Matthew 9:35-38 — Leader Notes

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Passage breakdown: Matthew’s narration and Jesus’ words

  • v. 35, narration. Matthew’s summary of Jesus’ ministry, nearly word for word with 4:23. Differences: “he” becomes “Jesus”; “all Galilee” becomes “all the cities and villages”; 4:23 adds “among the people.”
  • v. 36, narration. What Jesus saw and felt. “Harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” is Matthew’s description, not Jesus’ spoken words.
  • vv. 37-38, Jesus’ words. The only spoken words in the passage, introduced by “Then he said to his disciples.”
  • Context for the message: 4:17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” is the one place before chapter 9 where Matthew records what Jesus proclaimed in his own words. The teaching is in chapters 5-7 and the healings in 8-9.
  • Leader note (Rich): Just because that was not a quote does not make it less inspired; that was just meant as context.

Unit 1: Jesus’ ministry (Matthew 9:35)

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Leader guidance
  • The verse names three activities but does not state the content of the teaching. Luke 4:16-21 shows Jesus teaching from Isaiah in a synagogue.
  • “All” is Matthew’s summary. 4:23 sets it in Galilee. The Greek word behind “all” (cities) and “every” (disease, affliction) is the same word, so the text draws no line between them.
  • The content of what Jesus proclaimed is given in 4:17.
Commentary and anchors
  • Text observation: Matthew has no separate scene appointing the Twelve. 10:1-4 is where he first presents them as a group.
  • Commentary: Henry sees v. 35 as the close of the preceding account of Christ’s preaching and miracles. Calvin says “gospel of the kingdom” is named for its effect: God gathering a scattered people so he may reign among them.
Leader observations (Rich)
  1. What is happening? Jesus is going throughout “all” the cities and villages, doing 3 things. Teaching (I assume from the Torah, similar to the other synagogue teachers). Proclaiming the “gospel of the kingdom” (I would assume similar to how it is described by Paul in Eph 1). Healing every disease and every affliction (“every,” not “all,” so not to be confused with types, but every one he encounters).
  2. Why is it happening (according to the text)? All the miracles and message are leading to the establishment of who he is and what he is doing here.
  3. When / where does this fit in the larger story? This is the beginning of establishment of what is firmly established in his position and authority, where the Father enacts fully after his resurrection. I would add this further established Him as Paul described.
  4. What does the text itself emphasize or reveal here? This is the gospel of the kingdom, backed up by a demonstration of real authority over death, disease, and affliction.
Reference note: the harvest saying and the calling of the Twelve
  • Three moments: first calls (Matthew 4:18-22, 9:9; Luke 5:1-11; John 1:35-51); appointed as the Twelve (Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:12-16); called together to be sent (Matthew 10:1, Mark 6:7, Luke 9:1).
  • Focus is the third moment: the harvest saying, then sent out. In Matthew, 9:37-38 comes immediately before the Twelve are called together (10:1), named (10:2-4), and sent (10:5). Mark 6:7 and Luke 9:1-6 record the same sending of the Twelve without the saying.
  • Luke: the saying comes with the seventy-two (10:1-3), after the Twelve were sent in 9:1-6. Matthew and Luke follow the same pattern (saying, then sending), probably on two different occasions. Mark has no harvest saying; John has a different one (4:35-38).
  • What follows: Matthew does not narrate the Twelve going out; 11:1 says Jesus moved on after instructing them. Mark 6:12-13 and Luke 9:6 follow the Twelve’s sending; Luke 10:17 follows the saying and the seventy-two.
Parallel Passages
  • Mark 6:6: going among the villages teaching (no kingdom message or healing mentioned in that verse).
  • Luke 8:1: adds that the Twelve were with him.
Sources

Henry · Calvin

Unit 2: Jesus sees the crowds (Matthew 9:36)

