Life Project Blog

Matthew 10:1-15

In the prior section, Jesus told His disciples to pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send workers; now He informs His disciples that they are the workers the Lord of the Harvest has sent. The text doesn’t really say how the disciples felt about this, but if you have ever prayed that God would send someone to meet a need, and then realized that He sent you, you will have an idea.

In verses 5-15, Jesus gives them a series of imperatives, 16 in all, which serve as a set of “ground rules” for their adventure. First, He tells them to go to the lost sheep of Israel, and not to either Gentiles of Samaritans. Next, He tells them they are to proclaim the Kingdom as He has been doing, and with their authority to heal and so forth, they are to perform miracles as Jesus has done, accepting no payment. They are not to take any cash or supplies with them; they will find people along their way to take them in. They should give a welcoming house their greeting, and if deserving, their peace and if no one will welcome them and listen to their message, they are to leave that town to its fate.

It always strikes me that this set of instructions is a paradox: On one hand the disciples have been given unprecedented authority. They bear with them the proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the ability to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, drive our demons; the whole package that Jesus has used, and essentially, they are taking His place on this road trip. Yet they are completely vulnerable having no money and no provisions. They may not accept payment for healings done miraculously, and they must depend on strangers for the necessities of life; who travels like that?

We need to grasp this picture: They have with them all of the authority of Jesus, and at the same time, they must depend entirely upon God for their sustenance.

In this way, they are just like us, for we have His authority to proclaim the Kingdom and bring healing to those who will listen, and to the extent that we will place our full faith and trust in God, we will build His Kingdom. As was the case with the disciples, the only thing that remains to be seen is our level of trust in God.

Matthew 9:27-34

In this passage, Jesus encounters a blind man and a man who was demon possessed. I need not tell you that He handled the situation in both cases, restoring sight to the one, and driving out the impure spirit from the other. By this time, we have seen these kinds of things before, and yet the people of that day were not reading about His miracles in a book, they were seeing them for the first time, and Jesus was getting their attention.

If you read the verses you will see that the blind man called Jesus “Son of David” in recognition of His Messianic position. I point this out to you because it would be entirely too easy to read the story of the life of Christ, and when the people reject Him, to simply conclude that nobody recognized who He was. Yet in Matthew chapter nine, verse 27, a blind man recognized Him.

People with sight had no excuse.

Jesus healed the blind man “according to your faith”. We might read this and just conclude that the man believed, but we should notice that there is more than just believing, for this man acted upon his belief, and placed himself in Jesus’ hands, with the result that his sight, already significantly more keen than most, was restored. Today, many “believe” but few are willing to put themselves in His hands, and their sight is not restored.

After this, Jesus came upon a man who was demon possessed and mute. Jesus drove out the demon and the man’s speech was restored; the witnesses were amazed. Naturally, both men told the world what had taken place, even though the once blind man had been told to keep his mouth shut, and the news of the Kingdom spread like wildfire throughout the land. Sadly, however, the story ends on a sour note, for when they heard the news, some Pharisees, always the Pharisees, weren’t pleased at what Jesus was doing, saying that He was able to drive out demons by the power of the “prince of demons”.

So begins the plots to kill Jesus that would ultimately backfire on the “prince of demons” and his little friends.

I can’t help thinking about people I know today, people who are excited about spreading the news of the Kingdom in our time, and people who see healing all around them. Yet as I reflect on such people, I also can’t help thinking about the modern day Pharisees that I know. To be honest, I know many more of these “Pharisees” than the others, and I never cease to be amazed at the creative ways in which they criticize those who are enthusiastic about the Kingdom in our time, for it would seem that tradition and kingdom don’t really mix all that well, even now.

Matthew 9:18-26

In this story, Jesus is interrupted in His conversation with John’s disciples about fasting when a synagogue leader comes and kneels before Him to ask that He bring the man’s dead daughter back to life; an unusual request to be sure. Jesus heads for the man’s house, His disciples in tow, when a woman who had suffered from chronic bleeding for many years touched His cloak. She believed that if she could just touch His cloak that she would be healed of her affliction. When she managed to do so, Jesus stopped, telling her that her faith has healed her, and Matthew reports that at that moment, she was healed. Off again Jesus goes… just another day of bringing the Kingdom to earth.

