Matthew 9:32-38 Shine Your Light!

Matthew 9:32-38  While they were going out, 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.  The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”  But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”  Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

As we end chapter 9, we see Jesus distressed because the people of Israel were as sheep with no shepherd.  The evil one had led them into unhealthy, poisonous pastures, with vain, corrupt spiritual leaders.  The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do.  For they preach, but do not practice.  They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.  They do all their deeds to be seen by others.  (Matthew 23:1-5)  Jude describes these leaders who crept into the early church and might have been part of the old priesthood as blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.  They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.  (Jude 1:12)  The devil’s work remains the same, leading people into confusion, causing them to follow false shepherds who exploit the sheep for their aggrandizement.  The priests of that day enjoyed the adulations of the people—their place of privilege and deference, but they were not willing servants to the people, helping them to find and know God.  They served themselves, seeking what they could obtain in this world.  Their minds were earthly bound rather than heavenly oriented, so Jesus asked his disciples to pray for true guides who would lead people to God.  Even today, some well-known Christian leaders are more like a worldly teacher or philosopher than they are like Christ.  These imposters preach servanthood and dedication to Jesus Christ, but instead of serving people as Christ did, they partake of the best of this world, living expansively with riches and possessions from the tithes and gifts given to their ministries.  Their true message of self-will is easily discerned, do what I say not as I live.  John wrote, Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)  Jesus recognized the Pharisees and teachers of the law who lived for themselves, for their own benefit in life and not as shepherds who were willing to give their lives and livelihood for the sheep.  In today’s passage we see Jesus as He walked through Israel, going through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  He not only went to the large cities, He went to the smallest villages too with a few people, preaching the good news, healing the sick, and releasing the captives from the evil one.  He was willing to go anywhere to preach the gospel.  Now, our prominent leaders stop only at the largest population centers where many will gather to give them the offerings they often are seeking.  Going to the largest communities is not wrong, but the intent of the heart can be self-serving.  We should ask, Who will go as Jesus did to the remote places where hungry people wait?  Jesus was the true shepherd, willing to go out for the one on a lonely hill, forlorn and lost.  He was willing to leave the comforts of the many to seek the one lost sheep away from the safety of the fold.  In past years, evangelists traveled from one small community to another to save a few, willing not to be supported well or at all for the sake of Christ.  Some of these workers are still among us but perhaps too few.  Jesus said, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 

The Good News must be carried forth and taught.  The kingdom of God has come to us in the form of Jesus Christ and his body.  He ushered in the kingdom at his death: the price was paid for citizenship in the heavenly realm.  All who enter into this Good News of the kingdom by faith will be saved from eternal damnation.  This news was the focus of Jesus’ ministry and announced strongly by the miracles and healings He performed.  In chapter 9 we see the miraculous ministry of Jesus on open display, awing the people who observed Jesus.  Matthew, who records his own conversion to follow Christ in this chapter, relates some of the miracles Jesus performed at this time. He tells about the paralyzed man on the mat who was brought to Jesus lying down, but went away walking, rejoicing in the miracle he received.  For the people who watched this miracle it was an amazing event for them.  Even fear swept over them, for the healing was beyond their understanding, but they chose to praise God for sending Jesus in their midst.  Matthew records the healing of the woman with the issue of blood.  He then tells of the raising of the dead daughter of the synagogue leader, amazing the crowd so much that, “This miracle swept through the entire countryside.”  He chronicles the healing of the two bold blind men who entered a house not theirs to be healed.  They rejoiced to such a point that they did not heed Jesus’ command not to tell anyone about their healing.  Instead, “They went out and spread his fame all over the region.”  In our study passage, we see a demon possessed man delivered from the authority of demons.  He came to Jesus without words in his mouth; he left Jesus with a voice to praise God for his mercy and grace towards him.  His deliverance impacted the people who were watching this miracle.  The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”  By performing miraculous deeds, Jesus separated himself from all other men who were ever born.  He was not only different in his teachings, he was powerful also, performing miracles, healing, and raising the dead such as no man could ever do.  Jesus confirmed himself as the Messiah, the Great Deliverer from man’s waywardness from God and his authority.  He was the great Light in a kingdom of darkness and confusion.  Other lights would be needed to pass on the Good News after Jesus disappears from the scene of this earthly life.  Other shepherds of light would be needed to announce the kingdom of God to all people, in every community, large or small.  Jesus made a way for the Light to go forward.

