Matthew 9: 1-20
The Authority of Jesus to Forgive Sins
Sunday 20th July 2014
Plymstock Chapel
Matthew 9:1-8
Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his
own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying
on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man,
“Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
At this, some of the teachers of the law said to
themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their
thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in
your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said
to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”
Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw
this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who
had given such authority to man.
Matthew 9: 9-13
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named
Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,”
he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house,
many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him
and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked
his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax
collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy
who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what
this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not
come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew 9: 14-17
Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is
it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples
do not fast?”
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.
“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. 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.”
Parallel Texts
Stories
Mark
Luke
Matthew
Paralysed Man
Calling of Matthew
Garments/Wineskins
2: 1-12
2: 13-17
2: 18-22
5: 17-26
5: 27-32
5: 33-39
9: 1-8
9: 9-13
9: 14-17
John 9: 1-3
As he went along, he saw a man blind from
birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents
sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that
the works of God might be displayed in him.
Zechariah 8:19
‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘The fasts
of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months
will become joyful and glad occasions and happy
festivals for Judah.’
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
The days are coming,” declares the LORD,, “when I will
make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with
the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I
made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my
covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the
LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the people
of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put
my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be
their God, and they will be my people. No longer will
they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know
the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least
of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will
forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no
more.”
We need to repent of certain attitudes.
The Pharisee
• Puts rules before grace and forgiveness
• Thinks that God acts in response to my good
deeds
• Wants to contain God
• Separates themselves
How could we be more like…?
Jesus
• Eating with sinners
• Calling people to follow a new way of life
The men of faith
• Actively bringing a friend to Jesus
• Having faith that God can change a situation
Matthew
• Trusting Jesus with everything to follow him
• Inviting friends and colleagues to meet Jesus
Wine Skins & Garments
What are the old wineskins and garments?
• John Calvin – the disciples
• John Piper
• R.T. France – an independent saying ‘Jesus had brought something
new and the rituals and traditions of official judaism cannot contain
it’. That both are preserved is not a deliberate prescription for the
perpetuation of unreformed Judaism alongside the new life of the
kingdom of heaven.
What are the new wineskins and cloth?
• Craig Kenner – in Mark failure spells the loss of both old and new. In
Matthew success means the preservation of both. Matthew sees
Jesus salvation as keeping the old with new power. Matthew
guarding against anti-nomianism.
Wine Skins & Garments
What do these stories mean?
• R.T. France – Christianity introduces something
that Judaism cannot contain.
• Craig Kenner – in Mark failure spells the loss
of both old and new. In Matthew success
means the preservation of both. Matthew
sees Jesus salvation as keeping the old with
new power. Matthew guarding against antinomianism.
Pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are
preserved.
G.K. Chesterton
“Hell is God’s great
compliment to the reality
of human freedom and the
dignity of human choice.”
Signs
1. Healing Leprosy
Matthew
8: 1-4
2. Healing Servant
3. Peter’s Mother in Law
4. Healing demon possessed and sick
8: 5-13
8: 14-15
8: 16
5. Calming Storm
6. Exorcism of Two Men (Pigs Drowned)
7. Healing Paralysed Man
8. Healing Synagogue Leader’s Daughter
8: 23-27
8: 28-34
9: 1-13
9: 18-19 & 23-26
9. Healing Woman with Bleeding
10. Healing Two Blind Men
11. Exorcism and Healing of a Mute Man
9: 20-22
9: 27-30
9: 32-33