Matthew 9
CHAPTER 9
Jesus heals and forgives a paralysed man
And he entered into a boat and crossed over and came into his own city.
2 And they brought to him a paralysed man, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralysed man: Son, be of good courage. Your sins are forgiven. 3 And certain of the scribes said within themselves: This man blasphemes. 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier to say, Your sins are forgiven, or, Arise and walk? 6 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he then said to the paralytic: Arise, take up your bed and go to your house. 7 And he arose and departed to his house. 8 But when the crowds saw it they were afraid and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Jesus mixes with social outcasts
9 And as Jesus left there he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
10 And it came to pass, as he sat eating in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples: Why does your Teacher eat with the tax collectors and sinners? 12 But when he heard it, he said: They that are sick need a doctor, not they that are healthy. 13 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. I come not to call the righteous but sinners.
14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying: Why do we and the Pharisees often fast but your disciples do not fast? 15 And Jesus said to them: Can the sons of the bride chamber mourn while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither do men 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.
Jesus raises a dead girl back to life
18 While he spoke these things to them, a ruler came and knelt before him, saying: My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay your hand upon her that she shall live. 19 And Jesus rose and followed him, as did his disciples.
20 And a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years, came behind him and touched the border of his garment. 21 For she said within herself: If I only touch his garment I shall be healed. 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her, said: Daughter, be of good courage. Your faith has healed you. And the woman was healed at that moment.
23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a tumult, 24 he said: Leave! For the little girl is not dead but sleeps. And they laughed at him in scorn. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he entered in and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. 26 And the fame thereof went into all that land.
Jesus heals two blind men and a dumb man
27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out, and saying: Have mercy on us, son of David! 28 And when he had arrived into the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them: Do you believe that I am able to do this? They say to him: Yes Lord. 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying: According to your faith be it done to you. 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus strictly ordered them, saying: See that no one knows it! 31 But they went and spread abroad his fame in all that land.
32 And as they were leaving, a dumb man who was possessed with a demon was brought to him. 33 And when the demon was cast out, the dumb man spoke and the crowds marvelled, saying: Such a thing has never been seen in Israel! 34 But the Pharisees said: By the prince of the demons he casts out demons.
Jesus preaches with compassion
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.
36 But when he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd. 37 Then said he to his disciples: The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the labourers are few. 38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.
Commentary
9:2 Jesus seeing their faith- He cured and forgave a person because of the faith of third parties. If our faith can influence the eternal destiny and wellbeing of others, then we should be making every effort for them, in prayer and practically. Either our efforts and prayers can be a factor in others’ salvation and blessing, or they are not. They are. So we should give our lives to prayer and care for others.
9:13 Not to call the righteous but sinners- All are sinners, it’s just that some think they are righteous. We will never be good enough for God, never morally ready enough for baptism- but the whole purpose of Jesus is to save us who are sinners.
9:17 The new wine represents the new covenant in the blood of Jesus; the old wine is the old covenant, Moses’ law. If we have received the new wine of Jesus, we must change- otherwise it will destroy us.
9:35 The theme of Christ’s preaching was “the gospel of the Kingdom”, the good news [‘Gospel’] of having God as our King now, and looking forward to the return of His Son to establish God’s Kingdom physically here on earth for ever.
9:37 The symbols suggest that the harvest is lost and spoilt because there aren’t enough workers to harvest it. The harvest refers to converts, spiritual fruit being given to God, the owner of all. God in some ways chooses to be limited by us. There will be some who will not be harvested for God because the church didn’t make enough effort for them, or there were simply not enough of us to reach them. “Few” in Greek can also imply weak, as well as numerically few.
