The Lord of the Harvest

Matthew 9:18-38

Immanuel – 4/28/24

Since the Sermon on the Mount, we have seen Jesus perform miracle after miracle. Starting in chapter 8, we’re seeing Matthew arrange Jesus’ miracles into three sets of three.

1. First set: Jesus heals the leper, the centurion’s servant, and Peter’s mother-in-law.

2. Second set: Jesus calms the storm, casts out demons, and heals a paralytic.

3. Third set – where we are today: Jesus raises a girl from the dead, gives sight to the blind, and heals a mute man. Of course, there is the bonus miracle when a woman is healed of her bleeding.

Matthew is sounding the trumpet, like a herald for the King, that Jesus wields incomparable power. He controls the natural and the supernatural, physical and spiritual, creation and creature. Today, in this last set of miracles, we also see that Jesus Christ is Lord over death and life. And so very similarly, He is also Lord of the harvest.

Remember from last week’s text: Jesus was feasting at tax-collector Matthew’s house – with a bunch of Capernaum’s deplorables. Looking upon this scene, the Pharisees scold Jesus and the disciples of John the Baptist are confused. Neither party can see the greater reality unfolding as the Son of God enjoys a party with sinners.

Christ was powerfully demonstrating the overflowing hesed love of the new covenant. Jesus was establishing a new kingdom, with a new wine, built on a new covenant.

Behold, I will gather them from all the countries…I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. -Jeremiah 32:36,37-41

That is the very covenant Jesus was establishing on earth, flowing with hesed love. (Hesed love being His covenantal love, flowing with compassion and mercy and steadfastness). Jesus’ miracles were not only proving His power, they were evidence that God rejoices in doing His people good. With all of His heart and all of His soul God loves to bless His people. Jesus – God in the flesh – loves to bless and be a blessing. It is His delight to feast with sinners, offer them this new wine, reconcile them unto God and redeem them for glory.

Such an awesome reality was unfurling right there in the home of the tax collector. And then, someone else shows up to see Jesus.

Read vs 18-19

Death to Life

In the Gospel of Mark, we learn that the ruler’s name is Jairus, and he is a leader in the local synagogue. He is a man of significant means, and apparently he has exhausted all conventional options; for his precious daughter is dead.

But it seems that right here, in this moment of deepest despair, a flicker of faith kindles. Regardless of the sinful environment, regardless of what the scoffing Pharisees might think, Jairus kneels before Jesus. Hear again his words, brimming with desperate faith: “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hands on her, and she will live.”

He had to know that touching a dead body would make Jesus ceremonially unclean. Yet that is his only request. He now believes that Jesus’ touch is enough. How is it that that Jairus has come to believe Jesus can raise daughter? Faith. Without hesitation, Jesus gets up from the feast and leaves with Jairus; the disciples by His side. He intends for people to taste His new wine.

Read vs 20-21

Most scholars agree that the unnamed woman suffered from a menstrual disorder: 12 years of uncontrollable bleeding. She had been ill for a very long time. But not just ill; according to Leviticus 15, her bleeding made her unclean. Everything and everyone she touched would have also become unclean.

Her condition made her a social pariah, an untouchable outcast; prohibited from worshipping at the temple. Socially, spiritually, physically, she probably felt dead. Certainly she and her family would have tried everything. It all failed. 12 years, and nothing could stop the bleeding.

Knowing that she is an outcast, knowing her touch would make anyone unclean, not knowing what Jesus might think of her; she sneaks up behind Jesus merely to touch the fringe (or perhaps tassel) of His garment. She risks great embarrassment and worse, by working through the crowd to touch Him. But she believes. Nothing else has worked. Jesus is unlike anything else, like none of earth’s doctors. By faith she believes Jesus is something more.

Read vs 22

“Take heart.” Jesus turns to her and reassures her that she has done nothing wrong. He has not been made unclean. He feels in no way repulsed by her. Instead, He is moved by His overwhelming hesed love.

And it is out of that hesed love that Jesus says something remarkable: “Your faith has made you well.” Literally translated, Jesus says, “Your faith has saved you.” Jesus uses language that is far more encompassing than healing. Yes healing, but He’s also talking about forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. Jesus is talking about salvation.

Instantly she was made well! Instantly, Jesus granted her entrance into the kingdom of heaven! She has gone from death to life! It was a spiritual resurrection.

