Hi, welcome back to the Semi -Seminarian. In
this week's episode, we're going to continue
looking at the gospel according to Matthew. This
week, we're going to focus on the people's response
to Jesus' preaching, teaching, and healing through
Galilee. This teaching had intended to also...
include the teaching on the parables, Jesus'
response to the people's response. Unfortunately,
our time ran a little bit long in our session,
so that's going to have to be for next episode.
But this is pretty good stuff. This is people's
response to Jesus right here on the Semi -Seminarium.
There are going to be times in this series where
we're going to kind of fly at 30 ,000 feet. and
look at the gospel of Matthew as a whole and
look at it thematically and the background of
it and the behind the scenes kind of of it, if
you will. And then there'll be times when we'll
zero in on a particular story in the gospel to
illustrate perhaps that larger theme. OK, so
we're going to kind of zoom in and out. And that's
why we are kind of bumping along here to chapter
eight, because tonight we want to look at. People's
response to Jesus and the reality of the coming
kingdom of God. So tonight's study is going to
be divided in two parts. Chapter 8 to 10 is going
to be Jesus discussing the kingdom of God and
people into people's lives. And in that, we're
going to see people's reaction to the reality
of Jesus. And then in chapters 11 to 13, we're
going to look at the response to Jesus and his
reality. And through the parables that we're
going to look at at the end of our study tonight,
we're going to kind of see, if you will, Jesus'
response to that response. And what Jesus is
going to begin to do through the parables that
we'll find at the end of our study tonight is
he's going to, in this story form, in the tradition
of... Hebrew literature. He's going to begin
to profess the realities of the kingdom of God
and the implications of that kingdom for us.
Now what's kind of neat about the first part,
the chapters 8 -10 part, is that there is a neat
little pattern that follows in chapter 8 -10.
And what it is, is there are nine stories and
they're actually divided into groups of three.
And then in between, There's going to be a story
where Jesus always basically says, follow, follow
me. And so the first three of the nine is going
to be the leper. I'm not going to write all this.
The leper, the centurion, sorry, the centurion
and Peter's mother -in -law. Group of three stories
there. Then we're going to see a story where
Jesus is going to say, follow me, or he's going
to talk about the cost of following him. Then
there's another group of three, which would be
the stormy sea story, the two men that are possessed
by demons. And then the paralyzed man in the
book of Mark comes down through the ceiling.
And that's those three. That's that set. And
then Jesus will have a. Follow me story. And
then these nine stories conclude with a story
of a dead woman and a dead girl and a sick woman,
two blind men, and then the mute man. So what
Paul or what Matthew has done here is he's divided
these stories about Jesus and his encounter with
people as he's healing and teaching and preaching.
And then each of those stories, we're going to
find people's reactions. to Jesus' healing, teaching,
and preaching. And they're kind of divided into
three little groups here with little breaks in
between where Jesus talks about the reality,
the cost of following Him. So in each one of
these groupings, I'm going to kind of slow down
and talk about one a little bit more than the
others in each of the three groupings. But we'll
mention all nine stories. And then when we get
to the follow me stories, we'll kind of take
a second and slow down a little bit and kind
of go through those stories in a little bit more
detail. So let's begin tonight. Chapter eight.
I was mentioning earlier that I was looking at
doing this part of the study thematically and
not necessarily in the amount of scripture I
needed to cover. And as I began to prepare this
study, I realized I may have bitten off more
than I could chew on this one. We're just going
to see how this goes. So we're going to begin
with the chapter 8, very first story here, and
this is Jesus healing a man with leprosy. So
let's kind of go through the story, and let's
kind of point out a few things that the story
tells us, what the story tells us about Jesus,
and what Matthew's trying to show us here about
the story of Jesus. So verse 1, when Jesus came
down from the mountainside, now I hate getting
three or four words into it and having to take
a break. But this is from the Sermon on the Mount,
okay? So Jesus goes up on the mount. He teaches,
right? He teaches chapters 5 through 7, which
are the, it's basically the new law, right? On
his way down the mountainside, people are following
him around. This is where we're at in the story.
Sermon on the Mount's gotten finished, and he
is leaving the mountain, and people are following
him. Large crowds followed him, a man with leprosy.
