Seek and Save IX Moved with Compassion

Seek and Save IX

Matt 9:35ff

Moved with Compassion

In the Life of Christ during the Fall of c. 28AD, Jesus was just recently in his hometown of Nazareth among his relatives and family. They did not “hear” his word in that sense of listening to something and acting upon it. Jesus was not dissuaded from his work. Mark tells us what Jesus did in a sweeping summary statement.  He wrote:

Mark 6:6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. 

Matthew gives us a little more detail. It is to Matthew 9:35-36 where I would like us to go this morning to consider the compassion of Jesus. Jesus was moved with compassion for an undeserving group of people.  This compassion drove him to act for their ultimate good. This narrative instructs us to be watchful and careful for spiritual issues over the physical ones of our lives and the lives of others.

Let’s read the text:

1. A Description of the Ongoing Ministry

Matt. 9:35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 

2. A Description of the Overwhelming Need

36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 

Let’s look more deeply into the text and to some observations that need to be made.

1. A Description of the Ongoing Ministry

Matt. 9:35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 

This is talking about Jesus ministry in the Northern regions of Israel. Jesus spent most of his time away from Jerusalem and the seat of the privileged and the place of political power. Jesus’ work consists of same very basic, yet profound things: Teaching, Preaching and Healing.

The teaching ministry in this context was to go into an area, attend the synagogue service on the Sabbath, take his place as The Rabbi, ask for a scroll, read the Word and then expound it.

The Preaching ministry was the more public times of instruction outside of the formal synagogue meeting. This is where Jesus taught whoever would listen. The content of his message had not changed. As the one who was born King of the Jews, he preached about the Kingdom.

The Healing ministry was one of undeserved mercy given to myriads of men and women and children who came to him or were brought to him with all sorts of afflictions.

The Teaching ministry often met with opposition. As it did in Jesus’ first visit to Nazareth and unbelief as he encountered on his last visit to his hometown.

The Preaching ministry often had mixed results. Some heard and acted upon the word. They came to Jesus asking what they do, or professing their desire to follow him. Jesus, the one who knows men’s hearts, deals individually with them according to their need and the purposes of God relative to the Kingdom of God. Other souls, were like the soils in the Parable of the Sower. Some heard and sought to follow--persevering for only a little while. Others had any life choked out by the concerns of this world growing up like weeds. And still others were like the rocks receiving the word with seeming joy, only to be found with no roots to hold it fast. Others defied him openly asking arrogant questions or making bizarre accusations. And, still others become his faithful disciples along with the blessed twelve.

Jesus showed his concerned for the bodily well-being of all who came to him. Even though it was an important part of what he did, it was not what moved him with great compassion.

We live in a materialistic culture. Usually when we hear those words we think Money and stuff. That is part of it. However, it is not all of it. Materialists are concerned primarily with the stuff of this life, the material things that make up our existence. Money is important because that is what we use to get stuff and maintain our level of material existence. But, materialists are often obsessed with the things that are seen, felt, heard, tasted or smelled. It is a sense-oriented way to live. Materialism teaches that these things are the only truly “real” things and that all else is an illusion. Their ‘all else’ includes anything spiritual.

Following a therapeutic model of ministry many excuse the responsibility of Christians to act responsibly and biblically because they have an ailment or affliction. Why? Because they think the body and its ailments are more foundational than the spirit and its needs. It is a false way of thinking. It is crass earthly-mindedness that needs to be rooted out of Christians in our day. Believers are accountable to God to think, act and live in a way that is consistent with God’s Word no matter what “problems” afflict them. No disease, or discomfort is a legitimate excuse to violate God’s Word. There are no exceptions. When I am passing a kidney stone, I still have an obligation to treat my wife and family with respect. But, I hear people quite often wanting to excuse others because of a bodily or material thing rather than hold them accountable to spiritual realities. The spiritual realities are much more important than the bodily ailments--and believe me bodily ailments can be very real and distracting. 

Someone asked me recently, where is the grace in all of this? I told them the grace is in the strength to bear things well, the grace is in the change that comes as we conform our wills to what God wants, the grace is found in humble faith in God that He will do what is needful for me and what best shows forth his glory. He is God. He is free to do that. The Bible asserts, He is the potter; we are the clay. He is molding us. But, oh how we try so hard to reverse that, don’t we.

