Matthew 9:1-34

Notes for BSF

JESUS FORGIVES SINS AND OUR FAITH HEALS (Matthew 9:1-8)

This passage teaches us a few things:

1. Jesus is God
Only God can forgive sins. By forgiving the sins of the paralytic, Jesus reveals His divinity. (This is why the Pharisees often balked at Jesus. They believed Jesus was a heretic, and back then, heretics are stoned to death.)

2. Sin paralyzes us
Jesus didn't heal the paralytic. The faith of the paralytic healed himself. However, BEFORE that happened, Jesus had to first forgive him his sins. Once his sins were forgiven, he was released from bonds of sin and was able to walk again.

It's important to note that our disabilities or unfortunate events of our lives aren't always the result of sinful lives. In the case of the paralytic, his story is meant to tell us two key points about sin and faith: a) sin can paralyze us physically and spiritually; b) however, when we place our faith in the Lord and look to Him for cleansing and healing, we will be cleansed and healed. God has the power to heal us -- But we must FIRST humbly seek Him and accept His love for us.

3. Be surrounded by friends who build us in the Lord (Cf. Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26)
The paralytic's friends carried him to Jesus. They went as far as digging through the roof and lowering him from the ceiling! The paralytic's friends knew that Jesus was the only answer, they did everything they could to ensure that their friend received the best help possible. These are amazing friends! This is the kind of friends that we need in our lives, and this is the kind of friends that we should be to others. Such friends make sure we always get the best help we need, even if they have to carry us all the way.


JESUS CAME FOR THE SICK (Matthew 9:9-34)

The tax collector has a purer heart than the Pharisees
The Pharisees cared only about laws and traditions -- Their faith was no where near that of the tax collector's, whom they despised. They may be able to fast for days, but that does not make up for their lack of heart.

Levi, the tax collector, became Matthew, the disciple of Jesus. Tax collectors were one of the most despised people in those days, because they were Jews who worked for the Romans to financially abuse the Jews. They were despised because they were traitors. Here, we see the Pharisees criticizing why Jesus would sit with "worthless" people, because they believed they were the better people -- and better people don't associate with the worthless. 

What do we learn from Jesus' response? 

Jesus did not come to sit with those who are perfect -- He came for those who need saving. The Pharisees, who thought they were perfect, suffered from the sin of pride and needed saving as well, though they remained too blind to see.

Matthew, whom the Pharisees deemed as worthless, became one of the authors of the Bible. God looks at the heart, not at the status of a person. Matthew's heart was pure -- When Jesus called on Matthew, he was ready to move. He left everything and followed Jesus. He even led others to Jesus. Contrast the heart of Matthew and the heart of the Pharisees. What a difference!

Like Matthew, we should all take up our cross daily to follow Jesus. Die every day to our sins, leave our sins behind, so that we may live in Jesus. Be not like the Pharisees who refused to give up their lives because they did not want to lose their stature and lost their eternal life in the process.

Jesus is the bridegroom, and we, the Church, are His bride
Instead of reflecting, the Pharisees continued to "grill" Jesus about Him and His disciples. They next asked Jesus why His disciples do not fast. Fasting was a difficult discipline today and back then. Only the most devout would be able to fast for days. Again, the Pharisees have missed the point about fasting. Fasting is a difficult discipline because one has to have the right heart and mindset in order to approach God and completely depend on God for physical sustenance during the fast. We fast because we want to get closer to God. The Pharisees fasted because they wanted to show people how perfectly devout they were.

Jesus, despite the Pharisees' devious questioning, continues to teach them. He explained that the disciples will soon enough have reasons to fast. While He is with them, however, they will celebrate the time they have together. He further taught them the difference between the Old Testament laws and the New Testament era. Every detail of the Old Testament foreshadows Jesus. And through Jesus, a new covenant is possible. Old Testament laws provided temporary atonement for sins, but through Jesus, eternal atonement is achieved. Unfortunately, the Pharisees heeded none of Jesus' teachings. They were more interested in defending the pride they held in their ability to adhere to Old Testament laws.