You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  (Matthew 5:14-15)   We might not see evangelists coming through our communities, spreading the Good News as Jesus did in every community and city.  We might not hear the pure message of Jesus Christ and his redemptive power on television or radio, but we do know through the word of God that Jesus Christ ministered truth and freedom to all who would believe in his words.  God has made each of us a messenger of the Good News.  He want us to live our lives as messengers, not as the priests did: saying truth, but not living it.  Let all people inspect your life and find it pure in serving God, generous in deeds and words.  Jesus told his disciples, Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.  You are the harvest workers!  You are the ones that God is counting on to spread the good news about the Kingdom of God coming to earth.  Jesus is the Good News.  But for Good News to be accepted, it must be seen in people’s lives.  If not seen, it is but just another ideology, religion, or philosophy.  But if the Good News is evident in a person’s life, it will separate him or her from the ways of the world.  Jesus said, we are not to be like the world, seeking power and authority, projecting fleshly desires.  No, we are to be humble, meek, lowly, laden with mercy and grace.  The power seekers, my way or the highway people, are displaying the devil’s desire to be Lord.  “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” … You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  (Genesis 3:1,4)  Lordship is always in flux between man and God.  Who will be Lord? is the question man has to decide in his life.  If the flesh is to be Lord, the spirit of hurt and criticism will manifest itself, blaming others for the sin and hurt in the world.  If the Spirit is in control, the spirit of love, mercy and grace will come to the foreground in a person’s life.  The illumination of God will blink on.  We are the light of the world.  A light is not hidden, put under a bowl.  Instead a light is put on a lamp stand.  This reflection of God is to be seen by the world.  Christ is THE LIGHT; we are but lights that shine his light.  This breakfast every Monday is but a light to reflect THE LIGHT.  We are privileged to spread light to the world.  But all of our breakfast companions are lights who spread Christ to the world.  Every community big or small can have the light blinking on in its presence.  As the angel proclaimed, Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for ALL THE PEOPLE.  (Luke 10:2)  Big or small communities, all people need the good news, for Christ raised the dead, healed the blind, cast out demons from the possessed.  He alone changes lives completely from being dead into being alive forevermore.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16)               

   

Matthew 9:27-31 Have Mercy!

Matthew 9:27-31  As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”  When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”  “Yes, Lord,” they replied.  Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored.  Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.”  But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

The blind men’s belief in the Messiah is the key to this story.  “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored.  We see two men not willing to let Jesus get away from their presence: they went indoors to ask Jesus for something very critical to their lives: sight.  Jesus touched their eyes, even though they were interrupting his activities and thoughts at that time.  He turned to them and dealt with their problem of blindness.  The men could have stayed outdoors, unsure about going inside a stranger’s house, but they believed the person who had just passed them was the Messiah.  Instead of standing at the doorway, they followed him into the dwelling, knowing Jesus had God’s power in him.  He could change them from sightless beggars to normal men of that society.  He could change the condition of their unprofitable lives to a better station in life.  They did not hesitate to enter the house.  As Christians, we should not hesitate to call on the Lord for our needs.  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  (Matthew 7:7)  Nothing should prevent us from asking God to intervene in our lives.  How many of us stand at the doorway, afraid to go in because maybe He will not answer our requests, or maybe our concerns are too small for him to meet.  We should enter the house of our Almighty God and ask him as his children for the things that concern us.  The Messiah has not only passed our way, He has claimed us as our Savior.  We are not intruding on Jesus even when we ask for the smallest things.  He loves us and has sent the resident Holy Spirit within us.  In the scene above, these two men saw Jesus as the answer for their condition of blindness—someone who could change their lives a hundred-and-eighty degrees.  He could make their lives worth living, worth enduring the natural vicissitudes of life, worth loving the people around them, worth becoming profitable citizens of that day.  Their cry of Have mercy on us reveals their belief in Jesus working a miracle for them.  They saw power in him to change their sightlessness to sight.  Therefore, they entered the house with a strong belief in Christ as the Messiah sent to Israel by God.  Jesus fully understood that their cry for help indicated a strong faith in him as the Son of God.  Consequently, Jesus turns to them, these trespassers, and touched them.  Probably a number of blind men in that community needed healing that day, but these two men willingly pressed into Jesus with their desire to be whole.  As Christians, we should press into Christ for our needs and desires.  A double-minded person will receive nothing from the Lord; we ought not to hesitate at the doorway, believing Jesus is not concerned about our everyday needs.  We should move forward to Jesus’ side for his touch to give us a miracle.  

