Matthew 9:10-26
Having offended the scribes by His proclamation of forgiveness to a lame man (9:2) and making their charge of blasphemy mere prejudicial hot air by His command of healing, Jesus now intensified his offense to the self-righteous. He gave a personal call to a tax collector.
I. Jesus called Matthew (9:9) while he was at his post, pursuing the task assigned him by the ruling authorities.
A. The writer of this gospel remembers the details of that moment.
Jesus, fresh from this confrontation with the perplexed but rigidly resistant works-righteousness religionists, issued a command to him, “Follow me.” Like that of the paralytic, the response was immediate. Matthew had no merit, either before God or before men. Before men he was a scandalous traitor; before God, he was a son of fallen Adam.
B. Jesus has shown His infinite mercy, His authority over moral evil, His power over natural evil, and His sovereignty in making distinctions between men.
He forgave and healed a lame man, whose sin, in the theology of the scribes, was demonstrated by his lameness. He called to Himself another outcast, a tax collector, thus lowering Himself among the persons of influence in the Jewish community. “Jesus, what a friend of sinners.”
II. Jesus engaged in a meal that is a microcosm of the incarnation.
His disciples, tax collectors, and “sinners” were at the meal together.
A. The word spread, or an invitation from Matthew went out, and people of the same religious caliber flocked to experience the interaction that this sin-forgiving miracle-worker would have in this impromptu dinner invitation.
They came with no resistance and no excuses. Undoubtedly, they were drawn to Jesus’ compelling personal engagedness and winsomeness. Also, they heard Him speak and were fascinated by His teaching. Many of these probably were present in the large crowds that regularly resorted to Him (4:24, 25; 8:16). They could have been in the crowd that was on the outskirts of the sermon on the mount (5:1). Some might have heard His call to discipleship refused (8:19–22) by temporary followers. Another fascination for this occasion was Jesus’ unhesitating willingness to confront the false theological deductions of the Jewish religious authorities (6:2–6) and His response to a Roman centurion (8:5–13). The opportunity to be with Jesus was quickly received.
B. The Pharisees leering about observed it and, right in character, questioned its propriety.
When they saw the character of the crowd, they confronted His disciples with a rhetorical question, “Why is your Teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners?” Their assumption driving the question is, “If He were both learned and truly pious, He would avoid such company.”
C. Jesus had lived under the frown of the supposed morally superior since before His birth.
He was born under a cloud of rumor and suspicion. His necessary consort with sinners is bound up in His name and His mission. His name indicates the character of those whom He came to serve – Jesus, “for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Those who receive Jesus are those who come to know that He came specifically to deal with sin: “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). Only by His perfect innocence could He justify the sinners He came to save.
D. Yes, He kept company with sinners for there was no one else with whom He could keep company.
Feigning righteousness keeps one from the righteousness of Christ (Philippians 3). The apostle learned this, though in Pharisaical concepts, “according to the righteousness of the law, blameless” (6), Jesus brought him to an entirely different understanding. “I counted all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus … not having a righteousness of my own … but the righteousness that comes from God that depends on faith” (8, 9).
III. Why did Jesus come? (12, 13) The sick need a physician and sinners need a Savior.
The paralyzed need the operation of sovereign, omnipotent healing power; the unrighteous need one who has both the merit and the authority to forgive. We stand in need of mercy. When Jesus said, “I desire mercy [compassion] and not [or more than] sacrifice,” He quoted Hosea 6:6 in the context of cruel and immoral priests who kept the sacrificial code but abused the people. A true grasp of the sacrifice would lead one to see it as an expression of infinite mercy. In the sacrifice a foretaste of forgiveness of sin for the unrighteous should be seen. “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (13)—“not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). In this fallen world among fallen men, He had none with whom to walk, talk, eat, heal, teach, and save but sinners. He said that He had come “To serve and give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). “This is the will of Him who sent me that of all that he has given me I should lose none but raise them up on the last day” John 6:39). John testifies, “God … sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
IV. In verse 14–17, Jesus fielded a question and a concern from the disciples of John The Baptist (14), completed his statement about the ceremonial law being fulfilled and rendered outmoded by His presence and completed work.
Old cloth cannot be made useful by a new patch, and old wine skins cannot survive being filled with new wine. The old is now past; the new has come. His followers will rejoice in His presence now although the world will seek to kill their joy in the future (15b) but will be unable to (cf. Matthew 10:16–20).
V. Having shown His compassion toward outcasts and answered a question from disciples of John the Baptist, Jesus hears the desperate and fervent request of a synagogue ruler.
This person would be in the mainstream of Jewish doctrine and devotion. Jesus truly came to sinners of all levels of human society seeing them all as in equal need. We learn vital facts about this person besides his status as an official in the synagogue.
A. He took a posture of reverence (18), submission, and worship.
Given this posture plus his request, this indicates that he had inferred from the works and teaching of Jesus that He was the true Messiah,
B. His request shows that he had concluded that Jesus’ power will overcome death.
“My daughter has just died,” indicates the official came hastily manifesting that his view of Jesus already had been formed. Hearing that He was nearby, the bereaved father went immediately upon the death of the child.
C. Jesus is the giver of life.
He had healed a centurion’s servant with a word from afar (8:13), but now goes to lay his hand on the dead girl. Jesus used a variety of interactions with those in need to show that His power was not in a method but in Himself. He follows on this occasion the request of the father as He had done in the case of the centurion.
D. On His way, a sick woman manifested the same faith as the synagogue official and was healed of a twelve-year bout with a hemorrhage by touching Jesus’ cloak (9:20–22).
“Your faith,” Jesus said, “has made you well” (22). That statement means that the woman had previously concluded that Jesus was the long-expected Messiah and His works of mercy would reach even to her..
E. Even in this mission of mercy to raise to life a dead girl, Jesus endured the ridicule of the professional mourners.
He put them all outside the room. As requested, He touched her on the hand and life was restored. The relationship between death and the sleep of the body awaits further theological discussion (eg. 1 Corinthians 15:35–58; 1 Corinthians 4:13–18).
POEM
Jesus walked on fallen soil and spoke with fallen men.
He ate with sinners taught them truth, redemption was His end.
The sick need a physician;
We sinners need salvation.
Jesus came, not for the righteous; those who claim it are deceived.
They will never find repentance; none such ever has believed.
Sacrifice and mercy meet
In Jesus’ hands and side and feet.
Fill the water-pots with wine! New life, true joy He came to give,
Fulfilled the old, brought in the new, fulfilled the law that we might live.
The Bridegroom claims His bride.
He keeps her in His side.
Disturbed in soul by sin’s great toll, our Lord sought its demise.
A girl is dead, her father pled that Jesus make her rise.
He went in haste, His pow’r was such
Death loosed its grip by Jesus’ touch.
Jesus shows abundant mercy
To the people of the fall.
Seeks and leads these hearts unholy;
Jesus shed His love on all.
