Centered on Matthew 9:35–38, this exposition explores how the Lord’s compassion for the crowds, who were like sheep without a shepherd, and prayer for the harvest lead to mission.
“Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Matthew 9:35–36
“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest.’”
Matthew 9:37–38
Matthew 9:35–38 serves both as a conclusion summarizing Jesus’ Galilean ministry in Matthew 4–9 and as a turning point leading to the sending of the twelve disciples in chapter 10. Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching, proclaiming, and healing. And in the midst of that ministry, “when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them” (Matthew 9:36).
This single sentence is the starting point for the entire passage. Compassion—the Greek word splanchnizomai (σπλαγχνίζομαι)—is not mere sympathy. It is an intense word conveying a pain so deep that it feels as though one’s very inward parts are being torn apart. Jesus did not observe the crowds from a distance; he felt their suffering in his own body. Every motivation for mission and evangelism begins here. He saw them and had compassion on them. Without seeing, there is no compassion; without compassion, there is no prayer.
Matthew 4–9 records Jesus’ early Galilean ministry. In the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7), he taught the principles of the kingdom of God; through the various healings in chapters 8–9, he demonstrated the power of that kingdom. Matthew 9:35 summarizes all this ministry in three verbs: “teaching,” “proclaiming,” and “healing.” At its conclusion, however, Jesus does not continue this work alone. He commands his disciples to pray and, immediately afterward in chapter 10, sends them out. The movement from compassion to prayer, and from prayer to sending, forms the structure of this passage.
“Because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). This was not an expression Jesus invented. It is a recurring diagnosis of Israel’s spiritual condition in the Old Testament.
| Passage | Context | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Numbers 27:17 | Moses’ prayer for a successor | The fear that the congregation would scatter without a leader |
| 1 Kings 22:17 | The vision of the prophet Micaiah | Israel depicted as scattered on the eve of military defeat |
| Ezekiel 34:5–6 | A prophecy of judgment against false shepherds | The sheep scattered over the whole earth because they had no shepherd |
| Matthew 9:36 | The moment Jesus saw the crowds | The condition is remedied by the coming of the Lord, the true Shepherd |
The Greek terms corresponding to “harassed and scattered” are eskylmenoi (σκύλλω, wounded and weary) and errimmenoi (ῥίπτω, thrown down, fallen), respectively. They describe not merely being lost, but having lost all direction and collapsed, wounded. Israel had religious leaders in those days, but no true shepherd. The Pharisees and scribes were people who laid heavy burdens on others without lifting a finger themselves (Matthew 23:4). Jesus saw the void they had left.
John 10:11 declares, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus did not stop at seeing the sheep without a shepherd and having compassion on them. He himself became their Shepherd. “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Eyes of compassion lead to footsteps toward the cross.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). This declaration places two facts side by side. The field is vast and ripe, yet there are too few people to enter it.
Many people are already prepared to receive the gospel. Like the good soil in the parable of the sower, the field that will bear fruit is already ripe and waiting. The problem does not lie in the field.
There are too few people to gather the harvest. The problem lies not in the condition of the field, but in the number and dedication of the workers. This is why mission and evangelism are always urgent.
Do not recruit workers on your own; instead, plead with the Lord of the harvest. It is God, not human beings, who sends the workers. Prayer is the only starting point.
This imbalance connects directly with the conclusion of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13). Seed planted in good soil will certainly yield thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. Yet without someone to sow the seed and tend the field, no fruit will come. “How can anyone hear without someone to preach?” (Romans 10:14). The problem of the harvest is not a problem with the field, but with the workers.
“Ask the Lord of the harvest” (Matthew 9:38). This expression is important. The harvest is not a human enterprise; it is God’s work. Ultimately, it is God who gathers, trains, and sends the workers. Human beings are simply those who ask. This shows that mission is not a human project, but God’s sovereign work. As in the principle expressed by the saying “utmost sincerity moves heaven” (至誠感天), prayer—utmost sincerity—and God’s response—heaven being moved—work together.
Immediately after Jesus commands his disciples to pray for workers in Matthew 9:38, a remarkable transition takes place in the very next chapter, in Matthew 10:1–5.
