Matthew 10:16-25 - Opposition

10:16-20

Jesus does not have any illusions about the situation they are going into, they are being sent out like sheep among wolves. They are not to be naive, but as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as wolves. They would face persecutions, the promise is not that they will not face these things, but that the spirit would speak through them.

10:21-23

The warnings continue, there is no sugar coating. They would face opposition even from their own families. When persecution happens they were to flee. 10:23 is somewhat enigmatic. It could refer to the second coming, but that does not seem to fit the facts. Others take is as referring to AD 70 when Rome crushed Jerusalem.

10:24,25

Jesus suffered opposition, so the disciples would suffer opposition. Jesus was accused of being Beelzebub, so would the disciples.

Matthew 10:1-15 - Sent out

10:1-8

God prefers to work through people. In Genesis he told man to fill and subdue the earth, now He sends out the disciple to do His work. So Jesus gave the disciple authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and illness.  The disciples are then named. Later they would go all over, but for now their mission was limited to Israel, they were not to go among the Gentiles or Samaritans. They were to go to the lost sheep of Israel. They were to proclaim that “the Kingdom of heaven has come near”. They were to heal the sick and cast out demons “Freely you have received; freely give”.

10:9-15

This was a training mission, so they were to depend upon the Lord, trusting that God would provide. Often this would come through people, if someone welcomed them, they were to stay at that house, and to bless that home. While some will oppose, others will help, that is the way it is.\if someone does not welcome us we are to just accept it and move on. God will take care of that place on the day of judgement.

Matthew 9:35,36 - Workers

9:35,36

This verse gives a brief, but complete, summary of the ministry of Jesus. He went through all the towns and villages. He taught in their synagogues. He proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, i.e. the rule of God. He healed every disease and sickness. Teaching and healing went together in the ministry of Jesus, yet we seem insistent on separating them. There will be good Bible teaching churches, but not much, if anything, in the way of healings. There will be churches that focus on healings but whose teaching is limited. Neither is following a Biblical pattern.

Jesus was fully aware of the sinfulness of man, and was not afraid to speak about it, but He did not see humanity as “a bunch of dirty rotten sinners”. Instead He had compassion on the crowds, and He has compassion upon us. Matthew tells us why He had compassion, it was because the people were “harassed and helpless”, like sheep without a shepherd. We see here the importance of good leadership. We need good leadership within the church, and within the civic structures within society. Israel had neither, and the same applies to us today as well.

Matthew 9:27-34 - And still more healings

9:27-34

Jesus moved on. He has never finished what He is doing (apart from the cross, before you question my theology!). But whatever God has done, He has more to do. Two blind men followed Him and asked Him to have mercy upon them. They called Him the Son of David, implying that they saw Him as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. It seems that Jesus did not respond immediately, maybe, given what He said later, Jesus wanted to deal with them privately. Jesus asked if they believed He was able to heal them. If we look at the healing incidents we find many examples where faith is highlighted, but we also find others where it isn’t. We must beware of making rules about healing, otherwise we lose the faith element. We can so easily start trusting in the “rules” rather than trusting in Jesus. They replied that they did believe.

Jesus touched their eyes and said “according to your faith let it be done”, so if they were not telling the truth when they said they believed they would not have been healed. Their faith presumably was genuine, for they were healed immediately. Jesus gave them a stern warning, “see that no one knows about this”. Note the importance that Jesus attached to this command. However, it also seems rather odd. It makes sense that Jesus did not want people to get focused just on the healings, but people would surely notice that the previously blind men could now see! However, it was all rather irrelevant for the men, quite understandably, went out spreading the news about Jesus all over the region. We have great difficulty in the church (and in ourselves!) in motivating people to “do evangelism”. People who are willing are those who know Jesus has done something for them.

This series of healings closes with a mute man being enabled to speak. It also says that he was demon-possessed. The casting out of the demon was the key to the man’s healing. There are cases where demonic activity is the root of the matter, and that is still the case today. However, there are cases where demonic activity is not the root of the matter. So we have had Jesus setting a variety of people free from various things, from sicknesses and from demon possession. The crowds were amazed and delighted. The Pharisees had a rather different reaction. They said it is only because Jesus had the power of the prince of demons that He could drive out demons. Now, just think for a moment. This is the Son of God, and they are accusing Him of using demonic power! Their thinking was seriously warped, and that is what happens when we become obsessed with protecting ourselves.

Matthew 9:1-26 More healings

9:1-8

A paralysed man was brought to Jesus. The man had an obvious need, to be healed of his paralysis, but Jesus’ first words were to pronounce his forgiveness. Why did He do this? The obvious answer is that forgiveness was actually his greater need, but may be because the man may have thought his condition was a result of his sin. Whatever the case, the teachers of the Law were offended, convinced that Jesus was blaspheming, assuming the right to do what only God could do.

Jesus knew what they were thinking. Note that he says they were having evil thoughts. Jesus then demonstrated the extent of His authority by healing the man. He also proclaimed that He had the right to forgive sins, and referred to Himself as “the Son of Man”. The crowd were amazed and praised God. The teachers of the Law were probably not as impressed.  The crowd had a better idea of the significance of Jesus’ actions than the religious types.

