Matthew Chapter 9
Yesterday covered Mt 5-7, the whole of the Sermon on the Mount. Now we skip to Matthew 9. 8 Was full of various healing miracles, the calming of the storm on Galilee, and so on. The miracles are arranged all in a chapter as similar events, and not necessarily as they occurred chronologically. Chapter 9 begins with the healing of the paralytic let down into the room through the roof, to whom Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven you." (In "The Chosen" this the scene of this healing is very moving, and brings such a sense of being there and of understanding what went on. Highly recommend this series!) Matthew also records this as occurring in Capernaum. Jesus tells the scribes that see Jesus' words as blasphemy that if you are given the authority to do a difficult thing, then you also have the authority to do easier things. To Jesus, to the scribes also, forgiving sins was something only God could do. They didn't believe Jesus could forgive sins. It was blasphemy to claim it, when you couldn't really do it, and yet no one could say you didn't do it. To them, Jesus' words were a deception to the common folk assembled because they didn't understand the theology. Yet his claim, if they believed it, drew those people away from the religious hierarchy, decreasing their influence and position. These same scribes also knew that only God could heal paralytics, restore sight, and make lepers whole. They knew this with just as much certainty as they knew that only God can forgive sin.
Miracles show outwardly, forgiveness does not. What does not show can be denied. They could say Jesus was not from God as long as he just claimed to forgive sins. But when Jesus did something with a whole town full of witnesses, that absolutely could not be denied, and that demonstrated that he had been given power to do miracles - and only God could give that - they had no counter to it. They could no longer deny. From here, if they oppose Jesus, they had to know that they were the liars, the deceivers, the ones using the common people to lift themselves up. They were confronted with an unavoidable choice. Believe what this man says, or commit wilful, self-serving sin. This must have been a critical point in Jesus' ministry, when there were so many witnesses that the scribes and the Pharisees could no longer hope to contain the truth.
Jesus calls Matthew, and has a meal at his house. And he tells them that he is with sinners because they are the ones in need. This can only be seen as sarcasm toward those who questioned his presence in that particular house. They were not well either, by any stretch, but were convinced that they were. This is Matthew recording events at the meal at his own home. This would seem to be the authoritative account of that.
2021 - This verse:
13 Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." [Mat 9:13 ESV] This is a quote from Hosea 6:6. MSB note says the quote emphasizes the absolute priority of the law's moral standards over the ceremonial standards. What a good way to phrase this, and it applies to so many things - healing on the Sabbath, picking corn on the Sabbath, carrying your bed home after you've been healed on the Sabbath. All these things are about the priority of these two pillars of the law of Moses. It's not just the deeds, in fact the deeds are a distant second. But Jesus goes on...He is not even there for the "righteous". So is Jesus saying he was there to bring sinners to repentance only, and not to make the righteous more righteous? I suppose so...but remember that there is none righteous, no not one. He is sending these doubters back to the drawing board by directing them to what they perceive is a very simple verse in Hosea, and emphasizing it as profoundly important, to the extent that it answers all those questions listed above. The moral aspect of the law is what matters.
2025 - The word translated mercy above is "eleos". It shows up in one of my Greek vocabulary list and means mercy. NASB95, though, translates it "compassion. It is a quote from Hosea, where we find the word in Hebrew, but I'm not sure it clarifies this very much. Here is the quoted verse from Hosea:
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. [Hos 6:6 ESV].
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. [Hos 6:6 KJV]
Back there it is our old friend "hesed" that is used. Bobby Kelly went to tremendous length in the Psalms study to try and explain this word. It is most often translated "mercy", second most is kindness, third is lovingkindness, When God says he wants mercy more than sacrifice, what can that mean? God does not "need" mercy from us. Mercy is forgiving what does not deserve forgiveness. It is a "lighter sentence". It is life when a sentence of death is deserved. What if we go with "unconditional positive regard"? That might work. It allows for despising the deed without despising the doer. Thinking of it this way, Jesus would be saying that mistakes do not disqualify a person from being loved by God, and "perfect" obedience to the sacrificial/ritual of the Mosaic Law does not guarantee the love of God. Jesus is drawing a stark contrast here. The passage in Hosea is speaking of several specific tribes as being fleeting in their worship, inconsistent in their loyalty. Here is how that chapter starts:
1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. [Hos 6:1, 6 KJV]. It is about reconciliation, about a reset, about God's love continuing even after he has sent chastisement.
