9:1 __Jesus returned to his own city, Capernaum the home base of his ministry in Galilee. The healing probably took place in Peter's home (8:14__15).
9:2 __paralytic. Jesus had already cured paralysis (4:24; 8:6), and these people had no doubt heard of his miraculous powers. Your sins are forgiven implies that in this case sin and sickness are related but also that, of the two, sin is the more fundamental problem. Though individual sin is not always the direct cause of a person's disease or illness (JOHN 9:2__3), ultimately all corruption the death result from the entrance of sin into the world (See GENESIS 2:17; 3:16__19).
9:3 __blaspheming. The scribes believed Jesus was dishonoring God by taking upon himself the prerogative to forgive sins, which only God can do (MARK 2:7; LUKE 5:21).
9:5 __which is easier. The implied answer is that it is easier to say "Your sins are forgiven," for there is no way to verify whether or not this has happened.
9:6__7 __Son of Man. See 8:20. Jesus authority on earth to forgive sins is an explicit evidence of his divinity, since only God has that prerogative. That the man rose and went home is visible evidence of Jesus authority.
9:9__38 __Unexpected Discipleship, Miracles, and Workers. Jesus reveals his unexpected definition of discipleship (verses 9__17) and demonstrates extraodinary compassion through his unexpected miracles (verses 18__34). The under appreciated are called to follow him, while the religious leaders continue to resist him.
9:10 __tax collectors. See verse 9 and 5:46__47. Pharisees would have regarded as sinners anyone who failed to keep God's law as they interpreted it, and the term here seems to reflect a commonly understood meaning by which it included both people guilty of publicly known sin and others who did not keep the strict purity requirements of the Pharisees.
9:12 _those who are well ... those who are sick.The Pharisees considered themselves "healthy" before God because of their observance of the law, and thus they were blind to their spiritual sickness. Jesus point is that only those who realize their need come to him to receive the help they need.
9:13 __I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Jesus offer of salvation to sinners threatens the Pharisees way of life, yet it is at the heart of the gospel he came announcing. "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" is a quotation from Hosea 6:6. "Sacrifice" summarized observance of religious rituals. More important to God was "mercy" (the Septuagint rendering of Hebrew hesed, meaning "steadfast love"), which would have led the Pharisees to care for these sinners as Jesus did.
9:15 _The bridegroom in the OT was Yahweh (ISAIAH 62:5; HOSEA 2:19__20). The arrival of the kingdom of heaven is cause for a time of rejoicing similar to what is experienced during marriage ceremonies (MATTHEW 25:10).
9:16__17 _unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Rather than patching up the traditional practices of righteousness within religious Judaism, Jesus has come to offer real growth in kingdom righteousness, which is like when new wine is put into fresh wineskins.
9:18 _Though Jairus was a ruler (MARK 5:22 and LUKE 8:41) and a man of considerable influence, he knelt before Jesus, the appropriate position to take before God. She will live. Evidence of Jairus's deep faith in Jesus, in the face of death.
9:20 _dischrage of blood. Her plight is heightened by its duration (twelve years), leaving her hopeless and in an anemic, weakened condition. Moreover, her hemorrhaging would have made her ceremonially unclean, which would have excluded her from normal social and religious relations.
9:22 _ your faith has made me well. Faith itself does not do the healing; God does. But the woman's faith was the divinely appointed means for her bodily healing, as well as for her spiritual salvation.
9:23 _flute players and the crowd. Professional mourners were customarily hired to assist at funerals, usually including flutists and wailing women (making a commotion). Since bodies decomposed quickly in Palestine, mourners had to assemble fairly soon after a death.
9:24__26 _took her by the hand. Touching a corpse rendered a person unclean for seven days (NUMBERS 19:11__21), but Jesus brings the girl to life, transforming uncleanness into purity. Jesus power over death anticipates his later raising of Lazarus and his own resurrection (MATTHEW 28:1__10; JOHN 10:17__18; 11:25__26).
9:27 _This account of the healing of two blind men has significant differences from the healing of Bartimaeus (20:29__34; Mark 10:46__52; LUKE 18:35__43) and should not be thought of as the same event. Jesus no doubt healed many blind people over the course of his ministry. Son of David. A reference to the promised messianic deliverer from the line of David whose kingdom will continue forever (2 SAMUEL 7:12__16), and the first of several times in Matthew that people refer to Jesus by this title (See MATTHEW 12:23; 15:22; 20:30, 31; 21:19, 15; 22:42; 1:1). The messianic age was to bring healing to the blind (ISAIAH 29:18; 35:5).
9:34 _He casts out demons by the prince of demons. The Pharisees were unable to recognize that God was doing something unique in the teaching and works of Jesus, so they attributed his powers to the only other existing source, since they could not deny the reality of the miraculous works that Jesus had done. But the truthfulness of Jesus teachings, the moral excellence of his character, and his ministry of doing good should have convinced them otherwise (7:16; JOHN 3:2; 9:31__33).
9:36__38 _The compassion of Jesus is a repeated theme in Matthew (14:14; 15:32) and throughout both the OT (DEUTERONOMY 30:3; 1 SAMUEL 23:21; PSALM 103:13; ISAIAH 49:15; 54:8; LAMENTATIONS 4:10) and the NT, where Christians are especially admonished to show compassion to those in need (COLOSSIANS 3:12; HEBREWS 10:34; JAMES 5:11). like sheep without a shepherd. The leaders have failed in their responsibility, but Micah 5:4 predicted that the Messiah would "shepherd" his people. Given the helplessness and the need of the crowds, Jesus disciples are urged to pray earnestly that the Lord (shifting metaphors) would send out laborers into his harvest, since many are ready to receive the good news of the kingdom__a prayer that is as urgent today as it was when Jesus original disciples heard his works.
Amen!
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