Now your Bible might have a little footnote letter
there, might have an asterisk there. More than
likely that footnote or that asterisk is going
to say something like, it probably wasn't leprosy
that this man had, but it was probably some sort
of skin disease like leprosy. In essence, the
reason why that's there is it may not have been
leprosy, but it would have been something that
would have prevented the man from ever being
considered ceremonially clean. That's the main
point there. So a man who could never be ceremonially
clean and enter the temple came and knelt before
him. Now, as we go through these stories, as
we go through each one of these stories, some
in a little bit more detail than others. Often
what we do is we focus on Jesus and how he interacts
with the people because we want to focus on Jesus,
right? There's nothing wrong with focusing on
Jesus, trust me. But for tonight's exercise,
what I'd like for you to do is as we go through
these stories, I want you to pay particular attention
to the people that are interacting with Jesus.
So pay attention to the people that are interacting
with Jesus and think to yourself, What's this
person's situation in life? For example, this
person is a leper. He's going to be an outcast
from his society. He's never going to be able
to participate religiously because he's ceremonially
unclean. He is reduced to doing nothing but begging
because he can't have a job. He can't more than
likely have a family because he's an outcast
from the society. So as we go through, Each of
these stories, I want you to actually tonight
focus on the people interacting with Jesus. And
then I want you to think about how do they respond
to the reality of Jesus. And what we're going
to find is more times than not that the people
who are the least likely, if you look at it from
a traditional sense, to see Jesus for who he
really is are the ones that get it. And the most
knowledgeable, the ones that should see Jesus
right off the bat, are the ones that don't. We're
going to see that not always, but we're going
to see that being most of the time. So a man
with leprosy came and knelt down beside him and
he said this. We're going to kind of take a few
seconds to go through what he says here, because
I think we read through this and we hear one
thing, but it actually says something different.
If you are willing, he says to Jesus, you can
make me clean. Now, I think we brush through
that and we recognize a few things about this
guy and what he believes to be true about Jesus.
Firstly, if you're willing. Secondly, you can
make me clean. Now, the reason why I think we
brush through that is because I'm guilty of this
and I imagine you might be too. And whenever
I read that, what I actually read in my head
is, if you are willing, would you or could you?
Make me clean. But that's actually not what he's
saying. He's saying if you are willing, you can.
Now your Bible, does anybody have words there
that are different than can? Because in other
translations we'll say you are able instead of
can. Right? And so other translations would say
if you are willing, I know that you are able
to make me clean. Now let's stop and just think
about what does this guy think about Jesus then?
He recognizes Jesus has Jesus' power, right?
But what he doesn't know is, is Jesus compassionate
enough to share that power with me? I know you're
powerful, but do you have compassion to share
that power with me? I'm not sure about that part
of you. It's a very interesting take on the reality
of who Jesus is. by this leper. Jesus reached
out his hand, and I feel like when I read this,
it's almost in slow -mo in my mind. Jesus reached
out his hand and touched the man. I am willing,
he says. In other words, you see me for the power
I have. What you didn't see in me is do I love
you? Do I have compassion enough to help you?
Yes, I do. That's why I'm here. That's interesting.
Now this guy might have been dirty, right? He
was an outcast, probably didn't have a lot of
money, probably had to beg for whatever money
he did get to buy whatever clothes he could get
or food he could eat, right? He didn't say, if
you are willing, will you heal me? He doesn't
say that. He says, will you make me clean? That's
something completely different, isn't it? And
he's not talking about would you make me more
hygienic? Would you make me clean? Can you put
me in a position where I could have an opportunity
to have a right relationship with God again?
Because in the Jewish culture, if you're not
able to be clean and enter the temple and participate
in the temple system, then you're not able to
be clean. You're not able to have a right relationship
with God. And so his command in the healing is
that you're now healed from leprosy, although
he is. What Jesus has actually given him through
the healing is an opportunity to have an opportunity
to be made right with God once again. Be clean.
And immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Then Jesus said to him, see that you don't tell
anyone, but go. Now what he's saying here is,
look, don't worry about what other people think
about you. That's not what you wanted to begin
with, right? What you wanted was to be clean.
So don't worry about that. Go to the priest.
Because they're the only ones who can make you
right with God. Or well, can make you clean so
that you can be right with God through the temple
system. Go show yourself to the priest. Offer
the gift Moses commanded as a testimony to them.
You want to have an opportunity to be made right
with God. Here's your opportunity. Now go and
do it. The next story is the story of the faith
of the centurion. I want to point out just a
couple of things. Now, Capernaum, you guys might
notice that I've given you a map of the Galilee
region. As you can see here, the Galilee region
here, this is a lake that... from its northern
tip to its southern tip, which is actually kind
of cut off because I wanted to blow this coin
up as big as I could get it on this half a sheet.
From its northern tip to its southern tip is
about 13 miles. Okay, so it's a big lake is what
it is. Okay, but you can also see the towns,
some of the towns around here, Capernaum, Bethsaida,
right? And then we also have places like Tiberias.