Materialism affects Christians in subtle ways. Most Christians I know, would not admit to being materialists, when they are in many little ways. These accumulated little ways become large enough to eclipse one’s desire for spiritual things. We have learned to be concerned more about our discomfort that our need of God. The spiritual things are what are truly real and abiding. This entire world and all it has to offer will one day pass away. All the matter that matters so much to us will be burned up. The One and only true God and those who do his will, will live comfortably with him forever.

Jesus ministered to relieve those who came to him with bodily afflictions. He healed many of them, yet, Jesus was not a materialist. He knew there were things of greater importance. Do you? Are you a materialist?

Let me ask you a few questions: How do you pray for people who are sick and afflicted? Do you merely pray that they will get well? Or do you pray that the fire of affliction will be used of God to sanctify them? Do you pray that God would do his promised work upon their soul? When you hear of an unbeliever who has been afflicted with cancer or some other terrible thing, do you pray that the Lord might show them their sin and their need of God and his mercy? Or, do you simply pray for a miracle of sorts? You see, that is the materialist’s easy way out.  We should pray that any and all affliction would bring men to their knees to acknowledge God and his sovereignty over all of his creation. The spiritual issues are of greater importance than the physical ones.

When the terrorists attacked New York, the response of most was one of materialism, rather than a proper spiritual focus. God willed it for his own glory to manifest his justice, mercy, grace and love that the multitudes still alive might repent and turn to him in faith? It was a warning of the destruction that will certainly come upon all who do not believe the gospel. The scope of the building that fell and the damage they causes are little when compared to the judgment coming at the end of the age. Were you touched by the loss of life or the lostness of so many souls? The one shows a concern for bodily well-being, the other the compassion of Jesus according to spiritual realities. Considering the vastness and size of that final judgment revealed in the Word of God, two buildings and 3,000 bodies aren’t much at all. It was a great tragedy. But, as I said, the greater tragedy will be the disposition of the multitudes in the final judgment.  

Sure, Jesus had a healing ministry that only the Son of God could have had. He continues to heal by his common grace and at times a special saving grace accompanied it. Such is the grace of God to all who bear his image as human beings. But, it is not the bodily and sensual needs that moved Jesus to compassion.  They were ordinary needs that he met in ways that were ordinary for him yet extraordinary for the people he ministered to. The miracles pointed to the reality behind them--that Jesus was the Son of God endued with the power of heaven and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

What moved Jesus?  In Nazareth, it wasn’t seeing family nor staying with them and it wasn’t seeing his old friends, nor speaking in his home synagogue, nor any other material thing.  What moved Jesus was their unbelief--a spiritual reality--a lack of faith in him as the Son of God.  Spiritual matters matter most.  This life is not about our creature comforts, it is about seeking first the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom that is as Jesus said in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world.”  It is a heavenly kingdom come down among men who happen to live hear temporarily on their way to their heavenly home which Jesus is preparing.

In the next verse we have what truly moved Jesus and what ought to move and motivate us.

2. A Description of the Overwhelming Need

36 But when He saw the multitudes,

Here we go again...the multitudes appear at some point while Jesus is traveling the circuit of towns in Galilee. Jesus looks out upon them and has a reaction that is not like the one most people have. Most of us would think if not say, “Here they come....get me out of here.” or “There goes the neighborhood” or some other disparaging or complaining thing. Why would we think or say that? Because we are materialists who live our life with the concerns of materialists in the forefront of our thinking. I have to admit, I get aggravated at the multitudes for the way they treat Jesus. But that’s the difference between Jesus and me. Look at his reaction to the Multitudes.........

He was moved with compassion for them,

This is one of the most striking comments made about Jesus in all of the Gospels. At this point, it seems as though the multitudes no longer deserve Jesus mercy, but he continues to give it. He is moved with compassion, he felt pity for them. He instantly knew their overwhelming need above and beyond their bodily needs and he was moved deep within himself. He had compassion for them.

Jesus was a compassionate savior. There are twelve recorded times when he was so moved with compassion that he acted. 

The Scriptures often tell us what it was that “moved” Jesus. He is moved sometimes to pity the multitude or individuals because of their physical needs for food or their needs due to sickness. But, the greatest times of being moved are those driven by the more important spiritual concerns.

There is another time in what seems like just a few days or weeks from this event in Jesus ministry where he is similarly moved driven by the same reason as we find here.

