Wednesday

Related Verses
Matt. 9:12-13, 36, 38
12 Now when He heard this, He said, Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.
13 But go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
36 And seeing the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and cast away like sheep not having a shepherd.
38 Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest.

Isa. 53:4, 6
4 Surely He has borne our sicknesses, And carried our sorrows; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God and afflicted.
6 We all like sheep have gone astray; Each of us has turned to his own way, And Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

Isa. 40:11
11 He will feed His flock as a Shepherd; In His arm He will gather the lambs; In His bosom He will carry them. He will lead those who are nursing the young.

1 Pet. 2:24
24 Who Himself bore up our sins in His body on the tree, in order that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose bruise you were healed.

Related Reading
In Greek harassed [in Matthew 9:36] refers to the sheep’s being skinned by a cruel shepherd and thus suffering pain. Cast away refers to the sheep’s being abandoned by a wicked shepherd and falling into a distressed condition in which they are homeless, wandering from place to place, and helpless. The Lord Jesus’ word here depicts a situation in which the pitiful Israelites were afflicted and in anguish under the hands of the chief priests and scribes, the evil shepherds.

The heavenly King considered the Israelites as sheep and Himself as the Shepherd. When Christ came to the Jews the first time, they were like lepers, paralytics, the demon-possessed, and all manner of pitiful persons because they had no shepherd to care for them. Now in His kingly ministry for the establishing of His heavenly kingdom, He ministered to them not only as a Physician but also as a Shepherd, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:6 and 40:11. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 340)

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The Lord took the opportunity given Him by the Pharisees’ question to give a very sweet revelation of Himself as the Physician [Matt. 9:11-12]…The Lord was telling the Pharisees that these tax collectors and sinners were patients, sick ones, and that to them the Lord was not a Judge but a Physician, a Healer. In calling people to follow Him for the kingdom, the King of the heavenly kingdom ministered as a Physician, not as a Judge. A judge’s judgment is according to righteousness, whereas a physician’s healing is according to mercy and grace. Those whom He made people of His heavenly kingdom were lepers (8:2-4), paralytics (vv. 5-13; 9:2-8), the fever-ridden (8:14-15), the demon-possessed (vv. 16, 28-32), those ill with all kinds of diseases (v. 16), despised tax collectors, and sinners (9:9-11). Had He visited these pitiful people as a Judge, all would have been condemned and rejected, and none would have been qualified, selected, and called to be the people of His heavenly kingdom. However, He came to minister as a Physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save them so that they might be reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He could establish His heavenly kingdom on this corrupted earth. The Lord’s word here implies that the self-righteous Pharisees did not realize that they needed Him as a Physician. They considered themselves strong; hence, blinded by their own self-righteousness, they did not know that they were ill.

In verse 37 the Lord said to His disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers few.” The heavenly King considered the people not only sheep but also the harvest. The sheep needed shepherding, and the harvest needed reaping. Although the leaders of the nation of Israel rejected the heavenly King, there was still a good number among the people that needed reaping.

The King of the heavenly kingdom considered Himself not only the Shepherd of the sheep but also the Lord of the harvest. His kingdom is established with things of life that can grow and multiply…We are both the flock and the crop. The flock is made up of living animals, and the crop, of living vegetation…Everything under the care of this heavenly King is living.

We all need to see a vision of the Lord Jesus as the Lord of the harvest. In verse 38 the Lord told us to beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest. First, in His economy God has a plan to accomplish; then there is the need for His people to beseech Him, to pray to Him, concerning it. In answering their prayer, He will accomplish what they have prayed concerning His plan. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 311-312, 340-341)

Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msgs. 27, 29