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| Chapter 9 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And He entered into a boat, and passed over and came into His own city. 2 And behold, they brought to Him a man sick with the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the one sick with the palsy, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." 3 And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, "This man blasphemeth." 4 And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why think ye evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier: to say, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins," (then said He to the one sick with palsy) "Arise, take up thy bed and go unto thine house." 7 And he arose and departed to his house. 8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power unto men. 9 ¶ And as Jesus passed forth from thence, He saw a man named Matthew, sitting in the customhouse. And He said unto him, "Follow Me." And he arose and followed Him. 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. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, "Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?" 12 But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 14 ¶ Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples fast not?" 15 And Jesus said unto them, "Can the attendants of the bride chamber 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. 17 Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins, else the wineskins burst and the wine runneth out and the skins perish. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." 18 ¶ While He spoke these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshiped 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 who was diseased with an issue of blood for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the hem of His garment; 21 for she said to herself, "If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole." 22 But Jesus turned 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. 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 way, for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth." And they laughed Him to scorn. 25 But when the people were put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 26 And the fame thereof went abroad throughout all the 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 had come into the house, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus said unto them, "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" They said unto Him, "Yea, Lord." 29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith, be it unto you." 30 And their eyes were opened, and Jesus strictly charged them, saying, "See that no man know it." 31 But they, when they had departed, spread abroad His fame in all that country. 32 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man dumb and possessed with a devil. 33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spoke; and the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never so seen in Israel." 34 But the Pharisees said, "He casteth out the 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 for them, because they were faint and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then said He unto His disciples, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." |
Matt. 9:35 - 10:42 The mission of the Twelve. v1-8 Healing of paralyzed man. Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26. v1 Jesus returns to "His own city" - Capernaum. We are told in the other gospels that getting the man to Jesus was a problem due to the crowds. The man had to be lowered down through the roof of the house. v2 "Seeing their faith," this must include the faith of the sick man as in most cases faith of the person was involved in healing. v2,3 The sickness must have been involved or as a result of some sin by the man as Jesus starts the healing with "your sins are forgiven." This causes some immediate charges by the present religious leaders present. Blaspheming - ‘speaking against God’ was a common charge by these leaders, they felt that only God could forgive sin, so by this action of Jesus He was claiming to be God, Luke 5:21. v4-6 Jesus, able to read their thoughts, asks a question, "which is easier?" Any person can say - "your sins are forgiven," or "Get up and walk," but both need a following action to prove they have divine power. "A fake will use the "Sins forgiven" claim as it cannot be proved, but Jesus also proves His power on earth is divine by physically healing the man. v7,8 The healing caused considerable discussion by the crowds, about divine gifts given to a man by God. v9-13 The call of Matthew. Matthew, also called Levi, Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27, was a tax collector. Jesus came to him when he was sitting in the tax building, probably on the road from Damascus to Capernaum, where they would be collecting taxes for goods travelling along the road into the port. These people were hated by the Jewish population. v9 "Follow Me," showed that Matthew was to make a complete break with his old life, there would be no turning back, his post would quickly be filled by another person. v10 The feast in the house of Matthew, Luke 5:29 probably took place a little later after the calling for Matthew, when he had invited many of his old colleagues and associates, "publicans and sinners," to the meal, men who were living in a way against the commands of God. v11-13 To the Pharisees, who considered themselves very righteous, this behaviour of Jesus was all very wrong. Jesus responds to their questions by saying His work was for the sinners, "people who are ill need a doctor." By referring to ‘the righteous’ and ‘the sinners’ needs, Jesus is comparing the difference between the Pharisees attitude and the spiritually needy. "Sacrifice" means that a cost is involved. v14-17 Disciples of John. This talk with the disciples of John probably took place during the meal at the house of Matthew, Luke 5:33. The law only lists one fasting day, the Day of Atonement but the religious leaders had now added a day of fasting on each Monday and Thursday, this was observed by the Pharisees and others, including it appears the followers of John the Baptist. Compare the answer of Jesus with John’s in John 3:29. Those looking after the bridegroom will be sad and then fast when the bridegroom is taken away, a true fast of sadness, not a routine fast done twice a week, as the Pharisees. This was to happen when Jesus died on the cross. Old and New. When a piece of cloth is new it will shrink at the first wash, it is therefore a foolish act to repair an old cloth with a new piece of cloth, when it is washed it will shrink and tear away from the material to which it is sewn. New wine, having not yet fermented, will burst old wineskin containers. These examples showed the danger of mixing old material with new material. The message Jesus came with did not just modifying the existing teachings, an old teaching made new with a few changes, Jesus came with a totally new message. v18-26 The healing of the ruler’s child and the woman. Mark 5:22-43; Luke 8:41-56. Jarius was a ruler, probably of the city Capernaum, he would have been rich money wise, but still needed to come to Jesus for help. Luke tells us that when he initially approached Jesus for help he said "she was dying," it was later, while Jesus was healing the woman that messengers told him that she was dead. Jarius had great faith in the power of Jesus, he asked him to come to his home and heal the child just by touching her. However, on the way the woman, suffering from an hemorrhage for twelve years, approaches Jesus believing she will be healed just by touching the bottom of His coat. This woman with an "hemorrhage" would be ceremonial defiled, considered unclean, and would not be allowed to attend any synagogue and would also have had many problems at home, (Leviticus 15:19-30). She had suffered from this problem for 12 years. Her "ritual uncleanliness" may have explained why she approached Jesus in such a secret way. She believed that she just needed to touch the clothes of Jesus, she reached out to touch a small part of the bottom of the outer coat normally worn by the Jew, Numbers 15:38. Matthew does not give all the events, but Jesus knows of her action and healing and now turns to her. It was not the clothing which healed the woman but her faith. The delay must have been very difficult for Jarius. In Luke 8:49; Mark 5:35, we are told that while this healing is taking place messengers come from the house of Jarius, they tell him his daughter is dead. Jesus tells Jarius to keep believing in Him. v23 When they arrive at the house of Jarius, the funeral mourners had already gathered, "the minstrels and the people making a wailing noise." v24-26 "The maid is not dead, but sleeps." Jesus was not saying she was not dead, or that death was a state of sleep, rather it showed what he was about to do. See John 11:11,14. v26 Even though Jesus asked for no publicity of this action, Mark 5:43; Luke 8:56, this did not happen. v27-31 Blind men healed. This event is only recorded by Matthew. "Son of David," a Messianic title. Jesus was trying to avoid publicity because this title would have been a political threat to the Romans. We therefore see that Jesus ignores the men until he is in a house. Again healing involved an act of faith by the men, they recognized Jesus for who He really was - the Messiah. v31 Again Jesus requested no publicity, but that was not to happen, unable to contain their thanks for the blessing, they did not obey the warning by Jesus. v32-34 Demonic possessed man healed. Normally a person possessed by a demon was very vocal, however this one, for some reason was dumb. Jesus sends the demon out of the man, who then speaks. The reaction of the people was recorded by Matthew and also the reasoning of the Pharisees, it is possible that these words were not spoken directly to Jesus as He does not respond until the same accusation is made later, Matt 12:24-29. v35-38 "Jesus was going about" suggests that this visitation of the area was a continuation of Matt 4:23ff. Jesus is distressed by what he sees in the people, they are - scattered, leaderless, lost sheep. But Jesus also saw that they were "a harvest ready for collection." Jesus told the disciples to pray that the "Lord of the harvest," Jesus, would send workers. They were to be sent themselves later, they were the answer to their prayers. |
Easy English Translation
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