Back to the Bible: 9:35-10:4

Jesus continued to teach and heal. The crowds flocked to Him. When He saw them, He was moved to compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Here Jesus makes a connection to Ezekiel 34. There God condemned the leaders of Israel because they took advantage of the people. But, He promised that He would come as the Shepherd. He would, in a new King David (pointing toward Jesus) shepherd His people. Jesus looked at the crowds in His day and saw that they were still being treated like the people of Ezekiel’s day. They had been harassed by their leadership and were helpless. But, Jesus arrived to be the Shepherd (fulfilling the promise of God and a new King David because He was God with us).

He told his disciples that the harvest was plentiful, but there were few laborers to do the work. So, they needed to pray for laborers.

Then, Jesus called 12 of his disciples and gave them authority over demons, diseases, and afflictions. Matthew then lists the name of the 12 disciples who would be the apostles. The word apostle means “one sent” and they would be Jesus’ official representatives in His work and His teaching.

Lessons to Learn:

See Jesus’ concern for the people. He knew how the leaders were treating them. He knew that they lacked the guidance they so desperately needed. Later He will describe Himself as the Good Shepherd because He was going to lay down His life for the sheep (see John 10). 

Consider the work that can be done. Jesus saw the crowds that needed help. There are plenty of people still who need the gospel that Jesus was proclaiming. We need to embrace Jesus’ teaching and then be ready to share the message with others. We also need to be praying for the Lord’s work all over the globe so that the Lord will have laborers to bring in the harvest wherever it may be.

See the role of the apostles. This will be a note that we will come back to throughout the book of Matthew. We might think of the apostles as ambassadors. Jesus entrusted them with the authority that He had over demons, diseases, and afflictions. They were going to be “sent out” (v. 5) to proclaim the same message of Jesus. People’s response to them indicated where they stood in relation to the Lord (see Matt. 10:14-15). In order to know about Jesus and His will we depend on the apostles. For example, Matthew, who wrote the gospel account we’re studying, was an apostle. Also, consider Matthew 28:18-20, the last verses of this gospel account to see what the apostles were commissioned to do.

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