Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Matthew 9 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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The divine authority of Jesus unfolds dramatically throughout Matthew chapter 9, revealing a Savior whose power extends far beyond physical healing. When confronted with a paralyzed man, Jesus does something unexpected—he forgives the man's sins first, then heals his body. This deliberate sequence demonstrates Christ's ultimate mission: spiritual restoration takes precedence over physical healing. The religious leaders immediately recognize the implication—only God can forgive sins—and their accusation of blasphemy sets the stage for the central question of this chapter: Who exactly is this man?

Jesus continues breaking religious and social boundaries by calling Matthew, a despised tax collector, to follow him. When criticized for dining with "tax collectors and sinners," Jesus delivers the profound statement that defines his ministry: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick... I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." This reveals both a fundamental truth about humanity—we are spiritually sick—and about God's character—he comes with mercy specifically for those who recognize their need. Self-righteousness becomes the greatest barrier to receiving divine help.

The chapter culminates with Jesus raising a dead girl to life after mourners laugh at his statement that "she is not dead but sleeping." Their mockery represents the natural human response to the seemingly impossible claims of Christianity. Yet Jesus demonstrates that nothing—not even death—lies beyond his authority. The final verses reveal Jesus looking at crowds with compassion, seeing them as "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." This tender portrayal of God's heart leads to his urgent call for prayer: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." This remains our challenge today—many are spiritually ready, but workers are scarce. Will you pray for more laborers? Better yet—might you be one of those workers the world desperately needs?

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day keeps the devil away. I'm pastor Plek, along with pastor Holland, and we're talking Matthew, chapter nine. Jesus does a lot of healing in this chapter, holland. He heals and then forgives a paralyzed man. He then calls Matthew and eats with sinners. Then Jesus answers questions about fasting. Then Jesus raises a girl, heals a bleeding woman. Then Jesus heals two blind men, casts out a mute demon. Then Jesus has compassion on the crowds and urges prayer for workers. All right, workers of the harvest. That is Now. What were some things that stood out to you, holland, about this text?

Pastor Holland:

Well, I loved the prayer at the end, the last two verses where he sees the crowds harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and he says the harvest is plentiful, labors are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest, send out more labors into his harvest. That is a prayer that I have prayed for many, many, many years, understanding the need for people to go out and shepherd and teach and evangelize and serve and care for those who are lost, and so this is a verse that, yeah, just really sticks out to me with the shepherd heart of Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I love that. I think that there is a desperate need for workers and we should be always praying for more workers. I think that's a consistent prayer for the day. How about the one that's interesting why does Jesus get into forgiving sins when he could have just healed the guy and not caused a stir?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, I think there, you know, he's demonstrating his authorities we saw in previous chapters over the natural world, over the body, over the spiritual world, and now he's demonstrating his authority over sin, over, you know, human, our standing before God. He cannot, he's not just a healer, he's, he's a forgiver of sins.

Pastor Plek:

Right and I think that's important, because why do you need your sins forgiven? Because without your sins being forgiven, there is a hell waiting for you, and if you are still in your sins when you die, then that is your lot in life, and I think that's why it becomes so important Jesus. He does address healing physical ailments only to point us toward his ability to have authority over our spiritual state.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, even going back to the Sermon on the Mount, where you know he's saying it's better to enter heaven with one eye, you know, than to keep your eye and be thrown into hell, when he was talking about gouging your eye out if it causes you to lust, and so you know, if you have your whole body healed but still get thrown into hell, it's not what you want, right? If you're healed of your sickness and you can walk, you're no longer paralyzed, but then you go to hell. It's like man you got to enjoy some good things in this life, but what Jesus wants is for you to ultimately enjoy eternal life, and for that you need forgiveness of sins.

Pastor Plek:

All right, so let's talk about then, Matthew choosing to follow Jesus. It doesn't get into, you know, when you read this, obviously Jesus is saying follow me from a standpoint of being his disciple, but do you think Matthew knew that? Or, hey, follow me, and he just thinks he's going to go around the counter and ends up at his house or at his own house or somewhere. It was sort of a strange deal that Jesus. It would seem like like with Peter and Andrew and James and John there was some context of Jesus beforehand, but here it looks like he just randomly walks up to Matthew and calls him and he comes and follows him. Any thoughts there on deeper meaning or anything else?