Suffice it to say here that this word used for compassion is the word in the Parable of the Good Samaritan who was moved with compassion, who felt mercy for the man lying as if dead on the road. He saw, perceived, felt something deep within and did something about it (Luke 10:30-37).

Why was he moved with compassion? We are told....

because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

The multitudes were after something. They were weary, perhaps from traveling and eeking out an existence in the wilderness. And as they came towards Jesus, they were an unordered mass of humanity, they were all spread around. They were like sheep without anyone to lead them and give them direction.

Why were they like this? It wasn’t because of  Jesus. He told them plainly about life in his Kingdom. They would not have him as their Lord on his terms. Perhaps, they were waiting for something better to come along. They had followed John the Baptist, then Jesus, what would be next? They were a fickle mass seeking what they wanted and interested them. At this point, Jesus was gaining fame and his ministry was gaining momentum.

The one thing the multitudes did not see was there great spiritual need for a shepherd. They had no direction, nobody to guide them, nobody to bring them to green pastures to restore their souls, nobody to challenge their ignorance and make them think.

In Mark 6:34, The other narrative where Jesus is moved with compassion because the multitudes are still like sheep having no shepherd, We discover Jesus’s teaching ministry is his answer to their aimless spiritual existence.  “And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.”

Israel had people to guide them-the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus calls them in two places, blind guides Matt. 23:16 & 23:24. Their’s was a spiritual blindness.  Jeremiah had prophesied about them and the effect they would have on the Nation of Israel in his own day and in the future.

Jer. 10:21 For the shepherds have become dull-hearted, And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they shall not prosper, And all their flocks shall be scattered.

The scattering of Israel as a flock demonstrates the dull-heartedness of their shepherds. God’s judgment will come upon these evil shepherds. As Jesus pronounces his WOES of judgment upon the scribes and Pharisees, he followed the pattern first found in the prophets/

Jer. 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD.  2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people:  “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the LORD. 

It is interesting isn’t it. What God had spoken by his prophet came to pass.  But there was another prophecy of weal as well. Weal is of good things; woe is of judgment. God had already told the people in an earlier chapter of this same prophecy:

Jer. 3:15 “And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Is this not an apt description of the primary ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn’t his action driven by his observation of the multitudes consistent with God’s earlier concern?  You see, we may not like to sit and hear and be made to think about God and his Word, but it is what we need. It is the primary means of shepherding souls according to the pattern God has established. To teach and to hear are the means God gives for our guidance, strength and nurture according to our inner man and the kingdom of God.

Yet, what are we most concerned with on the Lord’s Day? Is it finding a non distracted way to sit under the means God has given for us to be shepherded? Or, is it the concerns of life or any other materialistic distraction that comes from the stuff of this world to take us away from the means God has given for our good and out growth? 

You see, Jesus is more concerned for our growth in grace in spiritual matters than he is for our material well-being. He is not unconcerned with the stuff of this existence, but has it in proper perspective. We should strive for that balance too.

We allow ourselves to be scattered, weary and cast down because we neglect what God has given for our good. We seek out our own agenda. In God’s Word that is a sign of either God’s judgment or his impending pronouncement of Woe.

However, when we have faithful shepherds who seek to guide us spiritually according to the Word of God, we should rejoice. Why?

Jer. 23:3 “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 

This never happened in the life of the Material entity Israel, but it has in the Spiritual Israel we call the Church--the reconstituted people of God who inhabit that great kingdom of another world. This is what God promises to do in that day.

23:4  “I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD. 

The Triune God is still moved with compassion at the needs of his sheep. He continues to provide for them in the same way he always has--he sends some to teach, in order to guide, direct, defend, correct and any other spiritual thing that they lack. This is the continuing grace of God in action.

It comes back again to priorities for the Christian life. What moves you? What really makes you tick? What do you perceive as your greatest need? 

The Apostle Paul had confidence in God when he wrote these words, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Sometimes we wonder when God is going to do this because we think we have so many “needs” that are actually not needs at all, but selfish desires. God shall supply all we truly need. It is that ofttimes even Christians go looking for God in all the wrong places and for the wrong things.

The continued promise of our provision is tied to the spiritual realities of God’s riches in Glory dispensed by Christ Jesus. They are not material provisions, but spiritual from first to last. 

May God be pleased to teach us to be less earthly-minded and tied to the things of material prosperity and well-being that we might be more heavenly-minded to seek the things of real importance unto the prosperity of our souls for Jesus sake.