Matthew 9:35-38
 
Mat 9:35 (KJB)
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
 
The opposition of the Pharisees did not stop Jesus one bit, in fact if you look at this verse, Jesus really increased His ministry along with the increase in miracles. What is a miracle to us, is a normal day’s activity for the Lord Jesus Christ because when He is on the scene, diseases and the devils must flee. Jesus not only went to the main cities but he also went to the smaller villages which teaches us that we should not neglect areas of smaller ministry because the souls in those areas are just as important as those in the big city. When Jesus was ministering in Nazareth, He could do no miracles because there was rampant unbelief but here in the region of Galilee, He was accepted by the people and their faith in Him was alive and that is why the miracles were able to be done. I am sure the common people did not listen to the Pharisees either, especially those who were healed. They knew Jesus was of God and not Satan.
 
Mat 9:36 (KJB)
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
 
Jesus was not only concerned about the physical healing that He was doing among the crowds but He was also looking at their spiritual welfare. He looked upon them and saw that many were weary and were scattered all over the place as normal with a big crowd, especially on the fringes. Jesus knew they were following Him because they were not only looking at the miracles and physical healings but they were also spiritually hungry. The Scribes and Pharisees had abandoned the teaching of the Scriptures for their traditions and their wealth seeking. The people had no teachers to bring the word of the Lord and explain it to them. The leaders would use the Babylonian Talmud which was nothing but a commentary and couldn’t give the way of salvation. The people were hungry for the word of God and the way of salvation and this is why when Jesus came on the scene, He gave the people hope and they grabbed at it. There are many in churches today that have no shepherd, simply because the pastor is unsaved and an unsaved person is spiritually dead and that is the same as having no shepherd. The people gravitated to Jesus because He brought them a message of hope and not despair as the Pharisees did.
 
Mat 9:37 (KJB)
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
 
Then Jesus turns to His disciples and states that the harvest of souls is truly plenteous but the laborers who are to bring that message are very few. It is like today, 10% of the people do 90% of the work. The harvest is plenteous because once Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit descends upon the believers, then the beginning of the evangelism of the entire world will begin and will not end until the last day when the last one is saved.
 
Mat 9:38 (KJB)
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
 
The “Lord of the Harvest” is God the Father. In chapter 10, Jesus will be sending out His disciples and before they depart, He is urging them to pray for more workers. The more workers which God saves and sends, the easier it is to reach all the multitudes. Here Jesus is the only one working among the multitude which followed Him and he does not want His workers to burn out, so He is asking them to ask God to save many more and place them into the harvest of souls, that is, in sending forth the Gospel to the entire world. What they need are those workers who are diligent and trustworthy and not just bodies who will show up and do as little as possible.

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