““‘So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city,’ Capernaum, directly across the lake…“Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.’ And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, ‘This Man blasphemes!’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins— then He said to the paralytic, ‘Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.’ And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men." (2-8) Forgiveness of sins is a deed of God that cannot be verified by observation. Jesus said that these mighty works of physical deliverance are for the purpose of making know ‘that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ (6, 8). “This expression goes beyond self-reference and, seen in the light of the post-resurrection period, surely indicates that the eschatological Judge had already come ‘on earth’ (cf. ‘here’ in 8:29) with the authority to forgive sin (cf. Hooker, Son of Man, 81–93). This is the authority of Immanuel, ‘God with us’ (1:23), sent to ‘save his people from their sins’ (1:21).” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary by D. A. Carson) Also note: “When Jesus forgave a paralyzed man of His sins, the Jews thought He had blasphemed because they knew that only God could forgive sin (Isaiah 43:25). Jesus, knowing their thoughts, healed the man, thereby showing His divine power and proving His deity (Luke 5:20-26).” (Oneness of God by David K. Bernard)
Click link to the next study in my sequential chapter study through the Gospel of Matthew.
“As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him.’ (9) Matthew was a Jew but also a tax collector. He had aligned his “interests with the Roman occupation and would have been despised by their Jewish compatriots. ‘Sinners’ is a broad category that would include tax collectors and any Jews judged as unfaithful to Israel’s covenant with Yahweh. Faithful Jews would typically avoid eating with such people, since they might invite ritual defilement by doing so. By eating with them Jesus demonstrates that God welcomes ‘sinners’ into the kingdom, for God is merciful.“ (The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary)
“Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' (Hosea 6:6) For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (10-13) Only the sick need a physician. The truth is that this is a sin-sick world. And He suggested that they go and learn the meaning of Hosea 6:6. Many take it out of context to mean that, ’God repudiates the externalism in religion’; [14— Wycliffe Commentary by Charles F. Pfeiffer] or that it is a, ‘declaration rejecting sacrifice.’ (James Luther Mays, op. cit., pg. 98] Such views would mean, of course, that God was rejecting what He Himself had commanded in the law of Moses, and even much earlier, going back to the sacrifices offered by Cain and Abel. Certainly, this view has to be incorrect.” (Burton Coffman)
Yahweh had told Hosea to marry a harlot named Gomer, because the northern kingdom had gone after other gods—which are no gods. God wanted Israel to know how He felt about their wicked behavior. So He made the prophet to understand through his own experience so that he could tell it to the people. His bride caused him much pain. “There is many a verse of Scripture which no commentary save that of personal experience can satisfactorily interpret.” [A. W. Pink] Yahweh named Hosea’s three children. The first child, a son, was named Jezreel (God plants). (Hosea 1:4) Indeed, it is the LORD who plants the remnant of Israel in each generation. The LORD told him to call the second child, a daughter, Loruhamah (no more mercy), because He said: “I will no longer show love to the house of Israel.” (Hosea 1:6) “‘For I desire covenant love, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.’ (Hosea 6:6 )
"God was not here repudiating the covenant He had made with Israel, which surely included sacrifice, nor was he changing that covenant. What He did in this verse is to condemn the people, not for offering sacrifices, but for omitting the true devotion, loyalty to God, and integrity of heart that were necessary accompaniments of sacrifice. We are thankful indeed that a number of very able scholars have discerned this essential truth: ‘It was not that God rejected such methods of worship, but that sacrifices and offerings ought to have been the expression of truly dedicated lives, and not a substitute for them…’ [16— Jacob M. Myers, op. cit., pg. 34]] The inference on the part of critics to the effect that God had never commanded sacrifice, that it was merely the adoption by Israel of a device found in the pagan cults around them is totally wrong. Hindley discussed this briefly, thus: ‘Some critics have seen in this and the five similar passages (Isaiah 1:11-15; 43:22-24; Amos 5:21-25; and Micah 6:6-8 a conflict between the prophets and the sacrificial cultus; but nowhere do the prophets deny the validity of sacrifice offered in the right spirit. In each case, they denounce sins of immorality, idolatry, self-righteousness, which violate the covenant and invalidate the sacrifices.” (Coffman Commentary)
“Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the friends of the bridegroom’— the children of the bride-chamber; the companions of the bridegroom during the marriage-feast. Judges 14:10-11— ‘mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’” (14-15) Fasting is an expression of sorrow, not suitable for the marriage-feast while the bridegroom is still present. So Christ is the Bridegroom of the church. While He was personally present with His disciples, it was not suitable that they should fast. After His removal from them, they would have trials that would make fasting proper.” (Justin Edwards) After the bridegroom was taken away, Jesus’ disciples often fasted (Acts 13:3; 14:23; 27:9).
“No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined [destroyed]. “The form of apollumi in the wineskin passages (Matt. 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37) ἀπολοῦνται (Received Text; future tense) is also found in Hebrews 1:11 which contrasts the transitory nature of the present earth and heavens with the eternality of the Son. ‘They will perish, but You remain.’ With regard to human beings ἀπολοῦνται means perish in the sense of die: Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword’ (Matt. 26:52). Most translations, however, favor the present tense ἀπόλλυνται; found in the Nestle-Aland text. Whether ἀπολοῦνται or ἀπόλλυνται, in the wineskin passages, we are dealing with material objects rather than human beings and a non-judgment context. Hardly the best help to determine the meaning of ἀπολέσαι; in Matthew 10:28.” (Rescue from Death by Robert Taylor) “Jesus’ kingdom would terminate Judaism that had served its purpose. John the Baptist belonged to the old order. His disciples, therefore, should have left him and joined the Groom. Unless they did they would not participate in the kingdom (cf.Acts 19:1-7).” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable)
“While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.’ So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.
And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, ‘If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.’ But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, ‘Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And the woman was made well from that hour. Now back to the other story line—>
When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, ‘Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.’ And they ridiculed Him. But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all that land."(18-25) "'Not dead, but sleeping'— It should be remembered that Christ said the same concerning Lazarus who had been dead and buried for four days (John 11:11) The actuality of death is not the point in either case, but the nature of death. It is a sleep. In death, as in sleep: (1) there is a loss of consciousness; (2) both are terminated, sleep by awakening, and death in the resurrection; (3) there is a rejuvenation or rebuilding of powers during the period of waiting; or, more properly, both are followed by an improved state of the person; (4) there is no total destruction and loss of the person in either case; (5) and there is no loss of personality or identity.” (Coffman Commentary) “Blessed sleep, From which none ever wakes to weep! A calm and undisturbed repose, Unbroken by the last of foes.” (M. MacKay)
“When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, ‘Son of David, have mercy on us!’ And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith let it be to you.’ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, ‘See that no one knows it.’ But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country. (27-31) They could not contain themselves. “As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, ‘It was never seen like this in Israel!’ This was the common man’s response. But the Pharisees said, ‘He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.’” (32-34)
There is wheat for the barn and tares for the fire.
“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” (35-36) “Upon seeing the crowds who have heard his teachings and brought their sick to him, Jesus is filled with compassion for the people of Israel, whom he likens to sheep without a shepherd. This response serves to indict Israel’s leaders for not shepherding the people (cf. Ezekiel 34 for similar imagery in Ezekiel’s critique of leaders in his day) and transitions between Jesus’s ministry to Israel and his instructions to his disciples regarding their part in this ministry. The disciples are to be the answer to their own prayer for workers to join Jesus in kingdom mission....” (The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary by by Jeannine K. Brown) “Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” (37-38)
Comments