1So He got into a boat, crossed
over, and came to His own city.
·
Now Jesus returns to
Capernaum, which is called, His city, likely because that’s where He lived.
(Matt 4:13).
·
This is how the opening
of Mark goes, Jesus first miracle
2Then behold, they brought to
Him a paralytic lying on a bed.
·
Likely a splinted
mattress, not what we think of as a full bed. This might as be as minimal as a
blanket.
When
Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are
forgiven you.”
·
He sees the faith of the friends, and accounts
it as salvation for the man.
·
Matthew once again skips ahead to the end,
omitting the details that they let him down through the roof because there was
no room to get in from the crowd. Luke tells us they pulled apart the tiles to
do so.
·
It’s likely that Jesus speaks to the mans inner
thoughts here, with the man considering himself too far gone to save, and
undeserving of healing. It’s probably that this was the case, the man brought
the affliction upon himself for his sinfulness, as Jesus speaks to that very
thing.
3And at once some of the
scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”
·
I suspect I would find myself among these men
when faced with this statement from Jesus if I wasn’t too stunned by what He
said to be completely inert. He is here claiming the right to be God and
forgive sins against God.
·
This was said by only some of the scribes, and
they said it in their heart, or in their innermost being, they did not say it
aloud. Jesus was omniscient and saw all, even their thoughts.
·
This means that Jesus is God proved again,
because only God can see the inner thoughts of men 1 Chron 28:9, Rom 8:27, John
2:24
4But Jesus, knowing their
thoughts, said, “Why
do you think evil in your hearts? 5For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise
and walk’?
·
The healing miracles
validated His supernatural authority.
·
Obviously both are
impossible for us as humans to make good on, but the pronouncing of forgiveness
of sins can pass unnoticed and unnoticeable, while the healing is immediately
evident. In demonstrating the healing Jesus proved His power over the forgiving
as well.
6But that you may know that the
Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and
go to your house.”
Jesus frequently commands the impossible. He
said the same to Lazarus and He spoke similarly into the void of creation.
7And he arose and departed to
his house. 8Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power
to men.
·
The crowd sees that God has
granted forgiveness to man, and such power to a man is astonishing. They were
even happier by the fact that the man He gave power to is generous and willing
to forgive.
9As Jesus passed on from there,
He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
·
Jesus now passes out by the
sea to teach and the multitudes came to Him, and walking by He sees Matthew.
That means his booth was right by the water. Which means that he was probably
the one who took the fishermen’s earnings. Bet Peter, James, and John would not
have liked to see him join their company.
·
Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27-28
have him as Levi. Just like how Simon went to Peter. But here Matthew has his
new name, which indicates his humility. Luke also points out that he left it
all behind, but here Matthew is merely explaining why the next part happens.
10Now it happened, as Jesus sat
at the table in the house, that
behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His
disciples.
·
Matthew went out and told
all of his tax collector colleagues about Jesus, and invited Him to a feast.
Luke tells us Matthew is responsible (5:29)
·
Jesus reclined there, not
merely sat with sinners. The word means the lowest and most worthless portion
of their society.
11And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your
Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
·
They saw Jesus as approving of their behavior,
because eating and drinking denotes intimacy and acceptance. They must therefore have thought that Jesus
was Himself a sinner.
·
The phrase is ‘scribes of the Pharisees’ saw it,
which is helpfully translated out here, but also indicates that there were
scribes who were not Pharisees.
12When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no
need of a physician, but those who are sick.
·
The Pharisees in thinking
they were fine did not realize their plight. Meanwhile the sinners and tax
collectors did, and asked Jesus to save them.
·
Jesus answer is as
straightforward and agrees with their assessment of the men nearby: you should
expect to find someone working as a doctors among sick people.
13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the
righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
·
This comes from Hosea 6:6, Jesus censures them
for not knowing this. Their business was with the outwardly, His was with the
inwardly.
·
Mercy and benevolence are more pleasing to God
than outward acts of religion.
14Then the disciples of John
came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your
disciples do not fast?”
·
This is the disciples of John the Baptist ask it
here, but Luke indicates the Pharisees asked. Likely the two groups both asked,
both wanting to know, and the Pharisees were present when Johns disciples
arrived.
·
John was in prison at this time.
15And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the
bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come
when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
·
Jesus is now going to give
three analogies to why He does not behave like other men.
·
The answer is that they
should fast because John is in jail, but the disciples of Jesus are still with
Him, so they should not fast, because there is no occasion for sorrow.
·
Here Jesus predicts the
future trouble of the disciples, but for now, there is no place for remembrance
of sin since the ministry of forgiveness has come.
16No one puts a piece of unshrunk
cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the
tear is made worse.
·
When the garment washes it
contracts. Mixing old and new garments would ruin both. Just so, Jesus will not
have His disciples fast because He is the King of joy and joy has come.
·
If Jesus were to fast and
be sorrowful and not take up the ministry of forgiveness we would be worse off
than before, as there would be no hope.
17Nor do they put new wine into
old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the
wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are
preserved.”
·
Wineskins made from animals was the order of the
day, and the wine expands as it ferments. If you have a wineskin stretched out
as much as it will go and you fill it, it will burst.
·
If Jesus were to fast it would ruin His
ministry, which was to bring forgiveness of sin. Jesus cannot be both about
asking for forgiveness of sin and giving forgiveness of sin, one has to go.
