1st Week of Advent, Saturday – 5th December 2020 — Gospel: Mt 9,35-10,1.5-8
Compassionate Metaphors
As Jesus encountered the depth of human need, “he was moved with compassion for them” (Mt 9,36a) The word used for “moved with compassion” is splagchnistheis, the strongest word for pity in the Greek language. It describes the compassion which moves a man to the deepest depths of his being. This is the original word, not found in classical Greek or in the Septuagint. In fact, the word was coined by the evangelist himself, because they did not find a suitable word for their purpose in the whole Greek language.
The compassion of Jesus for the crowds is expressed in two metaphors. The first conveys their lack of leadership (Mt 9,36). As Moses chose Joshua to continue his mission “so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep with a shepherd” (Num 27,17), Jesus chooses his twelve apostles because the crowds are “like sheep without a shepherd.” The prophecy of Ezekiel had described Israel after the exile as scattered and aimless: “My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them” (Ezek 34,6). As the days after the exile, God’s people are now helpless and abandoned by their leaders. The second metaphor expressing the compassion of Jesus for the crowds states the urgency of the situation (Mt 9,37). The agricultural imagery of the harvest is also rooted in the metaphor of the prophets. God’s slow work of ploughing and sowing the field throughout the saving history of Israel has now reached its climactic time of harvest.
