Week 25 Matthew 9
When (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
People were feeling harassed and helpless. Other versions use different words: bewildered. Distressed. Dejected. Troubled. Downcast. Hurting & discouraged. Weary & worn out. Miserable. Confused & aimless.
The Lord recognized that his audience – generally=speaking – was mentally & emotionally down. Feeling like they’d lost their way.
What’s pretty interesting to me is that on the one side Jesus was instantly resolving a lot of physical-medical problems people were suffering. Right there in chapter nine Jesus:
• healed the hemorrhaging woman
• resuscitated the synagogue official’s daughter
• restored sight to two blind men
• exorcised a demon-possessed man.
So when it came to physical maladies Jesus was healing every disease and sickness – and doing it on-the-spot.
But there was also this persistent & across-the-board & and maybe not-so-obvious condition of low-level depressive melancholy. People feeling the castaway blues. And – a bit surprisingly – that’s not something Jesus healed. When it came to that nagging feeling of scattered helplessness it was more like a person had to listen to what Jesus said and ask himself: is this going to help me find my way home?
On the physical decrepitude side Jesus took action.
But when it came to conditions of the heart a person listening to Jesus had to do some of his own thinking-deciding-acting.
Note: quotes from Matthew 9:36 (NIV and AMPC CSB CEB NASB EXB HCSB Philips MSG). Healings: Matthew 9:20-22 18-25 27-30 32-33. Matthew 9:35 (NIV)