Matthew 9:1-17

After returning to His hometown, a paralytic man was brought to Jesus. Jesus didn't immediately heal the man though - first He forgave his sins. This caused the religious leaders present to accuse Him of blasphemy - to judge Him rashly and harshly. He answered them by asking a rhetorical question: Is it easier to forgive sins or to heal someone? Of course, the ability to do either is God's alone. To prove to them He was able to forgive sins, He healed the man, who got up and walked away. Surely God would not allow a man pretending to be God the ability to perform a miracle of healing.

Jesus wanted to make known that He was not only here to heal physical afflictions, but to heal us from the affliction of sin. We sometimes look to Jesus only when times are rough or we need something. Make no mistake, He wants to help us with these things, but His first priority is to free us from the burden of sin.


Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him. Matthew does and a feast follows with other tax collectors. No one likes the tax man and even less so in Roman controlled Israel where tax collectors were generally despised and looked down upon - but here was Jesus mingling with a group of them. The religious leaders who saw this wanted to know why Jesus was associating with them. After all, in their minds these were unholy people and to remain holy, Jesus should avoid them. Once again, Jesus shows them where they've got it all wrong. Only sick people need doctors, he says. Who goes to the doctor when they are feeling well? Likewise, Jesus came to save sinners. If He only associated with righteous people (or those who felt they were righteous), how could He save sinners? It is more important to reach out to those in need than it is to look good in front of others.


John the Baptist's disciples came to Jesus asking why His disciples didn't fast the way "normal" religious people did. Jesus gave three illustrations as a reply. The groomsmen do not mourn when they are with the groom - it is a time of celebration. Jesus was often referred to as a groom with the church as His bride. His disciples had every reason to celebrate that the Messiah had come and was among them. When patching a hole in an old piece of clothing, if a new piece of material is used, eventually it will rip a worse hole in the clothing when the patch shrinks. New wine is not put into old wineskins. To do so would cause the wineskins to burst. The old customs had become stale. No one remembered the meaning behind them. Jesus came to revive the deeper meaning of a relationship with God and some traditions could get in the way of that.

Holding on to traditions is a fine thing, but if "this is the way we've always done it" becomes the only reason you do it, it's time to reevaluate whether you should be doing it at all. Even seemingly good traditions can get in the way of our relationship with God when they make us forget the reason behind them.