JANUARY 13 READING…Matthew 9
Jesus continues to shake things up. It is a great thought in my mind that when the Son of God arrives He shakes up the norm, and put things in their proper order. Jesus does four things that would continue to put Him in opposition with the religious leaders of that day. Jesus was bothersome to them, and soon His activities and teachings will reveal their murderous hearts. The first thing Jesus does is when He heals a paralytic man…He tells him that his sins are forgiven. This really upset the religious so they said only God can forgive sin…sadly they did not know that God was standing right before them…they, if anyone should have recognized Jesus for who He is. The second thing Jesus does is call Matthew to be one of His disciples. Matthew was a tax collector, and seen as a traitor by the Jews…he was despised for his treason. Then Jesus and His disciples eat with tax collectors and sinners. The religious dead-heads could not conceive of why Jesus would possibly eat with these sinners. Jesus told them He came to call those who recognize their sin, not the self-righteous. The last thing that Jesus and His disciples did to upset the religious was that they did not fast. The Pharisees made a spectacle of their fasting as they did everything else. Jesus told them those days were over…He came to do a new thing, and make things right.
The second part of our reading again shows the miracle power of Jesus in the lives of people who had no hope. A powerful man comes to Jesus and tells Him that his daughter is dead. Jesus raised the girl from the dead. The first time He revealed that He was the Lord over life and death. Two blind men came to Jesus hoping to have their sight restored. Jesus asked them if they believed…they said yes…and Jesus healed their blindness. A mute and demon-possessed man came to Jesus and the Lord set him free from the demon, and restored his speech. All the religious leaders could say is that Jesus must be doing these things by Satan’s power. They blasphemed the Lord with their words. Finally, Jesus calls us to pray, because the need is great, and only God can call, prepare, and empower the workers needed.
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READING…Matthew 10
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