Need & Labor // Matthew 9:35-38

Introduction

Illustration: The phrase “compassion fatigue” began to be used in the 1960’s to describe the motional and physical toll of being exposed to suffering and trauma second-hand. In the decades that followed, this idea of compassion fatigue became a way to describe the “cost of caring” paid by people working particularly in healthcare professions who were repeatedly exposed to traumatized individuals. That “cost” is measurable and manifests in symptoms like fatigue, irritability, feelings of hopelessness, aches/pain, and a reduced ability to feel empathy. Over time, the concept evolved beyond just healthcare workers to describe the physical and emotional on anyone in a “caring profession” who is exposed to crisis — social workers, first responders, teachers, veterinarians, journalists, and clergy.

In 2023, Time Magazine published an short article entitled, The Whole World is at Risk of Compassion Fatigue. In the article, the author suggests that virtually anyone is at risk of compassion fatigue in a time when we are “near-constantly exposed to content about war, violence, death, and injustice on the news, internet, and social media.” One of the researchers interviewed for the article suggested that compassion is like a gas tank — it can empty out and need to be filled.

Maybe you’ve felt that at a personal level — that the amount of things you’re expected to care about in the world seems overwhelming and impossible. You want to care and have compassion for other people, but it just feels like you lack the internal resources to do it. And I just wonder this morning if it feels heavy for us to admit that we just might not have anything left in the tank when it comes to having compassion for others.

I want to acknowledge honestly that this might be our starting line this morning as look at a passage where Jesus shows us that compassion for the lost is essential to work he calls us to as his Church — but this isn’t a call to manufacture compassion for people we don’t actually care about it. Instead, what Jesus shows us is that gospel ministry is sustained by us sharing in the heart of Christ for those who don’t know him.

Matthew 9:35–38 CSB

Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

Big idea: Jesus sends us out as a people formed by his compassion to participate in his harvest.

The Weariness of the World (v.35)

The Heart of the Shepherd (v.36)

The Ripeness of the Harvest (v.37-38)

Exegesis // Matthew 9:35-38

I. The Weariness of the World (v.35)

Matthew 9:35 CSB

Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.

Verse mirrors Matt 4:23 to create bookends of a section of Matthew’s gospel that is filled with stories of Jesus traveling around to different areas preaching and healing people of their sicknesses.

Matthew does this to highlight truth about who Jesus is and the work he came to do.

We’ll talk about this more in a moment, but it first shows us that Jesus is the “healer” in the line of David who was promised in the Old Testament to come and heal the sick, bind up the broken, and gather the lost sheep [God’s people].

Confrontation with the Pharisees about him being near to tax collectors and sinners, Jesus clarifies that this is precisely what he came to do: to draw these people who were sick and far from God near to him — Matthew 9:12 “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick.”

Shows us the reality of the world that Jesus steps into.

Immanuel (God with us — Matt 1:23) doesn’t stand back with accusation and critique, but steps into a world that is broken by sin, filled with exhaustion, confusion, sickness, and pain.

That’s because God, in his grace and kindness, knew that the problem of sin couldn’t be solved by our own effort — not by a political ideology, social movement, or human wisdom — because the problem of sin reaches deeper than our ability to fix.

Ephesians 2:1 how the world Jesus entered was not just filled with “bad people” but people who were dead in their trespasses and sins — blinded by their sin and unable overcome its power in their lives or in the world.

Every religion has an explanation for human brokenness, but what makes Christianity unique is that God did not just set expectations for humans to change but actively steps into a world broken by sin to bring about healing, by become healing through his death on the cross.

Application — Shapes our perspective of what it means to be in the world and therefore up close with brokenness. Yes, we long for the good world God created and is making new, but at the same time we should see how Jesus is present with people in their brokenness, and we as his people are called to inhabit that space with care, pointing people to the one in whom they can find healing

II. The Heart of the Shepherd (v.36)

Matthew 9:36 CSB

When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.

v.36 — Christ’s example of compassion

Compassion = σπλαγχνίζομαι referring to bowels and kidneys; deep gut-level compassion

“Harassed and helpless” literally means torn and thrown down by predators or by unscrupulous shepherds (Zech 10:2-3; 11:16) who ravaged the sheep

Intended allusion to Ezek 34 — indicting Israel’s leaders for neglecting the flock, and promises that God will shepherd his people through the Davidic Messiah;

Ezekiel 34:16 “I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice.”

