Matthew 9

Jesus forgives, and heals, a paralytic (vs. 1-9)—Jesus was teaching in a house in Capernaum when this event took place (Mark 2:1). There were so many people there that nobody else could get in. The friends of a certain paralytic, full of faith and determination, went up to the roof, removed the tiles, and lowered the sick man down to Jesus. The Lord, perceiving their faith, pronounces the man’s sins forgiven. That caused consternation among some of the scribes who thought Jesus was blaspheming—only God can forgive sins. Which is true. Which means Jesus is God. The Lord knew what these scribes were thinking, so, in order to prove that He had the authority to forgive sins, He healed the paralytic as well. In other words, He confirmed His word with the miracle. That was largely the purpose of the miracles—to authenticate who He was. Of course, forgiveness was by far the greater of the two blessings, and that’s why Jesus bestowed it upon the man first.

The call of Matthew (vs. 9-13)—Matthew was a tax collector, a despised profession to the Jews, who hated paying taxes to the Romans. Yet Jesus perceived something good in him, and called him to be an apostle. Matthew then made a great feast (Luke 5:23), and invited some of his friends—also tax collectors and “sinners,” at least they were to the Pharisees. Those self-righteous hypocrites couldn’t figure out why Jesus would eat with sinners. Jesus very logically responded that it is the sick who need healing—sinners are the ones who need salvation. He then quotes an Old Testament passage to them (Hosea 6:6): “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” As I discussed in detail in the Sermon on the Mount, inward purity, not outward ceremonialism is what God looks for. Those who are inwardly pure will indeed be obedient in all matters, including the “ceremonies.” But “ceremonialists” are not always pure in heart, indeed, in their own eyes, they don’t need to be. That was the Pharisaic problem, front and center.

The new and the old (vs. 10-13)—“Why don’t your disciples fast?” Jesus was asked. Fasting was a vital part of the old law, but not of the new, and Jesus is trying to teach that here. Don’t try to put a new piece of cloth (the New Testament) on an old garment (the Old Testament). The same with new wine and old wineskins. They won’t match. Christianity is something new, not an extension of Judaism.

Two major healings (vs. 18-26)—A man named Jairus (Mark 5:22), who was a ruler of the synagogue, had a daughter grievously ill and begged Jesus to come heal her. The Lord agreed to do so. On the way, a woman “who had a flow of blood for twelve years” (v. 20), came up behind Jesus and touched His garment, believing that would be enough to heal her. She was correct. The Lord discovered her, and praised her faith. Then He went on to the house of Jairus, where the young girl had died. But Jesus raised her from the dead, and it is not surprising that “the report of this went out into all that land” (v. 26). He was more powerful than the spirit world (demons—Mt. 8:28-34), He was more powerful than nature (calming the storm—Mt. 8:23-27), He was even more powerful than death. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14). The simple answer to that question is “no.”

More healings (vs. 27-34)—In this case, two blind men and a demon-possessed, mute man. All Matthew is doing here is piling evidence upon evidence upon evidence. Jesus didn’t do just one or two so-called miracles, and that in some hidden, dark place. He did a multitude of miracles, curing every kind of infirmity (v. 35), and He did it in public. And yet so many of the Jews were so intransigent that they simply ignored the testimony before their very eyes. The Pharisees drew the ridiculous conclusion, “’He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons’" (v. 34). They were losing their following to Christ and they didn’t like it.

The helpless multitudes (vs. 35-38)—Jesus continued His preaching tour, followed by many, many people. He never lost his following among the masses; that’s why He had to be crucified at night, and illegally, before the people found out what was happening. But He had compassion upon them “because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (v. 36). “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest" (vs. 37-38). So much to be done, so few to do it.