Jesus' Heart for the Multitudes

D. Scott Meadows

(Matt 9.36-38)

Jesus is admirable in every way. Today admire His heart for lost souls.

Jesus is moved, and would move us, with compassion for the multitudes.

See the summary of Jesus’ ministry (v. 35). In Him we see one who loved God supremely and His fellow man perfectly. His special concern was for their spiritual well-being, that they might know God and be saved. Jesus conveys His love for them using two analogies: sheep and crops.

I. As Needy Sheep (36). A familiar biblical metaphor (Isa 53.6ab).

A. His Cognizance [awareness] of Them. “He saw the multitudes.”

• He saw them literally. He did not cocoon in selfish withdrawal from society. He exhausted Himself for others’ good. In this way, He gained firsthand knowledge of them and their needs. Resist the comforts of apathy. Spend and be spent in helping others, whatever sacrifice and suffering it involves!

• He saw them as they really were. Appearances are deceiving. Some obviously miserable but others seemed “fat and happy.” Christ saw them all as desperately lost without Him. The same is true today of all who are not genuine Christians (Mark 8.36).

B. His Compassion for Them. Stirred by the sight (Baltimore rescue mission experience). “He was moved with compassion for them.”

• Com-passion (suffer with) is “heartfelt identification with another’s distress, driving us to do what we can to help” (Thomas Aquinas, ST: Concise Translation, p. 360). To put yourself in their shoes, to weep with them who weep (Rom 12.15), to suffer in your mind as one with them, and to help.

• Compassion is God’s love and mercy in man. Esp. in Jesus, the most perfect revelation of God. The incarnation enables His true, human compassion (Heb 4.15). God is not “moved,” does not suffer, as absolute, eternal, active love (1 Jn 4.8). His love in us moved Jesus, and moves us, to compassion for the lost.

C. His Characterization of Them. Their true needs (if not felt needs).

• They are weak and vulnerable. “Fainted” (all strength is gone), “were tired and lay down” (mg.), “weary and worn out” (CSB), “dejected” (LEB), “confused” (NLT), “hurting and helpless” (NCV), “distressed and dispirited” (NASB). Esp. true respecting their souls, however great their outward peace and prosperity. Unbelievers are foolish, disobedient, deceived, etc. (Titus 3.3).

• They are without Christ the Shepherd. “Sheep cannot live without the shepherd. They are entirely dependent on the shepherd for everything. They require constant care and watching over. So leaving them unattended can put them at risk and greatly endanger their lives” (Farming Base website). People foolishly doubt it, but we know they all need the Lord!

Do you see the multitudes this way? Are you deeply grieved for them?

II. As a Harvest for the Lord (37, 38). Another biblical metaphor. The Lord is the husbandman (gardener). The field is the world. The people are the crops. Judgment Day is the final harvest (wheat and tares). But here, the metaphor is of sinners converting before Judgment Day, being gathered up for God’s glory.

A. His Counsel. “Then saith he unto his disciples.” Love teaches us. The Fount of every blessing always flows for our life and benefit.

• To those trusting, following him. Disciples are devoted learners, imitators. Biblically, only these are real Christians (Acts 11.26).

• To impart his own compassion to them. His heart on display transforms them to be like Him (Luke 6.40; 2 Cor 3.18).

• To them as his instruments for saving the world. He trains, enlists them to do His work after He leaves, until He returns.

B. His Concern. To save all who will be saved (elect) by human means.

• That there is great opportunity but inadequate means (cf. Jn 4.35; Acts 18.9-11; 2 Tim 2.10). We have every reason to expect that many more are yet to be saved, and will be! Yet how comparatively few the laborers! How few that will earnestly follow Christ, study His Word, pray as we should, carry a heavy burden for the lost, and spread the gospel!

• That the means might increase. “The laborers are few” is Jesus’ sorrowful admission of a big problem and hint of the solution. A big harvest requires many, many workers. Without them, the precious harvest rots in the fields and much is lost.

C. His Charge. Jesus intervenes to save His people via exhortation.

• Pray to the sovereign Lord. “Lord of the harvest” credits Him for the fruit of the field and all the means to reap it. His sovereignty rightly understood fosters (not kills) prayer.

• Ask for him to send the laborers among the multitudes. All faithful laborers are sent by the Lord. He can send them so that they go. He moves us to pray for them and sends them in answer to our prayers. Therefore pray! “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of” (Tennyson).

• Do all you can and should yourselves (implied). You can’t pray this sincerely without repenting of apathy and supporting the harvest in some way. God grant wisdom in the specifics. Ω

Jesus’ Heart for the Multitudes