“When he saw the crowds, he had 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 laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” (Matthew 9:36-38)
The words of Jesus here are perhaps an apt commentary of the state of the people in our world today. Most feel harassed and helpless by those who have powerful, who exercise force and coercion to get what they want, without caring who they step on and abuse, how many lies they have to tell or laws to break. These forceful people seem to think they can control the world and other people through force, violence, shaming, and blaming, while reciting meaningless slogans accompanied by empty diatribes. Yet all of those, the oppressed and the oppressors are all as Jesus describes here: sheep without a shepherd. All are lost, are wandering around without spiritual leadership, subject to the lies and schemes of the devil who has enslaved them all.
The church, that is, we the disciples of Jesus, has a calling from Jesus to be the spiritual shepherd to these lost sheep, to lead them to follow Him. A disciple is a physical representative of Jesus. What impact should this have on the life of a believer? We find some answers to such questions as we read how Jesus commissioned and empowered His disciples to preach the gospel of the Kingdom.
Jesus calls His disciples to a life marked by rejection, misunderstanding, antagonism, persecution, self-denial, self-sacrifice, and servanthood. Jesus calls the disciple to lose his life for the sake of the Kingdom. This does not, necessarily, mean death by martyrdom. That is not the calling of most believers. What is common to every believer, however, is death to individual wants and desires on a daily basis. We ought to pray that we would be willing to surrender ourselves by serving the Lord so that He, not we, may be exalted. We must reach out to help those lost and harassed sheep into the sheepfold of heaven.