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Leader guidance
  • The text says the crowds were “like” sheep without a shepherd. It does not say who harassed them or why they were helpless. The preceding verse, 9:34, records the Pharisees’ accusation against Jesus; that is the nearest context, and v. 36 does not connect the two.
  • The phrase “sheep without a shepherd” is Matthew’s description. It appears only here and in Mark 6:34 as narration, not as Jesus’ spoken words.
  • Jesus’ reaction is compassion; the verse does not say what he does next. His next words are in v. 37.
Commentary and anchors
  • Commentary: Henry says the priests, Levites, and scribes were idol shepherds (Zechariah 11:17), so Christ pitied the people as scattered sheep. Gill says the scribes and Pharisees were bad shepherds, like Israel’s shepherds of old, and that the crowds were weary in mind from their traditions. Calvin says where there are no laborers there are no shepherds, and the sheep are scattered until gathered by the gospel.
  • Text observation: both Henry and Gill place the harassment with the religious leaders; the verse itself does not say so. Ezekiel 34 is the Old Testament passage they have in view.
Leader observations (Rich)
  1. What is happening? The description of Jesus’ reaction to the crowds of people he is teaching in the synagogues.
  2. Why is it happening (according to the text)? Jesus is the Lord and shepherd of His sheep; here there is the detail “they are harassed and helpless, LIKE sheep,” not identifying them all AS HIS sheep but having compassion on them nonetheless. Not sure who is doing the harassing and why they are helpless, but the “affliction” could be a context clue from 35. This could imply Satan, and the helplessness is an eternal reference, but that is hard to nail down for sure from these immediate verses.
  3. When / where does this fit in the larger story? This is right before he sends out the 12; see Luke and Mark references here. Right after, he himself has been doing what he is going to send them to do.
  4. What does the text itself emphasize or reveal here? The comparison of the amount of harvest work to do and the number of workers to do it: possible interpretation (see the notes about the Lord of the harvest) is that this implies the sovereignty of the Lord of the harvest, not that He is desperate and/or dependent on needing more workers. I think this is important because this is often given to say the Lord NEEDS you to be workers as if it can’t be done without, instead of the sovereign providence angle that the workers are providentially part of the harvest.
Parallel Passages
  • Mark 6:34: same “sheep without a shepherd” and compassion at the feeding of the five thousand. It adds that Jesus began to teach them many things. It does not say “harassed and helpless.”
Sources

Henry · Gill on 9:36 · Calvin

Unit 3: The harvest and the laborers (Matthew 9:37-38)

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Leader guidance
  • Who is addressed: the saying is spoken to “his disciples” (9:37), not named as the Twelve. The Twelve are called in 10:1 and sent in 10:5-6 only “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The wider sending to all nations is 28:18-20. Keep the Twelve’s commission in chapter 10 distinct from the Great Commission.
  • The text gives the situation (plentiful, few) and the response (pray). It does not say the harvest is impossible, and it does not say the Lord is dependent on more workers. Rich reads the title “Lord of the harvest” as pointing to sovereignty (see his observations below).
  • Immediate sequel in Matthew: Jesus calls the Twelve and gives authority (10:1). The text does not say they are the answer to the prayer. The ones told to pray are at the center of what happens next.
  • Sheep and the sending: the sending in Matthew is “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6), directly after the “sheep without a shepherd” description in 9:36.
Commentary and anchors
  • Commentary: Henry says God is the Lord of the harvest and orders everything about it as he pleases, which is a comfort to those who work in it; he reads the laborers as ministers. Gill reads the harvest as the large number of God’s elect, gathered at a fixed time in God’s purpose, and the laborers as gospel ministers, few in every age. Calvin reads “abundant” as many being ripe to receive the gospel, and says Jesus uses “laborers” only for faithful ones.
  • Text observation: all three commentators identify the laborers as ministers; the verse says “laborers” and does not define them further.
  • Gideon pattern (interpretive reading, not stated in the text): 1 Samuel 14:6 says the LORD can save by many or by few. Judges 7:2 has God saying the army is too many; Matthew 9 has workers too few. Rich: “Very good point, and it is the point I was trying to make.” “Agree it is inverted but I think the same object is there.” “Agree this is an interpretive point and not explicit.”
Leader observations (Rich)
  1. What is happening? Now Jesus is being quoted (note about Unit 2: just because that was not a quote does not make it less inspired; that was just meant as context). As in my answer in Unit 2, this is not desperation or dependence on creatures; it is a call to pray and to recognize God’s providence in bringing about the workers he has and/or will call, not a cry of need but a declaration of sovereignty.
  2. Why is it happening (according to the text)? Jesus had compassion on the crowd and is explaining this to His disciples.
  3. When / where does this fit in the larger story? I don’t think anything has changed about this from the last unit.
  4. What does the text itself emphasize or reveal here? Covered by 1.
Parallel Passages
  • Luke 10:2: the same saying, given as the seventy-two are appointed. It adds the sending “like lambs in the midst of wolves” (10:3). Mark has no parallel. Gill’s comment on Luke 10:2 says Jesus repeated to the seventy what he had said to the twelve earlier; see Gill on Luke 10:2.
Sources

Henry · Gill on 9:37 · Calvin

Appendix: harvest references in the Gospels, by message

Review notes

  • There is no sermon outline for this passage, so there are no sermon questions, no READ bars from an outline, and no Leader Response blocks. Rich’s answers appear as Leader observations.
  • The Leader thesis and Application are left out at Rich’s direction (no source note; they do not need a reference).
  • Commentary: Henry, Gill, and Calvin were confirmed in search results. Poole could not be verified for this passage, so he is left out.
  • The Gideon pattern is marked as an interpretive reading, with Rich’s comments in his words.
  • Rich’s Unit 1 assumptions (teaching from the Torah; Ephesians 1 for the gospel of the kingdom) are recorded as his observations and have not been tested against the text beyond the Leader guidance above.
  • The millennial question is outside this passage. The passage gets only as far as “at hand” (4:17) and harvest language; the timing is decided by other texts such as 13:39-43.