Matthew 09

 

Healing and Forgiving a Paralytic

1After getting into a boat he crossed to the other side and came to his own town. 

 

Jesus arrived in His home town of Nazareth.

 

2Just then some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.” 

 

Only God can forgive sins. Jesus was claiming an attribute of deity.

 

3Then some of the experts in the law said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!” 

 

This was blasphemy, unless Jesus was God.

 

4When Jesus saw their reaction he said, “Why do you respond with evil in your hearts? 

 

Blasphemy is calling evil good and good evil. It was actually the expert of the Law who was committing blasphemy, because he was calling the work of God as evil.

 

5Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 

 

Jesus was going to prove that He had the authority to forgive sins by committing a messianic miracle.  

 

6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – then he said to the paralytic – “Stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 

 

Jesus called Himself the Son of Man. This was a messianic title given by the prophet Daniel. The Son of Man would crush the Antichrist’s kingdom in the future and replace it with the Messianic Kingdom. 

 

7And he stood up and went home. 

 

This miracle was performed to authenticate the claims of Jesus.

 

8When the crowd saw this, they were afraid and honored God who had given such authority to men.

 

This crowd was not afraid, but they showed reverence and awe for Jesus.

 

The Call of Matthew; Eating with Sinners

9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him. 

 

Notice that Matthew did not call upon the name of Jesus. Jesus called Matthew. If left alone, Matthew would have never been interested in serving Jesus.

 

10As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples. 

 

Jesus witnessed to other tax collectors and sinners, perhaps telling them that the Messianic Kingdom was a better option for them.

 

11When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 

 

The Pharisees hated tax collectors and sinners, because they made no attempt to keep their Oral Law.

 

12When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. 

 

All men are sick with the fatal disease of sin. All men need the Great Physician.

 

13Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

Jesus quoted from Hosea 9:6. The ritual sacrifices that were given with a proud heart did not impress God. He wanted men who loved Him so much that they would sacrifice their lives for Him.

 

The Superiority of the New

14Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?” 

 

Fasting was part of the Judaism man-made Oral Law.

 

15Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast. 

 

Jesus was the bridegroom. People do not fast at the wedding. They spend time getting to know the bridegroom. They can fast after the bridegroom leaves.

 

16No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, because the patch will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse. 

 

The old garment was the Mosaic Law. The new patch was the Law of Christ, or New Testament doctrine.

 

17And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.”

 

The old wineskin was the Mosaic Law. The new wine was the Law of Christ. In both cases, the Law of Christ will replace the Mosaic Law. There will be no more lambs and goats sacrificed for sins, because Christ will be the final sacrifice.

 

Restoration and Healing

18As he was saying these things, a ruler came, bowed low before him, and said, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live.” 

 

The ruler was a synagogue ruler. He was in charge of the maintenance and operation of the Jewish synagogue. He bowed down to Jesus. This was unusual. Usually, men would bow down to the synagogue ruler. The synagogue ruler asked Jesus to raise his daughter from the dead.

 

19Jesus and his disciples got up and followed him. 

 

Jesus and His disciples went to raise the girl from the dead. 

 

20But a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 

 

The woman was superstitious. She believed that touching the cloak of a faith-healer would heal her. This is similar to charismatics touching the handkerchief of a faith-healer to be healed.

 

21For she kept saying to herself, “If only I touch his cloak, I will be healed.” 

 

This is the thinking of the modern biblically-ignorant charismatic.

 

22But when Jesus turned and saw her he said, “Have courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed from that hour. 

 

Jesus called her “daughter,” which was a title of affection. It was not the faith of the woman’s belief which healed her. It was her faith that Jesus was the Messiah and He could heal her. Charismatics need to place their faith in the Great Physician, not in faith-healers.

 

23When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd, 

 

The flute players and disorderly crowd were practicing pagan superstitious rituals. They were playing songs and crying out to spirits so that they could welcome this girl to the land of the dead.

 

24he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but asleep.” And they began making fun of him. 

 

Jesus told the superstitious pagans to leave, because the girl was only sleeping. They mocked the Creator God of Life and the Conqueror of Death.

 

25But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and gently took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 

 

Jesus spoke to the girl in Aramaic and raised her from the dead. Jesus did not allow the superstitious crowd to observe this miracle.

 

26And the news of this spread throughout that region.

 

The miracles of Jesus spread throughout the region, causing more people to want to see and hear Jesus.

 

Healing the Blind and Mute

27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, shouting, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” 

 

Two blind men called Jesus “Son of David.” This was a messianic title.

 

28When he went into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 

 

They believed that Jesus was the Messiah who had the authority to heal blindness.

 

29Then he touched their eyes saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” 

 

It was the will of Jesus, not the faith of the blind men, which healed them.

 

30And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about this.” 

 

The publication of the miracles of Jesus increased the crowds, causing them to press in upon Him. The miracle hunters were not interested in the teachings of Jesus. They wanted entertainment from the miracles. These types of crowds hindered the message of Jesus.

 

31But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that entire region.

 

This caused crowd control problems for Jesus.

 

32As they were going away, a man who could not talk and was demon-possessed was brought to him. 

 

A mute demon was brought to Jesus. Part of the Jewish exorcism was that the rabbi commanded the demon to speak his name. If the demon was mute, then the Jewish exorcism was impossible. The rabbi taught that only the Messiah could deliver a demon from a mute person.

 

33After the demon was cast out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!” 

 

Only the Messiah could deliver a person from this type of demon.

 

34But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons.”

 

Instead of standing by their rabbinic teachings that only the Messiah could cast out a demon from a mute person, they switched to a new explanation. They accused the God of the universe of being demon-possessed.

 

Workers for the Harvest

35Then Jesus went throughout all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. 

 

Jesus healed every kind of disease in all people. Charismatics cannot perform these kinds of miracles today. They can only heal those whom demons make sick. The demons will remove the sickness in order to get the charismatics to place their trust in a false teacher. 

 

36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 

 

Sheep are the dumbest animals in the world. They are so stupid that they will walk right off a cliff. They have no teeth or claws to protect themselves. They contain no body armor to protect themselves. They cannot outrun their opponent. Sheep cannot survive without a good shepherd.

 

37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

 

There were many believers in the kingdom, but there were not enough workers to harvest them. Therefore, the disciples were to pray for more workers.