A Study of Matthew: Right Rule Book, Wrong Game

Matthew 9:14–26 ESV

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went through all that district.

Once upon a time, when I was still an unmarried man, I rented a room from a guy who had just bought a house. One evening, I was talking to a friend on the phone when I smelled something burning and saw smoke coming from the kitchen. I ran in, and found a large cooking pot with flames and black smoke rolling out. My roommate was on the phone, just kind of looking at it. I took charge and tried to find something to put it out. The lid was missing, so all I could do was open the back door, grab the pot, and toss it into a snow pile in the back yard. I asked him what happened. He was trying to cook something, and he thought he needed to boil the oil first. He had cooked in water, always boiling the water first, so he just assumed that the same principle applied to cooking with oil.

Have you ever had a situation where you thought you knew what you were getting into, but it turned out to be something completely different? Like a game you used to play, but now all the rules had changed?

That is kind of what we are seeing in our passage today. Jesus is at a dinner with his disciples and a bunch of social outcasts. The pharisees had just condemned Jesus for hanging out with “sinners.” Jesus pointed out that God wants to save sinners, which can’t happen if nobody takes the message of salvation to the sinners. Now, some of the disciples of John the Baptist show up and ask a question. “We disciples of John fast, and so do the pharisees. Your disciples don’t seem to fast at all. Why is that?”

Jesus’s response seems a little weird, and maybe rude, at first glance.

Matthew 9:15 ESV

And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Why would Jesus say this? Is he saying it’s not necessary to fast? I don’t think so. After all, we know that Jesus fasted quite a bit—like he did for 40 days in the wilderness before he was tempted by the devil.

And later on in his ministry, when his disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a person,

Mark 9:29 (ESV)

And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”

So fasting IS important, but Jesus isn’t making his disciples do it… yet. Why not? Well, I think it has to do with the reason that we fast in the first place.

When Jesus fasted, he showed us that fasting is to get closer to the Father. We set aside our physical desires to focus completely on God. When we have a special situation, fasting helps us gain clarity to know how God wants us to pray about the situation. Fasting is a difficult thing, at first, but the more you do it, the more it transforms you.

However, many people fast simply as a religious act. It’s more ceremony than anything else. John’s disciples pointed out that the pharisees fasted, but Jesus constantly pointed out how far away the pharisees actually were from God.

So fasting is all about getting close to God. Jesus is God made flesh. And the disciples were hanging out with Jesus all day! These rough-around-the-edges guys were literally in God’s presence, breaking bread with him. And they were very new to this life. They would come to understand the significance of fasting later, but right now, they were learning about God directly from the source.

John’s disciples were thinking that Jesus’s disciples were not serving God because they weren’t fasting. They were holding to a certain set of rules, when the game had actually changed.

That’s why Jesus talked about the danger of using an unshrunk piece of cloth to patch old clothes. If you cut that new fabric to fit that hole, and you sew it on, then, you wash and dry that patched outfit, what happens? The old fabric has already done its shrinking, but now that new, stronger fabric starts to shrink. It pulls on the weaker fabric, and causes even more damage.

The same thing goes for putting wine in wineskins. New wineskins are elastic. They give as you fill them up. The older ones dry out, especially after holding alcoholic wine in them for awhile. You try putting new wine in the old skin, that thing is going to burst.

John’s disciples were acting under a certain set of assumptions, but everything has changed now that Jesus is on the scene. They brought the rule book to the wrong game.

The same thing goes for what happens next in the story.

While Jesus is talking to John’s disciples, an important man—scripture calls him a ruler—comes in and bows before Jesus. “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”

Jesus and his disciple follow the man. On the way, a woman who has been hemorrhaging for 12 years comes up behind Jesus and touches the edge of his garment. Jesus senses her, turns to her, and tells her that her faith has healed her! So far, everyone has come so that Jesus can touch them. This woman dares to touch Jesus, without even asking for permission! She was trying to be discreet, because, according to Leviticus 15, she was considered unclean for as long as she was bleeding. Anything she touched would be unclean. The rules said that, by touching Jesus, she would make Jesus unclean. But she was playing by the rules of the wrong game. Jesus is cleanness personified. He cannot be made unclean; instead whatever comes into his presence is made clean.

Finally, Jesus reaches the ruler’s house. There are a bunch of people outside doing the traditional wailing and mourning associated with a Jewish death. Jesus shews them all away, saying that the girl is just sleeping, which of course they all scoff at. They have seen dead. They know dead. There’s no coming back from the dead. Right?

Once again, they were acting based on the rules. What they didn’t know is that the game had just changed, now that Jesus is on the scene. Remember what Jesus said in John 14:6?

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus IS the LIFE. He’s the author of life. And he is lord of everything, which means that you are not dead until he says you’re dead.

Whether that girl’s spirit had already departed or if she was still in there in the very last stages, I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. Death is no different than a nap where Jesus is concerned; when he says, “Time to get up,” it’s time! You’re gonna get up!

Folks, this world has it’s systems and ways of doing things. But God is not bound by human systems. We keep expecting him to act in the same ways he did before, like when the prophet Elijah was waiting to hear God’s voice. He saw manifestations God had used in the past: a mighty wind, an earthquake, and fire, but God didn’t appear in any of those things. Instead, God came in a gentle whisper.

It’s easy to think about the glory days of our church, back when it was filled with people, and we were doing bus ministry, and doing all kinds of great works.

But, as good as it was, we don’t want to rebuild what we used to have. That is in the past. We have to give God the room to give us a new vision for how we are to reach the people of this community today and in the future.

Isaiah 43:19 ESV

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

God wants to do something new, and we are not going to get there by doing church the same way we always have.

Last week, at the community worship service, I was so happy to see all of our congregation in attendance. I was also blessed at the reception we experienced by people of the community. I am so glad that the people like Zenetta and me, but it’s going to take more than them liking us.

Folks, the game is changing. We are going to keep praying for our church to make a difference in this community, but we also have to take action like never before.

We have Jr. High kids coming here every Wednesday. This is a chance for us to build relationships with these kids.

I’m sure that everyone in here knows someone in this community who doesn’t go to church anywhere. If they won’t come to us, then let’s ask God to show us ways to go to them.

Here is what I want you to do. This week, I want you to pray to God for a vision for this church. Then write down things you want to see happen in this church, that you believe God has shown you for this church. Be specific.

The game has changed. God’s character has not changed, but he is calling us to work in ways that we have not worked before. It’s going to be challenging, and it’s going to sometimes be uncomfortable. If we do this right, we are going to get people coming here who get on our nerves, who don’t know how to behave in church. And that’s a good thing. Eventually, if we are faithful to God’s call, we are going to see these “annoying” new people become beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.

Who is ready for God to do a new thing?