Jesus' Guts
In a training video for pastors, the megachurch leader Josh Howerton advises them to set aside time to answer the questions of their largest donors. This gives the "financial leaders" of the church a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit down with their pastor and ask any question they want." The goal is for pastors to "unlock a new level of giving for people."
Matthew 9:35-38
Jesus kept going through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest."
Compassion is a nice, honorable word, but the Greek word is jagged. It's a bodily disruption. Jesus' guts—his very insides—were shaken with concern. He saw children crying for food, fathers wasting away from tuberculosis, and women with missing teeth. He heard stories of Roman soldiers taking their crops and the religious leaders demanding their coins. The crowds aren't at fault. Rather, they are preyed upon by leaders who harass them and weaken them until they are helpless. They look like disoriented sheep, bloodied and torn apart by a pack of unrestrained wolves. They're exhausted because no one is willing to help them. As Jesus suffered with them, his stomach churned. For Matthew, "sheep without a shepherd" isn't merely an agricultural metaphor. It's a theme throughout the Old Testament, especially in Ezekiel 34, that addresses an ongoing dynamic: religious leaders fleecing the flock. By contrast, Jesus goes in the opposite direction. Instead of calculating what he can get, compassion motivates him to meet their needs. In 2004, I visited Williams College in Massachusetts and walked to the site of a prayer meeting Samuel Mills led nearly 200 years earlier. Five students had gathered under a large haystack to keep praying during a massive thunderstorm. As they asked the Lord of the harvest to send missionaries to the unreached populations of India and Asia, they realized God was calling them to be the answer to their own prayers. Moved by their spiritual needs, Mills said to his friends, "We can do this, if we will." It's said that all missions organizations in the U.S. can trace their history back to this prayer meeting. It's the same pattern here. In the midst of overwhelming need, Jesus gathers his disciples and teaches them to pray. Before they do anything, they need to be with him, asking the Lord of the harvest to send out his workers. It's God's work to bring his people under his care. But being with God is not a retreat from action. When we're with a God who is moved by compassion, we're moved to do the same.
What does it tell us about Jesus that his guts were turned around with compassion?
Where do you feel harassed and helpless, with no one to care for you?
What keeps you from asking the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest?
Ask a friend, "What suffering could we relieve, if we determined to do so, with God's help?"