This Sunday's Sermon Info

Matthew 9:36-38

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When the Pharisees made their blasphemous charge against Jesus, He didn’t retaliate against them in judgment and wrath.  (Later, He will deal with their repeated accusation that He is empowered by Satan – Matthew 12:25-32.)  Jesus went out and continued to do good and to serve the will of His Father.  In Matthew 9:35 we read that after the wicked accusation He “was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”  He didn’t become bitter or angry, He went and did the godly thing, the obedient thing, the thing that brought glory to God.  This example should be one that Jesus’ followers should emulate when attacked.  Jesus did not retaliate, but He continued to go into the harvest and reap souls.  He continued to call His sheep from among the goats.  That is the example for anyone who would be called His follower.  No matter the circumstance, the saints are to sow the seed, reap the harvest, and give the gospel call to the world so that His sheep will respond.  Jesus is the “Lord of the harvest”.  (Matthew 9:36-38)  The Lord of the harvest must in fact be the one who effectually reaps the fruit of the harvest.  He is in command of who will hear the call and who will not.  Jesus has enlisted His disciples as workers to go into “His harvest” and spread the good news of the gospel.  But His workers cannot control the harvest, they simply work as commanded, and the “Lord of the harvest” reaps His fruit for the storehouses of eternity.  Once again, we read that Matthew is guiding his readers to the inevitable conclusion that Jesus is the prophesied Jewish Messiah.  He is the Good Shepherd who truly cares for His sheep.  Ezekiel (in chapter 34) lamented the lack of good shepherding in the nation of Israel for the Jewish people: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered.”  But God has in store for the people a Good Shepherd: “Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.”  Zechariah also lamented of the failed shepherds (10:2-3; 11:4-17) and he prophesied of the coming Good Shepherd and His death (13:7-9).