Matthew 9
COMMENTARY:
: 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think you evil in your hearts? (3708 “knowing” [horao] means pay attention to, see, take heed, perceive, or understand.)
DEVOTION: Our thoughts we think are personal. There are many thoughts we don’t want other people to know about in our life. It seems like it is the only area of our life that is secret. However, there is one who knows our every thought.
God is omniscient. HE knows everything. HE knows what is going to happen in the future. HE knows what is happening in the present. HE knew what was going to happen in the past. There is not an individual who can hide their thoughts from the LORD.
So when we think thought that are not pleasing to HIM we need to understand that HE is hearing those thoughts. The Bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
Our thoughts reveal what is really happening in our world from our perspective. Sometimes we are interpreting events wrong and so our thoughts are wrong. We need to ask the LORD to help us interpret events in our life, so that, we have the right perspective. Our perspective should be seeing things as God sees them.
The religious leaders thought their thoughts were the right thoughts about the actions of Jesus but they were wrong. They had evil thoughts about Jesus. They didn’t realize fully that HE was God in the flesh and would never do anything wrong in the sight of HIS Father.
We should not want to do anything wrong in the sight of our Father in heaven. HE is the one who should matter the most in each thought we have in our inner person.
CHALLENGE: What is happening in your thought life today? Is it pleasing to the LORD?
: 8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. (1849 “power” [exousia] means authority, power to act, capability, ability to do, might, right, liberty of doing as one pleases, the ability or strength with which one is endued, or one who possesses authority.)
DEVOTION: Right at the start of this chapter we find the LORD again healing people. The LORD instructed the man that was sick of the palsy that his faith showed that he believed the LORD was able to heal him. But we find that the LORD said something that upset the religious leaders of the day. What did HE say? The sins of the man sick with the palsy’s sins were forgiven. The LORD was teaching a lesson to the religious leaders.
The religious leaders associated sickness with sin. They thought that only those who were sinners were sick. This is a false belief. Jesus was instructing them in this matter. HE told the man that his sins were forgiven. The religious leaders exploded. They said that HE had committed blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. However, here a was a man who had the ability to heal. Remember they thought that all those who were sick were given the sickness because of sin. So if HE had the ability to heal, HE must also have the ability to forgive sin that caused the sickness. See what the LORD was teaching these religious leaders? To often today we associate sickness with sin. Some sicknesses are caused by sin but not all.
Now the LORD tells the man to take up his bed and to into his house. What happened? He took up his bed and walked into his house HEALED.
What was the reaction of the crowd? They marveled. They glorified God. They were amazed that God had given this authority to a man. They did not fully understand who this MAN was.
Throughout the rest of the chapter the LORD confronts the Pharisees and their belief system. HE accepts worship from a ruler. HE raises the dead. HE heals two blind men. HE is accused of healing through the power of the devil. In spite of all this HE continues to TEACH, PREACH and HEAL. HE sees the needs of the people. They need true shepherds, not false shepherds like the Pharisees. HE tells the disciples to pray for more TRUE shepherds to come and help the people.
Today we have many false shepherds walking the earth. They teach false beliefs. They present the fact that all those who oppose them must be working under the power of the devil.
True teachers know that all authority comes from God. They try to teach what the LORD taught. They try to confront false teachers for deceiving the people. People are gullible. They want to believe that the false teachers are teaching the truth without checking out what they are teaching with the Word of God. The common individual knows so little about what the Bible actually teaches that if it sounds good it must be true. There must be accountability to the Word of God.
We need to realize that the same LORD is available to heal our sicknesses. HE is available first to heal us from sin. HE is available through prayer to heal all diseases or possessions of the demons today. Remember it is not always HIS will to heal because some sicknesses and diseases are for HIS glory in our lives. Some sicknesses are caused by sin in our lives. We have to examine ourselves to see which may be the cause. Paul kept his thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. We may have a “thorn in the flesh” to keep us humble. Jacob had a limp when he wrestled with the angel. Are we wrestling with the LORD at times in our lives and HE gives us something to humble us? Have we had a sickness that the doctors had given up on and the LORD chose to heal us? HE is still working today. HE is still able to heal today. It is HIS choice whether we are healed. It is not our lack of faith that causes us not to be healed. We do have authority given to us on high to pray for the LORD’S will to be done in our lives and the lives of others. Let’s use our prayer life to help us understand HIS will regarding healing of sicknesses and diseases.