There would be Gadara. is going to be down on
that tip that you can't see because I had to
blow up the coin thing. But Gadara will come
up here in a minute because we'll run across
a couple of guys that are called Gadarenes. That's
where they're from. The Mount of the Beatitudes,
you guys see that? That's the mount that we're
talking about. In this part of our story, that's
where Jesus is. And so we see Capernaum here
really close. There, that's where we're at next.
When Jesus entered that city, Capernaum, a centurion
came to him. Now, we don't know for sure that
this guy is a Roman soldier. More than likely
he is. But what we definitely do know about this
centurion is he is not Jewish. He could have
been Syrian. He could have been any other nationality
and served in the Roman army. and Roman army,
he could have also been a Roman. We don't necessarily
know, but we do know that he's not Jewish. And
that will come up here in a second. So he has
this servant who is at home paralyzed. Now he
too is going to reveal about what he, this non
-Jewish centurion, believes about who Jesus is.
In verse 8, the centurion says, Lord, I do not
deserve you. He's asking Jesus to come help him
save his servant. I don't even deserve you to
be in my house because I recognize who you are.
I also believe that your power is so great, it's
not like you've got to be there and even touch
him. I believe that your power is such that if
you just say that my servant could be healed,
he is healed. That's how much faith I have in
your power, Jesus. Blows Jesus away. Right? He
says, I have not found anyone in Israel with
such great faith. That's how we know that this
guy's not an Israelite. Okay? That's how we know
he's not a Jew. I haven't run across anybody
that is Jewish like I am. That sees it the way
I see it. And let me tell you something, he says.
There's going to be problems for a lot of those
people. Right? Because there are going to be
people that think that they should have a seat
at the feast of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in
the kingdom of heaven. Right? But they'll be
thrown outside. There'll be darkness and weeping
and gnashing of teeth. He says, now go. Let it
be done just as you believed. And a servant was
healed at that moment. That's the second of our
first triad of stories. Then Jesus goes to Peter,
Cephas. Right? Goes to Peter's house, and Peter's
mother -in -law is there. She's got a fever,
and he touches her, and the fever leaves, and
she's healed immediately and begins serving the
men in the household. When evening came, many
who were demon -possessed were brought to him,
and he drove out the spirits with a word and
healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what
was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, like we
see... Very frequently, we're going to go back
to these Old Testament prophets. He took our
infirmities and bore our disease. So what we're
seeing in this first triad of stories is Jesus
teaching and healing. And what we're going to
see through this kind of pulling out of demons,
this casting out of demons, we're going to see
something about the reality of why Jesus is here.
But I don't want to get into that just yet. I
want us to hang on to... The idea of Jesus confronting
the evil in the world and the reality, what that
means for us. And we're going to find out more
about that here in just a second. But now we
get to our first break story, right? In between
the two groups of three. And this is a follow
story. And this is the cost. Jesus wants to have
a cost, a talk about what it means to follow
him. And that to do that here on earth is going
to cost you something. Now when Jesus saw the
crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to
the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of
the law. Now this is going to be somebody who's
literate. This is somebody that would have been
not only someone that would have professed teachings
about the law, but would have also produced manuscripts.
The word scribe, if you've ever heard that term.
Like the Pharisees and the scribes, or the scribes
and the Pharisees, right? The scribes are these
teachers of the law, okay? And that's important.
It's a function of their job. Now remember, we
talked last time about the... and the value of
first century of ancient manuscripts and about
how valuable, how weird it is that we have so
many biblical transcripts because of how expensive,
how hard they were to produce, and how small
the audience was that could consume that media.
There's only a few people that can read. There's
only a few people that can write, and it was
expensive to do it. What that meant is that if
you were a teacher of the law in Jewish custom,
if you were a scribe, you were rich. Because
your trade, your craft of being able to produce
manuscripts was very expensive work. If you were
a scribe, you were wealthy. It's important to
this story here because of what Jesus says to
him. So you have to think, a teacher of the law,
remember we're paying attention to the people,
not necessarily just to Jesus. But this wealthy
guy comes to Jesus and he says, Jesus, first
of all, he says, You're my teacher. He recognizes
him as the rabbi. He says, I'll follow you wherever
you go. I am willing, Jesus, I believe in who
you are. I'm willing to go where you go. And
Jesus goes, is that so? Well, before you commit
and get on the bus, let me just tell you that
foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the
Son of Man, which is Jesus' favorite term for
himself, It comes from Daniel chapter 7. But
the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.
And what Jesus is saying here is, look, animals
have places that they can call home. Even animals
have places that will provide them protection.