9:9-13

Jesus was prepared to affront the sensibilities of the religious leaders, he was also ready to offend the general populace as well. For we now read of the calling of Matthew, now Matthew was a tax collector so would not be popular, Tax collectors worked on behalf of the hated Romans, and also were not averse to taking a slice for themselves as well. The Pharisees were also offended, for Jesus was happy to meet with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus announced that it was the ill who needed a doctor, not the healthy. The gospel is for sinners, and God is in the business of healing sinners.

9:14-17

Disciples of John the Baptist were confused, for Jesus’ disciples seemed to act differently than they did, in  particular they did not fast often. The root of the problem was a lack of understanding of who Jesus is. Indeed, most errors are rooted in failing to appreciate who Jesus is, this is why it is so important that we know who Jesus is. New thinking was required, for Jesus was not like anyone else who had appeared, He was the Son of God, the One through whom the whole of creation was made.

9:18-26

The miracles continue, the next one concerns a synagogue leader’s daughter. Jesus is perfectly willing to heal her, despite the general opposition to Him from the religious leaders. At the same time the woman with bleeding is healed. This is yet another truncated version of an incident, this time the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. Matthew just tells us that she had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She believed that if she just touched Jesus’ cloak she would be healed. So the reputation of Jesus had obviously got around. There may well have been more to touching Jesus’ cloak than just touching the “cloak of a healer”. With her condition she would not be allowed to touch people, for it would make them unclean. Jesus turned and saw her and assured her that “her faith has healed you”. He also addresses her as daughter. She would have very much been a second class citizen with the condition. So Jesus is affirming her in two ways. First, He calls her daughter, assuring her that she belongs to Israel, belongs to God. Then He says that her faith has contributed to the healing.

Jesus then arrived at Jairus’ house. Mourning was in full flow with people playing pipes and making a noise, as was the custom in middle eastern funerals. Jesus is having nothing to do with this, announcing that the girl is “not dead, but asleep”. Presumably this means that He was going to bring her back to life, rather than being a more accurate medical diagnosis. The crowd laughed at Him. We should note that people in those days were much more familiar with death than we are. Jesus had the crowd put outside, He took the girl by the hand and she got up. Not surprisingly, news of this event spread throughout the region.

Matthew 9:1-13 - Offending people

9:1-8

A paralysed man was brought to Jesus. The man had an obvious need, to be healed of his paralysis, but Jesus’ first words were to pronounce his forgiveness. Why did He do this? The obvious answer is that forgiveness was actually his greater need, but may be because the man may have thought his condition was a result of his sin. Whatever the case, the teachers of the Law were offended, convinced that Jesus was blaspheming, assuming the right to do what only God could do.

Jesus knew what they were thinking. Note that he says they were having evil thoughts. Jesus then demonstrated the extent of His authority by healing the man. He also proclaimed that He had the right to forgive sins, and referred to Himself as “the Son of Man”. The crowd were amazed and praised God. The teachers of the Law were probably not as impressed.  The crowd had a better idea of the significance of Jesus’ actions than the religious types.

9:9-13

Jesus was prepared to affront the sensibilities of the religious leaders, he was also ready to offend the general populace as well. For we now read of the calling of Matthew, now Matthew was a tax collector so would not be popular, Tax collectors worked on behalf of the hated Romans, and also were not averse to taking a slice for themselves as well. The Pharisees were also offended, for Jesus was happy to meet with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus announced that it was the ill who needed a doctor, not the healthy. The gospel is for sinners, and God is in the business of healing sinners.

Matthew 8:28-34 - Bad news for demons and pigs

8:28-34

Jesus now heals two demon-possessed men. The demons had such a hold over them, and made them extremely violent. However the demons were in fear of Jesus, they knew He was going to drive them out, and they pleaded to be sent into a nearby herd of  pigs. Why they wanted this was not clear, but it proved to be a big mistake. Jesus sent them into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed off a cliff and into the lake and died. Demons only bring destruction. The whole town sent out to Jesus and asked him to leave. Why did they do this? Maybe because they knew they should not have been keeping pigs.

Matthew gives a much shorter account than we find in Mark (5:1-17) and Luke (8:26-37). Matthew also mentions two men, Mark and Luke only one. Tombs and evil spirits, demon possession, as is still the case today. It is possible that there were two demon possessed men, but Mark and Luke are focusing on the one who was at the forefront of the matter. Note that Matthew pays hardly any attention to the men themselves. Instead, his focus is on the demons, how Jesus dealt with them and the reaction of the town’s people. The region is variously called Gadarenes, Gergesenes or Gerasenes. The two men were so violent that no one dared have anything to do with them.

Notice that Matthew does not mention the two men who had been set free. Matthew seems to be focusing on the reaction of people. So if we look at this chapter as a whole, we see that people considered outcasts (lepers and Gentiles) were freely accepted and demonstrated faith. Peter’s mother-in-law was healed. Then there was Jesus making clear the cost of following Him, it is no light decision. Now we have people outrightly rejecting Jesus. The reaction and response of people to Jesus is not a simple matter. There will be all sorts of reactions from all sorts of people.