So when it says that God desires mercy, God prefers mercy, it means he would rather have mercy towards those who fail and repent in their hearts than to "honor" those who follow precisely prescribed ritual...but have no real love for him.
John's disciples ask Jesus why his followers don't fast. Jesus' attitude towards these would have been different than toward the scribes and Pharisees. These are genuinely seeking answers. They believe, and want to have understanding. So he tells them that he is a bridegroom, and that wedding guests don't fast during the wedding feast. So he's telling them that it is his own presence, a different kind of presence than John's, that is the key to why they don't fast. Then, having pointed out that he is the difference, he talks about new cloth on an old garment. And new wine in old wine skins. He tells them that the Mosaic Law has reached it's end. It is old, worn, and needs some repair. But what Jesus is offering is NOT a patch on an old garment, not a reinterpretation of old thinking, but a radically materially different covenant. The old is to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. It will be done, it will have served its entire purpose and be of no further value. (Well this cannot be exactly right, because the sacrifices and priests and all that will come again at the end.) And trying to fit what is new into that old system will make the old even worse, or burst it wide open. John's disciples are told that something new and completely different has arrived, and they need to stop trying to understand it through the lens of what was before. They are not to interpret Jesus as a subset of the law, but as a fact that is external to it. He is greater than the law, not a part of the law. 2020 - The above is not a very good explanation. It seems to shoot all around the explanation without actually ever getting the right explanation. The precise explanation. It will expire under it's own terms...but not really. What happens is that it is being set completely aside until the end times, and in the interim, we have the church and the Age of Gentiles. Yesterday's note had this: MSB goes on, in the note on vs 18, to say that the NT does not supplant and abrogate the law, but fulfills and explicates it. Supplant is to take the place of or substitute for. So that is not what the New Covenant does. To abrogate is to abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority. So the NT doesn't do that. Fulfill - To bring into actuality; effect or make real. Explicate - To make clear the meaning of; explain. Maybe with a lot of thought, and turning things around in the light of the definitions of these words, things will get clearer.
2025 - This verse:
14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" [Mat 9:14 ESV]. Is this interesting. The disciples of John sort of "team up" with the Pharisees here on the subject of fasting. John had called the Pharisees a generation of vipers, and yet here his disciples team up with them to question Jesus' actions. So even these would benefit from Hosea 6:6! They are still putting far too much emphasis on the ritual and the letter of the law and not enough on repentance and the lovingkindness of God towards those who's hearts are right! John's message was repentance, and his own disciples here are still missing what that really means. Jesus adds the analogy of new cloth and new wine. The Old Covenant rules are not going to apply after it has been fulfilled. Things are going to be too different to work together. This foretells the persecution of Christians even by the Jews.
Matthew says that these next events follow immediately the explanation given to John's disciples. A ruler comes in, a man of great importance. Other gospels (both Mark and Luke) tell us this was Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. (2020-Is this correct? Same guy? Or a different event entirely? Later 2020 - Same guy. The stories in Matt, Mark, and Luke are pretty obviously all about the same event. Jairus, a ruler, the ruler of the synagogue, comes to find Jesus and ask him to heal his daughter.) Yet he kneels before Jesus. Imagine the shock of those who saw this happen! Then an unprecedented request, made with unprecedented faith. Bring my daughter back to life! Jesus goes with him, and the people follow.
2021 - Here is the verse:
18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live." [Mat 9:18 ESV] This reads as if Jairus came right into the feast at Matthew's house, and in front of all those assembled sinners and this "charlatan" Messiah, scorning the public rebuke, rumor, and gossip that would follow, and bowed before Jesus. What a lesson there is here for us! This is a good lesson.
