The Compassion of Jesus
J.A. Macdonald Matthew 9:35-38 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom… This comes remarkably before us in this paragraph. We have it in both its aspects, viz. the human and the Divine. Note, then - I. THE HUMANITY OF THE COMPASSION OF JESUS. 1. His compassion was moved by the multitudes he saw. (1) God, who is compassion itself, cannot be subject to emotion. Divine emotion in Scripture teaching is the human emotion which has a Divine source, as when we are sensible of the working in us of a Divine compassion. Such was the human compassion which, in the highest perfection, moved the heart of Jesus. (2) It moved him as he considered the multitudes of men he met with in his itineration of the cities and villages (ver. 35). To him they were more than the multiplication of mere units. 3/lore than mere "hands." He viewed them as multitudes of rational, capable, responsible, immortal beings. 2. His compassion was moved by the condition in which he found them. (1) They were "distressed" physically and spiritually. (a) By disease and sickness. (b) By demoniacal possession. The demoralization of the nation as described by Josephus was fearful. (2) They were "scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd" (cf. 1 Kings 22:17). (a) Not that they were without synagogues. It was in visiting synagogues Jesus saw the multitudes. In the abounding of Churches there may yet be a famine of the Word of God. (b) Not that they were without scribes. These were in every city, yet they despised and neglected the flock (cf. Jeremiah 23:1, etc.; John 7:49). (c) Human traditions were substituted for the Divine Word. To this day Jewish teachers combine to make void the Word of God through their traditions. So do apostate Christian teachers. (3) The multitudes were like the harvest ready for the reapers, but no reapers were there to gather in the precious grain. It was "plenteous," but ready to shed and spoil and rot upon the ground. 3. His compassion moved him to prayer. (1) Jesus spent the whole night in prayer for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (2) He moved his disciples also to pray. They were too modest to record whether they also had spent. the whole night in prayer. (3) The burden of the prayer was that the Lord of the harvest would send forth labourers into his harvest. Note: It is the purest compassion to benefit the souls of men. Other things will follow (cf. 1 Kings 3:13; Psalm 37:35; Matthew 6:33; 1 Timothy 4:8). Does a truly human, Christ-like compassion so intensely move us as to lead us to pray and labour for souls? II. THE DIVINITY OF THE COMPASSION OF JESUS. 1. This brought him down from heaven. (1) His incarnation was in pursuance of the anti-mundane covenant (see Hebrews 10:5-7). (2) Compassion moved him (see Isaiah 59:16; John 3:16, 17; John 15:13). 2. It is manifest here in the authority of his preaching. (1) He preached the "gospel of the kingdom." His own kingdom. That kingdom in which he himself is King. (2) The authority of his preaching was from himself. For he spake "not as the scribes." Not even as the inspired prophets. As the Fountain of all holy inspiration. (3) In the Divine sense the compassionate Jesus is still going through cities and villages preaching his gospel. 3. Or, the miracles by which he attested it. (1) They were Divine. (a) Evincing power over visible nature. (b) Dominion over the invisible world. (2) They were wrought immediately by him. In his own Name. 4. In his delegation to his disciples of authority to preach. (1) He instructed them first to "pray the Lord of the harvest that he send forth labourers into his harvest." In which note: (a) That the harvest is the Lord's. (b) That he only can qualify and commission true labourers - labourers worthy of the work. (2) Then he acted himself as Lord of the harvest, calling and commissioning the twelve (cf. Matthew 10:1; Ephesians 4:11). (3) Christ sent forth those whom he moved to pray. Prayerfulness is a preparation for the ministry. How earnestly should the flock pray for true pastors 1 5. In his delegation to his disciples of miracle-working power. (1) He made them masters of disease and sickness. Also of evil spirits. Note: (a) "Unclean spirits" are distinguished here from "all manner of disease and all manner of sickness." (b) The design of the gospel is to vanquish the devil and cure the maladies of the world. (2) The mastery with which the disciples were invested was not to be exercised in their own, but in their Master's Name. (3) There is, therefore, no comparison between the sense in which Jesus commissioned his disciples, and that in which Moses appointed Joshua or Elijah called Elisha to be their successors. (4) Though the call to the ministry is Divine, to despise human learning is fanaticism. - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. WEB: Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.