CHALLENGE: Check out all the teachings of Pastors and others with what the Word of God says. If in doubt ask other pastors or teachers. The Holy Spirit usually speaks with our spirit if we are willing to listen to HIM.
: 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why eat your Master with publicans and sinners? (5056 “publicans” [telones] means a renter or farmer of taxes, tax collector, toll-gatherer, or a collector of revenue.)
DEVOTION: Who did the LORD want to reach while HE was here on this earth? HIS ministry was a short ministry. HE set the example for all those who followed HIM in ministry. HE was the model that we should always follow as we serve HIM on a daily basis.
Here we find that HE had called a tax collector to be one of HIS disciples. To the other disciples this was the lowest of the low in their eyes. This was a traitor in their eyes because he collected money for the Romans. Not only did he collect taxes for the Romans but he charged fees that went into his pockets. So many tax collectors were wealthy because of these fees.
Not only did HE call Matthew but HE ate a meal at his house with other tax collectors. Can you imagine the thoughts that were going through the other tax collectors when they sat down with Jesus? They must have wondered what HE was thinking to call one of their fellow traitors.
The Pharisees knew what to think. The thought HE was unclean to eat with such people. HE was overstepping what was culturally acceptable. Good religious Jews wanted nothing to do with these sort of people.
Jesus stated that HE didn’t come to call those who thought they were righteous but those who knew they were sinners. HE knew that no one could be a true follower of HIS unless they knew they were sinners who needed HIS salvation. The Pharisees didn’t know these things. They were blind and didn’t care.
Our responsibility is to reach all those the LORD sends in our world. We are to reach both the rich and the poor. We are not to have respect of persons. Too often this happens in our churches.
CHALLENGE: What is happening in your thinking? Do you just want to reach those who can financially help the church or do you want to reach all those who Christ died for on the cross?
: 18 While he spoke these things to them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshiped him, saying, “My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay your hand on her, and she shall live.” (4352 “worshiped” [proskuneo] means knelt before, prostrate oneself before, bow low, reverence, or act of homage.)
DEVOTION: Jesus had established that he was a healer of those who were sick. This passage takes it a step further. A man come that wants his daughter healed who was dead. It is different from healing someone who is sick to someone who is dead.
When he arrived at the house they laughed at HIM because they knew the girl was dead and HE stated that she was sleeping. HE knew what was going on in her life that others didn’t understand.
HE brought her back to life. HE presented her to her father. HIS fame traveled throughout the land. HE had done the impossible in the eyes of those around HIM. HE has the power of life or death.
I have witnessed the power of prayer for those who are sick. I have witnessed the LORD working miracles in the eyes of a doctor who thought a man should be dead or a vegetable. The man had part of his frontal lobe removed. The doctors gave no hope. The people around the world prayed and he is presently still recovering from the surgery. He is walking and talking. He has a long way to go but the doctor calls him his “miracle man.”
We have power in our prayer life to see healing miracles of health and sin. God is still working in the lives of people around the world. HE wants us to tell others of the healing HE has done in our life. HE has removed the power of sin. HE has given us a new life. We have hope that the world doesn’t have. It is a hope that needs to be shared.
While Jesus was on HIS way to raise the girl from the dead, a woman touched HIM, so that, she could be healed of her sickness. She was healed.
The father came to Jesus and bowed down to HIM and asked HIS help. We need to come to Jesus and bow down and ask for help in our life.
CHALLENGE: Believe that the LORD is still in the healing business. HE heals souls on a daily basis. Share this truth with others.
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