Matthew 9 - Jesus Forgives and Heals the People

The religious community at this time could not do anything like Jesus was doing. They had no authority or power as Christ did to heal the sick. The Pharisees were jelous and said that he was possessed by Satan.

 ¹And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. Back to Capernaum, His home town. (Matthew 4:13).

 ²And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. Keep in mind that no man can forgive sins. "Only God can do that." Jesus knew the faith of these people caring enough to bring their friend to Him to be healed. (The man was repentant in His heart and Jesus knew it; that is why His sins were forgiven and the man was healed). The healing of the soul must come first and is more important than the physical body.

 ³And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. Because Christ said your sins are forgiven, the scribes (teachers of the religious law), are thinking to themselves; "this man is saying He is God." Actually they were right for once, "Jesus is God."

 ⁴And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? Jesus asked them why they were thinking such evil thoughts? Only God knows your heart, Jesus is God, He knows all your thoughts. (Psalm 44:21, 139:2, Revelation 2:23).

 ⁵For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? Christ was explaining as Messiah, He had the authority on earth to forgive sins. But, He told them that talk is cheap and anyone can say your sins are forgiven. Christ knew that there was no proof for them by forgiving sins because they could not see it. "So He had to heal the man." (Seeing is believing).

 ⁶But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. Here is where Christ would say to them, since you will not believe me, I will heal this man so that you will know that the Son of man has the power to heal as well as to forgive sins. "Then they would know who He really was."

 ⁷And he arose, and departed to his house. The boy gathered up his bed and walked.

 ⁸But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. A chill of fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen before their own eyes. Then they praised God for giving such authority to a man. (Galatians 1:24). Do you think the scribes were praising God, or did this just anger them even more? Their livelihood was being threatened here, so I don't think they were to happy about what had just happened.

 ⁹And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. Matthew was a tax collector. Matthew means "Gift of God." Matthew just arose and followed Jesus. There was no altar call from man, it was a call from God. When God calls you, don't hesitate. You will know when He calls on you to serve. The important thing is, "will you get up and follow His call."

 ¹⁰And 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. Jesus and the disciples were having dinner at Matthews house (a little gathering party), where there were many tax collectors and notorious swindlers as guests. They just witnessed what Jesus had done and wanted to know more about this.

 ¹¹And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? Why does your teacher eat and associate with men like that? Remember that Christ hung with the sinners. That is the reason He was there, to bring the Word and salvation to sinners. Today Christians are so afraid to hang in the wrong crowds. So afraid to be around sinners because they have such little faith they feel they will go bad themselves. It is our job as Christians to testify and teach the sinners about the Word and true salvation. If you can't do that, what good are you to God?

 ¹²But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Jesus explained that those who are well do not need a doctor. He wanted us to know that those who are spiritually dead are those who need the help. "These are the lost and the sinners." (Psalm 41:4, 147:3, Hosea 14:4, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31).

 ¹³But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ wanted them to learn the meaning of this verse of scripture. It is not your sacrifices and gifts that God wants, it is your love (Hosea 6:6), and for you to be merciful. Jesus tells us that He has come to urge sinners back to God, not the self-righteous. (2 Peter 3:9).

 ¹⁴Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? These were disciples of John the Baptist. They wanted to know why His disciples did not fast and pray like they did, as well as the Pharisees?

 ¹⁵And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber 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. Jesus was explaining to them that God was with them and there was no need to fast. (He was the bridegroom), it was a time for celebration. He told them that the time would come when He would be taken from them, then they shall fast. God was right there with them, but they did not get it. God is with us today in spirit (the Holy Spirit), until His returns for the wedding feast. (Revelation 21:2).

 ¹⁶No 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. Who would patch an old garment with un-shrunk cloth? For the patch would pucker-up or tear away and make the whole worse. Jesus was explaining that they were so set in their old ways that they will never change. If you give them some real truth (new covenant doctrine), they just pucker-up. (Their so caught up in traditions of men).

 ¹⁷Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. Bottles in the Greek means leather bag or wineskin that they stored their wine in. If you have an old wine skin that does not stretch from the fermentation process of wine, it will burst under pressure. Only new wineskins are used for new wine. (If you want to fill your glass with with the knowledge of God, you must first empty the glass of all the junk and traditions of men). However, many people can't handle the truth of God's word.