·
Mark adds that Jesus rebukes the Pharsiees with
the ‘old is better’ comment, meaning that they had rejected forgiveness and
opted for pride.
·
At this point the Pharisees really decide to
hate Him.
18While He spoke these things to
them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just
died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.”
·
His worship consisted of
acknowledging Jesus’ power and authority.
·
He (Jarius) was a ruler
of the synagogue, which would be roughly equivalent to our idea of an elder.
This is the same synagogue that had invited Jesus to preach, and had seen Him
cast out a demon. (Luke 4:33)
·
He knows that if Jesus
will touch his daughter, she will be restored to health, even though she’s on
the verge of death.
·
Matthew once again jumps
ahead and gives only the important summary, that the girl was dead when Jesus
healed her. In the other accounts he has to be persuaded by Jesus to believe in
this too.
·
This is a necessary detail to understand how the
next bit fits into the story
20And suddenly, a woman who had
a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His
garment. 21For she said to herself, “If
only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.”
·
Having bled for all these
years she was desperate, which drives her to Christ. Just like Jesus said on
the sermon on the mount that the poor are blessed.
·
Mark 5:26 tells us that
she was now destitute from her condition.
·
Her goal was likely to
touch the garment thrown over the shoulder. Although there was no such promise
of healing, she believed He was so pure and great that His very clothes would
heal her.
22But Jesus turned around, and
when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well
from that hour.
·
Matthew is content to point out that it’s her
faith in Jesus that has healed her.
·
In Marks account she confessed reluctantly,
afraid that her touching Him would offend Him, but this is His response to
illness and disease: comfort and encouragement.
·
Daughter fits perfectly with the writer of the
Hebrews pointing out “here I am with the children You gave Me.”
23When Jesus came into the
ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, 24He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not
dead, but sleeping.”
·
Peter, James, and John
witnessed this, see Mark 5:37-40
·
By sleeping He meant to
point out to them that her soul still existed. Only her body had quit life, but
that only for a short time. Christians are said to be sleeping (1 Thess
4:13-15), in particular see Stephen (acts 7:60), or Lazarus (John 11:11) as
good examples.
And
they ridiculed Him.
·
They knew what they saw, they
knew she was dead, and they assumed that since He wasn’t here, having just
arrived, He didn’t know the news.
·
It wasn’t nice however,
they laughed at Him rudely, to His face.
25But when the crowd was put
outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.
·
Once again Matthew omits
the details because he’s only concerned with showing the power and effects of
Jesus. It turns out He brought a few witnesses into the room to validate the
miracle.
·
They were forcefully
expelled since they did not believe in Jesus’ power to heal.
·
He called her a ‘little
lamb’ and told her to arise. It’s stunning tenderness from God
26And the report of this went
out into all that land.
·
Mark records that Jesus
told them to keep this quiet. That He told the crowd she was sleeping helps to
re-enforce this. It was likely to keep the family private, His ministry as a
preacher rather than a miracle worker, and to keep His enemies in the dark.
·
Matthew simply reports what
happened: the tale went out to all the land
27When Jesus departed from
there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have
mercy on us!”
·
This is an appeal to the messianic nature of
Jesus’ power. They are confessing that He is the fulfillment of Scripture, and
the rightful King.
28And when He had come into the
house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able
to do this?” They
said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
·
Now Jesus will demonstrate His authority over
blindness
·
Faith is the vessel which
the power of God is moved to us. It is the open hand. Because they had asked
God and really believed He could do it, He did it for them.
30And their eyes were opened.
And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.” 31But when they had departed,
they spread the news about Him in all that country.
·
Once again they hampered
His ministry. This is another time we see men disobeying God.
·
He knew they would disobey
and yet even still He healed them.
32As they went out, behold, they
brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed.
·
Now Jesus will
demonstrate His authority over muteness.
·
These healings are only
accounted by Matthew, Luke and Mark have the Sabbath healings coming next,
which strengthens the notion that Matthew has handpicked events and compiled
them to convey the message that Jesus is Lord and wants Faith.
33And when the demon was cast
out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen
like this in Israel!” 34But the Pharisees said, “He
casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
·
Jealousy in the heart of the Pharisee demanded
that they condemn Jesus.
·
Foolish men built their houses on the sand
speaks to this, that they would reject Jesus, when they could no longer deny
Him.
35Then Jesus went about all the cities
and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
·
Jesus went around healing
the sick, teaching in the synagogues, and preaching the good news. Matthew is content
to point out that for some time now Jesus is going to do this very thing.
·
Mark has the account of
Jesus being rejected at Nazareth, for example, but it’s enough for Matthew to
say that’s what Jesus did for awhile.
36But when He saw the
multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and
scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
·
The people were badly
off, and lost. God Himself, being more compassionate than we know, looks down
with love and desires to give them rest.
·
The people were weary
from carrying the burden the Pharisees put on them, the tradition and extra
rules. This is why Jesus calls to those who are weary and heavy laden, that He
may give them rest. Blessed are these people, for they will be comforted by
God.
37Then He said to His disciples,
“The harvest
truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38Therefore pray the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
·
This is like the promise
of the shepherds in Ezekiel 34:8-10. The Pharisees will be taken away and the
Apostles will be given.
·
Believers are to pray this
still, there are many people lost in the world and too few genuine Christians
to stand up and work
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