Sermon Tone Analysis

Chapter 9

The following material is adopted from John MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew and his Study guide.

Additional material taken from sources listed at the end

Read and summarize

Look for

— Prayers ( Blue )

— Promises ( Green )

— Warnings ( Red )

— Commands ( Purple )

Q: The most distinctive message of Christianity is that sin can be forgiven.

What does this passage teach about forgiveness ( 9:1-8 )?

Jesus’ Power over Sin ( 9:1-8 )

( 9:1-8 ) So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” 3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?

6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

7 And he arose and departed to his house.

8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

Got into a boat

Matthew Henry

— This follows the Gadarenes so resenting the loss of their swine, that they were disgusted with Christ’s company, and besought him to depart out of their coasts

— Now here it follows, He entered into a ship, and passed over

— They bid him begone, and he took them at their word, and we never read that he came into their coasts again

( 1 ) Justice Christ will not stay long where he is not welcomes

— If the unbeliever will depart from Christ, let him depart; it is at his peril ( 1 Co. 7:15 )

( 2) Patience He did not some destroying judgment behind as they deserved

— How easily, how justly, might he have sent them after their swine, who were already so much under the devil’s power

— The provocation, indeed, was very great: but he put it up, and passed it by; and, without any angry resentments or upbraidings, he entered into a ship, and passed over

— This was the day of his patience; he came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them; not to kill, but to cure

— Those that drive Christ from them, draw all miseries upon them.

Woe unto us, if God depart from us.

The Paralytic

— Like his fellow Jews, the paralytic no doubt believed his paralysis was direct punishment for his own sins or that of his parents or grandparents

— Pain and suffering is the direct result of sin in the world; God doesn’t cause it but allows it

— But not necessarily brought on by some specific sin of the person who is suffering

— Mark and Luke tell us that his friends climbed up to the roof, tore it off and lowered their friend at Jesus’ feet

Matthew Henry

— He was carried: The faith of his friends

— Jesus saw their faith: The faith of the paralytic and of the friends

— A strong faith: A strong faith regards no obstacles in pressing after Christ.

( 9:2 ) Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

— Jesus was able to do what He said

— Our words lack meaning if our actions do not back them up

— We can say that we love God and others but if we are not taking practical steps to demonstrate that love, our words are empty and meaningless

— Jesus “forgave the man’s sins”.

Not really able to see this.

So Jesus healed the man to show that His power was real: both to forgive sins and heal diseases

Going Deeper

Your sins are forgiven

— The best news that anyone can hear is that their sins are forgiven

— When Jesus spoke those words to the paralytic, He must have tasted the bitterness and agony of Calvary, knowing that the words could be effective only because he would take the man’s sins upon Himself

— Every time He forgave sin He knew and anticipated the cost

Topical not chronological

— The healing of the leper ( Matt 8:1-4 ) is in both Mark and Luke’s Gospel

— This is immediately followed by the healing of the lame man that was lowered through the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching

— Mark and Luke give the impression that this healing and the call of Levi occurred previous to the Sermon on the Mount and the calling of the twelve disciples ( Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12 )

Fury ( 9:3 )

Q: What did the Scribes and Pharisees say when Jesus told the paralytic that he was healed ( 9:3 )?

( 9:3 ) And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”

— Luke tells us that both scribes and Pharisees were present when Jesus healed the paralytic

— They thought within themselves Jesus was blaspheming by claiming to forgive sins

— They were right that only God can forgive sins ( Isa 42:25; Mic 7:18-19 )

— Jesus read the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees just as He had earlier read the hearts of the five men (seeing their faith ) who lowered the paralytic down through the roof ( 9:2 )

Matthew Henry

— Our Lord Jesus has the perfect knowledge of all that we say within ourselves

— Thoughts are secret and sudden, yet naked and open before Christ, the eternal Word ( Heb. 4:12, 13 ), and he understands them afar off

— “You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.” ( Ps 139:2 )

— The Pharisees and scribes refused to believe Jesus could not forgive the man his sins

— What is keeping you back from asking for forgiveness today?

Going Deeper

— Unlike the paralytic, the scribes and Pharisees saw no need for forgiveness because they were already righteous

— They considered it unjust for a man to be forgiven simply by asking for it — instead of by earning it, as they though they had done

— The two great barriers to salvation have always been refusal to recognize the need for it and the belief that it can be earned or deserved

Fear and Awe ( 9:4-8 )

— When Jesus spoke the man was immediately healed just as he was immediately forgiven

— The most necessary arguing must not divert us from doing the good that our hand finds to do ( Henry )

— When we ask God for forgiveness it is immediate

— When the multitudes saw this, they knew this could only be done by God’s power

— Jesus as much as said He was God; the Pharisees did not want to admit His God credentials and accused Him of blasphemy; Jesus proved Himself to be God

— Sometimes Jesus doesn’t heal; remember his first concern is our spiritual healing

Receiving the Sinner / Refusing the Righteous ( 9:9-17 )

( 9:9-17 ) As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.

And He said to him, “Follow Me.”

So he arose and followed Him. 10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’

For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” 14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.

17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.

But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

— Matthew was a publicani (whence we get publican in some translations)

— These people served Rome and their first loyalty was to the occupying Roman army

— Matthew adds an autobiographical note here.

The taxing authority of the tax collector was almost unlimited and for that reason they were considered traitors and hated more than a Gentile because he is a collaborator with the Romans

— The taxing authority of the tax collector was almost unlimited and for that reason they were considered traitors and hated

— A franchise required collecting a specific amount of taxes and the allowed anything beyond that to be kept for personal profit

— We see Matthew’s humility in writing these verses and describing himself as sitting at the tax office

— Luke adds that Matthew “left everything behind, and rose and began to follow him” ( Lk 5:28 )

— Of all the disciples Matthew doubtlessly made the greatest sacrifice of material possessions; yet he himself makes no mention of it

( 9:9b ) And He said to him, “Follow Me.”