Day 9: Signs of the Kingdom

9:1 He entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city. 9:2 Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.” 9:3 Behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes.” 9:4 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 9:5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk?’ 9:6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” (then he said to the paralytic), “Get up, and take up your mat, and go up to your house.”
9:7 He arose and departed to his house. 9:8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

9:9 As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him.

9:10 It happened as he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 9:12 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 9:13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

9:14 Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?” 9:15 Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 9:16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made. 9:17 Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

9:18 While he told these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 9:19 Jesus got up and followed him, as did his disciples. 9:20 Behold, a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; 9:21 for she said within herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be made well.” 9:22 But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, “Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour. 9:23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd in noisy disorder, 9:24 he said to them, “Make room, because the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.” They were ridiculing him. 9:25 But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 9:26 The report of this went out into all that land.

9:27 As Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him, calling out and saying, “Have mercy on us, son of David!” 9:28 When he had come into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They told him, “Yes, Lord.” 9:29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” 9:30 Their eyes were opened. Jesus strictly commanded them, saying, “See that no one knows about this.” 9:31 But they went out and spread abroad his fame in all that land.

9:32 As they went out, behold, a mute man who was demon possessed was brought to him. 9:33 When the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke. The multitudes marveled, saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!” 9:34 But the Pharisees said, “By the prince of the demons, he casts out demons.”

9:35 Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. 9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 9:38 Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest.”

Here’s my summary of this chapter:

• Healing a Paralytic


• The Calling of Matthew


• Tax Collectors and Sinners


• Fasting and the Bridegroom


• Healing the Ruler’s Daughter and the Woman with an Issue of Blood


• Two Blind Men are Healed


• Casting Out a Demon


• The Lord of the Harvest

In a way, if the chapter as a whole were to be given a title, it might be, “Signs of the Kingdom, and the Opposition of the Jews.” Not all Jews, mind you; but certainly the scribes (the teachers of the Law) and the Pharisees, whose lives focused upon keeping the Law to the nth degree were skeptical about the miracles and contemptuous to our Lord. Of the eight different sections of this chapter, four of them include encounters with these opponents.

Healing a Paralytic

Arriving in Nazareth, our Lord is met by a paralyzed man and his friends, who have carried him to be healed by Jesus. Here, our Lord heals with a word: “Your sins are forgiven.” Now, to this time in the story, after His baptism and the forty days in the desert, our Lord has healed a number of people. Some reports lack details, and simply say that He healed the sick; or that many were healed. (This is in chapter 4.) In chapter 8, He heals a leper with a touch and the words, “Be made clean.” He heals the servant of the centurion from afar by the word of His command. He heals Peter’s mother-in-law with a touch, and others are healed, but we are not told how. He casts out demons by His word. What is particularly worth noting is that here, unlike the previous healings where some details are given, He does not say, “Be healed”; He says, “Your sins are forgiven.” This provokes the scribes, who said among themselves, “This man is a blasphemer”; that is, someone who speaks or acts impiously, who slanders God.

St. Matthew tells us that our Lord knew their thoughts, even if He did not hear them speak. He confronts them with the question, “Which is easier? To say, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’; or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed, and walk?’” The obvious answer – from a human point of view – would be to say that one’s sins are forgiven; for how can this be known in this life? Our Lord, then, uses the more difficult task, and heals the paralyzed man with His command to rise and walk, to demonstrate that He also has the power to forgive sins. The conclusion that those present at the time of this miraculous healing, and those present when St. Matthew was telling the story, and us – if we will make the effort to understand – were meant to know that, as only God can forgive sins, Jesus was showing them that the kingdom of heaven had, indeed, drawn near to them – very near!

The Calling of Matthew

Having healed the paralyzed man, our Lord finds a tax collector named Matthew. He says to him, “Follow me.” Amazingly, Matthew does exactly as he was told to do, leaves his booth, and becomes a follower of Jesus.

