All good pastors will recognize "like sheep without a shepherd" as the basic state of the common run of people in the world, not only the Jews in Jesus’ day. "Harassed and helpless," the cruelty of fallen society and nature afflicts the poor. In response, they frequently go astray, following after false shepherds or turning on each other.
Jesus sees past their sorry state and instead "has compassion for them." The word used means something like "affection from the inmost parts," so this is not detached pity for the pathetic, but real love directly from the heart of God who is love.
In love, Jesus is not dejected or overwhelmed. Instead, he recasts the situation as a great opportunity awaiting them in their role as apostles. The lost lambs become a great harvest with a high rate of return since its reapers are so few. This is foreshadowed in God’s commission to Israel in the first lesson, whereby he declares "all the earth is mine," and his people are to be priests on its behalf.
This is a key gospel passage for pastoral ministry and spiritual direction: the problems of the world are the gospel’s opportunity. A happy world would need no good news. Pastors as well as all Christians on mission therefore should not avoid tough cases, but thrill to them, trusting that God is not cowed by any obstacles to faith. Prayer is the core of this mission. The laborers are sent by the Lord of the harvest, they are not free agents. The church thus fulfills the mission handed down from Sinai to Israel: to bring the whole earth back into right relationship with God through his priestly people.
In Nailing It, Nicole Massie Martin offers personal, poetic reflections that invite pastors to embrace their wounds—and the God who heals through them.