When Jesus reached the man’s house, many people had gathered inside; Jesus told them to go, for the child was merely asleep. They actually laughed at Him, for they knew she was dead. The man managed to get the crowd out of his house and Jesus went to the girl and took her hand; she awakened and rose from her bed, very much alive. Matthew ends the scene by telling us that news of this spread through the region; somehow I suspect this might be a slight understatement.

In this section of Matthew’s Gospel, we see Jesus doing things. Remember that in chapters 5-7, we read His teaching as He proclaimed the Kingdom, teaching about the new way of life that followers of God would lead. In chapters 8-9 we are watching Jesus do the work of the Kingdom, and thus far, we have seen Him do some amazing things, but here for the first time, we see the ultimate victory of the Kingdom of Heaven over death itself, and this dear reader, is our great hope as followers of Jesus Christ and citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. What a glorious thing it is to be His follower!

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, 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 people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Matthew 9:14-17

It is a matter of some conjecture when this scene takes place; could it have been at Matthew’s dinner, or maybe right after? Could this question have come as a result of John’s disciples hearing about Matthew’s bash? I don’t know, the text doesn’t say and the context is not quite clear, so I’ll leave the debate to others. In any case, they pose a question to Jesus that reveals their lack of comprehension regarding Jesus and His relationship with the Kingdom that John was preparing the way for.

In His answer, Jesus uses an apocalyptic reference from the prophets, namely in likening Himself to the bridegroom, an illusion to the prophetic concept of the Messianic Banquet that we have already discussed multiple times in our study of both Revelation and Matthew.

Jesus’ point appears to be that the Kingdom is here; after all, that’s what He has been proclaiming all over the countryside for some time now. With the coming of the Kingdom, it is no time for mourning and fasting. This is an interesting point when you consider it in the context of the fasting of the Pharisees, which we covered in Matthew 6; their fasting was prescribed by the Law twice per week, and they added frequent fasts on top of that to show their piety… and then of course there is fasting during certain festivals. These Old Testament practices were done in the hope of the Messiah’s coming, and in mourning for the sinfulness of the people. Now, the Messiah is present, and all of the previous unctions are over with; fasting at that time would have been inappropriate. Jesus illustrates this with two metaphors, the patch of an old garment and the use of old wineskins for new wine. Jesus is the new cloth and the new wine in the illustrations, and the Old Testament ways are the old cloth and the old wineskin, with “old” being the operative term.

Yes, the time for fasting and mourning will come when Jesus dies on the cross, but as we know, the grave will not hold Him, and He will return after the resurrection. Then He will be taken into heaven; another time of fasting, and then He will return again in the Person of the Holy Spirit who is with us to this day. Do we live in a time of fasting? (This is our controversy today). Opinions differ on this, but to my mind, the Bridegroom is here with us even now in the indwelling Holy Spirit.

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 learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 9:9-13

In this account, Matthew speaks of himself in the third person as he tells us how he came to be on Jesus’ team of disciples. Like you, I have heard the sermons on this passage many times; I have also heard the “Sunday school” version many (many) times, and in all of those renditions, I have seldom heard anyone come right out and say what Jesus was really teaching in this. Let’s see if we can fix that right now…

First, we know that tax collectors then as now, were not popular with the population, in fact in those days, they were considered one notch above a gentile in Jewish society, which would be several notches lower than dirt. Of course they partied with “sinners” and that was because nobody else would give them the time of day. So, Jesus walks up to Matthew’s tax booth, the scene of his crimes, we might say, and calls him to be His disciple… and surprisingly, Matthew follows Jesus, even inviting him to dinner. In an even more scandalous reply, Jesus accepts and goes to dinner at Matthew’s place and eats with tax collectors and sinners.

When the Pharisees heard about this, they were distressed because such a teacher as Jesus would be seen in such unsuitable company.

Sidebar: Before we continue, why don’t I re-write that last sentence: “When the church leaders heard about this, they were distressed because such a teacher as Jesus would be seen in such unsuitable company.” How often we see this scenario play out, with the assumption that the disciple of Jesus is up to no good, hanging out with the “wrong crowd”, “Why you’d never catch me eating with such people!” My question to something along these lines would have to be: “Then how can you share Christ with them?” OK, now back to the story…

Take a look at Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees; He didn’t come to preach righteousness to the ones who already were righteous, He came to save the “unsuitable”, the “ungodly” and the sinner; they are the ones who really need time in His company. Oh, and by the way, He came to die for them. Jesus came to bring righteousness to the unrighteous; this is a very important point, and where the lesson usually ends.

