Matthew 9:1-13 Sin, Our Fundamental Problem

And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." (Mat 9:2 ESV)

In Matthew 9:1-13 there are two stories that center around humanity's greatest problem--sin. When Jesus healed the paralytic, his first concern was to forgive sins. The friends, no doubt, brought the man for physical healing, but Jesus saw through to the deeper need. Yet when he stated that the paralytic's sins were forgiven, the scribes were offended--knowing that what Jesus had done was to attribute to himself a quality that belonged only to God. Jesus condescended, so that the people would know that He really did have the authority to forgive sins, he healed the man as well.

Next, Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, and then went to eat at his house which was filled with other tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees were offended again because of this. Yet Jesus responded that this was at the heart of his mission. Jesus came to call sinners, not the righteous. If we do not come to Jesus like the paralytic--helpless and needy--then we cannot come to Jesus at all. We are all sinners in need of forgiveness, and may we never forget that to deny this is to deny that we need a savior.

Listen here to the sermon preached on this text on Sunday, March 6, 2016:

Matthew 8:1-17 Jesus' Healing Ministry and the Kingdom of Christ

"Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly." 

And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." 

(Matthew 8:6-7 ESV)

Matthew 8:1-17 tells us of three healing miracles that Jesus performed after coming down from preaching the Sermon on the Mount. First Jesus heals a leper. This man had been ostracized. He was ceremonial unclean, and had probably not been touched for a long time. Yet he came to Jesus, and in faith, he stated that he knew Jesus was able to heal him. His only question is whether Jesus was willing to heal him. Jesus answered the leper by affirming his willingness and a command. Just as he spoke "let there be light," Jesus spoke, and a leper was made clean.

Next a centurion came to Jesus about his parallelized servant. The centurion must have cared a lot about this servant. He didn't simply cast him aside and get a new servant, but he came and asked Jesus for healing. This centurion was a Roman soldier, and he understood something insightful about Jesus' authority. He said, "I am a man under authority, and I say to one "Go" and he goes." What does this mean? The centurion was under the authority of Caesar, and this authority was invested in him. So when the centurion commanded someone to do something, he was doing so with the same authority as Caesar. Likewise, the centurion recognized that when Jesus spoke, he spoke with the authority of God. Jesus commended the centurion for his faith, and healed the servant from a distance.

Finally, Jesus went to the home of Peter to rest, and in the home he found that Peter's mother-in-law was suffering from a fever. Jesus touched her, and immediately she was healed as well, and she didn't have to have time to recover--she immediately got up and served.

These three healing miracles were followed by a summary of more healings, and then Matthew states that all of this took place to fulfill what Isaiah said in Isaiah 53:4. "He took our illnesses and bore our diseases." What does this mean? When Jesus came the first time, his healing ministry announced the inbreaking of the kingdom of God. In the cross, Jesus was doing more than just providing forgiveness, but he took on all our pain and our sorrows. He took on our diseases and experienced pain and death so that we could be healed. In his second coming, there will no longer be any sickness or pain because he has taken it all.

Matthew 4:12-25 Jesus' Message, Method, and Ministry

 "While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.'" (Mat 4:18-19 ESV)

Following Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, he began preaching a message of repentance, calling disciples, and healing the sick. While each of these aspects of Jesus ministry have differences as they are carried out in the life of the church today, they are all essential to biblical faithfulness.

His Message: Preaching Repentance
Matthew 4:12-17 tells of the beginning of Jesus' ministry. It begins with the "decrease" that John the Baptist had predicted about himself. John was put in prison, and Jesus returned to his home in Galilee. However, he left Nazareth, the town where he had grown up and went to Capernaum. Matthew tells us that this was to fulfill a prophesy of Isaiah that a light would dawn on the Gentiles. The area where Jesus went was a region populated by Gentiles. The context of this prophecy is that of Isaiah 9 and the promise of a king who would sit on David's throne forever. Matthew had already been pointing to Jesus' kingship by the genealogy that he started his Gospel with, and now this prophetic fulfillment links Jesus again to this kingly role.

Finally, in verse 17, Matthew tells us that Jesus began to preach the same message that John the Baptist had preached--"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." A definition of "repent" must be given. John had preached this message, and his baptism was characterized by repentance. People came to him confessing their sins, and John told them to bear fruit which accords with repentance. It is only natural that Jesus' meaning was the same as that of John the Baptist. Repentance meant to turn away from sins, to confess them openly, and to declare publicly a renunciation of those things, and then to live a life that is consistent with that public testimony.