Then off Jesus goes to perform a resurrection of another sort.

Read vs 23-26

Within 24 hours of a death, it was required that a body be buried. Between death and burial, it was Jewish tradition for the grieving family to hire professional mourners – at least two pipers and one wailer. But wealthy families, like Jairus’, would hire many more. Indeed, there was a crowd of mourners and family packed into the house, vociferously grieving.

The presence of the mourners meant that everyone was quite certain the girl was dead. No one would mistake this for a deep afternoon nap. She was not misdiagnosed. She was dead.

But Jesus tells them all that she is asleep. Though they laugh at Him, from Jesus’ eternal perspective, she is sleeping. Death is nothing more than a peaceful nap for those in the kingdom of heaven.

Grievously, mournfully, for the dying there is only death. The packed house of people mocks the Lord of life and death. So Jesus sends them outside. I think He sends them outside so that when He raises the girl, she is not alarmed by all the cacophony. There’s also the matter of privacy, but more on that later.

He touches the corpse. And though He should have become unclean, the girl is so thoroughly cleansed that she is cleansed even of death. His life is more powerful than our death. His life swallows death. She lives!

Of course, she will die again. But Jesus is demonstrating the new wine of the kingdom of heaven. This is an echo of things to come.

The next time Jesus raises a person from the grave, He will utter these words: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” -John 11:25-26

He is indeed the Lord of life and death. And though he raised the girl behind closed doors, that crowd of people knew she was dead. The whole district – all along the north shore of Galilee, everyone heard what Jesus had done.

Read vs 27

Jesus went on from there. In Matthew, such a statement can mean, some time later. Again, Matthew is not trying to give us a precise chronology. He is arranging this narrative thematically, which is why we see three sets of three miracles all affirming Jesus’ incomparable power.

The Blind and Mute

None-the-less, Matthew next shows us two blind men following Jesus, crying, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” They were demanding Jesus’ attention. And yet, unlike the other miracles we have seen, Jesus appears to ignore them initially.

I believe it’s because they’re following Jesus around calling Him the “Son of David.” It’s true, He is. In fact, those were the opening words of Matthew’s gospel: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).

Son of David is a messianic title, and in Jesus’ day it had all kinds of political and militaristic baggage that Jesus did not want to associate with. He had not come to overthrow Rome, like so many of the Jews thought the Son of David would do.

This is why Jesus does not acknowledge the boisterous blind me at first. Instead, He waits until they are all in a much more private setting.

Read vs 28-31

These men have faith. They may have no idea what they are saying when they shout at Jesus, “Son of David,” but they do believe that He is the only one who can heal them. This is even more significant when you realize that the Jews rightly believed only God can give sight to the blind.

“Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” -Exodus 4:11

Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. -Isaiah 35:4-6

The blind men didn’t understand the full weight of their words, but they unquestioningly understood that there was something divine about Jesus.

With the Old Testament background, Jesus’ question is really getting at if those blind men believe that He is divine. Or, at a very minimum, that Jesus comes from the Father.

Seeing their positive response, recognizing their faith, Jesus gives them sight. This time there is no touch, it is done merely by the power of His word. Much in the same way that God initially spoke away the darkness when He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:3). For these two men, now there is light!

After their darkness is cast away, immediately Jesus sternly warns them to tell no one. It’s very strong language. It could be translated as “fiercely warned them.” Those men are lit up with joy and Jesus immediately turns serious, perhaps even harsh.

Again, He doesn’t want the wrong ideas to be spread about Him. It is still clear that though the blind men legitimately have faith, still they misunderstand Jesus. And of course, they do not obey Jesus. The news of the healing travels throughout the whole region.

And if you had just received sight, would you be able to keep your mouth shut? I think we can all relate. We can all relate to believing in Jesus, and yet not obeying Jesus. He commands us to love one another. He commands to forgive. He commands us to pray. He commands us to make disciples.

We believe, but so often we are like these two disobedient men, happy in our disobedience. We should fall to our knees and cry out, “I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

Read vs 32-33

A man is unable to speak, and this affliction is attributed to a demon. The possession also seems to affect his mobility, because some people had to bring the mute man to Jesus. That’s three maladies: immobility, muteness, and demonic possession.

