Matthew Chapter 9 Verses 1 – 2

• This is the man that was lowered through the roof of a house because the gathering was so thick that they didn’t know how else to get to Him (Mark 2; Luke 5). And this must have been some scene! Jesus teaching the Word and like a spider in a web, here drops a man from the roof! According to early church tradition, his name was Peter…Peter Parker…The original Spider-Man! HA! Just kidding…but watch this…, “Jesus saw!” I love those words!
• Remember this. Jesus always sees and knows more than we do. That is an important fact to remember. Here He looks up and He doesn’t simply see that they believe that He can heal their friend. He sees their history with their friend. He sees where they’ve come from. He sees how long they’ve suffered. He sees their risk and the cost they are willing to pay. Here they are ripping apart a roof that is not theirs. They are interrupting a Bible study, in someone’s house, that has a multitude in attendance!
• He looks up and sees their faith (the faith of the friends predominantly) and knows of them eternally more than anyone else in this scene. I would have tackled them…I mean thats the default in the church today…HA! Ever seen a video of someone interrupting a church service…they get Terry Tate! HA! But Jesus sees more than me…He knows more than me…He knows the WHOLE STORY and so to be fair and really, to be wise, in all situations, we ought to look to Jesus for direction…

• Jesus looks at them, sees them, sees everything…and says something only spoken by Jesus in the Bible. A word only He used, and 8 times He used it, “tharseo.” “Be of good comfort, be of good courage, and be of good cheer…, your sins are forgiven you.” And the man remained in the bed. Wow, why? Is Jesus not going to heal him? No He will…but I believe that Jesus was sending a message to him, to them and to us that our primary need is not to be well on earth but to be well in eternity! To be forgiven of our sins…

• And one more thing you have to know…this word for forgiven does not simply mean dismissed or excused or absolved…it’s much much stronger than that. And this is comforting because sin has a way of decaying us mentally and weighing us down spiritually but I want you to know what Jesus does completely…this word literally means that sin has been “sent away, never to be found again…” And I absolutely love that because the enemy will whisper in your ear that you’re a horrible person…and the depression of life is that he’s right but if you are in Christ, you whisper back…God has forgiven me!

Matthew Chapter 8 Verses 3 – 4

• See that? Jesus knows their thoughts…AND…addresses their hearts! That’s power man…I just want to leave it all (whatever it all is) up to Him because I can’t do either of those things…and so how do I do that? Place it all, in His hands? Be led by the Holy Spirit, and then…through the fellowship with God, I can do both! And I’m not talking about just in the moment, I mean being trained, being prepared, being transformed, you change man…you become eternity walking and then situations, you have the Spirit of God to govern the moment wisely…(easy trick – righteousness/flesh question – As you grow in relationship with God, honestly ask yourself in a situation…, “I am feeling this, doing this, planning this because of _______ (righteousness or flesh).”

Matthew Chapter 8 Verses 5 – 8

• It’s amazing because now we see the man get up from his bed. And this reveals a few things to us. First, after Jesus forgave the sins of this man (probably seeing his saving faith and calling it not how it is but how it will be – which God does often) this man remained a paralytic. Proof positive that we cannot rightly link sickness or disease or physical infirmity to sin. Second, priority is revealed that forgiveness of sin is more important than bodily healing!
• Third, Jesus calls him, “Son.” When? Before He pronounces forgiveness of sin…this breaks my heart, man! Because this shows me that if it’s up to God, we’d all be with Him…He desires that no man should perish…and every man or woman that slips into eternity without Him…every one of them…is like a child lost…and then fourth and finally, this scene reveals that the response to faith is not more money more clothes more bling more health necessarily but the response to real faith is forgiveness of sin…closeness with Jesus and man that’s enough…
• Oh and finally, Jesus having the heart and power to forgive sin and heal men puts on display God’s love…it glorifies God! And I just love that! Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5)…and glorify God!

Matthew Chapter 9 Verse 9

• Who was the most controversial character in Jesus’ crew? Our mind immediately goes to Judas doesn’t it? But not so. It was Matthew. Also known as Levi. He was worse than Rome to the Jews. He was a Jew that had sided with the enemy of Israel and was collecting tribute from his own people…tribute to their most hated oppressor, Caesar!! And what’s more, he had to make a living. Tax collectors were not paid by the Roman Empire. They were expected to fend for themselves by overcharging…
• So the tax per person for that period of time could have been five denarius, he would charge six…so that he would make a living. And he did so with the authority and muscle of Rome.
• And so the tax collectors were a hated bunch. They were the reason why some kids went without shoes. They were the reason way necessary roof leaks went unattended. They were the reason why some folks couldn’t afford to purchase unblemished lambs to take to the High Priest at Passover to offer for the sins of their families as was the Levitical commandment, (interesting, Matthew was also called Levi), …and so in the eyes of many, Matthew would have been utterly despised even by his own family…one of their own, siding with the enemy…
• Now, how would you feel if you were hated like that? What a horrible existence. Getting out of bed everyday…terrible. Couldn’t go home at Hanukah…packing heat everywhere you go…got a blade installed in your sandal for protection…family didn’t want you around…couldn’t go to the temple ever…people would shun you…couldn’t go to the market and spend the money you made…no one would sell to you…never getting invited to any bar mitzvahs…I believe deep down Matthew hated Matthew…I can relate to that…
• We’re not told how Matthew got into this line of work but I bet he just slipped into it…he didn’t grow up wanting to become this…it just somehow happened…and here he sat, but then Jesus comes by…and He says something wonderful…, “Reset, man…”
• Jesus uses a wondrous word here in the Greek for “follow.” He see’s Matthew…Jesus sees right into Matthew’s malfunctioning heart…his pain and his regret…his trap that he has set for himself that he’s suffering in…and He says “akoloutheo Me.”
• This word, used 92 times in the Bible…in 91 places is translated, “follow.” But in one place in the Bible…its alternate translation is used…, “reach.”
• Matthew had been praying for years no doubt. Desperate, decaying, hated and hating who he had become and Jesus says, “Son, reach for me…” Man I love that. That implies risk. That implies courage. That implies responsibility and release…, “just reach for Me.” And something strikes a chord in Matthew’s heart…he’s been looking forever it seems for the right key that will open the door to his freedom from the life that he is so weary of…and so Mark tells us he rose…he reconstructed in the Greek, he accepted the full implication of reset…and he reached for Jesus…and Jesus reached Him…
• What do I mean by he accepted the full implication of reset? Luke tells us in Luke 5:28, that Matthew rose up, and left all, and followed Jesus…Jesus became BAE! HA! Before Anything Else (I like BAA better > Before Anything and Anyone, HA)…everything everything…EVERYTHING became a distant second to Jesus the Son of God…and in that Matthew found what he had been looking for his whole life…

Matthew Chapter 9 Verses 10 – 13

• And that’s just the thing…those that consider themselves righteous…filled with right already…cannot reach Jesus. You keep Him at arm’s length…but those that know they’re sin…those that see their need…Jesus places a call upon your life…even today. A call to forgiveness of sin, a call to repentance > freedom from sin…a call for you to reach God Himself, to follow Him and to join Him in the resurrection unto eternal life…