Matthew 9:35–10:8

The Harvest Is Great, the Labourers Few

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he 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 ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’

The Twelve Apostles

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

The Mission of the Twelve

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. 

Even though Matthew is the first Gospel in the New Testament, it was not the first to be written. It is generally agreed that Mark was the first Gospel and that Matthew used some of Mark’s sources. Matthew was written in approximately 80 AD, essentially, though not exclusively, for a Jewish audience. The Gospel contains many healing stories and parables, but is especially known for the Sermon on the Mount.

Today’s passage comes after a series of healing stories in which Jesus healed a paralysed man, a woman with a hemorrhage and a blind man, to mention a few.

The passage includes Jesus choosing his twelve apostles – the word essentially means ‘messenger’ – and sending them out. The passage is followed by further instructions to the apostles.

The word ‘compassion’ in 9:36, in this context, literally means to suffer with someone and the Greek indicates that this feeling of Jesus came from the very depths of his being. The image of a sheep without a shepherd would have been familiar to 1st-century readers: sheep generally struggle when there is no shepherd to guide them.

Jesus responds to this feeling of compassion by choosing and sending out people to whom he gives authority to heal the sick and cast out evil spirits. Jesus cannot do this alone; he needs messengers to help with the task. Note the reference to the harvest being plentiful but the laborers being small in number. The apostles were ordinary people: several of them were fishermen and at least two came from opposing factions. Matthew was a tax collector, responsible for collecting taxes on behalf of the Roman government; while Simon the Cananaean (called Simon the Zealot by Luke) was part of a group who opposed the Romans. . The number ‘twelve’ could be a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Blessings as we pray that we too might be “messengers” of the good news of Jesus Christ.

 To Ponder:

• What strikes you when you read that Jesus had compassion, given the explanation of the meaning of that word? 
• How can we show compassion to a world where people often seem harassed and helpless, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic and after the killing of George Floyd in the United States?