Proclaim our faith publicly (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56)
The woman in this story needed healing because she had trouble with her menstrual period for 12 years. She had seen many doctors about this bleeding problem, but no one could heal her. Instead, she only got worse.

She was a woman of great faith. Her faith in Christ was so strong, she knew that all she had to do was to touch Jesus’ clothes, and she would be healed. As we read in the story, she wanted to just touch Jesus’ clothes and then slip away. However, Jesus knew immediately that someone of great faith had just touched Him and sought her out. He brought her into the public and declared that her great faith had healed her.

The details of this story teaches us so many things. Two key points are 1) when we have such great faith, shine that light to the world. Do not be ashamed of it or hide it! 2) As the disciples commented, hundreds of people touched Jesus (Mark 5:31), and yet, Jesus knew exactly who touched Him with great faith. Jesus knows our heart. There is no hiding our true selves from Him.

As man, Jesus didn’t use His godly powers to heal. In fact, when Jesus sent His disciples out, those disciples were able to heal people and perform all the miracles Jesus had perform as well. Those disciples don’t have super powers, so how could they heal? They couldn’t. They healed because the Holy Spirit healed through them, and the Holy Spirit could heal through them because they all had great faith. 

Every time Jesus healed someone, He always told them, “Your faith has healed you.” What do we learn from this? When we have great faith in God, God will do amazing miracles in our lives. When we do NOT live a life of faith, then we can only blame ourselves for the lack of God’s presence in our lives!

Jesus heals Jairus' daughter
Jairus was a ruler whose daughter had died. There are scholars who remark that his daughter didn't die and use Jesus' comment as supporting evidence. This argument is weak because professional mourners back in those days were, well, professionals (Mark 5:38). They knew when a person had passed. They didn't weep and wail for people who were sleeping. Hence, Jesus' comment was meant as a comfort and affirmation of Jairus' faith. He knew his daughter had passed, but he continued to have faith in Jesus. He knew that if it was God’s will that his daughter lives, then God would be able to raise her from the dead. This is extremely great faith. He understood that what was impossible for man was not impossible for God, and he therefore placed his trust in God, not himself. And because of his faith, his daughter was brought back from death.

Jesus heals the blind, heals the mute
The blind men called Jesus, "Son of David," showing how they knew Jesus was their Messiah (Isaiah 35:4-6; Jeremiah 23:5-6). The messiah, the Son of David, will one day rise to take the throne of God.


WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE?

Matthew 9:34
But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons."

The Pharisees amaze me. If Jesus did perform miracles fromt he power of Satan, why would the demons fear Him (Matthew 8:29)? Why would Jesus be performing miracles that contradicted the deeds of other demons? The prophets that came before Jesus, especially John the Baptist, all proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. The teachings of Jesus reveal the power of God the Father working through Him. Yet, the Pharisees chose to ignore all that evidence that is readily available to them and continue to dig at Jesus to discredit Him in any way.

Jesus is not about the miracles -- He is our salvation!
Many people are so focused on the miracles that they don’t realize the true miracle is our eternal salvation in Christ. For example, many people will pray that God save their sick child or parent, and when God doesn’t, they turn their backs on God, complaining that if God truly loved them, then why didn’t God save their child or parent? They think of God as Santa Claus. They turn to Him only when they want something from Him, having no interest at all in establishing a personal relationship with Him. 

Friends, God is not here to please us. He is our Creator, who has sacrificed His only Son to redeem us.

1 John 3:2
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.

"... We shall see Him as He is." This passage tells us that in this fallen world, we will not be able to fully understand all that is God. However, when Jesus returns, we will see Him as He is.

We may have questions now; we may not understand everything. However, God has proven to us throughout history that He is faithful to His promises. When we turn our backs against God just because He didn't respond favorably to our requests, when we treat Him as if He's our genie in the bottle, we are behaving like children throwing temper tantrums. Worse, we put our eternal salvation in jeopardy – and for what? For needs and wants of flesh that we already know do not last forever? God is not here to make us happy, giving us candies when we should be nourished with wholesome foods. He is here to offer us eternal life. Do not lose sight of the eternal for the temporary!