"Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." -- Matthew 9:36. As Matthew 9 comes to its closing verses, we see Jesus looking around. He looks around and sees that people are distressed which according to BDAG means weary or harassed in the original Greek (933), they are dispirited which in the Greek means to be thrown down (BDAG 933) and finally they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were broken down.
Broken down. Not long before I started writing this this morning I saw a post from one of my classmates about how ready he is to be done with school simply because he is tired. This is understandable because this quarter has been particularly tough due to the workload place upon us and it has several of us broken down. However, this is not what Jesus was noticing, just a bunch of tired people. These people were harassed. These people were beaten down. These people needed guidance. Again, they were utterly broken down.
Broken down. The people were harassed. Many of the people that Jesus came into contact with were the people that society looked down upon. Among them were the diseased, the blind, the poor, and of course in Jewish culture, even the women. Society as a whole wanted nothing to do with these sort of people. In the eyes of many, these people were inferior and useless to society. Society as a whole harassed these people.
Broken down. Second these people were thrown down. What I mean by this builds on the fact that society was just tossing the diseased, blind, poor and to a certain extent the women to the side. Those who seemed weak or inferior in some way were given no attention.
Broken down. Finally, the last thing we note as Jesus looks around is that the people were like sheep without a shepherd. They needed guidance. They needed care. They needed someone who would meet their needs, spiritual and in some cases also physical. These people were broken down in every way.
Broken down. Let me ask you this, do the above three scenarios sound familiar to you at all? Although its not as prevalent, there are cases where the sick and ailing are simply cast aside. Having two parents worked around healthcare facilities, it pained me to hear that many of the residents of those facilities are simply left there by their families and neglected until it comes time for their life to end and then the family shows up. To make matters worse many times they only show up to see what they will be getting from this person's death. It's a grim picture I know but this is the reality Jesus faced and this is the reality we as Christians must face today. People are broken down.
Broken down. Have you ever seen a sheep without a shepherd? We know there are children out there who don't have parents. There are children out there who have parents but don't have the kind of parents that will give them love and guidance. There are people out there who are looking for a way out of their current lifestyle. What they are screaming for is help. They too are broken down.
So how do we respond? Granted, the above scenarios are not something that can be fixed overnight. Within the last two weeks alone, I have heard of people that would fall directly into one of the three categories defined here in Matthew 9:36. There are people that are getting tossed aside and being harassed by society. There are people that are in need of a shepherd. There are people that are screaming for help. They need hope. They need salvation. That's where you and I come in. As Christians, we have an opportunity, we have a responsibility to go to those who society casts aside. The bottom line is all of these are souls in need of God's saving grace regardless of their physical condition. These people young and old alike are screaming for help. This morning I am simply here to offer a reality check to remind us of the responsibility we have as Christians. We have a responsibility to serve. We have a responsibility to reach out to a dying world. Ultimately we have a responsibility to make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded per Matthew 28:18-20. This is not an easy task but whether you are a teacher, a parent, a preacher, a business man or woman, or a student as a Christian we all have a responsibility. No matter what role we fill, that role is our ministry. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5 to fulfill his ministry. And that is my encouragement to you this morning. No matter what role you fill be it teacher, preacher, parent, or student that is your ministry, it is our ministry. We must fulfill it with the ultimate purpose of bringing people into a relationship with Christ, saving souls, and keeping the saved...saved. Start small, take time to reach out to one individual by serving them in some way and if possible study the Bible with that person. Tomorrow we will look deeper into what our responsibility is when we bring Matthew 9 to a close.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!
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