Third Sunday after Pentecost

Discipleship not as passive belief but as active participation in the work of restoration

Commentary on Matthew 9:35—10:8 [9-23]

Danny Zacharias

The Gospel reading for the third Sunday after Pentecost presents a pivotal moment in Jesus’s ministry, the moment when his work empowers his followers to expand his ministry. As he moves through towns and villages, teaching and healing, he is moved with compassion for the crowds—people who are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36). This moment leads to the commissioning of the Twelve, sending them out to extend his mission.

These verses capture the heart of discipleship: responding to the needs of the people, relying on God’s provision, and carrying forth the work of healing and restoration. To do this, Jesus’s disciples need to imitate their Lord. This passage challenges us to see discipleship not as passive belief but as active participation in the work of restoration.

Jesus’s ministry, as described in Matthew 9:35, is holistic. He teaches in synagogues, proclaims the good news of the kingdom, and heals every disease and affliction. His compassion for the people is not abstract; it moves him to action. He sees their suffering, their lostness, and recognizes their need for leadership and care.

Depending on our church traditions and the nations we reside in, gospel work that focuses on healing and justice can be suspect, seen as “social justice” disconnected from the proclamation of the good news. Similarly, some ministries focus their work entirely on the teaching and proclamation of the gospel with very little thought toward justice and healing. Jesus shows us that the work of the compassionate shepherd is holistic and integral; the preaching of the gospel is never separated from the embodied work of the gospel to bring healing and wholeness.

There is a crisis of leadership according to Matthew’s telling of the story. The people Israel are like sheep without a shepherd. But the Jewish religious leaders of the day were supposed to be the shepherds of the people. The people of Jesus’s day were “oppressed, downtrodden, beat-up, and crushed. The historical and literary contexts indicate Rome and the religious elite as those who inflict social, economic, political, and religious abuse with misrule.”¹ This vacuum of leadership is what Jesus and his disciples step into. What is needed is new leadership for a renewed community.

As an Indigenous reader of this text, I cannot help but see the confluence of understanding around what it means to be a leader. In many Indigenous cultures, leadership is not about hierarchy (Who am I in charge of?) but about service (Who can I help?). A true leader is one who cares for the people, ensuring their well-being. Much like a Wisdom Keeper or Medicine Man, Jesus responds to the needs of the people, embodying a leadership that is deeply relational and motivated by compassion.

Jesus’s statement about the harvest being plentiful but the laborers being few (9:37–38) speaks to a deep spiritual and communal reality. The needs are great, but there are not enough workers to meet the needs. This is not merely about numerical scarcity; it is about the willingness of people to step into the work of the kingdom. Jesus calls his disciples to pray that God will send out laborers—an act of faith that acknowledges both the magnitude of the task and the necessity of divine provision.

Immediately after this charge to pray, Jesus commissions the Twelve to this work. This means that the request for prayer was as much about seeking God’s will as it was preparing their own hearts and minds for the reality that they will be a part of the answer to their own prayer. Sometimes our prayers are an urgent petition for God to do what only God can do in the world. Other times, prayer is aligning our hearts with God’s will for us to do what God asks of us.

Matthew 10:1–8 describes Jesus’s commissioning of the Twelve. He gives them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and affliction. Their mission is not self-directed; they are sent specifically to the lost sheep of Israel, to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven has come near, and to enact this reality through healing and restoration. Their work is not for personal gain but for the restoration of balance and well-being among Israel.

The Jewish renewal movement begun by John the Baptizer now extends into the work of Jesus’s disciples as they are sent out and told to focus in the first instance on Israel, as God chose Abraham and his descendants to receive his blessing and for them in turn to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:1–3). Yet even with the charge to avoid Gentiles and Samaritans (Matthew 10:5–6), the disciples will yet be a witness to Gentiles (Matthew 10:18), and the context of his directive is already couched within a narrative opening that highlights righteous Gentiles in the genealogy, the magi of the birth narrative, and the faith of the Roman centurion.

Within this narrative setting and with the framework of Jesus as Medicine Man, Jesus’s directive to go only to Israel is because it is Israel who is in need of medicine (see Matthew 9:12) and strength to live into their divine role.

The disciples’ mission is deeply restorative. They are sent to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, and drive out demons (10:8). This is not just about physical healing but about restoring people to wholeness—socially, spiritually, and physically. Jesus’s commissioning of the Twelve challenges modern disciples to see faith as active participation in God’s integral mission. The work of healing, restoration, and justice is not confined to Jesus alone; it is entrusted to his followers.