But because of who I am, and because of the way
I know the world is going to respond to me, I'm
not even afforded the luxury of a place that
I can hide out. in. Are you willing, rich guy,
are you willing to be homeless with me? Because
that's what it means. That's the cost of following
me. That's what he's saying here. Are you willing
to accept that cost? Another disciple comes to
him. Here's another person with their take on
Jesus. Lord, he says, I want to follow you, right?
I'm willing to go, but first let me go and bury
my father. But Jesus told him, follow me and
let the dead bury their own dead. What's he saying?
Following me is not on your terms. Following
me isn't when it's convenient. Because that's
what this guy is saying. Look, I've got some
things to wrap up. I've got some loose ends I've
got to tie up. I'm waiting for the right time
to do what you want me to do, Jesus. I'm waiting
for the perfect moment to jump and decide that
I'm going to follow you. And Jesus goes, that's
not how this works. Because if you understand
who I really am, you're out now. Let the dead
bury the dead. The cost. The cost of following
Jesus means that there are going to be times
where we could put zero faith or zero interest
into anything that is a material comfort. Here
on this earth. That following Jesus is more important
to us than any of that stuff. And to follow Jesus
means to turn control of our lives and our time
over to him. And that's what Jesus is saying
here. So follow me. Follow me. But it's going
to cost you. Okay. The second group of three
stories here begins with Jesus calming the storm.
And this is a story. That most of us, if we've
been around church much at all, we're already
kind of familiar with this story. But let's look
at, let's go through the story rather quickly.
But let's focus on people's reaction to Jesus
in the story and what it can tell us. Then he
got into the boat. His disciples followed him.
Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake
so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus
was asleep. He was sleeping. The disciples, there's
going to be our reactionary group, the disciples
went and woke him. Saying, Lord, save us. We're
going to drown. He says, you of little faith,
why are you so afraid? And then he got up and
rebuked the winds and the waves and it was completely
calm. And the men, right, their opinions of Jesus
now have changed. Before, Jesus... I don't even
think you have the power to do anything about
this. I don't even think you care about whether
we're drowning or not because you're asleep.
They are confronted with the reality of the power
of Jesus and their minds are blown. They have
seen something that they did not expect. Jesus
doesn't quite fit into any category of person
that they've ever encountered. What kind of man
is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him.
And Matthew, I think, is super cool literature
-wise. Matthew doesn't even bother to answer
the question. He goes, oh, okay, what kind of
man is this? Let me tell you a story. He doesn't
say Superman, which is what I think I'd say.
What kind of man is this? A superman. He doesn't
say that. Matthew goes, what kind of man is he?
Let me tell you a story. When he arrived at the
other side of the region, of the Gadarenes, again,
that's down there on the southern tip of the
lake, two demon -possessed men coming from the
tombs met him. They were so violent that no one
could pass that way. What do you want with us,
son of God? They shouted. Have you come here
to torture us before the appointed time? It's
interesting that already in our stories, we're
seeing this mixed bag of results between humans
and the reality of Jesus. Maybe He's the Messiah.
He is the Messiah. He's not the Messiah. Remember,
that's our three categories. And we're already
seeing varying degrees of belief and non -belief
there. But who do these demons? They know for
sure who He is. They call Him by His name. the
Son of God, and they know He has the power to
do what He wills with them. Have you come here
to torture us before the appointed time? We already
know, these demons say, we're licked. We already
know how the story ends. We already know at the
appointed time we lose. Are you here just to
mess with us before our ultimate defeat? Some
distance from them, a large herd of pigs were
feeding. The demons begged Jesus, If you drive
us out, send us into the herd of pigs. And he
said, Go. So they came out and went into the
pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep
bank and into the lake and died in the water.
Those tending the pigs, pig shepherds, I guess,
ran off. And you would too. And they went into
town and reported all of that they had seen,
including what had happened to the demon -possessed
men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.
And when they saw Him, they pleaded with Him
to leave their region. Now this particular story
is weird to me. Because I already know how the
Bible ends. and I already completely believe
who Jesus is, I'm already aware of the resurrection
and its implications for me, and I'm not face
-to -face with a guy who could take demons out
of people's bodies and throw them into a herd
of pigs, and we could say that all you want.
Let me give you a good example. How many of you
have kids that love Santa Claus, but the first
time they ever saw Santa Claus, like in real
life, in the costume, it scared them to death?
Right? Because Santa Claus on TV is cute and
cuddly. Santa Claus in real life is a huge fat
guy and they're little kids. Right? That's scary.
