You see it, don’t you? A co-worker quietly losing their battle with alcoholism. A cousin whose marriage and family are unraveling. A friend struggling under the weight of a debilitating eating disorder. Pain is everywhere. People are hurting all around us.
If we are able to glimpse even a fraction of the world’s pain, can you imagine what Jesus saw? For any one of us, such suffering would be overwhelming. Yet, what was Jesus’ response to a world filled with the “harassed and helpless”?
Recently, while reading through the gospel of Matthew, I returned to the well-worn passage where Jesus tells his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matt. 9:37). Though I had read these words many times before, I noticed an insight tucked into this passage that I had previously overlooked – an understanding of Jesus’ solution for the lost.
In Matthew 9, we see Jesus intentionally pursuing those who are far from Christ and healing those who are deeply broken. He calls the tax collector, Matthew, to follow him. He heals a paralytic, a woman suffering from chronic bleeding, Jairus’s daughter, two blind men, and a demon oppressed mute man. The chapter concludes with these words:
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 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 pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matt. 9:35-38)
First, notice Jesus’ eyes. He looks upon the crowds not with disdain or irritation for what they are demanding from him, but with “compassion.” Then he invites his disciples to see what he sees: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matt. 9:37). He calls them to pray for laborers, and in doing so, he is priming their hearts to be become part of that answer to prayer.
The a ha! that struck me was found in the reason for Jesus’ compassion. Why was he moved in compassion toward the crowds? Because “they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). I’ve heard this passage preached many times as an evangelistic call to share the good news with our neighbors, and rightly so. But woven into this evangelistic call is something more. Jesus is not only calling his disciples to share the good news, he is calling them to shepherd wounded sheep. Jesus is calling the disciples to cultivate safe and healthy communities where the harassed and helpless can be protected and allowed to thrive.
One of the great joys of pastoral ministry is walking with someone as they learn to trust Christ. What an honor it is to labor in the harvest field! Yet few heartaches cut as deep as watching someone who once proclaimed faith in Christ slowly drift away from the fold.
Recently, I reached out to a young man whom I had the joy of helping lead to Christ. He stepped into community, served in the church, and began to flourish. Then his attendance became sporadic, and alas he was gone. Someone in the church later shared that there had been a conflict leading to a falling out with them and this individual. My heart broke, but I was grateful to understand what had happened. I reached out to the young man and asked if we could meet in hopes of reconciliation. He responded kindly but firmly: no, thank you.
I hope he has found another church; I fear that he has not. Has he returned to the very things that once held him in bondage for so many years? I pray he has not. Has he become, once again, a “sheep without a shepherd”? I pray that he is not.
Salvation without protection will wither: scorched and rootless (Matt. 13:5-6). Our evangelistic call is not merely to proclaim the gospel, it is to lead people to the Shepherd and into the safety of his fold. May we learn to see with Christ’s eyes the harassed and helpless, and may we draw them not only into faith, but into loving, life-giving community.
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Photo by Biegun Wschodni on Unsplash