Ezekiel 34:23–24 “I will establish over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Reason for Jesus’s compassion = Israel lacks adequate leadership, despite the many who would claim to guide them (Blomberg) — the “sheep without a shepherd” echoes Num 27:17 and Ezek 34:5 in which the shepherd is most like messianic

Rebuke of the spiritual leaders such as the Pharisees, scribes, and Sadducees

Specific context — general truth: Jesus has compassion on the lost.

Why does Jesus feel compassion? Recognizes the reality of their condition

Culturally — Compassion ≠ feeling sorry for someone because their life is worse than yours

Jesus’s compassion ≠ hollow well-wishing, but it’s love motivated and applied

Our call — to share Christ’s compassion for those who are far from him

He has been compassionate to us — humanizes what is the universal human condition

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Despite our brokenness and sin Jesus came near with a heart of compassion; as his church sent out into the world, our ministry should look like the Christ we proclaim

Does not mean we tolerate or celebrate sin, nor do we coddle Christians while they become friends with the world

It does mean that we look on those around us with a heart of compassion as not just sinful people, but broken and helpless sinners in need of salvation

Cultural moment — Radicalization and division as we violently war over competing conceptions of goodness… how will the church respond?

There are many ways we might can or should respond, but what we must do is move forward with the heart of Jesus

Greatest tragedy is for the church demonstrates contempt for those on whom Christ has compassion.

We don’t need more hot takes from shepherds to increase our contempt for a world that is in the hands of the enemy, what we need are more Christians transformed by Christ’s heart of compassion for the Lost

The world will not believe that the message of Jesus is radical compassion for sinners until they feel the compassion of those who have experienced and know it themselves

Problem — Why is this difficult?

Busy and we don’t see it

We don’t care

Self-righteousness

Application — We don’t need better strategies for evangelism, more conferences, and think pieces; what we need a Christlike compassion wrought by the Spirit in us to transform us from selfishness, self-righteousness and apathy into people of love and active compassion

Jesus already loves your lost family, friends, and neighbors more than you do and more than you ever could — he’s not calling you to manufacture a broken heart so that you can do effective ministry, he’s calling you to share his heart for the world

Pray that God would transform your heart

Application — Don’t just attend your neighborhood, be present here as though Jesus sent you on purpose — how do we nurture that heart of compassion?

Practice “people-awareness” — see everyone around you as a person

Guard yourself from people and things which harden your heart to people and gospel possibility

Make sure you slow down enough to notice people as people and not projects

III. The Ripeness of the Harvest (v.37-38)

Matthew 9:37–38 CSB

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

Shifting metaphor — Flock to field; Jesus envisions a vast crop of ripe grain in need of harvesters

Both have a gathering motif — Jesus can only encounter so many, so he commissions his followers to begin reaching the rest

“Send out” (from ekballō—recall under 9:25) could also be translated thrust out, and it could even refer to workers already in the field who “need to have a fire lit under them to thrust them out of their comforts into the world of need.” (Bruner, The Christbook)

Jesus’s commission is for his church to participate in the harvest as co-laborers

The church doesn’t have a mission; it is the mission.

Foregrounding the calling of the twelve who establish the church (Matthew 10:1-4)

Jesus’s answer for brokenness isn’t a philosophy for human flourishing; it’s a transformed community who participates in the work he is doing

Instructive for how we operate

Individual — Preach the words of Jesus, do the ministry of Jesus

Congregation — The church isn’t a spiritual vendor, here to meet the needs a community feels that they have; but we are shepherds meant to bring into the fold of God those who belong to him

Mindset — from scarcity to abundance

We often feel everyone around us hates our faith, wants nothing to do with Jesus; that might be true, but if we believe in the sovereignty of God and his ability to transform the hearts of sinners who are far from him, we won’t have such a mindset of defeat

See the spiritual landscape of our community the way Jesus does — ripe with people and opportunity for gospel transformation

Application — participate in the harvest with conviction about possibility with God

Jesus’s instruction is to pray to the “Lord of the harvest” (v.38) — we aren’t inventing the work, we are participating in it

“Do you believe I can do this?”

Conclusion

Communion