I've spent my time in a Santa Claus outfit. Trust
me. I know the varying reactions of people to
the reality of Santa Claus. Jesus is going to
be certainly no different. We can read this story
with 2 ,000 years difference. behind us and think,
oh, I would have been like, oh my gosh, let me
follow you around. And I just want to be one
of your disciples. The truth is, the reality
is, if I would have seen someone exercise, two
dudes that I, look, I grew up in Gadara. I know
those guys. I don't even go out by the tombs
because I'm scared to death of those guys. Those
dudes were crazy. And Jesus pulled demons out
of them. and put them into pigs and then the
whole heart of pigs went off the cliff? That's
scary. Really. That's scary. The reality of it.
Now up to this point, I think the answer is I
don't think that they knew, but they were scared
to death of the unknown. Up to this point in
the story, we've seen nice Jesus. If He has the
power to do that to the demon -possessed guys,
He can lay our whole town to waste. I'm not sure
that He's on our side. Or they were comfortable
with their demons. And here's the truth. The
truth is, in varying degrees, we all... But let
me say it more like, in varying degrees, we,
the world, are very comfortable with our demons.
We're very comfortable with our sin. And this
is actually, their response is showing us a reality,
not only of these people, but of our people today
too. Because up to this point, and when we're
kids, right? We're taught compassionate Jesus.
We're taught healing Jesus. We're taught like
Jesus with a little toddler on one leg and a
lamb under his arm under the other leg, right?
Sweet, cuddly Jesus. Calming the winds and the
waves, right? Powerful, but still nice Jesus.
And what Matthew is telling us through this story
here is that there's an implication about Jesus
on earth. That is more important than any of
that other stuff. And the truth is, Jesus has
come to this world and through his ultimate victory
is here to confront evil. The human existence
is riddled and rife with sin and evil. And our
only pathway to salvation comes with someone
deals with sin. When someone deals with evil.
And Jesus has come to do that. And what that
tells us about the human experience is that makes
us uncomfortable sometimes when we're confronted
with it. Because we're often comfortable with
our sin. We're more comfortable with the devil
we know than the power we don't. And it's the
human experience today and was the human experience
2 ,000 years ago. Jesus then stepped onto a boat.
This is the second of our stories, I think. And
crossed over and came to his own town. Here's
another response group. Some men brought him
a paralyzed man lying on a mat. When Jesus saw
their faith, he said to the man, Take heart,
son, your sins are forgiven. And then we're going
to take a pause here and go, if you think this
sounds a lot like the story in Mark, whenever
they cut the hole in the roof and they lower
the man on the mat down to Jesus because they
couldn't get in the house, this is that story.
Matthew's written after Mark, and I think Matthew
knows. That, hey, you know, if you want more
detail to that story, go read the gospel according
to Mark. Because my story isn't about how hard
it was for them to get to Jesus. I actually want
to focus on a different part of the story. So
if you want to hear Mark's version, go read Mark.
I'm going to tell the same story, but I actually
want to focus on something else that's going
on. Now, when Jesus saw their faith, they took
so much effort. They took so much risk to get
their paralyzed man in the presence of Jesus.
It is clear they believed that one, Jesus could
do something about his situation. And two, Jesus
would do something about his situation. And whenever
it comes time to encounter with Jesus, what does
he do first? He forgives their sins. We'll get
to the paralyzed legs here in a second. But first,
know your sins are forgiven. Now this is the
kind of thing Jesus did that drove the religious
leaders nuts. And this is exactly what we find
in this story. The teachers of the law, these
scribes, these Pharisees that are following Jesus
around, they're probably on the fringes of the...
of the crowd they're probably listening certainly
trying to catch jesus in some sort of torah trap
right but they're probably also fulfilling their
own curiosity right so they're probably learning
for themselves maybe compelled because they don't
know what to make of Jesus, but certainly also
waiting for that time in which they could declare
him to be that false prophet. And whenever he
says to the man, I have forgiven your sins, their
little light bulbs above their turbans went off
and they went, wait, got it. Because in our world,
only God can forgive sins. You don't have the
authority. To do that. Unless you're saying you're
God. Right? Right? And Jesus kind of mind reading
them says. Oh guys. Why do you entertain evil
thoughts in your hearts? Why are you looking
for a way? I'm healing. I'm preaching. I'm bringing
the good news. Why are you looking for a way?
And then he asks them a question. He says. Let
me ask you. Which is easier? Is it to say your
sins are forgiven? Or to get up and walk? That's
a really, really great question. Right? Because
I can tell you right now, your sins are forgiven.
