Bible Study on Matthew 9, verses 27 to 38, the Lord of the harvest

 

Matthew 9:27 ¶  And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. 28  And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. 29  Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. 30  And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. 31  But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. 32  As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. 33  And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. 34  But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

 

Again, Jesus’ fame as a healer spreads abroad. However, the religious elite claim that He is working under the authority of Satan. Casting out devils by the devil sounds like an absurdity. This is not the last time they will make this outrageous claim and Jesus will deal with this in chapter 12 so we’ll save His response until then.

 

By the way, although we’ve read the word before dumb refers to not being able to speak. This is defined in the Bible itself. Just do a word search on dumb.

 

Matthew 9:35 ¶  And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36  But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37  Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38  Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

 

Christ’s compassion on humanity is clear here but there are a couple of things I want to bring out. One, the phrase scattered abroad is here used to define the condition of the masses of Jews without a leader.

 

That phrase is used again in other contexts referring to the Jews in Exodus, Esther, later on in Matthew, John, Acts, and in James. They are sheep in need of a shepherd, whom Jesus is the rightful person in that role. But, so many of them don’t know that and cannot receive it of themselves.

 

Here is another part of this passage that is used often by preachers when they try to guilt you because you didn’t come out for Tuesday night “soul-winning.” However the specific and immediate situation to which Christ is referring is resolved in the next chapter, which we will see. So keep verses 37 and 38 in your mind as you begin to read chapter 10.