Matthew 9:1-13

Okay then. Welcome. Were in

Matthew 9.1-13

June 28th 2026

Matthew 9:1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

Last week we learned that the residents of Gadara asked the Lord to leave their area and from verse 1 it seems He re-entered the boat by which they came and crossed back over to “his own city” or Capernaum.

And we encounter yet another healing (verse 2)

2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Yeshua seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

Now in Mark his account reads that, "they uncovered the roof," and let him down and Luke reads, "they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling."

In any case, Matthew seems to avoid these details and just gets to the (ahem) Heart of the Matter – which is what Yeshua says to the man himself.

Thus far in the Matthew accounts of healing Yeshua simply heals those whom He would.

But here we discover something different, something added, an advance in the Lord’s approach among men as He says:

“Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven!”

Whoa nelly! Hold the horses! “What?” the scribes and Pharisees must have been saying to themselves – what do you mean, “your sins are forgiven you?”

Now, we might wonder, why didn’t Yeshua just heal this man like the others but instead chose to tell Him his sins were forgiven first?

1st of all, maybe the man, through years of egregious sinning brought this palsy upon himself.

Does sin result in sickness? Ready for this?

Always.

But the types of sickness is highly debated. There are illnesses of personality, of the physical body, of the mind, the spirit, the conscience, of emotions, even something like our present attitudes can be warped by the presence of sin.

Is all physical illness the result of sin? This one is less certain – so it is really a yes and no. Yes, in the sense that if Adam and Eve had not fallen and introduced sin into the world disease (notice that word too – “dis- ease”) would not inhabit this realm.

So, in that sense all sickness is the product of sin –Adam’s sin. And apparently through mechanisms we do not fully understand which are probable both very simple and very complex, when an individual human being acts in ways not designed by God in their person, because they are made in His image, they are out of whack with the ideal of their being and there are results – dis-ease of something.

That said not all disease or illness are caused by a person’s moral failures.

People become ill, get disease, colds, tooth decay etc. without a direct tie to deserving it because of something they did or chose to do.

This is another reason Yeshua may have said this to the man because perhaps He knew the man was extremely conscious of guilt.

Maybe the Lord discerned that the man was frightened of being discovered for his sins or maybe he feared that he was such a sinner that Christ would not give him the time of day.

So perhaps the Lord re-assured him that his offences were pardoned, so that he could lay aside all his fears which could have impeded his healing.

Additionally, it seems Yeshua might have been wanting to show He had the power to forgive sins – which we will see the outcome of that next.

Now, if He simply said to someone, “your sins are forgiven then walked away” nobody would have reason to believe that the sins had been forgiven.

But by tying the words to doing a miracle, well then were cooking with gas.

In other words had he stated it without doing a miracle that following, the Jews would not have believed it, and even his disciples might have wondered.

So maybe to prove His words, He worked a miracle; and no one, therefore, could doubt that he had the power to forgive sin.

This healing is a huge evidence of His Messiahship when we look at all of the components. Oh, and it is also important to know that the Jews regarded disease as the effect of sin. Remember the account found in John 9:1-3 about the man born blind? Lets mention it here a minute.

It reads

And as Yeshua passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

See, the Jews were under some false beliefs which they had picked up from Greek or Hellenist influence beginning around 500 BC.

One errant belief was known as the “transmigration of souls” or what we might call a pre-existent state for human beings which is why they asked Him who sinned that the man was born blind?

In other words with the notion of a transmigration of souls being possible the Jews also came to believe that people could do wrong in a prior life and then enter this world deformed in some sense or another.

It was upon these false notions that Yeshua was then asked the question in the face of this man born blind:

“who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?”

But notice how the Lord clears the concept away, saying in verse 3:

“Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

In other words, the reason Yeshua gives that the man was born blind had nothing to do with he or his parents sinning but was so that Yeshua could work a miracle so that “the works of God should be manifest in him.”

What a comforting bit of news that must have been both to the man and the parents who just may have been within earshot.

In all probability they had been under some severe scrutiny from the community since the man was born.

“What did they do?” and/or “What do you think that blind boy did?”

