Grace to Sinners

Matthew 9  •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 7
Listen from:
Matthew 9
The Lord heals the palsied man, forgiving his sins. Then He calls Matthew to follow Him. Matthew fills his house with publicans and sinners to hear Jesus. The Lord answers the leaders of Israel who object, saying, 'They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 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." The disciples of Jesus cannot fast when the Bridegroom is with them-to be with Him brings joy, not mourning.
The old garment character of Judaism will not do; there must be a new garment character in the kingdom of God. The old vessels of Judaism that hold the old wine will not do to hold the new wine; they will break the bottles in one year and the wine will be spilled. There must be a new bottle, a new nature, for the new wine, joy.
The Lord was called to restore Israel, the ruler's virgin daughter, in her great need. On the way, he meets the poor woman-the believing remnant and the Gentiles-and He, the rejected One, forms the kingdom of heaven. After the two-thousand-year-span of the kingdom of heaven on earth, the Lord returns and heals the nobleman's daughter-Israel-bringing in the millennium.
The blind and the dumb, pictures of the remnant of Israel, are healed, confessing their sins and need to Jesus. All of the objections of the leaders could not stop Jesus who was moved with compassion by the multitude of Israel, seeing that they were as sheep without a shepherd. He asked His disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers, for the field of souls was plenteous.