Read Matthew 9:35-36
In today’s passage, Matthew summarizes Jesus’s ministry in Galilee: “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues” (v. 35). He did not just teach in His hometown or the major cities, but also in poor, obscure villages so that everyone would hear His teaching. He also proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, demonstrating its coming in great power by healing every disease and sickness. This means He healed all physical and emotional illness. He cast out demons and even raised the dead. Everywhere He went crowds pressed around Him wanting to be healed.
The first time that I read these verses, I was a new believer and a busy resident in Internal Medicine. Knowing that Jesus was God but also human, I thought, “He must have been so tired!” Why did He do this? Matthew tells us it was because He had compassion. Compassion is defined as “the sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it” by one dictionary. Compassion is a mixed emotion composed of both love and sorrow.
Matthew tells us Jesus had compassion “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (v. 36).Why do sheep need a shepherd? In A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Philip Keller says sheep lack good judgment and easily get lost. They can not protect themselves from predators and rely on the shepherd for safety. Sometimes they get “cast” or stuck on their backs and they need the shepherd to turn them right side up again. They are easily stressed and can’t rest calmly without the shepherd. The shepherd provides all that they need-food, water, shelter, health and peace.
Jesus provides healing, but as the Good Shepherd, He knew that the people’s spiritual needs were even more important. They needed forgiveness and reconciliation with God, a need He would meet by His own death on the Cross.
I first heard the Good News in college but chose to follow my own path for the next six years. But Jesus had compassion on me and kept revealing more of Himself until I finally decided to turn around and follow the Good Shepherd.
For Reflection:
- Are there times when you identify with a sheep as described in Scripture? How has Jesus demonstrated His compassion in your life?
By Bonnie Tesch