“Jesus called his twelve disciples and gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits and to heal every disease and every infirmity. … Jesus sent out these twelve and gave them these instructions.”
Matthew 10:1, 5
When the disciples prayed, “Send workers,” they themselves became the answer to that prayer. This is the most remarkable feature of the passage’s structure. Prayer for mission is never passive. Those who pray may themselves become those who are sent. Just as Isaiah responded, “Here I am. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8), prayer is an act of seeking an answer while also preparing to become that answer oneself.
| Stage | Passage | Content |
|---|---|---|
| ① | Matthew 9:36 | The Lord sees the crowds and has compassion on them — Compassion |
| ② | Matthew 9:37–38 | He commands the disciples to pray for workers — Supplication |
| ③ | Matthew 10:1 | He calls the twelve disciples and gives them authority — Preparation |
| ④ | Matthew 10:5 | He sends the disciples out — Sending |
Compassion gives rise to prayer, prayer gives rise to preparation, and preparation leads to sending. These four stages form a pattern of mission already at work from the early days of the Galilean ministry, long before the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20) took its final form.
The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 forms the first half of a theology of the harvest, while the prayer for the harvest in Matthew 9 forms its second half. If sowing the seed is evangelism, then harvesting is gathering its fruit.
In the parable of the sower, the good soil was a field from which rocks and thorns had been removed. It yields thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. Yet no matter how good the field may be, without hands to gather the harvest, the grain rots in the ground. The ministry of sowing and the ministry of reaping must go together. In John 4:35–38, Jesus speaks to his disciples in Samaria.
“Lift up your eyes and look at the fields; they are white for harvest. The reaper is already receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.”
John 4:35–36
The sower and the reaper rejoice together. Mission is not an individual achievement, but the ministry of a community working together. The ministry of a deacon (diakonos), the ministry of a missionary, and the ministry of a teacher are all different hands participating in this one harvest.
Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.” Jesus’ compassion is not an emotional fluctuation, but the very essence of the incarnation. The kenosis, or self-emptying, of Philippians 2:6–8—the humbling of the one who is equal with God—arose from this very compassion. The eyes that saw sheep without a shepherd gave rise to footsteps toward the cross. Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, himself entered the field first and was planted as a seed (John 12:24).
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The people in the harvest field are those scattered without a shepherd, those under judgment. Human beings in the condition of being “given over” described in Romans 1 are the very ones to be gathered in this harvest. The harvest is a work of grace that delays judgment and widens the opportunity for salvation. The longer the workers delay, the fewer the opportunities for harvest become.
Acts 13:2 says, “While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” The Lord of the harvest sends workers through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit calls, the Spirit sets apart, and the Spirit sends. The prayer “Send workers” is ultimately a prayer for the work of the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit comes, workers for the harvest arise.
The selection of deacons in Acts 6 is a practical example of this theology of the harvest. Seven deacons were appointed to meet the needs of widows who had been overlooked in the distribution of aid. The apostles devoted themselves to the ministry of the Word, while the deacons served practical needs. This is the division of labor in the harvest field.
Deacons are support workers serving frontier mission from behind the front lines. Their work may not be glamorous, but it is indispensable. Stephen was a deacon, yet he grew deeply rooted in the Word and became a martyr. The principle that those who grow deeply rooted in the Word are used by God applies equally to every place in the harvest field. Anyone can become a worker in the harvest right where they stand.
The church’s structure of kerygma (proclamation) → koinonia (fellowship) → diakonia (service) is the practical flow of harvest ministry. The Word is proclaimed (kerygma), and the seed is sown. Those who receive it grow through fellowship within the community (koinonia), and that growth bears fruit in service (diakonia). When this cycle does not cease, the harvest continues.
Two thousand years ago, every village in Galilee had weary crowds who were like sheep without a shepherd. Today is no different. Around us are people who have lost their direction, who are exhausted and scattered. The harvest is still plentiful. The problem lies not in the field, but in the workers.
Jesus told his disciples to pray first. Then, in answer to that prayer, he sent the disciples themselves. Our prayers today follow the same pattern. The prayer “Send workers into the harvest” is also a prayer that opens the door to the commitment “Send me.”
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!’”
Isaiah 6:8
The field is ripe. The Lord of the harvest is waiting. Today, pray. Then respond.