Jesus heals a paralyzed man, but first his sins. You’ll see that Matthew notes “Jesus saw their faith”. This is another indication that what Jesus is not seeking is their begging or works, but their faith draws His attention. I was going to say “not seeking their prayer” but that sends a wrong message. Rather, it’s the FAITH your prayer conveys that gives it value. People “pray” to the universe or to Odin and don’t get partial credit because “prayer” as a concept absent faith in Christ Jesus is so valuable. So I include it here to still lend my thoughts on it but if anyone is within 10000 miles of coming away thinking “Oh, he said Jesus doesn’t care about my prayer” then just pretend I didn’t say anything.

We see the scribes talking amongst themselves that Jesus is blaspheming. “Only God can forgive sins!!” Yeah? You don’t say. Sins are an offense to God. You cannot forgive an offense on someone else’s behalf, therefore Jesus could’ve only been claiming one thing. I’m left wondering if Jesus didn’t forgive the man’s sins before the paralysis to trigger this exact response from them. If we’re lucky, we can ask Him when we see Him. Jesus then reads their minds/hearts and knows the evil they’re thinking. –Let us take a brief detour. Was it a mind reading? Could He superhumanly detect the intent of their hearts as the Father does constantly? Was He able to do that with a human brain? At what age was He able to begin doing this? Alternatively, does this passage simply mean He “read” them in a sense that obviously if He claimed godhood they would be upset and it was just basic human “reading the room”? Christian tradition seems to prefer the supernatural explanation. I offer nothing but a series of questions regarding this matter as the Man-God union is massively above my paygrade, but it’s interesting to think about (just….not too much). – These men aren’t being questioned because they reasonably doubted He was God. I think if someone shows up claiming to be the Messiah, it should be met with a healthy skepticism and we’ll be instructed to do as much later. But later it’ll show that their hostility comes from a hardened heart. A difference of “hey… how do we know He’s legit” versus “No He’s not because He just isn’t, okay?” Their issue is pride. He gave no shortage of signs and wonders. They didn’t believe because they didn’t want to and were never going to.

Which is easier, forgiving sins or fixing paralysis? Before you go getting theological on us, recall He’s dealing with doubters. Anyone can claim to forgive a sin and testing it is basically impossible. Claiming to fix paralysis is begging me to say “prove it”. Thus, if He can execute the harder task with ease, then his claim to the “easier” task may have some merit. The language may make it unclear to modern understanding, but He absolutely flexes on these scribes. Matthew 9:6 is basically “But since you need proof– Get up, paralyzed dude”. The paralyzed man gets up and rolls out, having not said a word through this entire exchange. The crowd (this house was packed with people mind you) was in fear. The first fear response was with the disciples and they were like “wait who IS this guy?”. The second fear response was with the pigs and the gentile city just wanting Jesus to leave. This time, they begin to glorify God (good call. ….Best call).

Now that we’re 9 chapters in, Matthew introduces himself. Matthew organizes his writing by topic more than chronologically, so you’ll see some shuffling, so he may have been at the Sermon on the Mount as a rando and documented it word for word. Jesus spots him in a tax booth and says “Follow me” and he pops out of his seat and does just that. Tax collectors were hated (they always have been) but during this time they were genuinely despised on a personal level, because they often extorted for more than was owed to get rich and in particular they served Romans at the expense of Jews, so they were race traitors. Jesus sees this guy and thinks “Perfect.”

Matthew invites Jesus and the other disciples (since he’s now officially recruited) for dinner. The Pharisees were having none of this and gave the disciples grief over it “Why does your teacher eat with the likes of you” which would also impugn Jesus’s character. With the old way corrupted by the P&S’s into this extremely performative, reputation-focused version of the faith, it would be an enormous misstep to be seen with lowlifes and race traitors. Jesus ignores and steps over (often tramples directly on) any of these extra things added to the Law. Besides, Jesus is here to heal the sick, not the healthy. Christians don’t flee anyone considered a sinner. You protect your friendships and associations but you can’t be a doctor and refuse to work on sick people. Makes no sense.

Note that Jesus doesn’t condone their sin or declare them without sin. “Jesus sat with sinners” isn’t license for us to associate with scumbags or become them. He sat with them for the purpose of FIXING them. Enabling their sin is not being a good doctor.

Disciples of even John the Baptist are struggling to get it. “Why are we and the Pharisees fasting but you guys don’t?” Recall that John is in prison right now and his mission of prepping the world for Jesus is largely wrapped up, but he had disciples of his own (as many influential rabbis did) and they seem to have remained dedicated to him, in particular his restrictive lifestyle. But the law of Moses only required 1 fast per year, so anything in excess was optional. Everyone making up their own rules here. Jesus answers that they can take the fast of Atonement when He is no longer in their presence. His hole patching metaphor is explaining that He’s here to bring something new to the world and Judaism (especially as demonstrated by the Pharisees) is old cloth. He’s not here to do things the old way, He’s here to fulfill the Law and offer the grace of God. Old wineskins lost their flexibility as fermentation and gases expanded them the first time. Adding new wine would burst, not stretch it further. Judaism is an old inflexible wineskin. He’s not here to try to fit His new ways into Judaism, He’s making something new, for Jew and gentile alike.

Enough of that though, a girl has died and her father comes in, believing Jesus can raise her with a touch. Unlike most Jews, he seems to fully believe and trust Jesus’s divinity, though unlike the centurion, thinks a direct touch is required. On the way, a woman with a 12 year bleed comes up and touches His clothes. Context suggest she was pushing against crowds and barely managed to graze His outer little tassels. She violated the laws about the unclean keeping distance, certain that merely touching His clothes would make her healthy again. Jesus detects the faintest touch on an outer garment in a crowd of shoulder-to-shoulder people and applauds her faith, confirming she is made well. Side-quest complete, He makes it to the ruler’s house to revive his daughter and sees a standard assortment of mourners, to include wailing people and loud flute players (professional mourners). Jesus dismisses them, saying she’s sleeping not dead. But they laugh. Who is hiring professional mourners for a napping kid? Surely mom and dad would’ve shaken her or something before coming to that conclusion. Jesus goes inside, touches the girl, and rises good as new. This is His biggest miracle by far and connects him to previous life-restoring prophets.

A pair of blind men approach Him asking for healing but what’s noteworthy (lol as if healing the blind isn’t) is they address him as the Son of David (the Messiah). So they 100% got what Jesus is here for. He takes them into a house for privacy. Thought on this is that He wasn’t wanting too much exposure yet. The Jews were expecting a Messiah to topple Rome and if He gathered too big a crowd, Rome would expect that’s what was happening. He has them confirm their faith and touches their eyes, healing them. He tells them very sternly to keep this quiet, so naturally they run out and immediately tell everyone on Earth. You had ONE job.

Jesus casts a demon out of a mute and the Pharisees say He’s using authority as the prince of demons (Satan) to do so. Regardless, He keeps on keeping on, teaching and healing. There’s people eager for a savior and for the true teaching and love of Christ, but not enough people to do the work to deliver it. Jesus asks His disciples to help pray for more people to go and spread the good news.