There is one more thing that we need to see in this picture; it’s the thing that many very righteous Christians don’t particularly want to hear… are you ready?

A person should not wait to clean up his or her act before they follow Jesus. If you are not a follower of Jesus yet, you do not need to clean up your act and get it all together before you follow Him. Look at the text! There was old Matthew the tax collector, right there in his booth, conducting his crooked and dirty business, and Jesus walks up right in the middle of it and says, “Follow me.” Did Jesus lecture him or tell him to change his evil ways first?

No, that comes later as the person grows in their relationship with the very same Jesus who called Matthew and went to his house and ate dinner with the wicked. Am I saying that Jesus didn’t care about their sin? Of course not; may it never be! Forgiveness comes first, repentance and growth and Christ-likeness is a process, and that is why followers of Jesus need to be in a loving community of faith, where they can be taught, nurtured and loved while they grow as a follower of Jesus in just the same way as the first twelve disciples did; that, dear reader is what Jesus is trying to show us in this passage, about life in the Kingdom.

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins 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 is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then 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 man.

Matthew 9:1-8

Jesus returns to His home town and has the opportunity to demonstrate the fact that He has unique authority from God, and He demonstrates this in a unique way. Some men brought a paralyzed man to Jesus on a mat, undoubtedly hoping that Jesus would heal their friend. Jesus did so, showing us another aspect of the Kingdom; where the Kingdom goes, there is forgiveness of sins, and Jesus, seeing the faith of all involved went to the paralyzed man and forgave his sins.

If we take the long view, the forgiving of a person’s sins is a much greater form of healing than enabling the person to walk again, for the forgiveness of sins brings a healing to our relationship with God and with it, eternal life.

There were some teachers of the law on hand, and being good lawyers, they thought to themselves, “Why this is blasphemy,” since only God can forgive sins, and if Jesus were just some guy, they would be right. But Jesus was not just some guy; He was God in the flesh. Knowing their thoughts, He went to them and asked them a remarkable series of questions:

“Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 

When you think about it, anyone who didn’t care about the Law could tell the man his sins had been forgiven, lie though it might be, and pretend to have done something great… if the person was just putting on a show, but Jesus, in an effort to prove His authority volunteers for the next and impossible to fake step; He tells the man to get up, take his mat and go home… and that is what the paralyzed man did, for he had been made whole again in body as well as in spirit.

Once again, we see what comes with the Kingdom; the broken being returned to wholeness.

The crowd was filled with awe and praised God; but did the teachers of the law join in?

I pose this as a rhetorical question because there is no way for us to be certain one way or the other for the text doesn’t say… but I sure would like to know!

When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Matthew 8:28-34

When Jesus and the disciples finally reach the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, they have an interesting encounter with two men possessed by demons. It seems that they were so violent that people kept clear of them. When the demons saw Jesus, they knew exactly who He was, calling out to Him and naming Him as “Son of God.” It seems that they knew enough about Jesus to know that not only was He the Son of God, but that He was also their Judge, and asked if He was there to “torture” them before the “appointed time” of His final judgment. Still talking, they asked Him to send them into a nearby herd of pigs, and Jesus was only too quick to grant their wish. When the demons entered the herd of pigs, the pigs stampeded into the lake and were drowned.

Did you notice that these powerful demons were helpless before Jesus? Entirely at his mercy, they asked to be sent into a herd of pigs… of all things, and Jesus made it so with one little word: Go! Rather than tremble and cower in the presence of Jesus, they destroyed themselves, using the pigs to dash into the lake, the very lake that Jesus had so recently calmed, now the watery grave for the unclean spirits and their unclean host bodies of the pigs.

When you think about that picture, the optics are truly amazing to behold.

The men who were the keepers of the pigs ran to town and told everyone what had happened, and the entire town came running out to Jesus… to beg Him to leave the region!

Were they upset with the loss of their food source, or were they just afraid of His power?

I doubt they had many Jewish visitors, since the area would have been unsuitable because of the pigs, but one thing is for certain; the demons knew exactly who they were dealing with, and they were sore afraid, while the villagers actually had the audacity to ask Him to leave, so blind are we humans in the presence of spiritual authority.

Whatever they were thinking, Jesus quickly moved on His way…