How are you going to fact check me? Right? You
could say that all you want. But to actually
have the power to do it? More than likely, it's
more likely you have the chance to make dead
legs work than actually have the power to take
away somebody's sins. But as the son of man,
I have that authority. I have that authority
on earth to first give sins. So then he says
to the paralyzed man, take up your mat and walk
home. The man got up and walked home. When the
crowd saw this, they were filled with awe. Their
minds. And they praised God who had given such
authority to man. A group of people within Jesus'
following circle at that moment went, Aha! I
see Jesus for who he really is. And now we come
to our second follow story. And this one is going
to be the story that I'm looking forward to.
teaching most tonight because i think there's
some really really cool stuff here that you probably
have at least heard part of this story before
but i bet you there's stuff in this story you
don't know so this is the part i'm really looking
forward to so as jesus went on from there he
saw a man named matthew the star of our book
here that matthew his name before it becomes
matthew is levi and he's sitting in a tax collector's
booth And Jesus says to him, follow me. And Matthew
got up and followed him. Now, keep your finger
right there. I want you to skip to chapter 10
for me. This is going to be important. Chapter
10. And I want to just read the first four verses.
And then we're going to go back. We're going
to go back to that story. But it's important
that we have in our mind. Who's going to be at
this meal here in a second? So Jesus called his
12 disciples to him. They're already there. They're
a part of our story right now when we go back.
And gave them authority to drive out impure spirits
and to heal every disease and sickness. So let's
figure out who these guys are. First, Simon,
Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, the son
of Zebedee, and his brother John. James and John
are brothers. Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas
and Matthew, our guy Matthew, the tax collector,
James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon
the Zealot, pause, Simon the Zealot, that name's
going to come back, and Judas Iscariot, whom
we all know, betrayed him. So these are the dudes
that are, not only are there groups of people
following Jesus around, But at this point, when
Matthew was called, his group of 12, that's his
inner circle. They're there. They're tied up.
They're locked and loaded here. Okay? So Matthew
says, I'm going to have a banquet. So Jesus,
why don't you and the other dudes come and eat?
And many tax collectors and sinners came and
ate with him, Jesus, right? And his disciples.
See? There they are. When the Pharisees saw this,
pay attention, they asked his disciples, why
does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said, it is not
the healthy who needs a doctor, but the sick.
But, he says, go and learn. Now, I know you guys
call yourselves Pharisees, but if you knew the
meaning of this, you wouldn't have asked that
question. So I need you to go back to your scriptures,
find what I'm talking about, and learn what this
means. He says, go and learn what this means.
And then it's in quotes, which means it's a Hebrew
scripture prophecy. I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
For I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners. Okay, footnote. Anyone? Hosea 6 .6.
You don't have to turn there. You stay right
where you're at because I'm going to read four
verses to you from Hosea 6. Then we'll come back.
So just stay right where you're at. Hosea 6,
chapter 6, verses 4 to 8 of his prophecy says
this. This is God speaking to the people that
are already exiled in Babylon. This is a psalm
that is written during the Elixir period whilst
they were in Babylon. And God says to the people
through the prophet Hosea, What can I do with
you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist, like the
early dew that disappears. Therefore, I cut you
into pieces with my prophets. I killed you with
the words of my mouth. Then my judgments go forth
like the sun. Verse 6. For I desire mercy, not
sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather
than burnt offerings. As at Adam, the psalmist
says, from the beginning. They, the people of
Israel, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful
to me there. Garden of Eden. Gilead is a city
of evildoers stained with footprints of blood.
Crazy prophecy. And the reason why that psalmist
writes these words I'm sorry, I keep saying psalm,
and I mean the prophet. Hosea writes these words,
is that God has showed him something about God's
desire and what the people were doing. And whenever
he says, I desire mercy of you, not sacrifice,
he's saying, I need you to live and love me and
each other. more than I need you to just go through
the motions and do the burnt offerings. If your
heart isn't in the right place, whenever you
present those offerings at the altar, I don't
want them. And I tried and I've tried and I've
tried. I cut. you to pieces he says with the
words of the prophets I have tried to warn you
time and time again that I don't want you to
just go through the motions I want you to love
me and to love each other I want you to have
mercy the way I have mercy for you I want you
to think about loving your neighbors as a worship
to me. Now, you might say, I can see why Jesus
would say that to these Pharisees, right? Because
they were just going through the motions. And
Jesus, man, that was just a sick burn, right?
And yeah, I think that's true. But I actually
think something else is going on here. So I'd
like to talk about that dinner party a little
bit more. And I think... Whenever he says, I
desire mercy and not burnt offerings, he's maybe
not even talking to the Pharisees directly, but
I think he's talking to people who are eating.