On the way, the woman is healed of a 12 year bloody issue. Why is this story inserted here? It must be that she was healed, not by asking Jesus, but just by believing in him, and touching him. Her faith prompted action - reaching out to touch him - and that healed her. She lived her faith, acted on it, did as it required. 2021 - I still think there is something deeper that I am missing here. It is just inserted here, it doesn't seem to belong...Why is it here???
Possible Lesson.
Jesus goes on to the ruler's house and they are already mourning his dead daughter. Jesus tells him she is sleeping, and they laugh at him. These people around the rulers house were not believers, and likely didn't know Jesus by sight or reputation. (2020-This would be true if the man was an imported ruler, but not so at all if he was ruler of the synagogue...So who is this story really about? Later - It is confirmed that this is about Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. So these people around his house - paid mourners perhaps? - are doubters and have no interest or knowledge of Jesus. They certainly have no faith or hope that he can awaken the daughter. They laugh that he says she's only sleeping. Perhaps that is the point of them being there. They knew she was dead. She was not sleeping. They are here so that WE KNOW she was not sleeping, and this is a miracle, not a trick.) They did know death when they saw it. Hmm...the woman's faith prompted action, the crowd's lack of faith prompted scorn. Aggressive disbelief. The woman's faith, without action, would not have healed her. As her faith lead to action, so did the unbelief of the crowd. There was a very visible difference in the actions of the faithful and the unfaithful.
Jesus raises her from the dead, and word of this goes out far and wide.
2025 - Interesting that Jesus heals the sick and raises the dead with physical touch, and drives out demons with words - by speaking to them, commanding them.
Jesus heals two blind men. Again, Jesus tells them to keep quiet about this miracle. Again, they go and tell it anyway. Why does this theme appear over and over? Does it tie back to Jesus sermon about how what we do before men is rewarded only on earth? Jesus blessed them on earth, so they get no blessing in heaven for having bragged about their blessings openly? No, I don't think this explanation fits...
The MSB note refers back to the note on 8:4. There, if the man healed shouts it to the world, Jesus' further ministry in that place might be hindered. Which is what happened there. The crowds pressed in so hard that Jesus had to relocate until things calmed down. He wasn't there to perform miracles, but to proclaim the gospel. The miracles were the proof of his authority, not an end in themselves. Perhaps it is the same here. Matthew's transitions indicated that this whole chapter is pretty much a single day.
Next Jesus casts a demon out of man unable to speak, and the man can speak afterwards. (Why do demons do things like this? What is their purpose in keeping people from speaking, from behaving rationally, why do they make people throw themselves into fires? Are they gone now, or have they just changed their ways? These incidents with demons are almost commonplace in the gospels. And even into Acts the apostles are casting them out. But not today. Are they disguised better, using new strategies that keep their existence secret, or are they just gone? Maybe back then they were Satan trying to demonstrate his power in the world, but since Christ, he has gone underground, and does his dirty work anonymously? After Jesus does this, the Pharisees say it is done with the power of Satan. They blaspheme in that they know it is the power of God, but they are actively undermining Jesus at this point, and they are purposely deceiving anyone who will listen to them.
The harvest is plentiful, the laborers few.
This chapter (and the previous chapter) of Matthew is about miracles. It is not about being chronologically accurate. Matthew is relating the things Jesus did as proof of his God-given power. That is the point Matthew wants to make. Look at the things Jesus did while he was here. He did this and that and that and no one EVER did things like this. Driving the point home with numerous examples is Matthew's goal. Making it undeniable. Chapter 10 moves on to other topics.
2023 - Matthew is giving them an almost unlimited number of witnesses that can verify the miracles. He is saying that if you don't believe it happened, don't believe me, even though I was there, but go and talk to as many others as you want. Go chat with Jairus' own daughter if you will. She is not in hiding.