Jesus' Authority- Matthew 9:1-34

Big Idea: Jesus’ Authority

Aim: Jesus’ gracious authority gives life to all who believe in Him through faith.

Doctrine: Grace Attribute: Gracious

Announcements:

Welcome. If we haven’t met my name is Megan Hutchinson, I am one of the STL’s of our class.

For those of you here and watching at Connections, thank you for being flexible with us as we move our normal class day to Tuesday instead of Wednesday.

And Hello to all of you watching our recorded lecture this week at home…I know taking time to engage in the lecture with Thanksgiving this week is an extra step, but I’m so glad you are listening and hope God meets you in His word today as we study Matthew 9 together.

BSF.Pause:

Just a reminder that mybsf.org is on pause until Dec. 8 as HQ works to revamp the current website!

If you are in need of lessons or notes you can access them on the mybsf app or reach out to your GL.

In addition, the lecture will be sent to you from your GL via a link each week until the website is back up!

So if you need to miss, don’t worry- you will still get access to the lecture!

Fun Question:

Tell someone near you 1 thing you are thankful for and what your plans are for Thanksgiving..

Christmas Break:

So ready or not, Christmas is coming in just under a month.

After Thanksgiving, we will have 2 more weeks of BSF before we take a break.

Our last class of the year will be on Dec. 8 and then we will resume class in the new year on January 5.

So NO CLASS on December 22 or December 29!

And with that let’s pray and then move into our scripture

PRAY

Introduction

When was the last time you were asked to submit to an authority figure in your life- who did you submit to?:

a government official

parent

a boss

pastor

spouse

or another leader in you life

We don’t like the word submit and we don’t like the word authority, unless of course we are the ones with the authority, the ones who hold the power.

We like to believe that we are self-sufficient and can function better on our own without someone telling us what to do.

A lot of our baggage with authority exists because people in authority positions have let us down, they have used their POSITION for personal gain and hurt many in the process, including some of you.

However, Jesus’ authority is different. He is completely trustworthy, he will never use his position to harm or hurt anyone, in fact, today we are going to see that he is uses his authority to save....to bring life..

Whether we willingly accept it or not all of us live under the authority of God, under Jesus’ authority....

but, each and every one of us have the opportunity to willingly submit our lives to Jesus- and to live under his gracious authority which gives life to all who believe in Him through faith.

That is our focus today, that: Jesus’ gracious authority gives life to all who believe in Him through faith.

Our scripture this week is a continuation of where we were last week in Matthew chapter 8. Quick recap, last week we saw Jesus:

heal a leper

heal a paralyzed servant

calm a storm

and drove out demons

…as he carried out these miracles we saw his compassionate and commanding authority...today we are going to continue looking at Jesus’ authority in 2 sections:

1. Gracious Authority - Matthew 9:1-17

2. Life Giving Authority- Matthew 9:18-34

Get out your Bibles/apps and turn to Matthew 9

1. Gracious Authority- Matthew 9:1-17

9: 1-8- Paralytic

In vs. 1 we learn that Jesus is going back to his home town of Capernum. If we look to the Gospels of Mark and Luke, we learn more details about this particular scene.

Picture this scene with me:

Jesus is teaching inside of someone’s home, homes in Capernum at that time would fit about 50 people inside- standing close together- there are so many people that there is no room left- people are pushing up against the door trying to hear what Jesus is saying.

Some men bring their paralyzed friend hoping to get in him in front of Jesus…hoping that Jesus would heal him..when they get there- there is no way for them to get to Jesus through the front door.

So, determined to get their friend to Jesus, they get up on the roof. It was common to have stairs which led to the roof and typically a roof would have been made out of dried mud and branches.

his would have been sturdy enough to stand on, but somewhat easy to dig out…So, while Jesus is teaching they dig a hole in the roof and then lower their friend down in front of Jesus.

The man’s friends were so desperate to get their friend to Jesus that they went to great lengths to get him there. What a faith they must have had in Jesus!

Now, can you imagine if this had happened on Sunday morning at church…the pastor is preaching and then suddenly you hear banging as someone is ripping open the roof- then in the middle of the sermon a person is just lowered down.

