Matthew 9:14-34

New wine in new wineskins

v14-17

Fasting - preparation for revelations and vision; calling on God’s direct assistance.

Bridegroom - Messianic bridegroom, not a time of mourning, and beseeching. The long awaited bridegroom is here. The Pharisees and disciples of John are yet to see that Jesus is the Messiah.

There will come a time when his followers will mourn - his death. Signifying that this noted rejection of Jesus will continue and instigate his death.

New on Old - incompatibility of the new patching the old or the old containing the new.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew 1. New Wine Is for Fresh Wineskins (9:14–17)

Perhaps Matthew’s point is that the new does not need to be constrained by the old, and that only in this way can that which is of value from the old be preserved.

The NEW cannot be constrained by the old and only by approaching them both in this way is there preservation of both.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew 1. New Wine Is for Fresh Wineskins (9:14–17)

Once again the image is clearer than the application, but the idea commends itself that what is being asserted is that the new does not need to be constrained by the old, and that only in this way can the new be welcomed and the abiding value of the old be preserved.

The time of waiting is over, the Bridegroom/Messiah is here, not a time for mourning.

That time will come because the Messiah will not be welcomed.

But never-the-less, the new is here and cannot be constrained by the old. There is a new mindset which is required if any abiding value of the old is to be preserved.

v18-26

Ruler - important person with authority. Most likely a synagogue ruler. He recognises the authority of Jesus.

Breath taking faith of the ruler toward Jesus.

This is the only

Safe Church training - Matt CPR buy time, keep things functioning until the paramedics arrive. If the heart stops, if the oxygen stops then the paramedics can’t do anything once they arrive.

This is the only account of Jesus raising the dead in Matthew.

Edge/Fringe/Tassels

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew a. A Sick Woman and a Dead Girl, 9:18–26

It is not quite certain what the word I have translated tassel signifies here. It is used for the border or edge of something, and thus could mean the hem of Jesus’ cloak. But among the Jews it was also used of the tassels attached to their outer garment to remind them to follow the commandments of God (Num. 15:37–38; Deut. 22:12; Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for making their tassels long, 23:5). Since this was a normal part of Jewish dress, we should probably understand the word here to mean one of these tassels. The cloak was the outer garment.

English Standard Version Chapter 15

37 The LORD said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. 41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God.”

Reminder to be holy, to adhere to all the commands of the law.

The woman’s cure was by the mighty power of Jesus (no magical properties in the garment) and her faith in him.

Daughter - links with the dead girl; only instance of Jesus calling a woman daughter.

Public declaration that she has been healed.

Faith healed/saved you.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew 2. Jesus Raises a Girl from Death and Rescues a Woman from Perpetual Uncleanness (9:18–26)

faith is that state of awareness, receptivity, and readiness for appropriate action which opens one to the working of the powers of the kingdom of God in the ministry of Jesus.

Faith

That is why Paul Tillich, one of the greatest Protestant theologians of the 20th century, wrote, in reflecting on Abraham, that faith is the condition of being that “demands total surrender, and promises total fulfilment even if all other claims have to be rejected in its name”. The Australian June 7, 2019 Henry Ergas

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew a. A Sick Woman and a Dead Girl, 9:18–26

While it is certainly used of salvation from sickness and the like, it is also used with a deeper meaning when connected with faith. It may well be that Matthew is not unmindful of that deeper meaning and that he recalls that Jesus certainly saved people like this woman from physical ailments, but that this was only part of a fuller and more wonderful salvation. It is difficult to think that the blessing received by even a small faith means no more than physical soundness. At any rate, from that moment the sufferer was made well, the specification of that hour making it clear that it was Jesus’ saving power that was responsible and not some spontaneous cure.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew 2. Jesus Raises a Girl from Death and Rescues a Woman from Perpetual Uncleanness (9:18–26)

The woman is allowed to disappear from sight once the point has been powerfully made that contact with Jesus is transformatory for those who approach him with believing receptiveness.

Interruption over … back to the little dead girl and a crowd of mourners.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew a. A Sick Woman and a Dead Girl, 9:18–26

“Even the poorest in Israel should hire not less than two flutes and one wailing woman” (Ketub. 4:4); for the daughter of a ruler there would be much more than that. Matthew is referring to professional mourners who were on the job very promptly (cf. Jer. 9:17–18). But relatives and friends would join in with their loud wailing (the noisy crowd).

The mourners are told to go away … no mourning while the bridegroom is among them.

There is a future orientation to Jesus’ words, but the crowds hear it with a past orientation. The crowd hears diagnosis (past) when Jesus offers a prognosis (future). The mourners know the little girl is dead, Jesus knows that in the near future this current situation will be deemed nothing but sleep.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew 2. Jesus Raises a Girl from Death and Rescues a Woman from Perpetual Uncleanness (9:18–26)

Given the irony, the laughter is in itself innocent enough, but it will be taken to reflect a deeper lack of perception about the newness of the situation which was emerging because of the presence of Jesus and, in reflecting this lack of perception, as a mild form of the hostility to Jesus which is beginning to build

Sleep vs Dead - as a father with a teenage daughter waking such a creature is akin to a miracle.

v27-31

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew 3. Jesus Gives Sight to Two Blind People (9:27–31)

The healing of the blind signals dramatically the newness of what God is now doing. Despite all attempts to avoid publicity, there is no containing news of such events. Such things are unmatched in the history of Israel.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew 3. Jesus Gives Sight to Two Blind People (9:27–31)

The healing of the blind signals dramatically the newness of what God is now doing.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew b. Two Blind Men, 9:27–31

There are no miracles of the giving of sight in the Old Testament, nor in the New after the Gospels (the restoration of sight to Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:17–18, is not of the same order). But in Jesus’ ministry there are more miracles of the giving of sight than of any other single category. The giving of sight is a divine activity (Exod. 4:11; Ps. 146:8), and it has messianic significance (Isa. 29:18; 35:5; 42:7).

Follow Jesus into the house - whatever house that was.

Jesus probes the faith of those who have not been eyewitnesses to what he has been doing. Significant to notice that their faith came through hearing. And they believe that he is none other than the promised Son of David.

Matthew’s recollection is that Jesus is not specific in his question - “do you believe I am able to do this?”

Yes Lord

According to your faith be it done to you.

What had happened to them was so fantastic that they could not keep to themselves.

They drew a crowd to Jesus (cf 9:33).

Ministry of disobedience - but how could they keep such news to them selves or secret from those who witnessed their changed lives?

v32-34

Demon affected mute speaks.

Nothing like this has happened in Israel - this is a new thing in Israel.

v34

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew c. A Dumb Demoniac, 9:32–34

But the Pharisees (see on 3:7) had their own explanation. They were sure that they were right and Jesus was wrong, and nothing could be allowed to interfere with that basic conviction. They did not deny that something miraculous had occurred; they had seen this just as “the crowds” had done. If something miraculous had occurred and if Jesus was not on the side of the good, then for them the conclusion was obvious—it was by means of Satan that the dumb man was made to speak.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew c. A Dumb Demoniac, 9:32–34

The Pharisees shut their eyes to the good Jesus does and ascribe it to the working of evil. This calling of good evil is perhaps the greatest blasphemy, the blasphemy that is unforgivable

They have eyes but refuse to see.

They have voices yet refuse to praise.