Read: Matthew 9:1-17
Throughout this section of Matthew, Chapters 8-10, we have seen Jesus going around the villages of Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and working miracles that demonstrated His power and authority.
In this next section, we will see three unique stories that add a greater dimension to Jesus’ power. First, we will look at the individual stories, then we will see how they are interconnected, followed by an even wider perspective as we see how this fits into the progressive story of this section of Matthew.
The Scribes Are Offended
As Jesus comes back to the Jewish side of Galilee, He is presented with a paralytic man who needs healing. Instead of speaking to the man’s physical need, Jesus says, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:2). This upsets the scribes who considered this blasphemy. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And that was only done in the context of temple sacrifices. These guys knew their Old Testament.
Jesus knew what they were thinking and confronted them, “For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’” (v. 5)? This is an interesting point that is all too easy to gloss over. Which is easier? I would think that it would be harder to forgive my sins than to heal a man. The scribes certainly had never healed a man.
The point that Jesus is making is a progressive revelation of this section. Jesus has already healed the sick and cast out demons. Those were to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah, “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” If you look at that and scratch at the surface, you realize that Isaiah doesn’t mean simply that Jesus came to heal the sick and take away their pain. He came to do much more. He came to take our greatest illness, our worst disease. He came to take our sins upon Himself and die for our sins.
Now, Jesus comes right out and states who He is and the sort of power that He has. He is not simply a miracle worker or a prophet like they had heard of before. Jesus is the Son of Man, the Messiah, and He has the authority to forgive sins.
Notice, also, how this paralytic man responds to Jesus. He tells him to rise up and go home. Immediately, he stands up and goes home. It doesn’t get any more obedient than that.
The crowds see this and are filled with a mixture of fear and wonder. They glorify God and marvel at the authority of Jesus, acknowledging that it must have come from God Himself.
The Pharisees Are Offended
Right after this, Jesus sees Matthew, a tax collector, sitting in his tax booth. Of all of the people Jesus has encountered so far in this section, this is the first person Jesus calls to follow HIm. Notice, again, his response. Matthew got up and followed Jesus.
Now, Matthew is the one who is recording this Gospel narrative, and he gives his own story in the shortest possible form. But take note of what this meant. Matthew was a tax collector. He was hated by the Jews. The Romans hired Jewish men to tax their own people and they gave their tax collectors full reign to collect as much as they wanted on top of their quota toward Rome. This meant that Matthew was likely corrupt. He made his livelihood by stealing from his own people and using the force of Rome to punish anyone who didn’t do what He said.
When Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, He doesn’t say to leave your tax booth behind, but that is clearly implied. Matthew had to make an immediate choice. Would he continue to live for the treasures of this world, or would he follow Jesus. To go even deeper, Matthew would never be able to return to tax collecting after he left. The other disciples, particularly Peter, James, and John, could always fall back on fishing, and they would after the death and resurrection before Jesus shows up a second time to call them back to the Kingdom mission. But Matthew would never be able to go back to collecting taxes. This was a full commitment.
Following this, Jesus goes to have dinner, likely at Matthew’s mansion. And who do you think Matthew invited to this dinner? He probably didn’t have a lot of friends outside of his tax collecting business. This infuriates the Pharisees, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 9:11)? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The Pharisees had done with the Hebrew faith what the tax collectors had done with the Roman government. They had manipulated the system so that they were on top and everyone else was subject to them. But since institutions of power hate competition, the Pharisees are angry with Jesus.
Jesus’ response is remarkable. He takes the Pharisees’ inflated view of themselves and tells them that those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. He then says one of my favorite sayings in the entire Bible, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13). Jesus does not desire people who clean themselves up and present themselves and worthy of the Kingdom. He seeks those who are aware of their sins and depend on Christ’s mercy for their salvation. To walk in a manner that is worthy of the Gospel is to understand that we are not worthy in our own righteousness, but we are bearers or God’s grace. That alone is what makes us worthy and how we ought to present ourselves as we walk in meekness.
John’s Disciples are Offended
In this third story, we see that the disciples of John the Baptist are upset that Jesus’ disciples aren’t required to fast. Jesus’ answer is rather unique. He tells that that as long as He is with them, there is no need to fast, but once Jesus is taken away, there will be a need.
This teaches a couple of things. First, fasting is important for teaching us to long for Christ over the availing treasures of this world. It is interesting that this question would be brought up in this context. Jesus is showing the scribes how difficult it is to forgive sins and heal a paralytic, and then we are confronted with the idea of fasting. This is the intention of choosing something difficult to teach ourselves a discipline for desiring God. When is the last time you fasted? When was the last time you disciplined yourself toward godliness?
But, secondly, the other side of this is the idea that the scribes, Pharisees, and the disciples of John were fasting. This was a regular part of their religious practice. However, they thought that by fasting it was giving them a greater privilege in the Kingdom of God. They thought that, by their sacrifices, they could please God when what He truly desires is mercy.
Tying It All Together
The next two phrases are probably the most confusing in this passage. Jesus says that you wouldn’t put a new patch on an old garment, making the tear worse, and you wouldn’t put new wine into old wineskins because it would burst and ruin them. Whenever a passage this vague is used, the most important thing to do is look to the surrounding context. Too many people try to find meaning in the abstract nature of these images that they end up with some fringe theories.
Jesus is tying up the last three stories into these two statements. All three of the previous groups were upset with Jesus. They didn’t like that He was going about forgiving sins, fellowshiping with tax collectors, or going too easy on His disciples. They certainly new the Scriptures and had an education about spiritual things, but they were missing the picture. In fact, the very reason Jesus is being vague here is because He doesn’t want them to understand his parables. See Matthew 13:13, “This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’”
These passages demonstrate the vulnerability that we all have in missing the point when it comes to God’s mercy and grace. We can spend years serving God and think that we are better than someone else. While we may be better than where we started, we are still debtors of grace. It is so easy to forget that. Worse yet, it is almost impossible to see it because it is obscured from us by our own self-delusion. We need Christ to open our eyes and convict us of our sin of trying to make our righteousness as important as Christ’s righteousness.
The scribes, Pharisees, and John’s disciples could not see this because they were hardened by proud thinking and they looked down their noses at everyone else. This is the most dangerous place to be in. This is worse than being demon possessed, because even the demons responded to the authority of Jesus. But these three groups saw their own authority as greater than Christs.
When Jesus speaks, does it cause you to be humbled? That is what the voice of Christ does throughout this entire section. The centurion acknowledged that he was unworthy to have Jesus come to home. The winds and the sea were powerless to oppose the Son of God. Matthew didn’t hesitate or consider any of his treasures as greater than the call of Jesus to be His disciple.
Will you hear the call? Has it become dull in your ears? It’s time to return to our knees and ask that God would speak to us again so that we can answer Christ’s call.
Adam Miller is the president and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church. This article is a condensed version of one of his sermons.