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Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."
And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
- Matthew 9:35-10:4
In yesterday's reading, we read that two blind men followed Jesus, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it." But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country. As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never seen like this in Israel!" But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons."
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. My study bible tells us that Jesus doesn't see people as sinners to be condemned. Instead He has compassion on them, seeing them as lost sheep to be found and brought home. It points out that compassion means "suffering with." It adds, "Like sheep having no shepherd, drawn from the Old Testament (Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; Ezekiel 34:5), is an accusation against Jewish leaders who, charged with the duty of shepherds, acted the part of wolves." I think it's important to note that the phrase "weary and scattered" forms a kind of poetic sound in Greek ("eskylmeni kai errimeni") and is therefore vivid and memorable as a saying. Also essential to understand is that these words have a powerful potency in their original form. To be weary here is literally from a word that implies "skinned" and therefore extremely harassed. The scattered implies deliberate action, akin to "cast away", or cast down.
Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." My study bible notes here: "The harvest suggests the abundance of those who are ready to accept the message of the Kingdom. Jesus, Himself the Sower, is also Lord of the harvest. His disciples are sent not to sow but to reap what He had sown by the prophets. It is not the number of those who go which is most important, but the power given to those who are sent." That power is revealed in the next verse.
And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. My study bible says that "disciples and apostles are interchangeable terms for the Twelve followers of Jesus. The Greek word for 'disciple' means 'learner.' The word 'apostle' means 'one officially sent on a mission.' He gave them power to perform miracles, while He performed miracles by His own power. Both Matthew and Luke 9:1 add to Mark 6:7 the power of healing diseases. The names of the Twelve, which are not exactly the same in all the New Testament lists, are arranged in pairs. This gives an interesting idea of who may have traveled with whom on this, the apostles' 'first missionary journey,' since Mark reports they were sent out two by two." At the left hand side of my blog, I quote a liturgical prayer from the Armenian church. By tradition, the pair of apostles who traveled and evangelized Armenia after Pentecost -- and were martyred there -- were Thaddaeus and Bartholomew, thus validating my study bible's point about apostles being sent out "two by two."
It's interesting to think about the apostles being sent out in pairs. Many have commented on the Jewish tradition of "two witnesses." Jesus Himself also stated that "where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). The word martyr, incidentally, comes from the Greek word for witness. So, being sent out two by two, the apostles were corroborating witnesses, in some sense -- each telling their testimony of the Gospel. Christ's power is also present, He is also present, and the Spirit is present. Thus we could infer several witnesses to the testimony of the Gospel, by virtue of the fact that there are "two gathered" to do so. In some sense, our four Gospels are four testimonies to Christ, four witnesses testifying and telling us of His gospel, His message. Thus each Gospel has its own character, and Scripture as a whole, as well, is taken as a full body of testimony: each book giving its own testimony, placing them within a context of an entire body of witnesses. As Christians, we read the Old Testament Scriptures, as well, as witness to Christ, to the Spirit at work, and testimony about those others who were also "sent," such as the Prophets. Each Old Testament event testifies to Christ as "type" in the Christian reading of Scriptures. Thus, from Jesus sending out His apostles two by two, we come upon an entire Body of Christ as witness, where He and the Spirit are present, and all originates in the Father who is also present. Neither is the unity of these witnesses, each in their individual testimony, inhibited by time. Rather, as the communion of saints is beyond time, as we celebrate a Eucharistic liturgy praising God together with the angels in heaven, this body of witnesses expands beyond all boundaries we may associate with our every day lives. Finally, in Matthew's gospel, there is the repeated significance of two: two blind men, two Gergesene demoniacs, two women healed (one old and one young), into which we may also read the whole world, if you will, both Jew and Gentile. In each of these ways, two by two, a reading given in pairs extends to include a great cloud of witnesses, an entire Body, with Christ at the center. Let us remember that in the Body of Christ, each of us may testify in our own way, but we are never alone. It is good to be in dialogue with one another, to work together, to recognize the testimony of one another. Let us remember all those witnesses (including the countless martyrs) who have come before us, and will come after us, and how we are all connected with one another, especially through our prayers. Let us remember that His command to pray for more laborers for the harvest is continual. The shepherding of the weary and scattered or "cast away" sheep is always His work.
