Tuesday of Pentecost 18

October 6, 2009

The lesson for today is Matthew 9:1-17.

The first thing that strikes me in verses 1-8 is that this is a kind of summary to all of the healing which Jesus has done in the previous chapter. Here a paralytic is brought to Jesus. And Jesus tells the man that his sins are forgiven. The scribes however charge Jesus with blasphemy because He is just a man and man cannot forgive sin. But Jesus wants them to confess that He is not just a man but He is also God so He not only forgives the paralytic his sins but commands him to get up and walk and he does! This whole episode wraps up all the healing stories that have already come because that is what the healings are all about. Jesus is showing Himself to be the very Son of God with authority over sin, sickness, and death.

In the next few verses (9-13) Jesus calls Matthew to be His disciple. Now Matthew was a tax collector, a vocation that was just as dishonored then as it is today. Matthew apparently invited Jesus into his house after Jesus called him because that is where we find Him, gathered with a bunch of tax collectors. The Pharisees are troubled that a teacher such as Jesus would eat with such sinners. But He tells them this is why He has come. "For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Now we know from elsewhere in Scripture that "no one is righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10). This includes the Pharisees. Jesus came to call all men to repentance and faith in Him. Sadly the Pharisees don't see this or their need for Jesus.

In the final section (14-17) Jesus is asked about fasting. His disciples do not fast like John's disciples and the Pharisees. Jesus' response is instructive, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." What is Jesus talking about? Jesus is indicating that now is not the time for sorrow and repentance and fasting. Now is the time when the kingdom of God is at hand in the person and work of Jesus, but soon Jesus will be taken away. He will be crucified, dead, and buried, and in that time Jesus' disciples will fast.