Scripture in red, Comments in black
1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. From the previous chapter the people there asked Jesus to leave. Jesus did not stay where He was not accepted. His gift is free for the asking but Jesus will not force anyone to come to Him, it has to be our own free will. We should go to Christ because we love him and have total faith in Him.
2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. Notice here that Jesus took care of the man’s spiritual needs first. If our spirit is sick, the health of our flesh bodies is not that important. Our spirit body is the one that will enter eternity, not the flesh body so the needs of the spirit are of more importance.
3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. The scribes do not believe Jesus is the messiah, God with us, therefore they do not believe Jesus has power or authority to forgive sins.
4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? Here Jesus asks point blank if a man can heal the sick with a word; being given this power from God, why could God not also give the power to forgive sins? The scribes do not believe Jesus is the messiah, they think He is just a man.
6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
7 And he arose, and departed to his house.
8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. After healing this man the question Jesus asked hangs in the air and the crowd is amazed but as you see the crowd glorified God in giving such power to men. God has yet to bestow the power of healing to mankind, at the moment it resides only in Jesus, His son.
9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. As we see Matthew was a publican when Jesus called him to follow. Publicans were tax collectors and most of them were sinners in that they often overcharged the people and kept the overage for themselves thus becoming wealthy. Was Matthew one of these types? I believe so simply because God chooses sinners because we are all sinners, but in this case I think it was to show God’s mercy and love and His ability to change people. God does not call the qualified He qualifies those He calls.
10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? Isn’t it ironic that just after Jesus called a publican to follow Him other publicans (and sinners) sat with Him? What did Matthew think of the question from the Pharisees? Notice also the haughtiness of the Pharisees, they call people sinners yet we know all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. The Pharisees are judging others which we should never do. Did all their learning and education in the scriptures leave out this point or is it that these Pharisees believe they are above the average man? Pride and self-righteousness are what caused Satan’s fall.
12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. The Pharisees heard this but none admitted they were sinners and needed help, this is how the self-righteous think. Everyone on earth needs the help of God because none of us can do anything on our own. If you believe that you do not need God then I can assure you will have the help of Satan.
13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. It is humorous that Jesus tells those that are the most educated in scripture to go learn something. The Pharisees and Sadducees studied the scriptures very thoroughly and could quote most of it by memory. Jesus is teaching us that even though we can remember verses, that does not mean we understand. Just as it was in the time of Jesus, today there are those that are knowledgeable in what the Bible says but they do not understand or teach the truth of the Bible.
Where Jesus says He is not come to call the righteous, he is actually talking about the self-righteous because these people think they are already above others. The Bible says there are none righteous and all have come short of the glory of God. This is another time Jesus proclaims a verdict against the Pharisees; they are the “righteous” (self-righteous) spoken of here. Jesus wants them to understand they are wrong in their thinking and teachings.
14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? Whoa! The disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus asking a question that sounds like they are pointing an accusing finger at Jesus and his apostles. They seem to be aligning themselves with the Pharisees. Are these few disciples attempting to discredit Jesus so that he will not take glory from John? If so I can assure you that John the Baptist would stop them if he were there. John the Baptist said, to paraphrase the scripture “I must decrease and Jesus must increase”. Here is another group that are misguided, not by what they were taught but by their own misguided sense of loyalty to John. This is a lesson you should remember. We do not set humans in place or above God. The very reason God allowed John to be imprisoned was so that his followers could more closely follow Jesus. It was needed, I believe, in order that there would be no confusion as to whom the disciples were to follow. Remember that many questioned if John was the Messiah.
15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. People do not mourn because of happiness. Jesus is a blessing.
16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. This is a parable from Jesus teaching that the old garment will not receive a new patch because the old will not be able to conform to the new. The old has shrunk and set therefore if the old cannot conform to the new something has to give way and the old will lose. This is interesting and a little complicated unless you understand what the connection is between what the pharisees understood at that time and what the scriptures mean and what God expects from man. I’ll explain this further after the next verse.
17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. Old wine skins (bottles) are not flexible and therefore will not accept the new wine just as the Pharisees will not accept the new teachings of Christ. Wine will ferment and expand and if the wine skin will not be flexible it will burst or be destroyed. Since the subject of the response from Jesus was about fasting let’s start from there. Jesus is telling the listeners that something new has taken place. The old traditions are soon to be replaced because a new dispensation will soon come to pass. Men need to be flexible in knowledge of the truth in order to understand the will and plan of God or they may “burst” or be destroyed.
There will be a new reason for fasting and there will only be one last sacrifice. In other words, when the mission of Jesus is complete, the old ideas will not fit the new and the Jewish people will need to rethink a few things. Jesus is not changing the law; he is fulfilling the law. Jesus will be the last sacrifice and he has come to stop the reasons for mourning because in Him sin is forgiven. Death will be defeated and now the reason to fast will be to show love for God, to give up something for a time for the glory and mercy and grace of God. Not to mourn because death from sin exist because both have been defeated.
18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.
20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. These two people have shown true faith that Jesus is God. They must believe that Jesus is God with us because all the teachings show only God has power over life and death, illness and health and forgiveness of sin. The power over illness is shown here and the power over death follows in the next few verses.
23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, Many times people were hired to mourn and cry when a person of stature passed away.
24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.
26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. Never discount the power of God. If you do, you will be the one that is scorned in the end.
27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. Who are these people that know Jesus is God with us and know what the Pharisees do not know? These blind men correctly asserted that Jesus was to inherit the throne of David. They are blind so we know they cannot even see Jesus. How do they know who Jesus is? God placed that faith in them.
28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. I need to say something here about the word Lord and the use of the capitalization of the L in Lord. Just as when the word God is used, if the G is in lower case it means it is not the God of Israel but a false god. Lord here means the same thing, God, Savior, Father etc. These blind men knew Jesus was God, how? Because of faith, trust and perhaps knowledge from their hearts.
29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
30 And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
32 As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. This is a mistaken statement from those that witnessed this because God did many wonders for the Children of Israel but these people were so removed from God that they had forgotten how great and powerful God truly is.
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. The Pharisees knew this to be an incorrect statement but they said it because their entire life was based on people following their teachings. Even today there are those that desire people follow false teachings because they want to be a god just as Satan did. These people had power and Jesus was a threat to take that power away from them.
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. How odd it is that the multitudes that followed Jesus were fasting (thus the fainting) because they recognized the truth of the word of God and wanted to hear the truth so much that they would rather forgo food and water just to make sure they did not miss a single word of God’s truth. That is the difference between fasting because of mourning and the fasting to know God and his word. Where were the fainting Pharisees and Sadducees at this time? Nowhere to be found, because they thought they knew the truth but were self-deceived.
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Jesus means that He can be the shepherd to them all but we as human beings need to be the laborers that assist Him in spreading the truth and reap the souls and bring them to God.
38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. God wants more people like John the Baptist who recognize the truth and preach the truth.