This time there is no requirement of faith; for how can a man possessed by a demon also possess faith? Jesus is not recorded saying anything. There is no touch. There is simply before and after Jesus. The power of His presence, and the demon is cast out, the man speaks, and presumably he is completely healed.

With this final set of 3 miracles, we have seen Jesus heal by His touch, His word, and His presence.

Yet again we see the crowds marveling at Jesus. “Never was anything like this this seen in Israel.” This seems to be a summary statement, not necessarily a response to Jesus’ healing of the mute man. Rather, it is a response to all the miracles Jesus performed in this section of three sets of three miracles.

But this time there is not merely the astonishment of the crowds. Now there is the accusations of the religious establishment.

Read vs 34

I’m not going to dive deeply into these words. We’ll deal more thoroughly with them in chapter 12, when the Pharisees again accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. It is a most blasphemous accusation.

But for now, suffice it to say that the tension between Jesus and the Pharisees is intensifying. Something has been set in motion that can only end in fire and blood, judgment and salvation. Very soon, Jesus will begin talking about the conflict that is brooding.

But even as the tension increases, some religious leaders – like Jairus – believe in Jesus. Many from the crowds will come to believe. Countless more will receive news of these miracles, as we have, and believe. From the days of Jesus until now, everywhere the good news of Jesus goes, a great harvest is brought in.

Read vs 35-36

Shepherd and Lord

Everywhere in Galilee that Jesus goes, He proclaims the gospel of the kingdom of God. And everywhere He goes, He authenticates that good news with demonstrations of incomparable power. Those three sets of three miracles are but a small sampling.

And look at His motivation. Look at why Jesus proclaims and heals: He see the masses of people, and He is moved by compassion. He is moved by an overwhelming sense of hesed love for the hurting, the lost, the dejected, the desperate. For they are like sheep without a shepherd.

Sheep that have no shepherd are vulnerable to attack, both from thieves and from wild animals. Sheep, not being very smart, are also prone to wander. They often get themselves into serious trouble by straying from pasture. It’s like they have no understanding of what’s good for them. I learned this lesson well when I spent some six months in college putting up sheep fence. And in the absence of a well-tended fence, sheep will quickly die without a shepherd.

Elsewhere, Jesus said,

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So, there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

-John 10:14-16

It is from this shepherd’s heart, this heart brimming with compassion and love, that Jesus then talks to His disciples about a mighty gathering – a world transforming gathering.

Read vs 37

In this illustration, Jesus imagines the earth like a vast field, ripe for people to be gathered into His kingdom – people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

You might think that Jesus’ next words would be: send the disciples out to work the harvest. Surprisingly though, He tells them to pray. When looking over the earth, or the Mohawk Valley, white with harvest, the place to start is prayer. Don’t rust to grab the sickle; rush to go to your knees. Pray that God would send workers to gather in the harvest.

But don’t think that it gets you off the hook, like your only job is prayer. In the very next section, Jesus will give extensive instruction to His disciples on how to work the harvest. Those instructions are not just for the 12 disciples, they are for every disciple on down through the ages. For the amazing thing about this harvest is that everyone brought into the kingdom with the sickle of the gospel, then becomes a laborer in the harvest.

Disciple of Jesus Christ, it is your identity. You are a disciple maker, a fisher of men, an ambassador of reconciliation, a harvester. I know you believe it, but do you obey it?

Can He not cleanse the leper, heal the sick, cast out demons, calm the storm, give sight to the blind, speech to the mute, and raise the dead? He can! Can He not fill your stumbling, bumbling mouth with powerful gospel proclamation? Can not the Lord of the harvest use you – blind and unclean though you were – to bring the spiritually dead to life? He can! He is the Lord of the harvest. He is the Lord over life and death.

So let us pray to our Shepherd and Lord. The harvest is His, He has caused it to grow, He knows the exact moment it should be reaped, He provides the tools, He provides the power. Pray to the Lord of the harvest, and who knows what kind of great reaping we might see in our day. Who knows how God might use each of us, as laborers in His field, to bring in that harvest.

There are lost and hurting sheep scattered everywhere. They are ripe for the kingdom of heaven. With the compassion and love of our Lord, with the proclamation of His gospel, let us bring them in. For it is Christ’s delight to feast with sinners, and share with them His new wine, as together we are reconciled unto God and redeemed for glory.