Jesus here doesn’t seem bothered by the interruption at all.

Jesus stops his teaching and puts the needs of this paralyzed man first. Jesus’ love and care for people outweighs whatever else was going on at the time.

Are you interruptible- or do you get quickly bothered when your preferred way of doing things is interrupted and even possibly inconvenienced? Jesus shows us that caring for people’s hearts and bodies is always worth the interruption.

As a mom, my life sometimes feels like I’m in a constant state of interruption. I sometimes wonder if I will ever get to finish my hot cup of coffee and go to the bathroom by myself.

But Jesus shows us that the interruptible moments are not an annoyance and not something to be avoided, but instead an opportunity to show Christ to those in need.

So, just like last week when Jesus dealt with the disciples before the storm, Jesus here deals with the heart, the spiritual problem of the man before the physical problem.

First, he recognizes the faith of the friends who brought him..but instead of commenting on the paralyzed man’s faith in vs 2. Jesus instead looks at him says “…Take heart, Your sins are forgiven.”

We don’t know if the man’s paralysis was a direct result of sin in his life or whether it was simply a result of living in a broken world but....If I am the man, I’m like wait, my sins are forgiven? Ok, but my legs..do you see them....they don’t work.

Jesus knew the man’s sin problem, his spiritual problem, was bigger than his physical problem.

Jesus stating that he has the power to forgive sins carries immense weight.

This is the 1st time that Jesus talks of his ability to forgive sins.

A claim to forgive sins is a claim to deity.

The teachers of the law knew this and immediately are startled, saying that Jesus is blaspheming.

If Jesus was not God, then that statement would be blaspheming.

Knowing what they are thinking in vs 5 Jesus says: “Which is easier: to say your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up and walk?”

Jesus is acknowledging that forgiving someones sins is the more difficult of the two but he is also saying ---you don’t have the power or authority to do either of these things- but I do...

And then, this is awesome...Jesus, to prove his authority- turns back to the paralyzed man and tells him to get up and walk…

BOOM- Jesus drops the mic...

Jesus proves his authority to forgive sins, something that happens on the inside, by healing the man on the outside. Both of which require a higher power than anyone in the room possessed, both acts required an act of God. And here Jesus proves his authority to the Pharisees.

9:9-13- Matthew

As the scripture continues we move in vs. 9-13 to the conversion of the author of our book, Matthew.

It is important to note that these stories are not chronological and the placement of this story is incredibly strategic on Matthew’s part.

So, if you remember way back to week 1, we learned that Matthew was a tax collector, an outsider to the Jewish community. As far as Jew’s were concerned, tax collectors had sold their souls to the Roman government.

They were known for taking advantage of the Jewish people- collecting more than they needed and building up their own wealth while the Jewish people lived in poverty.

Here is Matthew, sitting at his tax booth, taking money from the Jewish people, taking an advantage of HIS OWN PEOPLE....and Jesus stops and calls him to follow him.

And, Matthew, jumps up, leaves everything to follow Jesus. No questions asked. No time calculating the “what if’s...” he simply goes.

and, to top it off, Matthew can’t keep his new friend Jesus just to himself, so he throws a party and invites all his tax collector friends to meet Jesus.

This angers the religious leaders- wondering how Jesus would dare associate with the tax collectors.

The religious leaders tended to ignore “sinners” such as those Jesus was dining with- they would never be caught with them-

what would it do to their image? What would people think if they saw them? What would God think?

It’s easy to judge the pharisees, but how often does this happen in Christian communities?

Do you look at a group of people and deem them as “sinners?” Refusing to associate with them because they represent sin- as if you don’t?

Jesus here models for us that you can reach out and show His love by being present with sinners and at the same time not engage in the sin’s they are committing.

Jesus responds to the Pharisees saying in vs 12 saying: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

Have you ever met someone who refuses to go to the doctor? I have a family member who is this way and there have been multiple times when they are clearly sick and when I suggest that maybe they need a doctor they simply look at me and say “I’m fine.” When clearly, they are not fine.

Jesus here is saying—I go where I am needed. You think that you don’t need me- you think you are “fine.” And since you are convinced you are fine, I’m going to go to those who know they are in need of me, who know they are not fine.

