Matthew 9:35-10:15

Matthew 9:35-38 compassion for sheep without a shepherd; laborers needed for the harvest

In 9:35, Jesus’s work is described as having three components.  What are the three aspects of Jesus’s work?

Teaching, proclaiming the gospel, and healing people.

Jesus is now moving from town to town throughout the northern region.  How does he feel about the crowds?

Jesus is moved with compassion or pity.

The Greek word Matthew uses for “compassion” has a root word: a word for the internal organs – a person’s inner parts or bowels.  The word implies a deep, emotional concern.  In our day, we would use the word “heart.”  It is the same word Jesus uses to describe how the father felt when he saw his long-gone prodigal son returning in the distance.  He feels the kind of deep compassion you feel in your gut.

How does Matthew describe the state of the people in verse 36?

He says they are harassed and helpless (Matthew 9:36, NRSV) or “troubled and abandoned” (Matthew 9:36, NABRE), like a sheep without a shepherd.

Why does this assessment of the people’s condition bring forth the image of a sheep without a shepherd?  

How does it feel to be in that condition?

What do you think it was about the people that moved Jesus to compassion?

Do you think of Jesus as having that kind of deep compassion for you?  Explain.

In what ways do we or the people in our church or the world at large need the compassion of Jesus today?

How does it change things when we recognize God as having this kind of deep compassion for us?

Are we called to have this kind of compassion, the kind of compassion Jesus had, for the people around us?  If so, what would that look like?

The Jewish leaders were supposed to be their shepherds.  Why were the people like sheep without a shepherd?

Do you ever feel like this?  If so, what do you think Jesus would want you to know and what do you think he would want you to do?

Recognizing that the people had great needs, Jesus makes a comment about the harvest and laborers.

What is the “harvest” Jesus is referring to?

Who are the “laborers” in that harvest, and what is their role – i.e., what should they be doing?

Why are laborers scarce?

What is the role of the harvest master?

The obvious next question is, what does this call us to do?  We will some on answer to that in the next passage.

In chapters 8-9, Matthew has inserted some short discussions (see 8:18-22; 9:9-17; 9:35-38) in a long series of miracles.  Each discussion helps us understand what true discipleship is – that is, what it means to follow Jesus.  The next thing that happens in Matthew’s narrative is that Jesus sends out the apostles.  But Matthew is not just trying to tell a good story.  He is trying to prepare, encourage, motivate, and prod the Christian communities for whom he is writing.  And that includes us.  So:

Is there still a “harvest” yet to be harvested today?

Is there still a shortage of laborers?  Why?

What is our role as potential laborers?

What is Jesus calling us to do?  What is he calling you to do?

Introduction to Chapter 10

Chapter 10, like the Sermon on the Mount, is a collection of things Jesus said over a long period of time, probably including things he did not teach the apostles until after his resurrection.  For example, 10:18 says, you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings.  This was not a description of what they would face on this initial missionary journey, but rather something they would face as they went out into the Roman world after the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 10:1-4 Jesus gives authority to 12 apostles to go forth

Notice the diversity of the twelve apostles.  What does that tell you about what Jesus is looking for in his disciples?

The Greek word for “apostle” means one who is sent forth.  Apostles go and speak or act on the authority of the person who sent them; here, they are “sent out” in verse 5.  But Verse 2 is the only place in Matthew’s Gospel where the word “apostle” is used, whereas Luke refers to them as apostles on other occasions throughout his Gospel.  Even in verse 1 Matthew uses the word “disciples.”

Why do you think Matthew uses the word “apostles” only once and repeatedly calls them “disciples” everywhere else in his Gospel?

Perhaps he does not want his readers (or us) to think that only a select few are called to proclaim the good news – all disciples can do that.  He wants us to connect with them and identify with them rather than setting them apart as something different from us.

What “authority” does Jesus give them?  Why do you think Matthew uses the word “authority” and not the word “power”?

Matthew 10:5-15 Jesus gives instructions to the apostles as they go out to proclaim the good news and heal people

Where does Jesus tell the apostles to go?

Why focus there?

Who are “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”?

Note: Jesus will go to the Gentiles and to Samaria later in Matthew’s Gospel.

Jesus commands the apostles to proclaim the good news (“gospel” means “good news”).  What is the specific message they are to proclaim?

As they proclaim the good news, what specifically do you think they would be proclaiming?  What would they have said after that starting sentence?

Who might Jesus be calling you to share his good news with, in your life right now?

Jesus commands the apostles to do miraculous works of healing.  Why?

Why do you think Jesus tells them to bring nothing with them?

Verse 10 says, “laborers deserve their food.”  If they weren’t bringing any food, how do you think Jesus expected them to eat?

What do you think a “worthy” house is, in verse 12?

Jesus tells them not to stay in places that do not welcome them or listen to their words, but to leave and shake the dust off their feet as they go?  How might that have been intended as a message to the people they were leaving?

How might “shaking off the dust” have been an important act for the apostles themselves, in terms of their own psyche as they dealt with rejection?

Is there a lesson in here for you, as you try to be a good witness to your faith in Jesus but may encounter varying reactions?  What might this say to you?

Take a step back and consider this:

In the first 9 chapters of his Gospel, Matthew has shown us:

• where Jesus comes from (Matt. 1-3).

• the methods Jesus will not use, and, by implication, what methods he will use (Matt. 4).

• Jesus’s revolutionary teachings on what it means to follow God and how we should interact with each other (Matt. 5-7).

• the sweeping range of Jesus’s power and authority, the opposition he faces from powerful people, the need for people who are willing to do the work of God, and the costs of choosing to follow him (Matt. 8-9).

Then, at the beginning of chapter 10, Jesus empowers his disciples to do what he has done.

As you review the first 9 chapters of Matthew and the beginning of chapter 10, what part of this story speaks to you most directly right now with regard to your calling as a disciple of Jesus?

What part of Jesus’s good news is God calling you to embrace more fully right now?

What action is God inviting to take to put his teachings into action?