On Forgiving Sins
In Matthew 9:1-8, Jesus presents one of many direct challenges to the scribes who were opposing Him. Upon entering His town, He was brought a man who had palsy and was confined to a bed. According to Biblical sources, this was generally a debilitating condition which could have been caused by stroke, polio, or severe muscular problems. It could have included just muscle weakness, causing the person to not have enough strength to move about on their own, or possibly complete paralysis. In the account in Mark 2:3-12, the man is lowered through the roof on his bed.
Jesus's first words to the man probably came as a shock to the man. His friends had probably heard about Jesus ability to heal, and brought the man hoping the man could be healed. The first words out of Jesus' mouth, however, are to be of good cheer, followed later by thy sins be forgiven thee.
Be of good cheer? Your sins are forgiven. I'm very certain that is something to be cheerful over. I'm certainly glad for the blood of Jesus covering my own sins. But if I had been suffering from a debilitating physical condition and had gone through the effort of getting friends to bring me to a person I thought could heal me, or gone with friends who decided that for me, I probably wouldn't expect those to be the first words out of the healer's mouth.
When we come to God, we often (always?) come with expectations. So many times we want Him to do something for us or for someone we love or a friend we respect. And yet, our needs aren't necessarily what is most important to God. He has His own plans and knows what we really need, regardless of what we might be asking for at any particular time.
And Jesus knew that right then, what God wanted Him to say was about Jesus ability to save, and not His ability to heal. He was in communion with the Holy Spirit and knew that it was God's plan to also heal the man. But He also knew that if He healed the man first, that would be all the man would be thinking about and a salvation message would be ignored by the man. He also knew the hearts of the scribes who were listening who needed to hear His truth.
So when the scribes muttered among themselves that Jesus was blaspheming, Jesus called them out for their thoughts. He asked if it was harder to say sins were forgiven or to heal of palsy. To be clear, even today you aren't going to find a doctor who can prescribe something that immediately heals of a condition like palsy was in the New Testament. Maybe someday there will be a medical solution. But I don't know of any today.
Clearly, in that day, as in now, saying word about forgiveness of sins was much easier than healing someone of palsy. But Jesus made it clear that His words were from God and He had the power to forgive sins by speaking those words and then having God work a miracle in their midst and healing the man. He told the man to arise, pick up the bed he came in and go to his own house under his own power, and the man did so.
When the multitudes saw it they glorified God. Neither Matthew nor Mark record what the scribes did, but you can be pretty sure most of them weren't happy. But then, as today, when God does a miracle, you have to realize that God worked through a particular person to accomplish a particular purpose. God could have done something on His own, but by working through Jesus, He was able to not only lift up the cause of Christ in the minds of all of the people who witnessed it, but by not following through with the ideas of the scribes that the blasphemer should be struck down by God, showed them all that Jesus was speaking the truth. He had the power to forgive sin. That was His primary purpose.
We are wrapped up in our own needs and desires most of the time. But we must not lose sight of the reality that Christ came primarily to seek and to save those who were lost [Luke 19:10]. The gifts of the Holy Spirit which Jesus made use of through His ministry are wonderful and necessary things. They can affect the multitudes today just as they affected the multitudes then. But the primary focus still needs to be seeking and saving the lost and lifting up the name of Jesus as the only one who can cover our sin and reconcile us to a Holy God.
Matthew the Tax Collector
Matthew 9:9-17 records Jesus encounter with Matthew who was a tax collector. Jesus gave the order to follow Him, and Matthew did. Jesus entered his home, and many gentile or perhaps Jewish people who were looked down on because they worked for the Roman government came to Matthew's home and ate with Jesus and the disciples.
The Pharisees were offended that Jesus would choose to have any interaction with people they considered to be the lowest of the low - publicans and sinners. Jesus answer is a beautiful answer of hope to all of us. He says that people who are whole and healthy don't need a doctor. Only the sick need to see a doctor. He tells the Pharisees to go and figure out what that line meant. He was going to show mercy and had no interest in the sacrifices that were their stock and trade.
Thank the Lord that He is still calling the sick in sin to be cleansed. The Holy Spirit is still trying to work in every heart to prompt them to seek out the truth. If you're here, reading this, and can't figure out why you came here or kept on reading, it's the Holy Spirit working on your heart. It certainly isn't my words. Read The Gospel Message now while it is on your heart and choose Christ as your Savior.
If you're reading this, perhaps as a pastor, priest, missionary, or just an everyday Christian, ask God to focus your ministry like Jesus was focused. Do you spend your days catering to those who are already saved and don't need your attention? If so, readjust your focus. Figure out ways for you personally to reach out and touch the lost. Figure out how to do it as a church. Don't just rely on people coming in the door. Be a church where God is working and people come because they want to see what it is all about. Do the work out in the community and not just behind air conditioned closed doors.