Does this story reveal to us that all people who believe in Jesus’ divinity and power will be healed?  Of course not, life in Christ does not mean all things in this life work out well in the flesh for those who believe in him as the Son of God.  Many people who are participating in this breakfast have health issues and concerns that remain outstanding.  At this time, God has not brought closure to their needs, but the trials of our faith do not mean our faith is too small for God to care about our problems.  No, God is faithful and just; He does everything perfectly.  As He molds us for eternity, He allows situations that do not work out the way we desire.  Our faith may be strong, but as with Paul and with many others our personal lives reveal many hardships.  Paul struggled with a thorn in the flesh.  God told him as He tells us that He works with us in the hard times.  My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  (2 Corinthians 12:9)  We become more perfect in our walk when our steadfast faith in him stays steady under great duress.  We are not greater than our Master.  He paid a great price in the flesh.  Sometimes we also have to endure hardships and pain for the purposes of God.  Your will be done on Earth, not ours, dear Lord, but yours.  In the Old Testament we see people of faith enduring extreme hardships without deliverance.  There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.  (Hebrews 11:35-38)  Were they not worthy to be rescued?  The Bible says that the world was not worthy of them, for they endured by faith without deliverance from these hardships and untimely deaths.  Sometimes as with Paul the purpose of God exceeds our understanding.  Paul struggled in almost every city he visited with the gospel.  We do not know how many bones were broken in his body from the beatings he received by rods or by the stoning he endured, but God’s purpose far exceeded Paul’s experiences of pain and suffering.  By faith, Paul laid this persecution and the vicissitudes of life at the feet of Jesus, believing in God’s greater purpose than just saving Paul for eternal life.  Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.  (Philippians 1:12)  Even as he experienced restricting chains in the latter part of his life, by faith Paul placed it all in the hands of God.  Sometimes in our difficulties and pain, we must realize God has a greater plan for us than just being the solution-maker for our lives.  Enduring through our weaknesses, health issues, and struggles can be a stimulant for greater faith, greater love, greater mercy in life.  Rather than being anemic in faith, bewailing our circumstances, we become more acquainted with God’s voice.  We recognize his voice more often in our spirit as we hear, “I love you.”  “I am with you.”  “You are not alone.”  “I have given you my life.”  Of course his comforting voice is all that we need to endure to the end of our lives.  

Good News has come to Earth to restore mankind to God.  Jesus came as the Good News.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  (Luke 2:10-12)  In today’s focus, we see the blind men following the Good News.  They did not stop at the doorway, hesitant to enter a house not their own.  No, they followed the Good News into that house because their faith was in Christ the Messiah who had come their way.  Their concern was would He touch them.  Have mercy on us, was their cry.  Please, Christ, see our needs, put aside everything else, was their cry.  Of course, Jesus came to heal; He came to the poor, the captives, the outcasts.  He could do nothing less than touch them.  They were healed; they went out rejoicing, failing to follow Jesus’ admonition not to tell anyone of their healing.  “See that no one knows about this.”  But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.  Jesus needed his freedom to move around as He willed, but his popularity and notoriety because of his miracles restricted his movement.  Crowds were constantly pressing in on him.  But these two men knew what had happened to them: Christ had made them whole.  They knew their lives would never be the same.  We who are IN CHRIST have been healed eternally, not for a temporary moment on this earth, but eternally!  Jesus validated the Good News by his many wondrous, miraculous acts.  God’s power emanated from Jesus’ touch and presence with miracle after miracle to prove that He was from the Father’s house.  God’s stamp of approval was upon Jesus the man.  Even at the cross as He was dying, people knew something was different about Jesus.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”  (Mark 15:39)  We who are alive IN CHRIST are people of faith, for faith is required to move from the fleshly man and woman to a new creature.  Life abundant begins when we enter this new reality, but not in all our fleshly endeavors in this world.  The old man will die, corrupted by sin, destined for the grave, but the new man has been enrobed with the body of Christ, the Eternal One.  Our hope is not in the old man being good, but in the new man being like Christ.  Yes, He has healed us internally, making us no longer in need of anything but Christ in us.  But this should not prevent us from entering the house where Christ exists, saying, Have mercy on us.  We still live in this body; we still live in this land of flesh.  We are not in the Promised Land—we are on Earth.  Therefore, our cry for God’s intervention in our lives should be constant, with strong faith in his love for us.  He will and does intervene.  He does heal us, and when we feel and see this healing, we should testify of it joyfully, for the world needs to hear about God’s goodness.  But when our fleshly lives seem to be stagnate in the hurt and health needs not answered, testify of God’s goodness, for when we are most weak, He is most strong in us.  His voice is always flowing through the green wood in us for He is alive!  Rejoice, for He is alive in us, dear breakfast companions!  Amen!         

    

Matthew 9:18-19, 9:23-26 You Will Live!

Matthew 9:18-19  While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died.  But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”  Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.   

Matthew 9:23-26  When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away.  The girl is not dead but asleep.”  But they laughed at him.  After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.  News of this spread through all that region.  

But they laughed at him (Jesus); the world is still laughing.  The Greeks in Athens were willing to listen to the theological aspects of Paul’s religion, even the idea that the Unknown God that Paul was talking about made everything in the world and that all humans came from one man.  They were willing to hear about the philosophical point that all of their existence was in this God and that all living things moved and lived in this Unknown God, but when Paul talked about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, their interactions with Paul came to a breaking point.  Some terminated their listening with ridicule and sneers.  When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered.  (Acts 17:32)  This was a bridge too far; they knew death—they knew what death entailed: an everlasting exodus from the living.  In Jesus’ world, most people could accept him as the good teacher, the philosopher, the wise man, the loving rabbi, even a quaint healer of some sort, but not the Son of God with power over life itself.  As Jesus’ name for himself, The Son of Man, connotes, a superior man, yes, but not the Son of God who has power over life and death.  Such an idea was too much for the people and especially the religious elite.  If life somehow comes after death on this earth, another explanation must be made to explain such a phenomena, as was said about Jesus’ resurrection.  These people at the scene of the dead girl were upset with Jesus.  He was interrupting their wake, their ceremony of mourning, playing pipes.  He was violating their traditions of how to express sadness over the lost.  To them, Jesus had the audacity to step into this scene of mourning, breaking into customs that had existed for centuries and tell them, The girl is not dead but asleep.  Some of the people present probably thought, how uninformed can this man be, even though others may have respected him as a divine healer.  Yet, they knew their rabbi, a synagogue leader, respected Jesus greatly.  Out of desperation for his child, he had called Jesus to the side of his dead daughter.  My daughter has just died.  But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.  But dead is dead thought those in attendance!  They knew what death was, and they knew what sleep was.  This girl was definitely dead, not any longer part of the living of their world.  But God had other plans for this girl; He had other plans for this synagogue leader.  Through Jesus’ words, God would reveal Jesus as his Son with power over life and death.  After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.  Death had been defeated, a girl lived again, a testimony to the power of the words that came from the mouth of Jesus.  The Living Word was with them: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  (John 1:1-4)

