Jesus Sees; Jesus Calls; Jesus Sends
“When [Jesus] saw the
crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is
plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of
the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9:35–38).
Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Seeing. Calling.
Sending. That is the movement in the Gospel reading for today. It is also the
movement of Jesus’ response to those who are harassed and helpless, of God’s
interaction with His fractured and fallen creation, and of the sanctified
Christian life as it lives by the Spirit of Jesus.
Jesus sees. Jesus
calls. Jesus sends.
As He goes throughout
the cities and villages, Jesus sees. This is not a minor detail. Many people go
through life wondering if anyone sees, anyone notices. If you listen closely,
that is at the heart of many of our current social conflicts. A significant
number of people are wondering: Does anyone see? Does anyone notice? Does anyone
care? Will anyone do anything to help?
The crowds Jesus sees are
“helpless and harassed.” The first word literally means “thrown down and
helpless,” like exhausted spent, sheep. It is often used with reference to corpses
lying scattered on the ground. The second word means “having been flayed,” or somewhat
milder, “having skin torn,” as this happens to sheep wandering among brambles
or sharp rocks. Both words are made vivid by the comparison: “like sheep
without a shepherd.” Having neither protector nor provider, they soon look miserable,
torn, and exhausted, a sight to break the heart of any shepherd with even an
ounce of compassion.
Jesus does not name the
source of the peoples’ harassment, but it is not hard to imagine. Simply look
around today. Some are tossed about by injustice, grief, or the abuse of
authority. Others are flayed by disease, economic strain, or isolation.
Everyone is harassed by a sinful inclination to respond with unrighteous anger,
fear, and self-righteousness.
Jesus seems to be
thinking particularly of the spiritual condition of the people and the neglect
of their supposed spiritual leaders. With the coming of Jesus and the initial
course of His ministry, the people’s need for a shepherd has become even more
apparent. Israel’s leaders should be nurturing the people and guiding them to
follow Jesus, but instead those leaders are blaspheming Jesus, declaring Him to
be in league with Satan (Matthew 9:3, 34). At the hands of such false
shepherds, the people are helpless and in great need. The souls entrusted to
their care receive no wholesome spiritual food and care, for, as far as that is
concerned, they are left to fend for themselves.
Material and physical
destitution moves our humanitarian age deeply. We organize food banks and
disaster relief agencies to help in times of physical distress. But who cares
for or even sees spiritual distress? The problem, in part, is many people do
not see. Perhaps they cannot, having never put themselves in the position to
see. Maybe they don’t know how, having never been taught to see. Perhaps they
will not, refusing to look outside their own lives and their own bubbles. Maybe
they are just too tired of all the conflict and it’s just easier to pretend it
doesn’t exist rather than putting forth the physical and emotional energy it
takes for actually dealing with it.
Contrast them (us) with
Jesus. Jesus sees. He sees the crowds in the text. He sees their helplessness.
He sees those who are harassing them, and He does not look away. This is not
surprising, for He is the Son of the One who sees all things—good, bad, and
ugly.
Truly seeing others and
their plight is a necessary beginning. But if being seen is not accompanied by
being helped, it doesn’t do much good. Having seen the crowds, Jesus has
compassion. The verb splagcnizomai means to have the viscera moved, lungs,
heart, and liver, which were considered to be the seat of emotions, such as
love, pity, etc. We might say, “His heart was stirred.” Of the three words
translated “being compassionate,” this is the strongest, for it indicates not
only a pained feeling at the sight of suffering, but in addition a strong
desire to relieve and remove the suffering.
Jesus has compassion on
these people, that is, He suffers with them. In this sense, the
suffering of Jesus is not limited to the events of Holy Week. It encompasses
His entire ministry (even His entire incarnation). Jesus comes among us to
suffer with us before He suffers on Golgotha for us.
Jesus has compassion.
Jesus suffers with us. We, on the other hand, are not good at suffering with
others. Luther’s explanations to the fifth and eighth commandments come to
mind. We are to fear and love God by helping and supporting our neighbors in
every bodily need. We are to defend them, speak well of them, and put the best
construction on everything they do. We often fall short, which must not be
excused even though it is true. But Jesus does not. He protects and provides
for His people as the Good Shepherd they have been missing.
