Matthew 9:35-36

THIRD EVANGELISTIC TOUR

Matthew 9:35-36; Mark 6:6. Matthew “And Jesus was a going round all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every ailment among the people.” Our Savior, now the third time, accompanied by the twelve apostles whom He had chosen, and the holy women who cooperated with their ministry, and not a few voluntary disciples, radiates out from Capernaum, traversing the whole country of Galilee, which included the tribes of Dan, Naphtali, Zebulun, and Issachar, preaching the gospel of the kingdom in all their villages and cities. Hence we see that Jesus was an evangelist of the most aggressive character, not only peregrinating the whole country, and preaching the gospel of spiritual salvation full and free, but indiscriminately healing the sick. “And seeing the multitudes, He was moved with compassion in their behalf, because they were fleeced and abandoned, as sheep having no shepherd.” N.B. These people were all members of the Jewish Church, gathering Sabbatically in their synagogues, which everywhere abounded, and enjoying the ministry of the scribes, their pastors, and the expositions of their cultured theologians (called “lawyers,” because they expounded the laws of Moses and the prophets). Now why does Jesus thus speak of those people, describing them as poor sheep having been sheared closely, and turned out of the fold to weather the storm and take chances with the wild beasts and robbers? The case is very plain. The word here, which I translate “fleeced,” is eskulmenoi, which also means “harassed, vexed, abused,” signifying the treatment which those people received at the hands of the ministry who had charge of them. And the other, errimmenoi, means “forsaken, abandoned, cast away.” Now, of course, these strong affirmations of our Lord have a spiritual signification, revealing the sad fact that these people were utterly destitute of competent spiritual guides.

Now do not forget that these were Jews, holding regular membership in the Church which God established, and enjoying all the privileges of the synagogue worship, with the living ministry faithfully serving them. What was the matter? Those preachers, with all their learning, were spiritually dead, ”the blind leading the blind,” laying heavy financial burdens on the people, and neglecting their souls, thus practically abandoning them for the devil. O how history repeats itself! We do not have to go back to the Judaic ages in order to find the Lord's sheep “fleeced” and abandoned for the wolves to devour.