What Jesus was revealing that day is what Paul was talking about to the Greeks: the resurrection from the dead is a reality and cannot be denied.  As Jesus said, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.”  (Luke 24:46)  Because Jesus rose again, people who die in Christ will be resurrected to a new life that will never end.  However, this message for many people is one to ridicule and to laugh at, a false idea invented by those who cannot face death and the oblivion awaiting them.  But for Christians, the gift of God is eternal life.  As the Bible says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)  What separates us from all other life is the Holy Spirit’s resident power in us, planted in us by our faith in the Word of God: Jesus Christ.  Humans are capable of possessing the Spirit of God when their souls have been cleansed by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  The millions of animals in the Old Testament that were sacrificed were but a precursor of this need to be right with God.  A penalty for sin had to be paid.  The animals in the Old Testament paid this price as a temporary sacrifice, and in the New Covenant, Jesus paid the price permanently, once and for all.  All life on Earth has God’s Spirit of life, but the abiding, renewing presence of God is with those who possess born-again containers.  The Spirit of God in all things is grand, reveals the nature of God in its beauty, grandeur and variety, but the presence of God in Christians is an eternal communion with God.  In and through Christ, we can express immediate gratitude to God for his love and care for us.  This is a constant active communication.  Nature as God’s creation has a picturesque beauty, but somewhat static in its loveliness, but the new-man in Christ interacts intimately with God the Father in many ways: praising him, honoring him, loving him, and the like.  The resurrection is all about this new life of eternal bliss with God.  Our souls at death exit a sinful world into the presence of a holy God.  The Greeks were willing to contemplate that all life on Earth might exist within some sort of God or extraterrestrial power, but for man to be resurrected was another thing.  But Paul was talking about men and women having the opportunity to become eternal children of God by being born anew, possessing the eternal Spirit of God within their souls.  Jesus demonstrates this resurrecting power by taking hold of the child’s hand: he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.  Someday each of us will feel God’s hand and rise up to life forevermore.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The world rejects the Good News of eternal life.  This is the gift of life that we celebrate at Christmas.  A child was born to Mary—actually, New Life was born that day.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  (Luke 2:8-12)  A Savior for what?  A Savior for new life.  The gift of God is eternal life for all who put their trust in this Messiah.  As the angel said this is news that will cause great joy for all the people, not just the Jews, but for all people.  Jesus came as the resurrected Lord for all people.  We are no longer bound to this world of flesh and sin; we are no longer bound to finite lives, but the Good News is that Jesus came to give life for all who would believe in his words and works.  He came to fulfill the image of God in us, making us acceptable to a holy Creator, his Father.  We become the complete man or the perfect man because we accept THE PERFECT MAN, the Son of God.  We become not only imprinted by his image when we accept him by faith, we become as He is.  He is known as the Son of God: we will be known as the children of God.  No one can enter into this intimate relationship without being completely sinless, holy, without fault.  Of course, the flesh cannot hold that responsibility because it is sinful.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  (1 John 1:8)  Consequently, the flesh must die so that the resurrection will happen for each of us so that we might go to God in the image and complete likeness of Jesus Christ our Savior.  The little girl in this story was dead, possessing no life in her, but Jesus the giver of life was by her bedside.  His hand possessed resurrected life in it.  When He touched her, her soul became activated.  Once again, she was operating in her flesh.   Eternal life did not come to her that day, only life in the fleshly container.  Neither did eternal life come to Lazarus when he was raised from the dead.  He lived the rest of his life in an earthly container, not the born-again container.  But these resurrections were to reveal that Jesus had power over death itself.  He could restore life in the flesh, but something much greater was going to happen to Jesus and to us.  When Jesus died, He was raised by the Spirit of God.  He became alive to God, not to the flesh.  He exited this world on the day of his ascension to be with his Father.  His resurrection was not for a temporary stay on this earth.  No, He went to be with God his Father.  Our resurrection will not be for a stay on this earth, but the Spirit of God will take us by his hand and raise us to be with the Father, our Abba Father.  There, in his presence, we will shout of our redemption.  We will know that Good News has come to us and forever we will dwell in the house of our God who loved us so much that He sent Jesus to us to release us from the bondage of sin.  Praise God forever dear breakfast companions.  It is finished!  The battle is over!  There will be no more war! 