We see how the
compassion of Jesus at once manifests itself in action. Jesus speaks to the
larger group of His disciples and bids them to pray to the Father. Jesus uses
the metaphor of a great harvest that is approaching. In the fields where the
crop is growing ready for harvest, there is urgent need for workers to help
gather the harvest. With this figurative language, Jesus communicates to His
disciples the urgency of the times, an urgency that continues for the Church to
this day. The harvest is ripe! Pray for God to send laborers!
Immediately, the prayer
that the disciples are to offer to the Father is answered by Jesus Himself.
From the unnamed larger circle of His “disciples,” Jesus now chooses a small
number of “apostles,” literally, “sent ones,” whom Jesus will send out to extend
His gracious kingdom. They are named individually and given His authority,
demonstrating Jesus’ personal care for each of them.
These twelve are hardly
men who could normally be expected to change the world. For the most part, they
are uneducated, unsophisticated, weak in faith, and slow to learn. They can
accomplish their mission only through the authority and power of their Lord. It
is the Gospel message, which the Holy Spirit will use to produce saving faith
in the hearts of people who hear it.
Jesus sends the apostles
to do what He came to do. Through them, Jesus sees, Jesus calls, Jesus sends.
Seeing, calling, sending. That is the continuing movement. Jesus continues to
send His people to see others (especially the widow, the orphan, and all who
suffer injustice) as human beings and fellow creatures of a loving God. Jesus
sends His people to have compassion on those who are helpless and harassed; to
suffer with them and help them bear their burdens. He continues to send His
people to speak words of life and forgiveness that not only create saving faith
in the hearts of individuals, but also gather them together for life as His Body.
And He continues to send His people to others until all have heard and believed
and come together in His name (See Romans 10:14-17).
Jesus asks His
disciples, and He also asks us, to share in His compassion, and He tells us the
first thing He wants us to do to show such compassion. “Pray earnestly to the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” It is the Lord’s
harvest field, and He will see to it that the necessary workers bring the
harvest in. He assures us that none of His elect will perish. All His sheep
will be gathered into His fold.
Jesus will accomplish
this either with us or without us. He doesn’t need us, but He wants to use us.
He graciously wants to give us the privilege of being involved in this
all-important work, work with blessed results that will last into eternity. And
the first thing He asks us to do is exceedingly simple and will cost us nothing
but a little of our time. He tells us to pray for laborers for His harvest
field. In response to our prayers, He will provide them.
As we sincerely offer
such prayers to our heavenly Father, we surely are willing to let Him make us
the answers to our own prayers as well. Our Lord will use us in some way or
other in this most blessed work, for this work is the privilege of all
believers in Christ. Satan wants us to regard it as a grievous burden that we
ought to avoid. But it is not a burden, rather a blessing. It is a privilege to
pray for this work, to support this work, and to do this work personally.
When we pray for the
heathen, for the suffering, for the afflicted, and for our enemies, we want the
Lord to use us to alleviate suffering, to spread the Good News of the kingdom
of God, and to win over our enemies through kindness. When we pray for
missions, we are not only asking the Lord to open the hearts and the hands of
others Christians to support mission work; we are also expressing our own
willingness to bring our generous offerings for the work of Christ’s Church.
Otherwise our prayers are hypocritical and better left unspoken.
Last week, the Gospel
reading came from Matthew 28. We call it the Great Commission or Sending. In a
sense, this week’s reading gives us the background, the motivation, method, and
means for that Sending.
Jesus sees. Jesus calls.
Jesus sends.
Even before creation, the
Lord looked with compassion and saw our need for His mercy, forgiveness, and
grace. God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Christ died for the
sins of the world—every single sin of thought, word, and deed. Every sin of
commission and omission. Risen and ascended, Christ rules heaven and earth for
the good of His Body, the Church. In love and mercy, He continues to call men
to serve in the Office of Holy Ministry.
In answer to prayers, the Lord of the Harvest sends laborers into the harvest
of souls. In His Church, through the means of grace, Christ continues His work
of salvation and brings forgiveness and life.
Through the waters of Holy
Baptism, God has called you by name and made you one of His dear children. In
His Holy Supper, He feeds you His very body and blood for the forgiveness of your
sins and the strengthening of your faith. Through His powerful Word, He
delivers forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Fully forgiven and equipped
for service, He sends you out with the message of God’s love and compassion for
a world of lost sinners, Shepherdless sheep.
Go in the peace of the
Lord. Serve your neighbor with joy. For Jesus’ sake, you are forgiven for all
your sins.
In the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture
quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001
by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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