None of us like to pay taxes. We may do so because we don’t want to face the consequences that may befall us if we do not pay; we may do so from a sense of duty; we may even do so giving thanks for the many opportunities we have in this land. But the collection of taxes today is almost nothing at all like it was in the time of the Gospels. Ever wonder why the tax collectors were so despised? It’s because they were contractors who, in exchange for guaranteeing the ruler a certain amount of revenue, they were allowed to collect whatever they could from whomever they could. Tax collectors almost invariably got rich, because they were accountable to no one – as long as they didn’t get too greedy! For Matthew to have walked away from such a position is mind-boggling, even in today’s world. Give up a six or seven figure income to follow a wandering teacher? Had Matthew gone crazy?

Tax Collectors and Sinners

Was the dinner mentioned here served in Matthew’s house? Wherever it was served, the company was not what common opinion thought was appropriate for a “man of God,” as Jesus clearly was – or, at least, sought to portray Himself to be. As such the Pharisees come to the disciples and ask why their “Teacher” eats with tax collectors and sinners. The Lord responds by the analogy of sickness and sin: as those who are ill have need of a physician, while those who are healthy do not, so, too, do sinners need someone who can heal their spiritual illnesses – which, the Fathers tell us, frequently manifest themselves in our bodies as well as our souls – while those who have not sinned have no such need. Then, to open their eyes to their own state of sin, our Lord quotes the prophet Hosea to show the Pharisees that, in their own assumed state of self-righteousness, they are no better than the tax collectors and sinners with whom the Lord is dining: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”

The story of the prophet Hosea is a fascinating study, and if you’ve never read this book of the Old Testament, it will be worth your time to do so. Early on, God directs Hosea to marry a prostitute, Gomer, and to accept as his own her children; all of this as a sign to the people of Israel that they have forsaken God, as a form of adultery in the relationship between God and His people. (Interesting: Here again, the theme of a “man of God” – the prophet – associating intimately with a sinner.) The message from God to His people through the prophet is that they shall be punished for their lack of fidelity – punished, but not destroyed. Gomer is driven out by her children, at Hosea’s direction; but God has ordered Hosea to continue to love her, and she is brought back and, after a time of isolation, is restored to her husband and family. At one point, God laments over His people, and asks, “What shall I do with you?” Then He says, “For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” (6:6) The Hebrew word hesed that is translated as “mercy” can refer to proper conduct directed toward others, loyalty to God, or both; and can also be translated as, “love.” What is presented, then, is the contrast between the interior action and the exterior; where the offering and the burnt offering are external actions, made in the Temple, while mercy, loyalty and love all arise from the heart. The exterior actions can be counterfeit; the interior, much less so, if at all. Worship offered to God without being faithful to the will of God does us no good; it may even do us harm. The Pharisees have judged Jesus by His outward actions, and have shown by this their lack of love and mercy – and are as much in need of the forgiveness of their sins as are the tax collectors and the other sinners. But where the group with whom our Lord is dining recognize their sin, and so their need, the Pharisees, who think they do not sin because they outwardly keep the Law, do not recognize their need to repent, and confess, so that their sins may also be forgiven.

Fasting and The Bridegroom

Although this is not a “hostile” encounter, as experienced with the scribes and the Pharisees, it is still a question about why the Lord and His disciples appear to live in a way that, if not outside the Law, then is certainly pushing the boundaries of the Law. John’s disciples come and ask, “Why do we fast, and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?” The answer is straightforward: when it is time to celebrate, you do not fast. The presence of the Lord with His disciples – and it is important here to remember that we, as we follow Him, are His disciples – is something to celebrate. At the proper time, His disciples will fast. But then the Lord teaches through an interesting analogy: using cloth and wine and wineskins to illustrate His point.