So let me explain why. Matthew, what did he do
for a living? Tax collector. Now, whenever we
are reading these stories, and I give you this
handout tonight, it shows you the rim of the
Lake of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee here. You'll
notice also that as we've told these stories,
it seems like a lot of them, if they don't take
place on boats on the Sea of Galilee, they take
place really close to the beach, right? It seems
like the water is pretty close. It seems like
in every one of these stories, right? So Matthew,
Matthew is a tax collector. Whom do you think
he taxes? Fishermen. Now, Let's put ourselves
in the first century Galilean life. And what
do you guys think? Do we eat a lot of meat like
cows and goats? No. Are they cheap? No, they're
expensive. And even if we can't afford them,
and sometimes we can't even afford them, and
even if we can't afford them, we don't buy them
to eat. We buy them to sacrifice. So whenever
we eat meat, what do we eat? Fish. Fish is a
huge, huge part of our diet in the first century
in Galilee. And here's Matthew, who every day
as I get off the boat to sell my livelihood,
these fish, to people who are going to eat them
because it's the only real kind of meat, if you
will, that they're going to eat. The Roman Empire's
got to get its cut first. Here's a coin from
the first century in Galilee. That's a Vespasian
there, Caesar Vespasian right there. And you
guys see the backside of the coin? Okay, that's
a Roman soldier. Who do you think the guy on
the ground getting stomped on is? The Judean
guy, right? So here's a coin. that the Roman
on the back side of it is stomping on the Jewish
guy. When the fishermen, when Matthew the tax
collector, when they did their tax business,
they transacted with these coins. Can you imagine
as a Judean, every time you've got currency,
every time you've got to pay a tax? on the fish
that you need to survive. You're doing it in
coins that has a Roman guy stomping on your people.
Does that breed harmony? Or does that breed resentment?
Resentment like crazy. And Matthew is in this
business. Right? Now, there was a guy I told
you to remember there at the 12 that's at this
dinner party. And his name is Simon. And he's
given a nickname to, I think, one, to differentiate
from Simon Peter, but also as a descriptive title
because of who he particularly was. Simon the
Zealot, that word zealot comes from the Hebrew
word kanaim. Kanaim. And that means the zealot.
That means someone that is crazy, fanatical.
And the Canaanite, these zealots, began to show
up with the revolt of Judas in Galilee. That
was a Judean, I'm sorry, a Galilean who led a
revolt of the Jewish people that was eventually
quashed. And it was the result of the census
of Quirinius in 6 AD. Does anybody remember the
significance of the census of Quirinius in 6
AD? That's what caused Mary and Joseph to be
on the road, right? They had to go back to the
hometown for the census. That's the census. It's
this one. There was so much resentment by the
Galilean people and the Judean people against
the Roman government, they actually led a bit
of a revolt. And they were quickly stormed under.
But whenever they were stormed under, a number
of them kind of hung around as domestic terrorists.
or insurgents, right? That's the word I'm looking
for, okay? And these insurgents were known as
zealots. Now, biblical scholars would say that
Simon was one of these zealots. And perhaps biblical
scholars say it. I don't know one way or the
other. I'm just saying the argument is that there
might have been a few other of the disciples
that were zealots too. Simon the zealot, a guy
who's, who is a part of the French underground,
if you will, right? Simon the Zealot, whose house
is he eating in? Right? The guy who handles in
these coins. And I think an argument could be
made that Jesus is not only talking to the Pharisees,
but he's teaching his disciples themselves. For
the new kingdom to take place, you have to have
mercy. It's not about fulfilling a law. It's
not about doing a burnt offering. It's not about
a checklist anymore. It's about changing your
heart. And the truth is, the idea that Simon
the Zealot could sit down at Matthew's house
and have dinner, much less go around together
following Jesus, is going to require a lot of
mercy. I think that's an interesting story about
Simon the Zealot. Then John, John the Baptist
is going to show up here again. His disciples,
they show up and they ask Jesus a question. So
here's another group of people that we want to
contrast against Jesus and his reality. And they
ask him, they say, how is it that we in the Pharisees,
we fast all the time? Every time it's called
for, we do it. Man, your guys don't ever do it.
Not only did not do it, they eat with sinners,
right? And Jesus says, look. And he speaks in
kind of this parable language. He says, how can
the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he's
still with them? The time will come when the
bridegroom will be taken from them. Then they'll
fast, right? We're still in a time of celebration
here. The wedding feast is still ongoing. There's
no reason to begin to fast when you're at the
wedding feast. This is a party, right? But then
he goes on to say something else. Unrelated,
I think. And I know you've probably heard a lot
of this language before. You may not know the
whole part of the scripture. But no one sews
a patch of unshrinkened cloth on an old garment.