Pastor Holland:

Well, I think Jesus, you know, I think it's apparent who he is he's a traveling teacher To follow me is, you know, essentially saying come study under me, come be my pupil, my disciple. And so, I think Matthew, even though he's not in the same kind of position as Peter and Andrew and John and stuff like that, I think Matthew probably had an understanding of what was being asked of him. Mm-hmm, you know, at least in a general sense, you know, probably didn't realize at this point, he's the Messiah, the savior of the world. But you know, hey, here's a, here's a teacher who wants me to come and be his student and I'm going to follow him, yeah, and lesson number one it comes right to Matthew and he gets asked the question.

Pastor Plek:

He teaches through a little dialogue. When the Pharisees asked why is your teacher? You with tax collectors and sinners? And he goes like, hey, listen, those who are well have no need of a physician, only those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came to call the righteous. I came not to call the righteous but sinners. So let's talk about that. In the reality of Christians, not only does Jesus have the authority to forgive sin. You have to have the need to understand that you have a need for your sin to be forgiven.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, I think. Moving into the interpretation of, what does this teach about God? What does this teach about man? Number one it teaches about man. We are sinners, we have a sickness, we have a rebellion, and we have to acknowledge that about ourselves, otherwise we're not going to look to Jesus to do. What it teaches about God he wants to offer mercy, he wants to heal the sick as the physician of our souls. And so we got to understand we are sinful and we got to understand there's a punishment for sin, and at the same time, understand about God that he is merciful and he forgives sinners through Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I think that's another truth that I love. God has a heart of compassion. Verse 36,. Jesus looks at the crowd. He sees them as harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. So I feel like that's a powerful truth there that we need to lean into, that God's not angry at you because you can't figure your life out. I think he is compassionate towards you that ultimately, your sin is going to lead to your own demise and he would want you to have joy in him. What about some some more truths? I thought that was interesting that the scribes, the religious people, accused Jesus of blasphemy and and then other people laughed, ultimately, at his power. So what is that all about? Remember, because when he shows up to the funeral, they're laughing at him because he's going to raise the dead.

Pastor Holland:

Well, he says, she's not dead, she's just sleeping.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, and they laugh Maybe because they really thought he was joking. Yeah, we're talking about. She's not dead, she's just sleeping. Yeah, and they laugh Maybe because they really thought he was joking.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, we're talking about. She's not dead, she's sleeping, she had just died, right, but they say, come, lay your hand on her and she'll live, yeah, and so when he gets there, they're doing the flute players, they're doing the lamentation stuff, going through the grieving, and Jesus to say something like that is like a ridiculous like. I mean, what a? Unless you can raise the dead, what an insensitive, ridiculous thing to say. Like if my daughter had just died and I'm in there, just like completely broken up, and someone walks up it's like, oh, I think she's just asleep, you'd be like, come on, man, like shut up, get out of here, you know like. And so I think they laugh out of just like the utter ridiculousness. And then, and then he goes and raises her from the dead. Yeah, that's awesome.

Pastor Plek:

And so not only can he heal Talk about like that being the greatest day of your life, yeah, Doesn't just heal the sick and cause the paralytic to walk, he can even raise the dead.

Pastor Holland:

So it's like progressively getting more and more like. Who is this man?

Pastor Plek:

Give me another any theological truth here that you see about people or God.

Pastor Holland:

Well, I think that reality of Jesus can raise the dead. You know, when we talk about what it means to be a Christian, we're not just saying I agree with Jesus's teachings, we're not just saying I align with his morals, and you know, we're saying I believe that he rose from the dead and he will raise me from the dead. It's good.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. So how about some spec you know, sin to avoid, promise to claim, example to follow, command to obey or knowledge to believe. How about that first one? Self-righteousness is something that refuses mercy. Like I am not sick enough that I need help, and I think that's the problem of our culture. Like I'm not that bad.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, yeah, for me, the command to obey is what I brought up at the beginning about praying to the Lord of the harvest, and just a reminder to keep praying that prayer that the harvest is plentiful. It really is that there are many people whom God is drawing to himself a plentiful harvest and the lack is not with God and his desire to save. The lack is with the workers willing to go and preach the gospel.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, and along those lines, example to follow be a friend who brings your paralyzed friend to Jesus. And that could be, you know, physical paralysis, spiritual paralysis. Bring them to Jesus.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, another example to follow. Be like Matthew. When Jesus says, follow me, get up and go, you know if you're listening to this and you're not really sure if you want to make that decision, you know it's like hey, be like Matthew, just do it. Look what you know, look who Jesus is, look how amazing he is and follow him today.

Pastor Plek:

All right, hey. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you tomorrow on A Chapter A Day.

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