Bible in one year Matthew 9
By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce
Christian Arts Ministries:Biblical precepts & Gospel music/ Pastoral ministry & Counseling
Chapter 9 Exhibit 2: Pardon - Pardon of a paralytic, 9:1-9
Jesus
stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to
him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the
paralytic, “take heart, son; your son are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said
to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming! Knowing their thoughts, Jesus
said,” why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which easier to say, “Your
sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk?” but so that you may know that
the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” then he said to the
paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went
home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe and they praised God,
who had given such authority to men.
This may indicate that the man’s sickness was the direct
result of sin. Some Jews speculated that such was always the case. It is
obviously easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” since the validity of the
statement cannot be tested so easily as “get up” by making the statement,
Christ was asserting a prerogative of God, who alone can forgive sins.
Pardon of a publican, Jesus came as Physician
to the sinners instead of Judge. 9:9-13
As
Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax
collector’s booth” Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed
him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and
sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this,
they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who
need a doctor, but the sick. But
go and lean what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I
have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Tax collectors and sinners. Men who collected taxes for the Romans had a bad
reputation for extortion and malpractice. Sinners were those whose daily
occupations rendered them ceremonially unclean and not, in Pharisaic eyes, to be
associated with. In verse 12 in calling people to follow Him for the kingdom,
the King of the heavenly kingdom ministered as a Physician, not as a Judge. A
judge’s judgment is according to righteousness, whereas a physician’s healing
is according to mercy and grace. Those whom He made people of His heavenly
kingdom were lepers (8:2-4), paralytics (8:5-13;9:28), the fever ridden(8:14-15),
the demon-possessed (8:16, 28-32), those ill with all kinds of diseases (8:6),
despised tax collectors, and sinners (vv.9-11). If He had visited these pitiful
people as a Judge, all would have been condemned and rejected, and none would
have been qualifies, selected, and called to be the people of His heavenly
kingdom. However, He came to minister as
a Physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save them that they might be
reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He could establish
His heavenly kingdom on this corrupted earth. Mercy is part of the grace that man receives
from God. But self-righteous men do not like to receive mercy or grace from
God; they prefer to give something to God. This is contrary to God’s way in His
economy. Just as God desires to show mercy to pitiful sinners, so He wants us
to show mercy in love to other.(Micah6:6-8; Mark12:33)
Problem concerning fasting- A patch of unshrunk cloth and the fresh wineskins 9:14-17
Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that
we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? Jesus
answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The
time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will
fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk
cloth on an old garment; for the patch will pull away from the garment,
making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new
wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will
run out and the wince skins will be ruined. NO. They pour new wine into new
wineskins, and both are preserved.
The
Pharisees fasted twice a week-conspicuous piety. John’s followers were probably
fasting in mourning for him. The required public fasts were only three in
number; the Day of Atonement; the day before Purim; and the 9th of Ab,
commemorating the falloff Jerusalem.
Christ was the unshrunk cloth for making a new garment,
and then through His death and resurrection was made a new garment to cover us
as out righteousness before God that we might be justified by God and be
acceptable to Him.(Luke15:22;Gal3:27;1Cor.1:30). A patch of unshrunk cloth sewn
on an old garment pulls away from the garment because of the strength of its
shrinking, thus making the tear worse. To sew a patch of unshrunk cloth on an
old garment means to imitate what Christ did in His human life on earth. This
is what today’s modernists are attempting to do. They only imitate Jesus’ human
deeds to improve their behavior; they do not believe in the crucified Jesus as
their Redeemer or in the resurrected Christ as their righteousness that they
may be justified by God and acceptable to Him. Their imitating of
Christ’s human living pulls away from their old garment, their behavior
produced by their old, natural life. The kingdom people would not do this; they
take the crucified and resurrected Christ as their new garment to cover them as
their righteousness before God.
The old
garment signifies the good behavior, good deeds, and religious practices produced
by man’s old natural life.
The
Greek word for new means new in time, recent, newly possessed. The new wine
here signifies Christ as the new life, full of vigor, stirring people to
excitement. The kingly Savior is not only the Bridegroom to the kingdom people for
their enjoyment but also their new garment for them to be equipped outwardly
that they may be qualified to attend the wedding. Furthermore, He is their
groom for the kingdom people’s enjoyment, and His heavenly kingdom is His
wedding feast (22:2), at which they will enjoy Him. To enjoy Him as the
Bridegroom in the kingdom feast, they need Him as their new garment outwardly
and their new wince inwardly.
The old wineskins signify religious practices, such as the fasting maintained by the Pharisees, who
were of the old religion and by the disciples of John, who were of the new
religion. All religions are old wineskins. New wine put into old wineskins
bursts the wineskins by the power of its fermenting. To put new wine into old
wineskins is to put Christ as the exciting life into any kind of religion. This
is what the so called fundamentalists and Pentecostalists are practicing today.
The kingdom people should never do this. They must put the new wine into fresh
wineskins.
The Greek word for
fresh means new in nature, quality, or form; unaccustomed, unused, hence, fresh.
