36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:36–38
Crowds. Living in a crowded city of over fourteen million people, I must confess I don’t always see and respond to crowds the way Jesus did. Too often I see crowds and respond, not with compassion, but with complaint. Crowds cause traffic, long lines, endless noise, and air pollution. I don’t like crowds. But, if I want to be a disciple and if I want to make disciples, I must change the way I see and react to the crowds around me.
When Jesus looked at the crowd, he did not see a mob of nameless faceless people. He saw beyond the externals. He saw real people with real problems who needed real answers.
Before we can respond with compassion, we must see beyond ethnicity, clothing labels, and hairstyles. We must see the heart condition of people apart from Christ. We must see that people today are the same as the people Jesus had compassion on. Jesus saw people as harassed, helpless, and ripe for harvest.
1. Harassed. People today are harassed by the natural pressures of living in a modern fast-paced world, and by the spiritual pressures of living in a fallen and corrupt world. Common harassments include financial, relational, physical, emotional and social problems. As difficult as these are, the greatest harassments that plague people are the spiritual in nature: temptation, condemnation and guilt.
2. Helpless. Jesus not only saw the problem of harassment, he also saw that there was absolutely nothing those harassed people could do to help themselves. We will never be moved to compassion as Jesus was until we see that people are helpless, and unless we help them, they will never change. If we see them as harassed but not helpless, we will be frustrated or mad at them for not changing. But if we see them as harassed and helpless, we will have compassion. God does not “help those who help themselves,” because “helpless” people are incapable of helping themselves. God helps those who are helpless and humble enough to admit it.
3. Ripe for Harvest. Sometimes we see people harassed by sin as being the opposite of ripe for harvest. Jesus saw harassment and helplessness as signs of a ripe harvest. After all, he did come for the sick not for the well, for sinners not for the religiously self-righteous.
If we are to make disciples as Jesus did, we must learn to see people as they really are. As we see people as harassed, helpless and ripe for harvest we will naturally relate to them with compassion.
