March
13th Jesus
heals a Paralytic
17:
And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there
were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out
of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of
the Lord was present to heal them. 18: And, behold, men brought in a
bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to
bring him in, and to lay him before him. 19: And when they could not
find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with
his couch into the midst before Jesus. 20: And when he saw their
faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. 21: And the
scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which
speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? 22: But
when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them,
What reason ye in your hearts? 23: Whether is easier, to say, Thy
sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 24: But that ye
may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins,
(he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and
take up thy couch, and go into thine house. 25: And immediately he
rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to
his own house, glorifying God. 26: And they were all amazed, and they
glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen
strange things to day.
Jesus
calls the publican Levi
27:
And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi,
sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
28: And he left all, rose up, and followed him. 29: And Levi made him
a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of
publicans and of others that sat down with them. 30: But their
scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do
ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31: And Jesus answering
said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they
that are sick. 32: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance.
Objection
– Fasting
33:
And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and
make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine
eat and drink? 34: And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of
the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35: But the
days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them,
and then shall they fast in those days. 36: And he spake also a
parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an
old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece
that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. 37: And no
man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst
the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 38: But
new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. 39: No
man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he
saith, The old is better.
Now
the religious leaders and doctors of the Law from every town and city
of Israel had gathered to hear Christ. At this stage they were to
listen not to ask questions that would come later. In this incident
because of the huge number of religious leaders the man who was
paralysed is let down through the roof. Christ simple says to him,
’Your sins are forgiven’. The people gathered around are thinking
who does he think he is? Only God can forgive sins committed against
God! However Christ knows what they are thinking so he poses a
question. This is the usual form of Jewish teaching. Christ says,
‘Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or to say get up
and walk?’ Well obviously its easier to say your sins are forgiven
because there is no physical thing to see and therefore its easier to
say. So Christ heals the man and in doing so by doing the harder
thing he proves that he is able to do the easier thing. The People
are astounded and the religious leaders return to the High priest to
say that this man is certainly significant. Matthew also called Levi
made a great feast but the Pharisees and Scribes complained that
Christ associated himself with sinners and tax collectors. So Christ
responds, He says I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. Here we have the key to Christ ministry he was calling
on the sinners of Israel to return unto the Lord their God. Then
there arose a question about fasting. They said why do John’s
disciples fast and the disciples of the Pharisees fast? but your
disciples don’t fast? Christ said at a wedding the guests don’t
fat they eat and rejoice but there will come a time when Christ will
Israel and then they will mourn and fast. In the Sermon on the Mount
Christ speaking of the Kingdom said, blessed are they that mourn
because they will be comforted. Then Christ spoke about the
difference between the Old Jewish religion and His teaching. He says
Christianity is not a patch sown into and old priestly garment,
because if the patch on the garment shrinks then the old priests
ministry is ended because his garment is torn. And Christianity is
not a new infusion of spiritual life into the old bottles of Judaism.
Because the old bottles of Judaism are hard and unyielding and the
new wine will burst them and then the Old bottles are destroyed and
the wine is lost. The teaching of Christ must be contained in new
bottles.
- What was happening at this house where Jesus was?
- What job did Levi (Matthew) have?
- Why didnt Jesus and his disciples fast?
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