A successful organisation will eventually have to change to enable that success to continue.
Imagine a small business, Widget Pty Ltd. Widget Pty Ltd makes widgets. In fact, Widget Pty Ltd is very good at making widgets. The widgets they make widget just the way the widget consuming public wants them to. Widget Pty Ltd is run by Mr Widget. Mr Widget invented widgets himself. And now he makes them in his garage, and Mrs Widget brings him cups of tea and takes care of the phone and the mail.
Mr Widget began by making widgets for his family and friends. But as time went by, many people saw the Widgets, or heard about them. News spread far and wide about Widgets. And Mr and Mrs Widget begin to receive more orders than they can possibly handle. What will Widget do?
Mr Widget could try and dampen demand, to keep the news about his widgets secret. He might tell his friends and family to be quiet about widgets. He could tell them to hide their widgets when visitors come over. Mr Widget could attempt to drop the cone of silence over the widget-loving community.
But Mr Widget feels like the horse has bolted. He couldn’t stop news spreading about widgets even if he wanted to.
Alternatively, Mr Widget could restrict supply. He might begin to refuse some orders for widgets. Mr Widget calculates he can make 50 widgets a year. Mr Widget is tempted to stop there. After all, he invented widgets. He has perfected widget-making, and Mr Widget is something of a perfectionist. He’s got the whole thing down to a fine art.
But Mr Widget knows that this will drive up the price of Widgets. And there might even grow a widget black market. And that troubles Mr Widget. Anyhow, Mr Widget is a community minded person. “A Widget for every home, a home for every Widget” is his motto.
Mr Widget could increase the supply of widgets. Of course, this is a risk, and Mr Widget doesn’t like risk. He would have to put on an assistant widget maker. Training an apprentice would be a hassle. It would leave him less time for making widgets himself, and Mr Widget quite enjoys making widgets. Further, there are all the costly mistakes that the new widget maker would make. For widget making is a very exacting science.
What should Mr Widget do?
Welcome to Jesus’ problem in Matthew Chapter 9. Jesus is in Galilee (Matt 4:12, 23, 11:1), the country bumpkin area of Israel. John the Baptist has been imprisoned (Matt 4:12), and this has left the field clear for Jesus.
From Matthew chapters 4 to 15, Jesus is engaged in ministry in Galilee, and Matthew summarizes what Jesus’ ministry is about in chapter 4:23-25:
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. (Matt 4:23-25 NIV)
We see what Jesus’ ministry is here. First and foremost, it is preaching and teaching the good news about the kingdom. And the second and following is healing and driving out demons. Jesus adopts a two pronged attack on the kingdom of darkness of preaching and healing, and Matthew illustrates both Jesus’ preaching and healing ministry.
Matthew gives large slabs of Jesus’ teaching, such as in chapters 5-8, and the “Sermon on the Mount”. There Jesus outlines the lifestyle of the kingdom of heaven, or in chapter 10, where Jesus instructs the apostles for mission, or chapter 13, the parables given by Jesus on Lake Galilee. Matthew also gives Jesus’ answers to many inquirers, so that amounts to a lot of teaching.
And Matthew also gives frequent examples of Jesus’ healing and driving out of demons. These various acts of mercy did two things. Firstly, they helped those in need. But secondly they also proved that Jesus is the one the Old Testament spoke of. Jesus was the great healer, and there’s healing in the king’s hands. So Jesus was shown to be the ‘coming one’ (Matt 11:3).
In Matthew 9:27-38, we read a little summary of Jesus’ Ministry. Have a look with me at Matthew chapter 9 verses 35.
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. (NIV)
Teaching and preaching, and healing, constitute Jesus’ two-pronged ministry.
In the immediately previous passage to this one, we saw both aspects of Jesus’ ministry. We saw Jesus’ teaching. Jesus taught that he brings in new ways. And Jesus taught that his coming is a time for rejoicing, because he is a bridegroom. And we saw Jesus healing. Immediately previous it was two daughters of Israel, a 12 year old girl who died, and a woman who bled for 12 years. There Jesus raised the dead and healed the sick.
In today’s passage we see Jesus’ mercy to three men: two blind men (Matt 9:27-31) and a dumb demon possessed man (Matt 9:32-34). These accounts serve as examples of Jesus’ healing.
First is the two blind men (Matt 9:27-31). They recognize Jesus as the coming one. They call him “Son of David” and “Lord”. Both are titles for the coming Messiah.
The blind men ask Jesus for mercy. But Jesus doesn’t respond immediately. He first goes indoors. He waits for them to come inside. This will enable Jesus to keep quiet what he is going to do, and it will require the two men to be bold and enter the house.
Jesus heals because he is merciful, but his healings are more than acts of mercy. They are also teach, both those who are healed and also the watching disciples.
Here Jesus doesn’t miss the opportunity to teach. He makes it clear to all the basis of the healing.
