<p>9:36&nbsp;<em>But when he saw the crowds, he was moved with</em>- This is part of the general summary of His preaching work which we have in :35. Most men would've inwardly groaned whenever they saw the crowds surging towards them. But not the Lord. Every time He saw a crowd of humanity, He was moved with compassion. We too are faced by human need, crowds of it, if only we will have the sensitivity to perceive it. And instead of groaning and raising eyebrows, we ought to be moved with compassion at their need, at how humanity is rudderless- if we have the spirit of Christ.</p>
<p><em>Compassion for them</em>- Several times used in the Gospels about the Lord's response to people. In His self-revelation in the parables, the Lord uses the same word about Himself and the Father- He is the Samaritan who &quot;had compassion&quot; on the wounded man (Lk. 10:33), as the Father of the prodigal son likewise had compassion on him (Lk. 15:20). Mk. 6:34 adds at this point that He&nbsp;<em>therefore</em>, as a result of that compassion, started to &ldquo;teach them many things&rdquo;. Then He asked His disciples, &quot;The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest&hellip;&rdquo; (Mt. 9:36-38). It was their spiritual as well as their material and human need which evoked His compassion. I have to say that this spirit of urgent compassion is not as strong among us as it should be. There seem few if any tears shed for the tragedy of humanity. The world&rsquo;s desperation seems written off as &lsquo;they&rsquo;re not interested&rsquo; rather than felt as a tragedy that should evoke our emotional and practical response. When Jesus saw the leper who wanted to be &ldquo;clean&rdquo;- not just &lsquo;cured&rsquo; or eased of his discomfort- He made an emotional response. He put forth His hand, touched him, and made him clean- because He was &ldquo;moved with compassion&rdquo; (Mk. 1:40,41). Mt. 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mk. 5:19 and Lk. 7:13 all record other times when the sheer humanity of the situation evoked the Lord&rsquo;s compassion: e.g. the woman in the funeral procession of her dear son, or the hungry crowds, unfed for 3 days&hellip;</p>
<p>Because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd</p>
<p>- Could be rendered &quot;harassed and helpless&quot;. The hypocrisy of the Pharisees didn't simply irritate the Lord, He went further to proactively feel sorry for the crowds who were without a shepherd- and He did something about it. Their lack of shepherds is the background for the Lord's command to pray therefore for&nbsp;<em>workers</em>&nbsp;to be sent out into the harvest (Mt. 9:37,38). We might think that the crowds being without a shepherd would lead the Lord to urge that good shepherds be sent to them. But instead He chooses another metaphor- seasonal labourers required to go and reap a harvest. Perhaps this was because He didn't consider the disciples nor indeed anyone in Palestine at the time to really be capable for shepherding. He was the only shepherd- the singular good shepherd. Perhaps the point of the change of metaphor was that the Lord's flock doesn't need mere shepherds, those in the positions of leadership, so much as&nbsp;<em>workers</em>&nbsp;first and foremost. The Lord is clearly alluding to the concern of Moses that after he died, the people would not be &quot;as sheep which have no shepherd&quot; (Num. 27:17). The hint is that Israel were in effect without Moses- whereas the Jewish religious leadership considered that they were being fiercely faithful to Moses. Perhaps there is also the hint that the Lord realized that He would not always be with these crowds (He had just taught that the bridegroom would be taken away from them in 9:15), and His prayer is that the Father will send out workers to replace Him. For our ministry in this world is effectively that of Jesus reincarnated in us as His body. See on 10:1.</p>