Jesus preaches in Galilee

St Matthew Chapter IX : Verses 35-38

Contents

• Matt. ix. 35-38 Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Notes on the text
• Additional Notes; Like sheep that have no shepherd.

Matt. ix. 35-38

Healing every disease.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

35 And Jesus went about all the cities, and towns, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease, and every infirmity.

Et circuibat Jesus omnes civitates, et castella, docens in synagogis eorum, et prædicans Evangelium regni, et curans omnem languorem, et omnem infirmitatem.

36 And seeing the multitudes, he had compassion on them: because they were distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd.

Videns autem turbas, misertus est eis : quia erant vexati, et jacentes sicut oves non habentes pastorem.

37 Then he saith to his disciples, The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few.

Tunc dicit discipulis suis : Messis quidem multa, operarii autem pauci.

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest.

Rogate ergo Dominum messis, ut mittat operarios in messem suam.

Notes

    35. Jesus went about, etc. These words are found in substance in ch. iv. 23, and they describe the preaching, labours, and works of mercy which characterized our Lord’s missionary journey. It is probable that our Lord now began His third Galilean mission. Our Lord by His teaching and miracles sowed the good seed ; it bore fruit in the souls of many, and the apostles reaped the harvest later, notably after Pentecost.

the cities and towns. Better, “ cities and villages” (τὰς πόλεις  . . . . καὶ τὰς κώμας).

    Josephus asserts that Galilee contained 240 cities and villages, but as he generally exaggerates, we may take a lower figure. Even the half of this number would involve much labour and fatigue. Jesus preached in the villages as well as in the towns, because He loved the poor, and desired to teach His apostles by His example to devote themselves to the needy and disinherited as regards this world’s goods.

    healing every disease., etc. Cf. iv. 23, x. 1, where the same words occur. These set phrases may be due to the oral tradition. The original expression (νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν ⸀μαλακίαν) draws a clearer line of demarcation than exists between our English words “disease” and “infirmity.” We might render it “sicknesses and weaknesses.” Persons in ill-health often suffer from weakness or infirmity, without having any actual disease.

    36. seeing the multitudes. The crowds that thronged Him during His journey through the cities and villages.

    he had compassion. Misfortune and destitution, whether physical, material, or spiritual, ever appealed to the merciful heart of Jesus. Cf. I have compassion on the multitudes (infra, xv. 32).

    were distressed. Lit. “were harassed” (ἐσκυλμένοι). This is probably the correct reading, though some MSS. read “fainting” (ἐκλυλεμένοι).

    The comparison is taken from a flock tormented and driven away by wild beasts, and lying cast out, prostrate, fleeced and lacerated. The “vexati et jacentes” of the V ulgate renders the thought correctly.

    that have no shepherd. The simile of a flock with its shepherd is often found in the Scriptures (see Is. lxiii. 11 ; Mich. vii. 14 ; Ps. lxxiii. 1).

    37. labourers are few. This is ever the cry of the Church. Hence, those whom God honours by calling them to work in His Church ought to obey the call promptly and generously, and parents should never prevent their children from obeying the manifest call to a higher life. But all can labour in the harvest-field, each in his own sphere. Many canonised saints have been simple laymen, and yet they have had great influence in the world.

    38. Lord of the harvest. God the Father, whom Jesus also calls the Lord of the vineyard (see infra, xxi. 33, 40).

    that he send forth, etc. “ The Lord of the harvest ” desired that the ripe grain should be reaped, but He willed that men should co-operate, and by their prayers obtain labourers for the work. The words are expressive, and signify literally “ that he cast forth (ὅπως ἐκβάλῃ). The impulse from on high is needed, but the labourer himself requires energy to grapple with inevitable difficulties.

Additional Notes

    36. Like sheep that have no shepherd. The Jews had shepherds, but these shepherds were unfaithful. In the Scriptures we find these faithless shepherds graphically described: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves : should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds ? You ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat : but my flock you did not feed. The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed ; that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost : but you ruled over them with rigour and with a high hand. And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd : and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill : and my flocks were scattered upon the face of the earth, and there was none that sought them ” (Ezech. xxxiv. 2-6).

    “ The spiritual scene, as Jesus pictured it, was melancholy. Chrysostom and Theophylact realized it more vividly than most modern expositors. The multitudes of the people were as sheep without a shepherd, scattered over a locality abounding with beasts of prey. The wolf, the bear, the lion were prowling about, seeking whom they might devour. Many, alas, had already been devoured ; and of the rest the great majority had suffered terribly. They had been chased by their enemies up and down. On this side were some with large patches of the fleece and skin rudely torn and hanging down. On that side were others run down, and tossed over, and trampled. They were lying prostrate, and utterly unable to rise. It was a saddening sight. It is the picture of the spiritual condition of wandering sinners. As the Saviour gazed on it, He felt His compassions stirred to their depths. They had been stirred before, and hence He had come to seek and to save the lost. He was the true Shepherd of the sheep, the good Shepherd, but He needed a company of under-shepherds who would have sympathy with His aims, and care for souls in somewhat of His own spirit ” (Morrison, p. 149)

    37. The harvest. This is another similitude often found in Scripture. Cf. “ Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries, for they are white already to harvest ” (St. John iv. 35). The same thought occurs in the parables of the Sower and of the Cockle, and again in the Apocalypse: “I saw one like to the Son of man, having in his hand a sharp sickle, .... and he that sat on the cloud, thrust in his sickle into the earth, and the earth was reaped” (xiv. 14-1).

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.