In order to receive Jesus, to be a part of his kingdom, you must see your need for him.

What Jesus offered to the paralyzed man, to Matthew, and all the tax collectors was grace....

Grace is defined as an undeserved favor.

God’s word tell us that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

We also know from the OT that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

When Jesus offers forgiveness to the paralyzed man, to Matthew, and to the tax collectors, when he offers them grace, what he is actually offering is himself.

Jesus knew the cost of those words. He knew offering grace and forgiveness meant that he must die.

Apart from Jesus there is no grace, there is no forgiveness.

In scripture, grace and Jesus are intertwined so much so that the apostle Paul literally refers to Jesus as grace saying Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,”

The grace Jesus offers is available to ALL who believe in Him, to all who put their faith in Him.

Only Jesus had the authority to forgive sins, the authority he displays is gracious authority- his grace sets us free from the bondage of sin.

This grace is distinct to the Christian faith. No other religion emphasizes divine grace the way the Bible does.

Jesus uses his authority to forgive- this forgiveness of sins is completely undeserved- it is God’s grace towards us.

Here, we see Jesus offer grace to the most hated in society, to the outcasts, those on the outside- drawing them to himself.

The author Matthew strategically puts the story of his conversion in the middle of a chapter filled with Jesus’ miracles.

Why? Because Matthew recognized that the fact that Jesus would take someone like him and call him to himself....was in fact a miracle. This placement isn’t random, it’s incredibly strategic.

in vs 17 Jesus says: But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Here Jesus is quoting Hosea 6:6. Hosea was a prophet in the OT who condemned those who had placed ritualistic conformity over care and compassion.

Jesus is once again telling the Pharisees that their adherence to rituals was not the point. That all of their attempts at being good rule followers was not enough to get them into heaven. They needed the life changing, life altering grace of Jesus Christ because they would never measure up.

One way that the religious leaders were focusing on ritualistic conformity was through fasting.

9:14-18- Fasting

This takes us straight into vs.’s 14-18 where Jesus addresses a question from John the Baptist’s disciples regarding the lack of fasting being done by Jesus’ disciples...in their minds any good Jew would fast and they weren’t fasting.

There was only 1 day a year that Jews would fast and that was on the Day of Atonement, but pious Jews also fasted on Monday’s and Thursday’s.

Fasting in the OT fasting was done as a way of mourning and praying- a way of essentially begging God to come and save them- to send the Messiah, the bridegroom. It was all about the future hope of a coming Messiah.

In vs 15. Jesus is essentially saying…hello, I am the Messiah, I am the bridegroom- I am the one you have been fasting for- the one you have been waiting for....

My disciples aren’t fasting because I am here. That would be silly.

At the end of vs. 15, for the first time Jesus eludes to the disciples that He is not always going to be with them. And when that time comes…they will fast BUT, their fasting will have both a past and future element.

This is the fasting practiced by believers today..

When believers fast today it is a recognition that the king has come but an acknowledgement that we still live in a broken world, surrounded by the effects of sin…

It is a time of rejoicing in what Christ has already done but also longing for the day when Christ will come again and all things will be made new.

When he referred to himself as the bridegroom, he is once again pointing out that he is God. He again pointing to his deity- to his authority.

in vs. 16 & 17 Jesus points out that the rituals the Pharisees so dearly loved were incompatible with His teachings.

If you put a cloth that isn’t pre-washed on a garment- it will make it worse. Same thing with the wine, if you put new wine in an old wineskin, it will burst, again making matters worse.

Jesus is saying that he didn’t come to patch up OT Judaism and all the religious rituals...

Jesus came to bring grace and forgiveness of sins- once and for all-

He came to set people free from their sin- something only he had the power and authority to do.

Key Truth: Jesus’ gracious authority sets people free from sin.

Have you responded to Jesus’ gracious authority with faith in Him?

Scripture tells us that one day, every knee will bow before Jesus

…at some point, every person will recognize Jesus’ authority and bow before him..

But not everyone will be set free from sin- only those who have accepted his gracious authority and responded in faith will receive eternal life.

When we put our faith in Him- then we are set free from sin- from death and offered new life with Christ.