The fresh wineskins signify the church
life in the local churches as the container of the new wine, which is Christ
Himself as the exciting life. The
kingdom people are built into the church (16:18), and the church is expressed
through the local churches in which the kingdom people live (18:15-20) They are regenerated persons who constitute
the Body of Christ and become the church (Rom.12:5; Eph.1:22-23). The Body
of Christ as His fullness is also called “the Christ” (1 Cor.12:12), referring
to the corporate Christ. The individual Christ is the new wine, the inward
exciting life, and the corporate Christ is the fresh wineskin the outward
container that holds the new wine.
With
the kingdom people it is not a matter of fasting or any other religious
practice, but a matter of the church life with Christ as their content. Christ
came to establish not an earthly religion of rituals but a heavenly kingdom of
life. He is establishing such a kingdom not with Himself, the living person, as
the Savior, the Physician, the Bridegroom, the unshrunk cloth, and the new wine
to His followers for their full enjoyment, that they may be the fresh wineskin
to contain Him and may become the constituents of His kingdom.
Exhibit 3 Power, 9:18-38
Power over death –Jesus raised a ruler’s daughter and healed
a woman had been bleeding for twelve years 9:18-26
While he was saying this, a
ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come
and put your hand on her, and she will live.”
Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. Just then
a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him
and touched the edge of his cloak, she said to herself, “If I only touch his
cloak. I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “Your faith
has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment. When Jesus entered
the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy
crowd, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But hey laughed at
him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the
hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region.
Verses 18-34 give a brief picture of this age and the coming age. Hence, the record in this section has a dispensational significance, as did the record in 8:1-17. The daughter of the ruler of the synagogue represents the Jews, and the woman with the hemorrhage represents the Gentiles. When the daughter dies, the woman was healed. After the woman was healed, the daughter was revived. Subsequently, two blind men and one dumb man were healed. This is a type, showing that when the Jews were cut off, the Gentiles were saved, and that after the fullness of the salvation of the Gentiles, the Jews will be saved (Rom.11:15,17,19,23-26). After that the millennium will begin, in which all the blind and dumb will be healed.(Isa.35:5-6).
Jairus,
a ruler of the synagogue (Mark5;22;Luke8:41). His name means he will enlighten,
or enlightened. Signifying that the Lord will enlighten the Gentiles (Acts13:46-48).
And that the Jews also will be enlightened.
A
blood flux, a flow or issue of blood (Lev.15:25).The life of the flesh is in
the blood (Lev.17:11) Hence, this disease signifies a life that cannot be
retained. The woman had been sick for twelve years. The
age of the ruler’s dead daughter ( Luke8:42). The woman here and the centurion
in 8:5-10, both representing the Gentiles, came to contact the Lord in the same
way-with faith. The woman was healed while the Lord was on the way to the ruler’s
house. This signifies that the Gentiles are saved, while Christ is on the way
to the house of Israel. Christ’s garment signifies His righteous deeds, and the
fringe signifies the heavenly ruling (Num.15:38-39). Out of Christ’s heaven
ruled deeds issues the virtue that becomes the healing power (14:36).
Power over darkness, Jesus healed two blind men 9:27-31
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him,
calling out, “Have
mercy on us, Son of David!”. When he had gone
indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes, Lord” they replied. Then he touched
their eyes and said, “according
to your faith will it be done to you.” And their
sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about
this.” But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
Blindness
signifies the lack of inward sight, the inability to see God and the things
related to Him. In the millennial kingdom, that is, in the restored tabernacle of
David (Acts15:16), the Messianic kingdom, the Jews will recognize Christ as the
Son of David, and their blindness will be healed. This is typified by the two
blind men recognizing Christ as the Son of David. The opening of the blind men’s eyes signifies the recovery
of inward sight, by which we see God and spiritual things. (Acts9:18; 26:18;
Eph.1:18; Rev.3:18)
Power over muteness 9:32-34
While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed
and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the
man who had been mute spoke. The Crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this
has ever been seen in Israel.” But he Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of
demons that he drives out demons.”
Power over disease, and pity on the people 9:35-38
Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in
their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease
and sickness. When he saw the crows, he had compassion on them, because they
were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his
disciples. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers
are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his
harvest field.”
In
Greek harassed refers to the sheep’s being skinned by a cruel shepherd and thus
suffering pain. And abandoned by a wicked shepherd and falling into a
distressed condition in which they are homeless, wandering from place to place,
and helpless. The Lord Jesus’ word here depicts a situation in which the
pitiful Israelites were afflicted and in anguish under the hands of the chief priests
and scribes, the evil shepherds. This indicates that the heavenly King
considered the Israelites sheep and Himself their Shepherd. When Christ came to
the Jews the first time, they were like lepers, paralytics, the
demon-possessed, and all manner of pitiful persons because they had no shepherd
to care for them. Now in His kingly ministry for the establishing of His
heavenly kingdom, He ministered to them not only as a Physician but also as a
Shepherd, as prophesied in Isa.53:6 and 40:11.
Bibliography,
Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.)
Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.
Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago,
IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.
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