What I Noticed Today (Matthew 7-9)
Matthew 7
Matthew 7 examines three major themes: 1) judging ourselves, 2) judging others, and 3) judging the Lord.
In verses 1-6, Jesus warns us not to judge others with a different standard than we use to judge ourselves (take the log out of your own eye before you worry about the speck in your brother’s eye).
Taking the speck out of our own eye will enable us to see so we can help others.
In verses 7-11, Jesus tells the disciples, ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, and knock, and it will be opened for you.
Note: The words ask, seek, and knock are in the present tense, which in Greek implies continuous action: keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. Don’t stop! God wants to hear from us, and He wants to provide good gifts for us.
Note: Some take this verse out of context and make God seem like a genie in a bottle, ask and you will receive, but note that what God gives us are good gifts. They are what God knows we need, not necessarily what we want or ask for.
In verses 12-14, Jesus proclaims what we call the Golden Rule, which is a summary of the Law. In so doing, Jesus also warns the way to righteousness (Jesus’ teaching) is narrow; the way to destruction (the teaching of the Pharisees) is broad.
In verses 15-23, Jesus warns about the false prophets who appear as sheep but are really wolves. He said you could tell who is a false teacher by their fruit: those who are good produce good fruit, those who are bad produce thorns and thistles. Jesus warns not everyone who proclaims His name driving out demons is good if they are not obedient to the Father.
In verses 24-27, Jesus closes this instruction to the disciples with a call to action in the form of a parable. Everyone who has heard His words and does them is wise, building on a solid foundation. Those who hear and reject Him are foolish, like a man who builds a house on a foundation of sand.
Matthew 8
In Matthew 8, Jesus displays the power of the Son of God as a way of convincing those who were following him that He was who He said He was with five dramatic miracles.
In verses 1-4, as Jesus came down from the mountain, a leper presented himself to Jesus, asking to be cleansed. Jesus healed his leprosy and told him to present himself to the priests as proof of the cleansing.
Note: In the history of Israel, no one had ever been cured of leprosy. By sending the man to the priests, Jesus provided testimony to his claims.
In verses 5-13, a Roman centurion (an officer commanding 100 soldiers) presented himself to Jesus and asked for his paralyzed servant to be healed. The centurion’s faith was so great that he believed Jesus could heal just by speaking the command to be healed. The man was healed the moment Jesus spoke the command.
In verses 14-17, Jesus entered Peter’s house and found Peter’s mother-in-law sick. Her fever left her when Jesus touched her. Later that evening, many came to be healed and have demons cast out, and He healed them all. This was in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4-6.
In verses 18-22, a scribe (a teacher of the Law) approached Jesus and said he would follow him, but Jesus said he did not even have a place to lay his head.
I believe Jesus knew the man’s objective was to gain prominence by following a man of prominence and wanted only those who followed Him out of belief in who He was, the Son of Man.
A second man, already a disciple, said he would follow Jesus but needed to bury his father first. Jesus told the man to follow him and let the dead bury their own dead.
The man’s father was not dead. He thought he could go home until his father died and then begin to follow Jesus. Jesus said those who are spiritually dead could bury those who are physically dead.
In verses 23-27, Jesus and the disciples set sail across the sea of Galilee. A great storm rose up as he slept, and Jesus rebuked the wind and the seas and brought calm.
Note: The men’s question, "What sort of man is this?" was answered by what Jesus had done. He had demonstrated his power over the forces of nature as only the Creator could.
In verses 28-34, Jesus and the disciples arrived across the sea in the region of Gadarenes (some translations say Gergesenes or Garasenes). Two demon-possessed men presented themselves to Jesus. The demons recognized and referred to Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus cast the demons out of the men into a nearby herd of pigs who then drowned themselves in the sea. When the city people heard what had happened, they all came out to meet Jesus and begged him to leave their region.
The people were more concerned with maintaining their possessions (not losing any more of their pigs) than their own salvation.
Note: Gadarenes is in the region of the tribe of Gad. If these people were Jews, they had no business being in the pig business (Leviticus 11:17, pigs are unclean).
Matthew 9
In verses 1-8, Jesus sailed back across the sea, arriving at Capernaum (“his own town”). Some men brought a paralytic man lying on a mat. Jesus saw their faith, so he forgave the man’s sins. Some scribes (teachers of the law) accused him of blaspheming (only God can forgive sins). Jesus was claiming divine authority when he referred to himself as the Son of Man. Since healing the man physically could not be disputed, Jesus also healed the man. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid and glorified God.
In verses 9-13, Jesus calls Matthew the tax collector to be a disciple. Jesus ate with Matthew, other tax collectors, and sinners. The Pharisees chided Jesus for eating with such people, but Jesus responded, the well don’t need doctors, only the sick do. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I came to call sinners, not the righteous.
Note: Tax collectors were viewed as traitors to their faith because they were collecting taxes on behalf of the Romans, and their income came from collecting more than they had to turn over to Rome.
Note: Pharisees did not think of themselves as sinners, so they would not have sought out Jesus, the Great Physician. Pharisees were all about their sacrifices, thinking that made them righteous, but they neglected to show mercy to those who needed it.
In verses 14-17, the disciples of John came and asked Jesus why they and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not. Jesus replied people do not fast at a wedding when the bridegroom is with them. In this way, Jesus was describing himself as the bridegroom and the followers as the bride.
In his next example of the wineskins, Jesus was comparing his ministry to that traditional Jewish religion. Jesus was not trying to “patch” Judaism; He brought a new belief and a new relationship with God.
In verses 18-38, Jesus performs four miracles:
- The girl is brought back to life (vv. 18-19 & 23-26). A ruler of the synagogue (from Mark 5:22, we know this is Jairus) came to Jesus to heal his dying daughter. It is interesting that Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came to Jesus for healing!
- The woman with the issue of blood (vv. 20-22). This woman had suffered for twelve years but had faith that was just touching Jesus’ clothing would be enough to heal her.
- The two blind men (vv. 27-31) came to Jesus, addressing him as the Son of Man, asking to restore their sight. Despite warning the men not to tell anyone, His fame spread throughout the region.
- A man unable to speak (vv. 32-34) was mute because of demon possession was brought to Jesus, who cast out the demon enabling the man to speak. While the crowds marveled because no one had ever done this before, the Pharisees said Jesus was casting out demons because he was the prince of demons (Satan).
In verses 35-38 (nearly a repetition of Matthew 4:23), Jesus’ three-fold ministry is described as teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel, and healing all kinds of sicknesses. He saw the people as helpless, without a shepherd (leader) to guide them in spiritual matters.
And to the disciples, Jesus said the harvest is plentiful, but few laborers bring in the harvest. He told them to pray to the Lord to send additional workers to bring in the harvest.
Note: In the example of the harvest, Jesus referred to himself as “Lord of the Harvest” but said he could not do the work of bringing in the harvest himself. That work of bringing in the harvest fell to His disciples then and to us as Christians today.
Some important principles in chapters 8-9:
- God cares about us as individuals (He healed individuals).
- He can meet our every need (He has the power to raise the dead, heal the sick, calm the sea).
- He responds to our faith (the example of the centurion).
- He cares about our salvation more than anything.
- He has called us, as believers, to join with Him in building the Kingdom.
What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.