Who in your life needs to know of the gracious authority of Jesus today?

Is there someone you have given up on, someone you have deemed as too far gone? Jesus’ gift of grace, the gift of himself, is for all who choose Him...

Matthew threw a party because he wanted his friends to know Jesus- many of us will be attending parties this week- who is God asking you tell about this gift of Jesus, of his grace, this thanksgiving- who in your life needs set free from sin?

10:47. 2. Life Giving Authority- Matthew 9:18-34

9:18-26- Bleeding Woman/Dead Girl

In vs 18-26 we are going to see 2 miracles intertwined into these few verses.

In vs 18 we meet a synagogue leader who we know from the NT gospel of Mark is named Jarius. Here Jarius comes in desperation to Jesus because his young daughter had just died.

Now, Jarius being a synagogue leader would have known who Jesus was, he would have heard the stories of this blasphemous teacher who was claiming to be God.

But, unlike the majority of religious leaders, Jarius believed that Jesus had the power to raise his daughter from the dead. He believed that he had the power to give life.

Jarius risked his social standing within the synagogue to go and find Jesus and ask him to save his daughter from death.

Notice in vs 18 it says that he knelt before Jesus.

This kneeling is important because it shows that not only did Jarius believe Jesus had the power to heal his daughter, but he is also submitting himself to his authority- recognizing him his Lord and King.

Jesus agrees to go with him and see his daughter, so off they go, but on the way Jesus is delayed.

vs 20 tells us that a woman that had been bleeding for 12 years reached out and touched the edge of his cloak.

Jesus would have been wearing an outer garment that was rectangular and had tassels on the corner. In the OT book of Numbers God commanded the Jews to wear tassels to remind them of His commandments). So, it’s not like she yanked on his robe which somehow startled him and stopped him in his tracks.

She barely touches him…but Jesus, in an act of love and compassion, is completely in tune with his people, with his children...

So, Jesus stops- in the middle of the crowd- and he addresses the woman directly.

Here again we see that Jesus is interruptible..this woman was worth stopping.

Jesus wanted her to know that she wasn’t healed b/c of some magic or from even simply touching a Holy man. She was healed b/c of her faith in who He was.

Her bleeding condition would have caused her to be on the outside of the community.

It would have meant that she was ceremonially unclean. She would not have been allowed to go into the temple and partIcipate in Jewish religious life. She, like Matthew, like the leper and the paralytic- was an outsider- in need of a inner cleansing

Being healed from her condition would have meant a restoration of life here on earth for her- she would now be able to be apart of the religious community again, to be back with her people.

Jesus-saw her pain and in the midst of his other business- stopped- he called her daughter- what a tender compassionate moment this must have been. Jesus was acknowledging this woman as a precious and loved child.

By calling her daughter, Jesus is communicating that she is apart of his kingdom, that her faith was genuine... and not only did he restore her life here on earth by healing her from her condition and allowing her to rejoin her community…she was also a part of his forever kingdom in heaven.

Her faith in Him is what saved her and gave her eternal life. They key was that her faith was in the right place..the right person..Her faith was in Jesus. And through him, she was given everlasting life.

in vs 23, After Jesus heals the bleeding woman, he continues on to Jarius’ house. And when he arrives their is a noisy crowd and people playing pipes.

Funeral’s in that time took place quickly- on the day someone died-

so people would hire professional mourners to come and play music and mourn over the person who had died since there wasn’t time to gather all the family and friends.

This is an important detail because it signifies that the girl had in fact died- the funeral had already started.

Jesus sees them and tells them to leave, in which of course they laugh at him- the girl had died and from their perspective, there was nothing he could do about it.

But, in vs. 25, we see Jesus walk right by them, right past the laughter, and go in, touch the girl and she gets up.

Up until this point, Jesus had performed quite a few miracles- but now he was bringing people back from the dead- he was bringing life.

Jesus had the power and authority to bring life to the dead both physically and spiritually.

9:27-31- Blind Men

vs.’s 27-31: 2 blind men follow Jesus “...calling out, Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

This is the 1st time Jesus is called the Son of David- which would have been a direct reference to Jesus as the promised Messiah in the OT, the one who would come from the House of David.

