The Gospel According to Matthew
Matthew 9:14-26
INTRODUCTION: In the beginning of this passage Jesus is speaking in parables, in a language that is frankly unfamiliar to me. Reading it through at first blush is quite confusing. What is He meaning?
I used Michael Cards book, "Matthew The Gospel of Identity" to better help me understand it.
Let's read together the first scripture:
Matthew 9: 14-17
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
What was the purpose of fasting?
What is Jesus saying in verse 15?
The second section here where he talks about the wineskins etc. What does this have to do with the first question. How does it answer about the fasting?
How is this applicable for us today in our lives?
READ: Matthew 9: 18-26
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.”But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.
While Jesus was talking, answering the question he is interrupted. What is His response?
How often do we accept interruption?
Then before he can even complete the task, He is interrupted again, and this time he heals immediately.
How does He heal her?
What healed her?
So Jesus enters the house and what is going on?
Why doesn't Jesus heal her in front of the crowd?
Why not prove them right in front of their eyes?
Letting God transform us in private still makes a lasing and spreading impact. Not because of what happened in the private moment but the life lived after. It was the girls life after she was raised that spoke of what he did, not just watching the act that he performed.
Who am I? Someone who wants to LIVE as a testimony to what Christ has done.
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