Verses 28, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes Lord”, they replied.
Verse 29, “According to your faith will it be done to you.”
It is the same lesson that Jesus taught the bleeding woman. Verse 22, “Your faith has healed (literally saved) you”.
Jesus’ lesson is this: faith saves. Salvation is by faith. That is what the healings teach. Come to Jesus and be saved by trusting him. All these men and women are walking illustrations of the truth of the gospel. “It is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, let any person boast. (Eph 2:8-9)
Likewise, here we see Jesus’ power over demons. Christians believe in demons. They are spiritual creatures hostile to God, being probably angels that fell with Satan. Demons are hostile to humans. They seek to possess men, women, and children, terrorise them, and generally make human life miserable. For that is what Satan is like: always wanting to ruin whatever is good in creation and human life.
At the time of Jesus’ ministry, there seemed an unusual concentration of demonic activity. This is not surprising, for Jesus’ life and death was a great battle against evil. Jesus’ fiercest battle with the spiritual forces of evil was at the cross. And in his resurrection, Jesus triumphed over them. So Christians need not fear the demonic. We do not dabble in the demonic, nor do we fear the demonic, for Jesus has triumphed over it
In our passage, Jesus drove out the demon, and freed the man. Again, we see that it is an act of mercy. But it is more, for Jesus teaches by healing. The crowds are amazed, and they wonder who Jesus could be.
These miracles are all typical of Jesus’ ministry. But Jesus’ faces a problem: the problem of success. He is teaching and healing, and many people are coming to him, in fact, more than he can cope with. I say this respectfully, because Jesus really became human. He was fully man and took on human limitations. Thus, in his human nature, Jesus was not everywhere. Jesus could only be in one place at one time. Sure, in his divine nature, God the Son is everywhere. But Jesus took on a body, and Jesus’ body can only ever be in one place at one time.
And so this presents Jesus with a problem similar to that of Mr Widget. Jesus is a gospel preacher and teacher, and Jesus heals, but the demand is getting too great for him.
What is Jesus to do?
Should he dampen demand? Throughout Matthew chapters 4 to 15, Jesus does attempt to dampen the demands of the crowds on him. He does at times command silence (Matt 8:4, 12:16, 16:20). He orders people not to speak about who he is or what he did. One reason for this was Jesus didn’t want to stop teaching, and the crowds prevented him reaching new people and going to new villages. Another reason was that the crowds couldn’t handle the truth. They couldn’t handle knowing that Jesus was the Messiah, for they thought the Messiah was a victorious conqueror, not a suffering servant.
Well, in our passage we see here Jesus dampening demand. In verses 30 and 31 we read of Jesus words to the blind men:
Jesus warned them sternly [literally, he snorted], “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. (NIV)
Jesus snorts at them. He is stern with them. Do not tell anyone.
But at one level, it was inevitable that the news gets out. How could you keep such great events secret?
And in any case, Jesus is merciful. He is compassionate, and full of love. He wants to teach people, to save people, and to heal them. Verse 36:
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
So Jesus thinks the time is ripe to start upon a new strategy. He had been working toward this new strategy for some time, for he had intentionally gathered disciples around him, taught them, showed them his works, and corrected them. They spent time with him, and listened to him. But now was Jesus’ time to start implementing his new strategy. And the strategy was to increase supply, to increase the workers in the vineyard. Verses 37 to 38:
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
The strategy starts with prayer, but not any old prayer. It is prayer for workers to be sent. And it is not any old people who are praying, either. It is the disciples. And we will see that while Jesus starts with prayer, he ends with action. We will see in the next passage that the disciples become part of God’s answer to their own prayer, for these sort of prayers are dangerous to pray.
Friends, we need to pray. We need to pray specific prayers for more workers going into the harvest field. We need more workers, more Scripture Teachers, more Kids’ ministry workers, more Youth Workers, more Evangelists, more Growth Group leaders, more preachers, more people in visiting ministry. Away with the notion that the minister must do it all. We need more. We need to increase supply. So we ask God.
And God has been kind. We’ve said goodbye to home grown Christians. They have become student ministers working in other places in the Lord’s harvest. We’ve said hello to others as MTS workers, invited under God to partner in the ministry. This is all to multiply the number of well-trained persons lovingly dedicated to the creation and development of such parishes, congregations and fellowships by proclaiming the gospel. More workers into the harvest means we need to multiply well trained persons.
And of course, we are world Christians. We care about our Parish, but like Wesley we say, “The world is my Parish”. We care about the need for theological teachers in Africa and South America and Asia. We care about the needs of church planting and student work in Europe and South America. We want to see the peoples of the Middle East declare the wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we ask “Father, increase the number of missionaries”. And this is always a dangerous prayer, because it might be me and you, my children and your children, who go. But we ask it anyway.
Let’s pray.