But Yeshua takes the onus of this poor man’s condition right off the parents and the man and puts it squarely in the hands of God.

Ever meet someone who enters life (or inherits in life) some debilitating or disfiguring disease of some sort but uses their life to sing the praises of God?

Talk about courage, faith, devotion.

After a gathering years ago a man named Sean asked Mary and I for a ride home.

Sean was born with cerebral palsy which has affected his ability to speak clearly, articulate words readily, and walk without great difficulty.

But Sean gets up every morning and takes himself down to the rescue mission where he spends his days – up until seven at night, sharing the Lord with others.

Every time I drop this man off, I am humbled – and frequently concerned about my standing before the Lord – as he hobbles out of the car and happily moves toward his apartment.

“That the works of God might be manifest in him.”

I think the response Yeshua gives lets us in on the ways of God as well. He is asked why the man was born blind and Yeshua essentially says, “So God would be glorified.”

Maybe we can safely assume that God has allowed all of us to experience difficult things and He does allow unfortunate situations to exist as a means to reveal Himself through the humble, as a witness and means to reach out and touch others, so in the end to bring about glory among Man in this world?

Now, after all this has been said, James seems to make a connection between sin and physical ailments – especially in that day. So in James 5:14-15 he askes:

“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

There is debate on what James is really saying here but one thing for sure is the phraseology because James wrote:

“And IF he has committed sins they shall be forgiven him.”

Sometimes there is an absolute connection between sin and suffering.

Repeated drunkenness often leads to a damaged liver and sexual sin is said to be a sin “against the body.”

Maybe the Lord is pointing this out or reminding the viewing audience of this fact?

Then we also know from scripture that diseases are sometimes the direct judgment of God for sin.

In the Church at Corinth there was a man who had slept with his father’s wife.

In this situation Paul wrote:

“To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Yeshua.”

In the situation of the man born blind, Yeshua says that the man was born-blind so that God would be glorified. And we will see that this truly was the end result. That is a whole spectrum of possibilities for disease, right?

For whatever reason, Yeshua said to the man here in Matthew prior to healing him, “Be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you.” (verse 3)

3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, “This man blasphemeth.”

The word “blaspheme” means to injure someone by words. When applied to God (as it always is today) is means to ascribe acts and actions to Him that are not His or take credit for doing the works that belong to Him – something only he can do.

Here Christ was charged with doing something which properly belonged to God . . . to announce that sin was forgiven of someone.

In so doing He was literally assuming the place, person, power and position of God.

Now in the Mark and Luke accounts they report that the scribes said,

:None, can forgive sins but God only."

Is this true? Absolutely.

They were not incorrect.

In Isaiah 43:25 God says:

“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”

And in Isaiah 44:22-24 listen to how God describes Himself,

22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

23 Sing, O ye heavens; for YAHAVAH hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for YAHAVAH hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

24 Thus saith YAHAVAH, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am YAHAVAH that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.”

So, Yeshua was either a blasphemer or . . . He was God.

Of all the prophets that came before Him not one ever claimed the power to forgive sin and so in saying this Yeshua KNEW He was claiming that He was Divine.

But He didn’t stop there with words only.

4 And Yeshua knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

Mark says, "Yeshua perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned."

In addition to being able to forgive sin, God also has the power of searching the hearts of Man and/or knowing their thoughts. This power also belongs only to God.

1st Chronicles 28:9

“for YAHAVAH searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.”

Romans 8:27 reads,

“And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Jeremiah 17:10 says,

“I YAHAVAH search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

In John 2:24-25 we learn something more direct about Yeshua when he wrote:

“But Yeshua did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”

By Matthew writing about the event in this way to His Jewish reader, he was telling them, “Yeshua was God with us.”

Then, discerning their hearts and minds, Yeshua gives them a little dose of Yeshua logic (which is the best thinking on earth) and He says:

5 For which is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

Now I know this sounds like Yeshua is saying, which is harder to do? But what He asks is which is harder to say?

Let me try and explain.

In the King James (at least) the punctuation of this passage almost wrecks the meaning of the teaching.

The line should be punctuated, making the reading go . . .