Today we are often soft about the message of repentance. We want to explain the gospel in winsome ways, and we want to make it palatable for people so that they will accept it. We tell children that Jesus can be their "forever friend." We tell adults to come and "make a decision." We emphasize belief in Christ, and salvation by faith, and somehow we are fearful of speaking about repentance because it sounds like it must be some sort of work. In actuality, repentance is the fruit of true faith. Repentance is a gift of God. If we truly believe on Christ, we will naturally repent. What does that look like? We will have a change of mind and heart about who Jesus is and his authority over us. We will bow to his lordship, and we will be marked with genuine sorrow for our sins. These are all things that happen in the heart that cannot be manufactured or manipulated. True repentance only comes when God grants it.

His Method: Calling Disciples
In verses 18-22, Jesus calls his disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. These men are called in pairs. First, Jesus was walking by the sea of Galilee and saw the brothers, Simon and Andrew, fishing. What happens is striking. Jesus simply says, "Follow me." There is no discussion or questions. There is no arguments for why. Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him. They obeyed without question. Then, Jesus saw two more brothers--James and John. They were in the process of fixing their nets, and their father was with them. They were a small family business. In this text, we aren't given Jesus words to James and John; it simply says "he called them," and they responded just as Simon and Andrew. Immediately, they obeyed; they left their nets, they left their father, and they followed Jesus.

Now certainly, we don't have the same kind of authority that Jesus had. Jesus is the Lord of Creation. He has all authority in Heaven and Earth. He commands the wind and the waves, and he is the LORD who turns the heart of kings whichever way he wishes. However, there is an analogy between Jesus' method of calling his disciples and the way we preach the gospel.

When we preach the gospel, we preach a command. Jesus commands that all men everywhere must repent and believe the gospel. We can be tempted to have a different posture when we proclaim the good news. It could be tempting to mound up persuasive arguments about why following Jesus will give people a happier, more fulfilling life. However, that isn't the posture we see here. When we preach the gospel, we must remember that we are proclaiming the objective news of the life, death, burial, and resurrection, and we are telling people what they must do because of that reality. We are pleading with men to be reconciled to God, but in doing so, we must not forget that repentance and faith is the duty of all. It isn't just something that you can add to your life to be more fulfilled. True conversion to Christ isn't just adding Jesus to "your life"; it's renouncing your former life to follow him.

His Ministry: Compassion on the Multitudes
The next section, verses 23-25, is a summary statement that describes Jesus' ministry. Jesus was an itinerant preacher. He preached the "good news" of the kingdom, and he healed every disease. As he went around preaching, he would heal as he went, but then word got out. He became famous. So then people started bringing him all those who had diseases. He even healed those who were demon possessed, those who had seizures, and those who were paralyzed. He healed all manner of diseases, and crowds followed him everywhere he went.

People have various opinions about the continuation of miraculous gifts. I would put myself in the cessationist camp. I believe that the gifts of healing were given specifically for the time of the apostles to mark a unique period in salvation history. However, I think there is an example of ministry that believers today should follow today. I don't mean a healing ministry, but a ministry of compassion. These verses are very similar to what Matthew writes in 9:35-38. There Matthew records, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." A ministry that follows Jesus' pattern will be a ministry of compassion. We may not be able to say to people, "arise, take up your bed, and walk," but we can model compassion in action.

Believers can show compassion today in serving the poor, in caring for the sick, and helping counsel addicts as well as many other ways. Those things aren't meant to replace Gospel preaching. This passage tells us that Jesus did both. He preached and he healed. The compassionate ministry of mercy that we, believers, engage in will be the authenticating mark of having a heart like Jesus. We can be doctrinally sound and have cold hearts and tight fists. Jesus calls us to combine the message of good news with a ministry of compassion.

Results
What results should we expect from a ministry following this patter. What should we expect when we preach the message of repentance, when we call people to bow and submit themselves to a King, and when we minister in the compassion of Christ? He will receive the glory. It isn't about us. It isn't about accumulating crowds for us. It's about bringing fame to Jesus, not about making ourselves a name. 

"So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them." (Mat 4:24 ESV)