For the patch will pull away from the garment,
making the tear worse. Neither do people pour
new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the
skins will burst, the wine will run out, and
the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new
wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.
And I think what Jesus is trying to teach John's
disciples and us here is that my showing up,
this thing I'm talking about, this kingdom of
God thing that you're going to see over and over
and over again is upside down. This is not the
continuation. of an old practice, but this is
a new thing. And I think he's saying it has to
be a new thing because it is not possible to
enter into the kingdom of God trying to do it
the old way. It's not possible. There has to
be a new way. And I'm the new way. So then we
have the story of the dead girl and the sick
woman. And while he was saying this, a synagogue
leader, so this is going to be a devout Jew here,
came and knelt before him. My daughter has just
died, but come and put your hand on her and she
will live. Jesus got up, went with him, and so
did his disciples. Just then, a woman who had
been subject to bleeding, Okay, so she has some
sort of infirmity that causes her to bleed, and
it's been something that's been a problem for
12 years of her life. So just real quickly, is
somebody who can't stop bleeding, is that somebody
that could ever be made ceremonially clean? No
way. Automatically disqualified. There's no way
around it. Not only are you ceremonially unclean
forever, but everybody you come in contact with.
is ceremonially unclean forever. And there's
just something going on in this story because
when she touches Jesus, what happens to her?
She's healed. Remember I said something new?
Matthew here is showing us something new in the
way things work in the Jewish culture. Before,
if you were clean and touched something dirty,
you became dirty. New deal. New deal now is if
you're dirty and you touch Jesus, Jesus doesn't
become dirty. You become clean. A new method
of salvation. When Jesus entered the synagogue
leader's house, saw the noisy crowd and people
playing pipes, they're mourning. This is a funeral
celebration, if you will, celebration of this
young lady's life. And Jesus says, go away. This
girl's not dead, but asleep. And they respond,
what, are you crazy? I've seen her. She's dead.
I mean, cold. After the crowd had been put outside,
he went in and took the girl by the hand, and
she got up. And news of this story spread throughout
the region, as you can imagine it would. And
then we get to a story about... which are fulfillments
of prophecy, when we're healing blind and mute,
right? The mute shall hear, the blind shall see.
That's a promise made in Hebrew Scripture, the
Old Testament. And Matthew says, I've got stories
right here that to a T fit that bill. Okay, but
there's something else going on here I think
Matthew wants to show us too. So let's focus
on the people and how they react to Jesus. As
Jesus went on from there, two blind men, followed
Him, calling out, Have mercy on us, Son of David.
Now, have you guys heard that term before? Have
you heard it before in the Gospel of Matthew?
You haven't heard anybody call Jesus the Son
of David, but you have seen that term used. In
Matthew chapter 1, does anybody have it where
they could flip back real quick just to the very
first verse of the first chapter? It's the genealogy.
And it says what? This is the genealogy of Jesus
the Messiah, the Son of David. The Son of David.
Big deal. Right? Because Matthew's going to make
three claims. Right? The Son of David. Meaning
what? The Messiah. Promised Messiah from the
Hebrew Scripture, right? He's a new Moses figure,
right? And the reason why? Moses is because new
law. Moses was the lawgiver. Jesus comes, new
law, new rules, right? And then Emmanuel. That
he is indeed God in human form. So throughout
the entirety of the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew
is going to continue to reinforce these three
promises made about who Jesus was and then back
them up with evidence. So here we go. Here's
evidence for the son of David. It's the first
time someone calls out to Jesus using this title.
Now it's also interesting to me that the first
time that in the Gospel according to Matthew
that... That people see Jesus for who he is.
They're blind. I think it's kind of brilliant
on Matthew's part. When he had gone indoors,
the blind men, they followed him. And he says
to them, do you believe I'm able to do this?
And they say, yes, Lord. Then he touched their
eyes and said, according to your faith, let it
be done to you. And their sight was restored.
And then Jesus warned them sternly, see that
no one knows about this. But they didn't pay
attention. They went out and spread the news
all over the region. While they were going out,
a man who was demon -possessed, so this is another
person to pay attention to how he reacts, a man
who was demon -possessed and could not talk was
brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven
out, the man who had been mute spoke. And the
crowd was amazed. Nothing like this has ever
happened in Israel. But the Pharisees, yeah,
no, this guy is the prince of demons. And that's
our third triad. Now, the next story... Well,
there you have it. That's the people's response
to... Jesus in the Gospel account according to
Matthew in chapters 8 through 10. I hope you'll
come back next time as we dive into the parables
that are taught by Jesus in the Gospel according
to Matthew. Listen, I hope that you'd do me a
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