Matthew 9:18-22 The New Is Here!

Matthew 9:18-22  While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died.  But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”  Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.  Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.  She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”  Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.”  And the woman was healed at that moment.

In today’s focus, Jesus interrupted his teaching about needing a new container or new material for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus introduced a new work of God in his ministry.  His basic proposition was that people must be born again to please God.  The old way of laws, regulations and ceremonial cleanness failed to change the hearts of men and women.  These outward works of the flesh brought God little fidelity as the Creator of all things.  The heart, the inner-man, needed to be changed to be right with God; purity of the soul by the indwelling Holy Spirit was the message people received from Jesus.   While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died.  But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”  Jesus responded immediately to this request: Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.  On the way as He maneuvered through the crowd, a woman touched him with intent in her heart for healing by this divine person.  She believed Jesus had power to heal the sick; therefore, she felt she could be healed by touching his garment.  Her faith was in the radiating power of God in and through the person of Jesus.  Of course, the outer garment was not part of the body of Christ, but she believed his presence within that garment was enough to heal her issue of blood.  When she touched Jesus’ garment, He knew immediately that power had been released from him, for this person who touched him possessed faith in his divinity.  At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.  He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”  “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’  ”But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.  Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”  (Mark 5:30-34)  The disciples were somewhat confused by Jesus’ remark about who touched him, for they knew many were crowding in to touch Jesus or to talk to him.  Probably, some were even addressing Jesus for specific concerns, but Jesus knew someone with genuine faith in his divinity was in that crowd with intentions of being healed by touching him.  Jesus turned to look in the faces of those around him.  His gaze must have frightened the woman, for any woman with an issue of blood should not be in the midst of people, for her touch would make others unclean.  As ceremonially unclean, her very presence was outlawed in the Temple.  She was anathema to people and to God, for she walked in uncleanness.  Knowing Jesus was divine, she knew Jesus would spot her, so she confesses that she touched him.  As with the disciples, she understood many people were jostling Jesus, gathering to be near him, but she knew her touch was different, so she admits to touching him deliberately to earn favor from him: her healing; trembling with fear, (she) told him the whole truth.  As with many occasions, Jesus deals with her as a child of God.  She might have been older than Jesus, but He calls her daughter.  With men seeking his help, Jesus often called them son.  Jesus was on a mission for the Father; therefore, these people of faith were his Father’s children.  He addresses her with the words: your faith has healed you.  This daughter of God went away completely healed, now ready to show the priest the new work that had begun in her.  

In the process of being baptized by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit fell on Jesus in the form of a dove.  From that time on Jesus was the resident temple of the Holy Spirit.  His words and actions became very powerful, testifying of the reality of God.  He  demonstrated power that only One of divinity could possess.  He healed people, cast out demons, altered the realities of nature by walking on water, calming the sea, controlling  the wind.  With the knowledge of the Spirit of God in him, Jesus spoke with wisdom, confounding the most learned and wise in Jewish society.  Jesus radiated the power of God.  People were influenced by this power when they gathered around him.  He went down with them and stood on a level place.  A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.  Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.  (Luke 6:17-19)  The power in Jesus was so evident that people sought to touch him:  all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.  As with the woman with the issue of blood, people wanted deliverance from their sicknesses and troubles.  They felt Jesus could be their problem-solver.  Many people felt Jesus’ power and found his words a purifying solvent for their bodily needs.  John writes, Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.  (John 21: 25)  But the story of the woman with the issue of blood is in three gospels for a purpose.  We know this woman is an outcast within her society.  She cannot touch others; neither can she be in the Temple of God.  After twelve years of this infirmity, she is without hope of a cure.  She tried many doctors and solutions to her physical ailment, but none succeeded.  She was alone in a society of bustling people—all of them doing their own thing.  She had no right to carry on with life, for she was an untouchable: unclean, without hope of companionship or service to God.  She had to consider herself worthless, a life caught in unending hopelessness.  But she heard of Jesus.  He was walking through her community.  He was her last hope of normalcy.  She went into that crowd, knowing that her touching of people was an anathema to the God of creation.  When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period.  Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period.  Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.  (Leviticus 15:25-27)  The people might not know her situation, but God knew it and disfavored her condition of uncleanness.  She was bringing herself into judgment by God himself for her actions.  But Jesus, the Son of God, called her daughter.  She reached beyond the law and its regulations to the giver of grace and mercy.  JESUS IS GRACE AND MERCY.  He came not to condemn, but to release the captive from captivity.

