Matthew Chapter 9

¹ And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

Capernaum

² And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

• The “palsy” was any condition or illness that caused a person to be unable to move.

³ And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

• These scribes were there trying to find a reason to discredit Jesus.

⁴ And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

• This question should have shocked these scribes…. he knew their thoughts. He’s asking them why there is evil in their hearts.

⁵ For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

• Jesus ask the scribes is it easier to say your sins be forgiven or to heal this man? Both are miracles from Jesus and because Jesus is the Son of God it is in his power to do both.

⁶ But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

• This should have settled it in the hearts of the scribes who Jesus is…this was undeniable proof that he is the Son of God. They weren’t looking for the Son of God though, they were looking to stay comfortable in their religion. Jesus was making them feel very uncomfortable by exposing their hypocrisy.

⁷ And he arose, and departed to his house.

• When a person is unable to move, their muscles either never develop or they atrophy and lose their strength. This man was so stricken with the palsy he had to be carried to Jesus in his bed… so he couldn’t even sit up. His muscles couldn’t support him… so in the miracle of his palsy being cured… Jesus also gave him the muscle strength to be able to stand and walk and the coordination to do it. This man got straight up and went home. I imagine he felt the muscle strength when it came into his body as he was healed. This was a miracle done by the creator.

⁸ But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

• The power was not just to heal the sick, but to forgive the sins of man that separated him from God. When true worship and service to God is changed into a religion with all kinds of rules to follow and works that must be done, a relationship with God can feel unattainable to most people. If we had it in ourselves to walk righteously, then Jesus didn’t need to die… but we don’t. We are sinful in our very core and so religion and religious acts can never be a path to God. The only way to be reconciled to God is through his grace and mercy and the only way to obtain his grace and mercy is through his Son Jesus who laid down his life, paid the price that was charged to each of us because of our sins and reconciled us to God. This is the blessed hope… and the people who saw Jesus forgive this man with palsy and then heal his body, felt that hope and were amazed.

⁹ And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

• Matthew was a tax collector…he took peoples money away to give to the Roman Empire. Tax collectors were hated and considered to be shady.

¹⁰ And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

• After Jesus forgave the sins of the man with the palsy and then proved that he had the power to forgive sins by healing this man… hope was in the hearts of sinners everywhere… they came to sit with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus is accessible to sinners.

¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

• Religion doesn’t like accessible… and so they question why Jesus was eating with sinners… to these Pharisees, a holy man would never do that…it was considered to be improper for a ritually pure Jew to eat with those who were considered sinners. This wasn’t just question, this was an accusation.

¹² But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

• In “Romans 1:20 ²⁰ For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” we can see we have a moral code ingrained in us from creation that teaches us right from wrong. Mankind has a need for moral order so, when the Law came and clearly outlined what God calls sins and tells us how to have a relationship with God through the law, mankind gripped on to it. It became diverted away from a way to have a pure relationship with God into a religious behavior that gave a person salvation through performing a list of task instead of focusing on our hearts and trying to align them with God’s. The people who were entrusted to teach the Law and the ways to have a relationship with God from a pure place morphed into gatekeepers who determined who was worthy and who wasn’t based on compliance to the religious rules. This whole process made a relationship with God seem inaccessible to the average person. The Pharisees revelled in this because they were the “haves” regarding being connected to God… or at least it seemed like they were until Jesus came along and shined a big light on everything. Now we have Jesus who is perfectly fulfilling the Law… teaching with such clarity no one is excluded because of a lack of understanding… he’s making relationships with God something anyone can enjoy…. and in the process, this exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and invalidated their life mission to gate keep access to God.
• Jesus had come to restore men to God, he is the Gate… he is the way… and he is available to all sinners who are ready to repent and have their relationships with God healed.
  

¹³ But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

• Jesus came here with mercy for those who repent of their sins…instead of sacrifices. The Law came to show us that we were sinners…
• Romans 7:9-11⁹ For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.¹⁰ And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Paul talks about when he learned the Law he was made alive by it, but he also died because the Law condemned him in his sin.The Law required a sacrifice for sin. Romans9:30-33 ³⁰ What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.³¹ But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.³² Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;³³ As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

¹⁴ Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

¹⁵ And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

¹⁶ No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

• The teaching of the Law and the teachings of Grace can not be combined into a single “fabric”. Old fabrics have been shrunk and stretched and has its shape, but a new fabric is fresh… if you try to seam the two together the new fabric would pull away from the old and the tear would get bigger. You can’t combine them to form a new garment.

¹⁷ Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

• The Law and Grace can not be combined into a new belief. Like with wine, the wine is fermented in a new wine bottle… the bottle, being new can flex with the fermentation process where the gases expand the bottle in the process of making wine. If you use an old bottle that has already been expanded to the max it will break open during the fermentation process and the wine will spill out and the bottle will be broken.

¹⁸ While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

¹⁹ And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

²⁰ And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:

²¹ For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

• Leviticus 15:25-27 ²⁵ And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.²⁶ Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.²⁷ And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
• According to the Law this woman would have been considered unclean…. it makes me wonder if she had an understanding that Jesus was about mercy and grace because she decided to touch the hem of Jesus’s garment in spite of the law about touching someone during their time of uncleaness because of their issue of blood.
• The hem of Jesus’s garment was a fringe (Kraspedon /Tzitzit) in keeping with the customs of the Mosaic Laws- these fringes represented the wearer’s adherence to God’s law and symbolized authority and identity.Touching them was a demonstration of faith in Jesus’ messianic authority and power.
• Jesus knew when this woman touched him and felt her get healed. Luke 8:46 ⁴⁶ And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.

²² But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

• Jesus is so loving and kind…and he is the same today.

²³ And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,

²⁴ He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

• I never EVER believe anyone who claims to have died and visited hell or heaven. When God intends to bring someone back to life, he says they are sleeping. If God pronouces you dead, you aren’t coming back. Hebrews 9:27 ²⁷ And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: If you died so hard you visited heaven or hell… you aren’t coming back…The Bible is clear on that. If a person actually did visit hell and then came back to life, their mind would be so traumatized they wouldn’t be able to function… they would be in nonstop panic mode and likely suffer a massive heart attack. If a person went to heaven and came back they would be in such a state of longing and homesickness they couldn’t function on this earth…. the separation would be so depressing. The people who make up these stories think their good intentions will justify the lies they tell… but they won’t… even if people get saved after hearing these false testimonies, these liars are still going to be held accountable because in truth… it is the spirit of God.. the HOLY SPIRIT that causes us to come to know God and to decide to repent and follow Jesus.

²⁵ But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.

²⁶ And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

²⁷ And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.

²⁸ And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

²⁹ Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

³⁰ And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.

³¹ But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

• The word of faith movement wants people to believe that they can lose their healing by disobeying God and not keeping their confession of healing straight. These two blind men were told not to tell anyone and they went out and told everyone… and still they were able to see. When God heals a person… they are healed, not by works (their confessions of healing) but by the divine touch of God.

³² As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.

³³ And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

• There are people who can’t speak and aren’t possessed by a devil, this person was.

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

³⁵ And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

³⁶ But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

• Jesus is so loving and kind… he’s out there teaching and healing people, going from place to place… doing the work of the Kingdom and he has compassion of the people because they need more Kingdom preachers to guide them and shepherd them. Jesus loves us so much.

³⁷ Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

³⁸ Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.