 ¹⁸While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. "The power of the Holy Spirit was moving as He spoke." This chief ruler of the synagogue named Jairus (Luke 8:41), came and believed upon Him. In (Luke 8:42), it tells us that his little girl was 12 years old. Jairus had enough faith to come to Jesus, and believed He could raise his daughter from the dead. Wow! (This number twelve is symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel that were spiritually dead. The tribes being Benjamin, Judah, and the ten lost tribes or "house of Israel," who took many different names as a people and they migrated north over the Caucasus Mountains, settling in the lands of Europe and America. (We call them Caucasians).

 ¹⁹And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. All twelve disciples followed Him.

 ²⁰And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: Here we have the symbolic number 12 again symbolic of Israel. It states in (Luke 8:43), that no doctors could heal this woman. Just as no one can heal Israel except God.

 ²¹For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. That's faith... This woman new she could be healed by messiah if she believed in Him, and she did.

 ²²But Jesus turned him 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. Her faith is what made her whole and the woman was well from that moment on. Christ will also raise Israel from being spiritually dead in the end times.

 ²³And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, When Jesus arrived, He saw the noisy crowds and funeral music. In those days it was tradition to hire mourners to scream, cry, whale and carry on. (You have seen it in funerals today).

 ²⁴He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. Jesus tells them to get out, the girl is only asleep. "They all scoffed and sneered at Him."

 ²⁵But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. When the crowd was finally outside, Jesus went in where the little girl was and took her by the hand, and she jumped up and was alive! In (Luke 8:55), it tells us that Jesus commanded to give her meat. "The Word of God."

 ²⁶And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. The report of this wonderful miracle swept the entire countryside.

 ²⁷And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. The two blind men called Him by His title. Even though they were blind, they knew who Jesus was. "The promised messiah." (Isaiah 53). 

 ²⁸And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Yes we believe they answered Jesus. 

 ²⁹Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. According to their faith they were healed. You must believe God can heal you and believe that you will be healed. That is the faith we need to have. (Believe it and it will be done).

 ³⁰And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. Jesus gave them a divine order not to tell anyone about it and was very strict about that. (I think Jesus knows man can't keep a secret).

 ³¹But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. They could not keep it secret and spread the news of what He had done all over the town. (This was a good story and it spread quickly).

 ³²As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. The man could not talk because of a demon inside him. (Sometimes we could consider this a good spirit). There are a lot of people out there that would be better off keeping their mouth shut!

 ³³And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. Again the crowds marveled at His healing miracle.

 ³⁴But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. The Pharisees said; He cast out devils, "because He is a devil," possessed by Satan. (They though Jesus was calling on satanic powers to heal people). Fools! "Satan can't heal anyone."

 ³⁵And 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. The religious community at this time could not do anything like Jesus was doing. They had no authority or power as Christ did to heal the sick.

 ³⁶But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Like sheep with no shepherd. So many people lost and confused today because they have no true shepherd to follow. Forget about following some man, priest, or pastor. You only need one shepherd to lead and follow. "Jesus Christ!"

 ³⁷Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Jesus told His disciples that the harvest is so great, and the workers are so few. There was so much work for those people to be taught, but few laborers to do it. So it is in churches today. So much truth to be taught, but all they want to teach is traditions of men or their own doctrines. God is recruiting those who teach the truth of His Word. (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, Luke 10:2, 24:47). It is this truth that will set you free from traditions and doctrines of men. Teach Gods truth! (Psalm 68:11, 1 Corinthians 3:9).

 ³⁸Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Pray, bind, and make known. Pray to the Heavenly Father to recruit more workers for His harvest. Harvest day is close and we need those who are not afraid to teach the truth of His Word no matter what the consequences. (Ephesians 4:11, Jeremiah 3:15, Acts 8:4, 1 Corinthians 12:28). There are a lot of good churches and teachers bringing forth the truth of God's Word, look for the good in them, even if they may not have all the truth (no one does), they are still believers and children of the many member body of Christ. Great are those who publish and bring forth His Word. (Psalm 68:11).

Keep the faith,
Barton