We who are filled with the Holy Spirit, who radiate his life through our words and actions, should express grace and mercy to those in hopeless situations.  God came that day to a very sick woman and touched her through his Son.  Through Jesus, God activated grace and mercy.  This whole scene is a message of faith in the God of love.  This woman broke the law that governed her society, a law given by God.   But she came to Jesus, believing He could deliver her from her issue of blood.  Jesus’s grace and mercy were on display that day.  In our day, we who are alive in Christ should be his instruments of grace and mercy.  We do not determine what God’s will is, but we pray in faith, believing the touch of Jesus’ garment will save and heal many.  Our lives should overflow with love.  Praying for others is part of loving others even if they are doing wrong.  We should shine with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  (John 7:38)  In this story, we see so much faith in Jesus and his love that this woman was willing to break religious laws and customs of her society.  She was willing to be exposed as a sinner, a violator of sacred law to the point of endangering her physical well-being.  She might have been stoned for her transgression, but her faith was completely in the Christ who walked by her.  She fell at his feet when she saw Jesus looking around to see who touched him: trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  At that time she exposed herself to the crowd as a person in great need and as an untouchable, one who could contaminate them all.  Her fear was great, but Jesus the champion of that crowd said, Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.  She went away rejoicing because she knew she was healed, and the crowd let her go away from them unmolested.  All three gospels describe this event to tell us that God’s grace and mercy reach out even to a violator of the law.  Jesus put aside the rules of uncleanness and replaced them with the law of forgiveness and the promise of a new life.  This story is an extension of new wine in new bottles.  This lady came under the jurisdiction of the old bottles, the old laws and regulations, and left with a new way of living, by the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He did not condemn her for being in the midst of that crowd.  He forgave her and said very directly, Your faith has healed you.  You are a new creature because of your faith in me and my divinity.  We who are IN CHRIST have been made whole.  Our flesh might give way to infirmities and sicknesses, but our faith in Christ has made us new souls that contain the love of God for the world, for the souls of men.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Our praying for healing is good, praying for difficulties of our lives to be erased is not bad, but praying to be like God, loving our enemies as well as our friends is very good.  Giving grace and mercy as shown in this story, gives us a place with God that is eternal, that will never pass away. 

Matthew 9:14-17 Living Water

Matthew 9:14-17  Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”  Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?  The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.  “No one sews a patch of unshrunk 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.”

Fasting was a very big part of the Jewish religion.  Everyone fasted annually on the Day of Atonement and Israelites were commanded to fast when dire national circumstances were involved, when solutions were needed, such as in times of drought, epidemics, war, or crop failures.  Private fasting and some religious fasting carried on by the Pharisees happened twice a week: Monday and Thursday.  These fasts might be perfunctory or sometimes based on serious needs such as sickness.  Most of the time they were discretionary, not a part of some dogma or regulation.  But for the Pharisees and the hyper religious, fasting became a custom for them.  This act indicated they were more religious than the average person, holding a special position with God because of their dedication to him.  The Pharisee praying in the Temple believed he was special to God because of his religious activities.  To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:  Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: "God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”  (Luke 18:9-12)  The Pharisee believed his religious activity brought righteousness to him, but the tax collector, a well-known sinner in the Jewish community, placed his life on the altar in desperation to the God of the living and dead.  But the tax collector stood at a distance.  He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  (13)  He placed his life on the altar, pleading to God for mercy and grace.  His heart was completely involved with his prayer, but the Pharisee placed his deeds on the altar, his perfunctory service, as acceptable to a righteous God.  Who went away justified before God and who went away without God’s blessing?  God accepted the humble man who laid down his life and rejected the man of fasting and tithe giving.  The Pharisee’s life was filled with religious fervor and discipline, but his heart was in it for his own justification and not God’s glory.  Fasting was an important exercise in the Old Testament, mentioned many times, demanded of the people many times, but fasting in the New Testament is hardly mentioned.  When it is mentioned, fasting is often during times of great transition.  We see Jesus fasting in the wilderness before his ministry.  We see leaders of the church praying and fasting before sending Paul and Barnabas out for ministry.  Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.  (Acts 13:1-3)  This is the beginning of Paul’s dynamic ministry to not only the Jews but to the rest of the world: the Gentiles.  God had already decided Paul’s ministry, declared to him at his conversion.  But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go!  This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16)  But now, the Christian leadership needed affirmation of his call.  Paul’s call was affirmed in prayer and fasting in the city of Antioch.  They sent Paul and Barnabas out on their first missionary journey.  Fasting is a powerful way of knowing God’s voice, for it is laying aside the concerns of the body for the will of God.  We do not see fasting as a great concern in the nascent church, but fasting is mentioned in selecting leaders of the early church.  These leaders were pathfinders for the Christian work who needed God’s direction in their words and activities.  