St. John Chrysostom points out that the center of the analogy is the contrast between what is old and what is new; and how mixing the two very likely results in the destruction of both. A new piece of cloth, not yet shrunk, if cut to size and used to repair an old garment, will, when it shrinks, make the damage worse than what initially required the sewing in of a piece of cloth. Similarly, new wine is poured into new wineskins, which have not been stretched, and so will have the capacity to stretch as the wine ferments. An old wineskin, having been stretched, will burst, as its elasticity is less than that of a new wineskin. Here, I think, is the point: The disciples, indeed, everyone, are under the Law, under the covenants with Abraham and Moses; but our Lord has come to bring about a new covenant; and so before it can be given to the disciples, and to all others who follow Christ, they must first be made new, and then, given the “new wine” of the life of our Lord and the Holy Spirit in our “new wineskin” being – the nature that had fallen because of Adam and which Christ would renew by His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

The Ruler’s Daughter and the Woman with an Issue of Blood

This request for healing turns into something more. A man of some importance comes to Jesus and asks Him to heal His daughter. Jesus agrees to accompany the man, who has phrased his request by asking Jesus to lay His hand on her to heal her. (Compare this with the centurion in chapter 8.) As they travel, word comes to them that the girl has died; and, as they enter the residence, the mourners have already started to gather. Our Lord says that the girl is not dead, but only sleeping – which causes those gathered there to laugh in derision. Our Lord takes the girl by the hand and raises her up, restored to life.

In the middle of this account, another story appears – that of a woman who has suffered from an issue of blood for twelve years. Her specific condition is unknown to us; but we can imagine the circumstances that her condition caused for her. Blood was significant; blood was the carrier of life, as we are told in the 17th chapter of the book of Leviticus:

17:10 “‘Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life. 17:12 Therefore I have said to the children of Israel, “No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who lives as a foreigner among you eat blood.”

Remember that it was the blood of the lambs slain for the first Passover in Egypt that was used to mark the lintel and door frames – a form of the sign of the Cross – to identify the homes of the people of God when death, the tenth and final plague on Egypt, came into the land. No one died where the doorway was marked with blood; while in those homes not marked, the first-born male in each household died.

In Leviticus we find, then, the significance for the woman who has come in the midst of the story about the healing of the ruler’s daughter:

15:19 “‘If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. 15:20 “‘Everything that she lies on in her impurity shall be unclean. Everything also that she sits on shall be unclean. 15:21 Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 15:22 Whoever touches anything that she sits on shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 15:23 If it is on the bed, or on anything whereon she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until the evening. 15:24 “‘If any man lies with her, and her monthly flow is on him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed whereon he lies shall be unclean. 15:25 “‘If a woman has a discharge of her blood many days not in the time of her period, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her period; all the days of the discharge of her uncleanness shall be as in the days of her period: she is unclean. 15:26 Every bed whereon she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her period: and everything whereon she sits shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her period. 15:27 Whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.”

So, the issue of blood had rendered this woman unclean, and therefore, untouchable, for twelve years. She was undoubtedly shunned by many, because simply brushing against her garments while passing in the street meant that you would be unclean for seven days. Her coming to touch the hem of our Lord’s cloak, then, would, under the Law, meant that Jesus would also be unclean. But, as He did not withhold His touch from the leper, here He does not object to her having come to Him with the faith that she would be healed; and He tells her, “Your faith has made you well.”

Casting Out a Demon

A man who could not speak because he was possessed of a demon came to our Lord, Who drove out the demon, making it possible for the man to speak. The people remarked that such a thing had never been seen in Israel. But once again, the Pharisees see evil where the crowd saw something wonderful, and said that the only reason why the demon-possessed man had been restored was because the Lord invoked the prince of demons to do so – saying, in effect, that our Lord was doing the work of the enemy of our salvation, rather than the work of God.

The Lord of the Harvest

The Lord sees the crowds who are coming to Him, who will need instruction and guidance, and, in His love for all, He is moved to compassion for them. He speaks to His disciples in an analogy to farming, speaking of how the harvest is ready, but that there are not enough laborers for the task. He urges His disciples – and again, we who are called by His name are meant to be His disciples – to pray, asking that the “Lord of the harvest” will send workers to bring the harvest into His house. We should offer that prayer; and we should be willing to go and do that work. For some, this will mean offering themselves for ordination; but for most, it means that we must labor to acquire the Holy Spirit, to struggle against our passions, to repent and confess, to fast and to give, to love others more than we love ourselves, and with patience and humility show the life of Christ in our own. If we will do these things, we may be of service to others by bringing them closer to our Lord; and this is the harvest, the harvest of souls.