The charge which tries to divide the confessors of the faith or guides of the flock from the general assembly of God's people, so that the latter become
as sheep without a shepherd and as men carried about with every wind of doctrine, is remarkably successful even to our own day.
Here we have seven loaves instead of five, 4,000 instead of 5,000, compassion because of the people's hunger here, compassion because they are like
sheep without a shepherd in the earlier narrative.
Finally consider what is said about Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: Jesus looked and had compassion on the crowd, because he saw that they were harassed,
as sheep without a shepherd.
When Jesus saw the crowd, his heart was moved with compassion, for they were like
sheep without a shepherd.
Thus they arrived ahead of Jesus and the disciples; but although his attempt to find solitude had failed, «he had compassion on them, because they were like
sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things» (Mk 6:34; Mt 14:14; cf. 9:36; Lk 9:11).
They are to go to «the lost sheep of the house of Israel,» those same «
sheep without a shepherd» upon whom Jesus has compassion.
As Jesus goes about his work of teaching, proclaiming the good news and curing the sick, we are told, he has compassion on the crowds, because they are harassed and helpless, «like
sheep without a shepherd.»
In the gospels it says that Jesus saw the people were like
sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus saw the crowd, we are told, «like
sheep without a shepherd,» a leaderless mob without a clue.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd.
He had only compassion for them because they were like
sheep without a shepherd.
You are
a sheep without a shepherd.
He had compassion on the crowds, as he has had on us, because they were like
sheep without a shepherd.
Nowhere is this better seen than in Matthew's beautiful description (9:36) of Jesus» way of seeing the people: «When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd.»
«He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd» (Matthew 9:36).