Christianity is not a religion of rituals, regulations and laws but involves an intimate relationship with God himself.  This relationship is implemented through the power of the Holy Spirit who closely interacts with our own spirits.  He has come to abide in us, to make a permanent home in our beings.  This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  (1 John 4:13-16)  In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was not an abiding Spirit, except for a few such as the prophets that He came upon to speak for God, but his presence is in us who name the name of Christ.  We do see his presence in the Old Testament with the tribes of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness: in the fire by night and the cloud by day.  But his visible presence stopped when they went over Jordan to the Promised Land.  But for us who are IN CHRIST, his presence is in us every minute of the day.  His voice is real, and his reflection comes out through our lives through justice, love, mercy and grace for others.  If we fail to image God in our lives and words, we are walking in disobedience and open to discipline.  In that case fasting might be necessary to redirect our paths and change the direction of our lives.  The aspect of fasting is not a substitute for being sensitive to the voice of God.  Religious activity does not replace obedience to the Holy Spirit inside us.  We should do what we know is right.  If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.  (James 4:17)  If the voice of God is telling us to be kind, generous, full of mercy and grace, and then we reject that compelling voice and turn back to the flesh and its spirit, we will be bitter, angry, judgmental, and troubled, producing a well of sin not the refreshing works of God.  The water we spew out from us will be black with the darkness of sin.  If we are imbued with the well of the Holy Spirit, we will have living water flowing out of our innermost being.  The Spirit is God in us and it is the living water that people need for their souls, not the water that comes from fleshly pursuits and ideas.  The latter is dead, produced by dead men and women.  The former is eternal life.  Jesus told the woman that He asked for water, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.  (John 4:13-14)  The wilderness dwellers of this world need that water of hope, of abundant life: eternal life.  As sweet water, not bitter or alkaline, we have something that will refresh the souls of men.  Fasting will not give us that; laws and regulations will not give us that.  Only the Spirit of God in us will make us a fountain of sweet, drinkable water for a thirsty world.

Jesus fulfilled the old way of serving God by laws and regulations.  He is the only one to completely satisfy the holiness of God, that which the laws and regulations reflect.  He is the Son of God—the complete man.  After his resurrection, Jesus is the first fruit from death to a new life with God.  We who are in the raiment of finite flesh will follow him from death to resurrection.  He is our elder brother in this act, and He is not ashamed to introduce us to his Father.  As He is in the family of God so also will we be known as God’s children with new names.  All of this requires a new creation, a born-again experience.  The old garment, the old wineskin will not hold the new work inside of us.  The powerful kinetic Spirit of God will tear the old garment or explode the old wineskin.  When the people of old met the Spirit of God or the Lord, they fell down in fear.  Their old selves could not face the holiness of God.  They fell in fear because flesh is too weak to hold the presence of God.  The priest fled the Temple when the Holy Spirit entered.  No flesh can face God in its sinful form.  Jesus said that we must be new creatures.  He said that no man is good, for the flesh has been permanently damaged.  The old will go down to the grave, for it has no ability to hold the presence of God.  Jesus said that no expert in sewing or no winemaker would put the old with the new.  They do not go together; there is no harmony between the old and new.  No, the new work of Jesus abiding in us must be put in a new creature.  His voice must be put in the newly born, alive in Christ forevermore.  No one sews a patch of unshrunk 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.  Fasting does not make newborns; regulations do not make newborns; laws do not make newborns; only the blood of Jesus makes newborns.  He spilled his blood for every man and woman.  He has life gushing out of him for all people.  All we need to do is believe that Jesus’ blood is for our cleansing, for our new life.  He gave up his perfect life as a sacrifice so that we might be made perfect through his work on the cross.  IN HIM, we have found perfection: the old is put away for good; the new is for everlasting life in the presence of God.  As children of God with the voice of God in us, we need to listen attentively to everything God says.  Of course, we do not go outside of the scriptures, for the scriptures are the parameters of God’s voice.  But his will should be our will, his life our life, his service our service.  We might need to fast to focus more clearly on God and his will in us, but because of the Holy Spirit in us, we have every opportunity to know God and his ways.  The new cloth has come, the new wineskins have arrived.  As born-agains we have the Spirit of God present in our lives.  Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”  (John 3:5-7)  Yes, our flesh will give way to death, but our new life IN CHRIST will never give way to death.  We will enter the kingdom of God under the precious auspices of Christ’s work for us.  An eternal solution has been made for us as children of God, not of the flesh.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?  (1 Corinthians 15:55) 

      

Matthew 9:9-13 The Sick Need A Doctor!

Matthew 9:9-13  As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.  “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, 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 need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

