As Jesus went in Matthew 9:35 “And Jesus was going around all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness.” people came to him with their needs. Jesus healed them all without any judgment of clean or unclean and there were so many that in Matthew 9:36 “And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them”. His compassion motivated him, first to tell his disciples to pray, but also to commissioned them to go in Matthew 10:7 “And as you are going, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near!’. But this was not just about repentance as John the Baptist had prepared people, he also told them in Matthew 10:8 “Heal those who are sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, expel demons. Freely you have received; freely give”. Jesus sent them with his anointing, with his message from Luke 4:18–19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of which he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send out in freedom those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” There is a future, a hope, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
If Only I Touch His Cloak I Will Be Healed
Matthew 9:18–22
People had heard that Jesus was healing the sick and they came to find him. These were not simple cases, this man’s daughter had died, this was urgent and Jesus went with him in
Matthew 9:18–19 As he was saying these things to them, behold, one of the rulers came and knelt down before him, saying, “My daughter has just now died, but come, place your hand on her and she will live!” 19 And Jesus and his disciples got up and followed him.
but as he was going, a woman came and touched him in
Matthew 9:20–21 And behold, a woman who had been suffering with a hemorrhage twelve years approached from behind and touched the edge of his cloak, 21 for she said to herself, “If only I touch his cloak I will be healed.”
A woman suffering with this was unclean, so separated because everything she touched also was unclean (see Leviticus 15:25–30) but this didn’t stop her from coming to Jesus. She knew that she would be healed and she was. It was a seven days later though, “and afterwards she becomes clean” in Leviticus 15:28. Jesus also though, knew He was not made unclean by her, if he had been, he would not have been able to go on the rulers house where he raised his daughter.
The Girl Is Not Dead
Matthew 9:23–26
Have Mercy on Us
Matthew 9:27–31
The Demon Had Been Expelled
The Harvest is Plentiful
Matthew 9:35–38
Jesus came to demonstrate the will of God the Father and in
Matthew 9:35 And Jesus was going around all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness.
Jesus also though, recognized the limitations of being in human flesh. He couldn’t be everywhere at once. He couldn’t reach all of the people that had needs. He did though, have compassion for them in
Matthew 9:36 And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were weary and dejected, like sheep that did not have a shepherd.
His compassion caused him to speak to his disciples but he didn’t just ask them to go, he told them to “ask the Lord of the harvest that he send out workers” in
Matthew 9:37–38 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest that he send out workers into his harvest.”
When we read these words, we may put our religious training to work and say Jesus was only talking about eternal salvation, and He was “proclaiming the good news of the kingdom” but he was also “healing every disease and every sickness” and what he saw when he looked at the crowds was that people were “weary and dejected” with no leader, shepherd, hope. The harvest is to bring people into the kingdom, but also to free them from disease, to give them hope and joy in the Holy Spirit, to renew their passion and desire to live and love God and each other.
As You Are Going, Preach
Matthew 10:1–15
Jesus not only asked his disciples to pray, he commissioned them and sent them out to do the same work He had been doing in
Matthew 10:1 And summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could expel them and could heal every disease and every sickness.
Jesus told them who to go to, “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” in Matthew 10:6, he told them what message to give them, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near!’ in Matthew 10:7, and he told them what to do for them in
Matthew 10:8 Heal those who are sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, expel demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
but he also had a requirement of those that he was sending them to in
Matthew 10:10 Do not take a traveler’s bag for the road, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for the worker is deserving of his provisions.
but Jesus also knew that not everyone would receive his disciples just as some had rejected him, so he also told them in
Matthew 10:14 And whoever does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you are going out of that house or that town.
How many of us today would go with this kind of commission? It is good to have missionary support, it is a blessing to have others that share in the fruit of the harvest with you, but Jesus has always been after one thing, those that will believe and act on the message ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near!’ in Matthew 10:7.
The Spirit of Your Father is Speaking Through You
Matthew 10:16–25
Study Verses
- Matthew 9:18–22 If Only I Touch His Cloak I Will Be Healed
- Matthew 9:35–38 The Harvest is Plentiful
- Matthew 10:1–15 As You Are Going, Preach
Today’s Reading
- Matthew 9:18-38
- Matthew 10:1-25