Those who have seen sheep in person know that without a shepherd, sheep move about aimlessly, wandering here and there, getting lost, and generally paying little heed to the dangers around them. This is the spiritual state of the people in today's passage, and we see that in Jesus' actions to teach the people. The care they need is first and foremost guidance in truth by the Son of God.
Matthew Henry comments that the people in today's passage have "none to lead and guide them in the right way, none to feed them with good doctrine." A basic understanding of first-century Judaism bears this out. The leading council of the Jewish people, the Sanhedrin, consisted of men from two leading Jewish parties who were not sheltering the people from error or feeding them healthy food. One party, the Sadducees, advocated compromise with the Roman Empire, not encouraging the biblical hope for God's deliverance that the prophets taught. The other party, the Pharisees, added to Scripture, focusing on unhealthy, man-made traditions over the life-giving food of the Word of God. Without proper guidance and care, the sheep were malnourished and lost, and the only solution was for Jesus to lead them and feed them.
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Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary Mark, "When Jesus set out to feed His sheep, He taught them." As the Good Shepherd, Jesus fulfills His vocation by instructing us in divine truth. All those who would shepherd His people as pastors and teachers must do the same. May our teachers feed us the solid food of God's Word, and let us sit under only those who are committed to the truth of Scripture.
The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; ...
A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ...
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together! My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre. Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me, ...
Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.
As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep,
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.
So without a shepherd sheep are in trouble. In fact, sheep are hopeless without a shepherd. And that is what Jesus is saying here about the people in Mark chapter six. Without a shepherd, they were lost; they were hopeless. This was true of the crowd that Jesus interacted with and this is true of everyone today who is not a believer. This was also true of you and me before we came to the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Humanity apart from Christ is like a sheep without a shepherd. Humanity apart from Christ is lost and hopeless. Jesus is our Shepherd, our only hope and means of salvation.
Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:35-36)
Jesus was going all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Then the news about Him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to Him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
Shepherds had an intensely personal connection to their sheep. In some cases they actually owned them, so the sheep represented their wealth, their livelihood. In other cases they simply stewarded them. But either way, shepherds in ancient Israel bonded with their sheep at birth, gave them names, formed personal attachments with them, and were literally willing to lay down their lives to protect them.
There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up, living with him and his children. It shared his meager food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.
Another Old Testament Scripture underlies both Matthew 4 and Matthew 9. That Scripture is Isaiah 40, which clearly connected Jesus with the coming of Yahweh in Matthew 3:1-3, and which here in Matthew 9 clearly identifies him again as God come to seek out his sheep:
Jesus viewed himself as God come to find, heal, and nurture his flock. He viewed his people, the battered, oppressed, wounded people of Israel, as rightly belonging to him and needing his compassionate care.
Our passage this morning skips over a minor little story of when Jesus feeds 5,000 men, plus women and children. And as soon as that feeding of the flock is done, Jesus and the disciples get back in the boat and cross back to the other side, where they are mobbed again by the sheep from the other corner of the pasture.
I noticed this week as I was working on this sermon the part about all the sick people. They brought the sick on mats to wherever they heard Jesus was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak.
Some of the sheep of our human flock are holding onto staggering amounts of resources, while others of us are being laid in the marketplaces in hopes that maybe Jesus will walk by and heal us. We are sheep in need of better shepherding.
But even when we feel weary, when the job seems to never end, when the needs of the community seem like a bottomless well that we can never fill, we are still called to have compassion on the crowd, because they are like sheep without a shepherd. And they need to know we are with them and for them and that they are not alone.
You may be a sheep safe and happy to gambole about on the hillside, without a worry or care. You may feel lost, or at risk from the big bad wolves of the world. You may feel more like a shepherd, able to stand witness and protect. You may have been carried here today on the prayers of other people, hoping Jesus will come close enough to heal you.
Jesus had sent his disciples out two by two, preaching repentance and casting out demons, healing as many as they could. As the disciples returned from their preaching expedition through Galilee, they were also a little road weary, but glad to be home.
But compassion really means suffering with the one who suffers. The Greek word for compassion includes the root word for intestines. Compassion is something that you feel in your gut. You internalize the pain of another, and suffer that pain yourself, in the very core of your being.
When Jesus looked on these crowds of people who had chased him around the lake, he saw people who were like sheep without a shepherd, and he felt their pain, their confusion, their deep desire to know God in a way their scribes and teachers had never shown them. He felt their hunger, not only for bread, but for love. He suffered as they suffered, in the very core of his being.
When Jesus looks at you and me, he has compassion for us, too. He feels our pain, our sorrow, our frustration, and our worry. He suffers with us in our broken relationships, our need to make ends meet, and our deep desire to be right with God. He sees us running around like sheep without a shepherd, and he calls to us to walk with him, as he walks with us. 152ee80cbc
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