Jesus tells the Pharisees, men devoted to the Mosaic law and regulations, that God desires mercy more than their sacrifices and religious restrictions.  These men for the most part were dedicated to serving God, but their service to God was based on human effort.  But Jesus now tells them that they are mistaken in their beliefs if they do not understand that God is a God of mercy and grace.  He is the one who sends the rain on the just and the unjust, the daylight to those who are good and righteous and to those who live in the darkness of sin.  Mistaken about the nature of God, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law are judged harshly by Jesus.  In Luke 11 Jesus accuses these religious leaders of lacking the nature of good shepherds who care for their sheep.  Without godly character, they are greedy, faithless, and unrighteous.  He evaluates them as poor shepherds, caring for themselves above the needs of the sheep.  “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.”  (39)  “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.  Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.  Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”  (42-44)  Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.  Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them.”  (46-47)  “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge.  You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”  (52)  The tax collectors and sinners that Jesus met with in Matthew’s house are illustrative of wayward sheep who have no shepherds to guide them.  They are the most needy of the Israelites, but these are the people Jesus came to minister to.  He did not come to those who thought of themselves as good or without need.  He came for those who knew without a shadow of doubt that they were outside of God’s holiness.  For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.  (Matthew 9:13 NLT)  The outcast, the poor, the blind, the crippled, the needy in spirit and body were central to Jesus’ ministry.  Those on the wrong side of the street in respectability are the ones God showers with the Good News of mercy and grace.  The elite, especially the spiritually elite of that day or any day, assess themselves as being in control of their spiritual lives.  Maybe a tweak here or there is needed to make them better, but a total overhaul of everything within them will never fit well with their ideas of worthwhileness and goodness.  If we feel we need only a minor adjustment to our spiritual wellbeing with God, we are totally wrong.  We do not understand the perfection and holiness of God.  That is why Jesus could say do not call me or any man or woman good in the flesh, for all fall short of deserving the mercy and grace of God.  All are unworthy to approach God in any situation or under any circumstance in their own righteousness.  What is needed then?  A new creature is required, made perfect without blemish.  Only Jesus fits that role, holds the power to create anew.  We who hide IN JESUS because of our faith in his works become totally acceptable to a holy God.

Presented with the Good News, many of the needy will follow Jesus.  When asked, Matthew followed Jesus.  Interestingly, he followed Jesus to his own house where Jesus met with more sinners, those who were outside the culture’s acceptability.  Jesus not only sat down and talked with them, He interacted with them socially by eating and drinking with them.  His accusers said He was a wine imbiber because of these situations.  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.  (Matthew 11:19)  But Jesus was seeking followers, those who would commit to him emphatically because they saw in him one who understood their needs.  The “do gooders,” the self-righteous, would never commit to him because of their incorrect evaluation of themselves.  They were living their lives believing they were okay with God, not assessing God’s righteousness correctly.  The people Jesus was associating with at Matthew’s house knew they were outcasts, unappreciated by the majority culture and society.  Jesus did not feel as a stranger in these situations; He knew He was at home with them for He was sent by God to minister to them, to rescue them from hopeless lives, dead ended in the Jewish community.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  (John 1:11)  How many of us today know that we are hopelessly lost unless we accept Jesus’ work on the cross for us?  How many of us really understand that Jesus came for the unhealthy?  It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  How many of us really love our enemies?  Do we care for those who make fun of us because of our silly beliefs about a God in heaven and the resurrection of the dead?  How many of us love those who ridicule our belief in a virgin Mary and the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem?  Who among us loves the homeless, treating them as we would want to be treated, sorrowing over their circumstances?  How many of us love the beggar instead of looking down on their way of living?  How many of us would stop on the way through a busy day to help those who cannot help themselves?  How many of us are perfect, acceptable to a perfect God?  The answer is obvious: none!  We depend unreservedly on the grace and mercy of our loving heavenly Father.  But we can do better, so much better.  Open our eyes, Lord!

The people in Matthew’s house that day were living as if there were no God, in many ways by taking advantage of the Jews.  The tax collectors served the Roman Empire, and they were often dishonest in their assessments of the taxes owed by the Jews who considered them duplicitous.  Other sinners in Matthew’s house probably broke many social norms and laws of the culture, but Jesus sat down and interacted with them as equals.  He was so much at home with them that the Pharisees criticized his association with that kind of people.  But Jesus knew these individuals, as with all people, were blind from birth and in need of light.  As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.  “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind?  Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”  “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered.  “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.  We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us.  The night is coming, and then no one can work.  But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”  (John 9:1-5)  Jesus uses this scene to illustrate that he has come to bring light to all people who are blind in their humanness and sin.  Of course, Jesus cures this man’s blindness through the power of God.  He uses spittle and dust for this miracle, maybe indicating through the spittle the power of the Holy Spirit, for from the innermost being the Spirit will flow as water through us.  Regardless, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were angry about this healing.  How could a sinner like Jesus heal anybody?  They thought that maybe Jesus was using demonic power to heal.  But the evidence was clear: a man blind from birth was healed.  Jesus told the former blind man this healing was to show God’s power because God alone could change his blindness.  Jesus said He came into the world to reveal God’s authority and power to his creation.  Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”  (John 9:39)  Jesus brought light to this man who could clearly see who Jesus was, the Son of God.  He was delivered from his innate blindness.  Now the Pharisees as all supposedly good people, upstanding citizens even in today’s society from the right part of town, questioned this idea of spiritual blindness or the disability of sin.  Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”  “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied.  “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.  (John 9:40-41)  The people in Matthew’s house knew they were blind.  A great light came into their midst and fellowshipped with them, leading them to eternal life.  The supposedly well people on the outside were the blind ones.  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.  (John 1:10-12)  The Pharisees claimed to be God’s own, but they were not; they were hypocrites, so they did not receive Jesus as the Son of God.  Matthew opened his home to Jesus; he became a child of God.  Our righteousness will never get us home to God—only Jesus knows the way.  I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teachings will never die.  (John 8:51)  Place your trust in Jesus and you will never die.