Jesus again, deals with the spiritual problem before the physical problem- asking them if they believe that HE- JESUS- is able to do this.

Did you catch that…Jesus wants to know who their faith is in…is their faith in Him?

In this instance, Jesus does choose to heal their physical blindness, but, his first and foremost concern is about the condition of their heart.

Now, why would Jesus warn them not to tell anyone?

Jesus does this frequently after healings and the reason is debated among scholars....

Jesus came to bring life to those that believe in him..However, not everyone who came seeking Jesus’ power wanted to submit to his authority as Lord over their life.

Eventually, the crowds who were in awe of Jesus’ miracles would also be the ones begging for him to be crucified. There was a specific time that Jesus was to die and perhaps God was saying- it is yet not time.

Regardless, people, even today, love a good miracle..we see the crowds responding in awe and wonder at Jesus, but not faith…a story of miraculous healing or someone whose life has been changed for the apparent better always makes a great movie or headline.

And those things are amazing…when God moves in our lives in miraculous ways we should absolutely tell others BUT we should also be sure to worship and give glory to the one who worked the miracle in the first place.

The point of the miracle is to draw us to Jesus- to grow our faith and trust in Him- but if we focus on the miracle and not on the one performing the miracle we have completely missed the point. We have missed Jesus.

9:32-34- Demon Possessed man

In our concluding verses, 32-34 we have a demon possessed man, and once again Jesus shows us his authority over demons by driving them out of the man, which also restored his ability to speak.

The crowds were amazed… the pharisees saw the miracle but attributed the source as demonic.

But the crowds and the pharisees ..missed the point...

They saw the miracle, but missed the source-

the pharisees even recognized that it required a higher power to drive out the demon and yet they attributed the higher power Jesus was using as demonic.

The Pharisees do not question Jesus’ power to heal, they question the source of the authority.

The other gospels go into much more detail regarding some of the miracles we read about in chapter 9, but Matthew here is once again intentionally brief.

Why? Because he doesn’t want you to focus on the in’s and out’s of the miracle- he wants you to focus on the source. On Jesus..

Jesus’ authority brings LIFE to those that believe in HIM through faith- to those who believe that

He is Messiah.

King.

Lord of Lords.

Son of God.

Son of David...

and as Jesus gives his own life up....he gives life...

Key Truth: Jesus’ authority gives life to those who believe in Him through faith.

Have you fully submitted to His authority today- have you, like Jarius, knelt before him, recognizing that he is the one that brings eternal life?

What would it look like for you to fully submit to God?

Is there something you are desperately holding onto- that you are convinced is somehow better than the life offered through Jesus.

Maybe you are like the pharisees, and you are actively rejecting His authority in your life- refusing to humbly submit to Him- running tirelessly on your own attempt at self- sufficiency.

Or Maybe you are like the crowds, watching in awe and amazement at what God is doing but haven’t taken the step to respond in faith to Jesus’ gracious, life giving authority.

It is not enough to just know about Jesus. It is not enough to simply recognize his power…in order to live under his gracious authority, we must take the step to humbly submit to Him as Lord and Savior and put our faith in Him.

10:58 Conclusion

So as we close, let’s remember that it’s not about the miracle, it’s about the one doing the miracles.

Jesus is still a miracle worker-as I think about our BSF class alone, I see hundreds of miracles through the faith of so many of you who have given your live’s to Jesus....

However, I also recognize that some of you perhaps have not fully submitted to Him…I dont know who you are, but

I believe that there is another miracle waiting to happen through our BSF class today…would you say yes to the gracious gift of Jesus and submit to His authority. Would you tell someone of the grace that Jesus offers?

If you have submitted to His authority through faith- then today, you are a living miracle, you have gone from death to life, and God continuously offers his grace to you every day, through every situation.

Recognizing this should lead us to praise and worship of God the Father, the source of all miracles, the source of all power and authority, the source of life...

So, when it comes to Jesus, let’s not be afraid of the word submit…

submitting means placing yourself under Jesus’ compassionate, gracious and life giving authority.....

under the one who is

always trustworthy,

who will never let us down,

and who graciously gave his life for all.

What an amazing, gracious God we serve.

Let’s pray.