Bible Reading - Matthew 9

January 11, 2008

Daily Reading Passages

---

Click below to see the passages online. Although, I recommend that if you can you read these in your own Bible. That way you can underline, comment, and become familiar with your own Bible.

Matthew 9

Coaching Comments

Chapter 9 gives us further glimpses into Jesus' ministry among the people. Matthew starts with the famous story of the man let down through the roof. The friends trusted that Jesus could heal their friend, and they figured out a way to get their friend to Jesus. Interesting, then, that when Jesus heals the man, he does so on the basis of "their faith," not on the basis of the man's faith. This implies something interesting about our influence and impact in the lives of the people around us.

In the same incident, Jesus was challenged for forgiving the man's sin, and used the moment as an opportunity to demonstrate who He was. This passage is a very clear claim to divinity considering the context.

After this we get the calling of Matthew Levi, the tax collector. After choosing to follow Jesus, Matthew very naturally wanted to introduce Jesus to his friends. But as an outcast and social pariah (tax collectors were considered Roman collaborators and universally hated), all his friends were outcasts too. This is the very first "Matthew Party," if you've ever heard that phrase - this is where it comes from. Of course Jesus was criticized for associating with sinners like this. His response is telling, and reminds us that Jesus is never accepted by those who consider themselves self-sufficient. Only people who are wounded enough to know they can't make it on their own, or people who choose to humble themselves can see Jesus for who He really is.

Then Matthew records a strange interaction between Jesus and some of the disciples of John the Baptist. Remember that John was an ascetic, living in the desert, very likely with Essene background. So, of course he taught his disciples to practice rigorous spiritual disciplines. But Jesus did not teach his disciples to do this, at least, not at this time. When asked about it, Jesus responded that anyone in His presence would be too taken up with celebration to have time for fasting. That's a fun image and a real challenge to the view of Christianity as boring, muted, and reserved. But Jesus was bringing a whole new way of being, a whole new kind of life! He points to this with the parable of the wineskin.

Next we see a rapid succession of healings. So many people were being drawn to Jesus, and there were many to heal. So many in fact that there were not enough people to minister to all of them. But Jesus' heart was motivated first by compassion, and so He pushed himself to serve everyone He could.

Comments

---

postCount('WIKI-NTMatthew9'); | postCountTB('WIKI-NTMatthew9');