In the last part of this section, the disciples of John came to Jesus because they had seen that the disciples weren't leading a life filled with fasting and self denial. Jesus gives a prophecy that after His death, His disciples would have the opportunity to fast and would do so. But now, they were enjoying the presence of Jesus. If they tried to bottle up their excitement in having Jesus there with them, they wouldn't have been successful. Jesus implied question to the disciples of John was probably "Why are you criticizing My ministry and disciples and not joining us?"
Just as in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything. There is a time to celebrate when you are saved. There is a time to grow in the Lord. There is a time to participate in the harvest. Everyone should be growing in Christ as their life progresses. But there comes a time in every believer's life that Jesus asks us to step up and do more. Where are you in that growing process? Is it time for you to do more for Christ? If it is, seek what His will is for your life, and then do your best to do it. I let a lot of things get in the way of writing another chapter of commentary. Help us all to press forward to the mark of the high calling of Jesus on our lives.
The Faith of the Ruler for His Dead Daughter's Resurrection and other Healing
Matthew 9:18-31 recounts the resurrection of the ruler's dead daughter. It doesn't say who the ruler was, but the ruler had clearly heard of the fame of Jesus and His ability to do great things. He came to Jesus, set aside his pride in his position, and worshiped Jesus. He made a great statement of faith that even though his daughter had died, if Jesus came and touched her he was sure she would live again.
Jesus got up and started following the man to his home. Along the way, there was a woman with an issue of blood that had plagued her for twelve years. She came up behind Him and touched his garment because she was convinced that a simple touch could take care of her condition.
Jesus turned around, in the mob of people, and saw the woman and told her that her faith had made her whole again. The Bible says that she was healed from that point on. The Holy Spirit had not only identified the woman to Him, but had let Him know what had happened. She had faith.
We need to pray for the church today that the Holy Spirit will work through believers in just as powerful a way as He worked through Jesus. Christians, and the world, are looking for something to have faith in today. Christ is the sure one to have faith in. But all too often, even Christians faith is lacking.
The woman believed with all her heart that a simple touch would be sufficient to provide her healing, and she was right. God hasn't changed. Neither has Jesus nor the Holy Spirit. But the faith of Christians isn't what it was a few millennia ago.
We listen to doctors who give us the odds of living for x amount of time with disease y, and it robs our faith. I'm not knocking doctors. They do great things. But God does greater things. Pray to be used by the Holy Spirit in all of the gifts like Jesus was. He declared that we would do greater things than He did because He was going to His Father [John 14:12]. It's time for the church to start believing that word of Christ.
When Christ finally arrived at the ruler's house, the singers and professional mourners and other people were making a great noise and Jesus told them to make way for Him because the maid wasn't dead but merely sleeping. The people knew the daughter was dead and laughed and mocked Jesus scornfully. But they were all put away from where the daughter was and Jesus went in, took her by the hand, and she was resurrected.
And that certainly caused a stir. God wants to still cause stirs in the world today. He doesn't want to do it to make some person wealthy or famous. He wants to do it to lift up the name of Jesus and make Him famous. Are you willing to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit and step out and work for Him? He's calling every Christian to work. The harvest is ripe and the workers are few [Matthew 9:37; John 4:36; Luke 10:2].
After Jesus left the house, he was approached by two blind men who asked for mercy. He asked if they were convinced Jesus would be able to allow them to see and they said Yes, Lord. He said that according to their level of faith it would be done to them as He touched their eyes. Their eyes were opened so that they could see again and He charged them to not tell anyone, but they told everyone in the surrounding area about what had happened.
Anyone seeking to be used of God needs to be aware of this reality. When someone's life is completely turned around, they probably aren't going to listen to you if you ask them to keep quiet about it. The people who knew them are going to see the change - blind eyes could now see - and are going to ask what happened, and even if they try to keep it secret for a while, eventually someone who saw what happened will speak or their best made promise to not tell will fail them and they will speak. Just be sure to lift up the name of Jesus and give God the glory for whatever happens in your ministry, because you can be sure it is God that did the work and not you.
Casting Out Devils
In Matthew 9:32-36, an interaction with a demon possessed man is recorded. The demon prevented the man from speaking, so he couldn't even tell Jesus what he needed. But Jesus saw the problem and ordered the demon to be cast out. Once the demon was gone, the man was able to speak again, and again Jesus fame spread.
The Pharisees who were present said that Jesus was only able to cast out demons because He was in league with the chief of the demons. But the people knew what they had seen with their own eyes.
He went around to all of the surrounding cities and villages to teach in the synagogues, preaching His gospel message, and healing people as he went. But He also had compassion on the people because they didn't have any shepherd to lead them.
He saw the need and told His disciples to pray that God would send workers to tend to all the people who were hearing the gospel message and seeing great things done because He knew that just seeing something great happen wasn't sufficient to protect the flock from falling back away from the truth He was showing them.
That hasn't changed a bit. I do pray for the church to let the Holy Spirit be more active in our lives. But I also realize that people can be amazed, and still fall back into sin and away from God once the flash is gone. The church still needs workers to teach and disciple new believers and strengthen all Christians to be more like Christ every day.