in the barn.
Notice the glorious paradox here. Jesus tells His disciples, who are about to be sent out as workers, to pray for more workers. The ones who pray are the ones who are sent. This is not a prayer for "someone else" to go. When a church begins to pray this prayer in earnest, they had better be ready to pack their own bags. God answers the prayer for laborers by raising up laborers from among those who are praying. When you begin to plead with God for the harvest, His compassion begins to fill your heart, and you find that you can no longer remain idle. The prayer for workers is the first step of becoming a worker.
Conclusion: From Compassion to Commission
This passage lays before us the logic of mission. It begins with the King's work. It flows from the King's heart of compassion. It confronts the vastness of the need, which Jesus calls a plentiful harvest. And it finds its starting point in desperate prayer to the Lord of that harvest.
This is not a problem that can be solved with human ingenuity. We cannot manufacture laborers for the kingdom. We cannot guilt-trip people into service. The work is too hard, the spiritual opposition is too fierce. The workers must be divinely called, equipped, and "thrust out" by the Lord of the harvest Himself. Our primary task, therefore, is to align our hearts with His. It is to look out at our cities and villages, not with judgment or fear, but with the compassion of Christ. It is to see the multitudes, not as a nuisance or a threat, but as a harassed and helpless flock, as a vast and waiting harvest.
And when we see the world this way, our prayers will change. We will stop praying small, self-centered prayers. We will begin to plead with the owner of the field to send forth laborers. And as we pray, we will find that we are the answer to our own prayers. He will take us, ordinary men and women, and He will thrust us out into His field. And we will have the glorious privilege of participating in the great work of the King, the gathering of His people into His barn, for His everlasting glory.