5 For what is easier to say, (comma after say) “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” or to say, “Arise, and walk?”

But the King James makes the passage sound like Yeshua is saying, “What is easier (comma), to get a man with palsy to walk or to forgive sins?”

But the real question Yeshua asks these men is what is easier to say – “You’re forgiven of your sins” or “to say rise up and walk and see?”

(Beat)

Ready? Both are equally easy to say and both are equally difficult to accomplish.

This is His point because both require the power of God to make them happen.

In other words, if a being has the power to say to a lame man get up and walk and he does then he has the same power to say your sins are forgiven you and it being true.

Both sentences are equally easy to say. And for Him, both actions are equally easy to do.

See, when it comes to creation, it is just as easy for God to create a single cell as it is a universe.

Everything is equally easy to a power which is unlimited. And I think this was Yeshua point, and He almost seems to be saying,

“You think I blaspheme God by saying your sins are forgiven you? Do you think I also blaspheme by saying rise up and walk?”

Pure genius.

But before He heals the man Yeshua first explains why He is performing this specific miracle, adding, (verse 6)

6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) “Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.”

Now, just as an aside that keeps cropping up in my head as I read and teach this.

Let me ask you all - What is easier to say? “I believe that Yeshua is Lord,” or “I will die to my former self and live unto my new Man?” They are both as easy to SAY as the other, right?

Then in a parallel meaning and application, which is easier to do? (careful now) because they are equally easy to do if you mean them both from the heart.

Just something to think about. Don’t get all discombobulated over it. Just an interesting application I couldn’t shake.

So, what happened?

7 And he arose, and departed to his house.

8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

The wording of this passage does not mean to infer that it was MEN who did this work but the Son of Man, Yeshua Christ, who had accomplished it –and the context of all the previous passages confirm this.

Alright, then – on to verse 9. And here we come to an interesting bit of historical chronology.

Matthew, the tax collector and author of this gospel was not called to follow Yeshua until now.

Does this mean Matthew was not present when Yeshua taught the Sermon on the Mount? I wonder because it was after the casting of the demons out of Legion and when Yeshua left that area and came back to the other side of Capernaum that He saw and called Matthew.

Matthew means, “gift of God,” and was a common Jewish name after the Exile.

He was the son of Alphaeus, and was a publican or tax-gatherer at Capernaum, the city Yeshua just returned to after leaving from the other side.

According to this account and those found in Mark and Luke, Yeshua was coming up from the side of the lake when He passed the custom-house where Matthew was seated, and said to him, "Follow me."

What did Matthew do?

He rose and followed him.

Now a “custom house” was place where

a tax imposed by the Romans. Tax-gatherers were called, “publicans” and they had their offices at the gates of cities, and in the public highways, and at the place set apart for that purpose, called the "receipt of custom" or the custom house.

Here they collected taxes that were to be paid for the acquisition of certain goods.

Now most publicans were tempted to exact more from the people than what was lawful, so they were, because of their habit of extortion, hated by the people.

We know from scripture that the Pharisees wouldn’t have anything to do with them at all.

So, Matthew was a hated publican.

He was formerly known by the name Levi (Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27).

When he followed the Lord, it seems either he himself or the Lord gave him a new name.

On the same day that Yeshua called Levi to follow Him Luke says he made a "great feast" (like a farewell feast) to which he invited Yeshua and his disciples, and probably many of his former associates.

If we take all of this chronology in hand, the only way Matthew could have witnessed the casting out into the swine was if he had been there, came back over to Capernaum, took his place as a publican in the custom house, and Yeshua saw him there doing that and called him.

Otherwise Matthew was not a witness to at LEAST the casting out of the demons into the swine.

In ay case think about your workplace for a minute. And imagine that the Lord comes and asks you to follow Him and you do. And before you head off to follow Him you invite all your fellow employees over to a party – a farewell party to say goodbye – and the Lord shows up.

And He is engaging and smiling and meeting all your friends.

And they are telling stories to Yeshua about what it has been like working with you.

Wild huh? But this is how the Lord interacted with people. On a real basis.

We know that later on down the line Matthew was selected as one of the twelve apostles.

Interestingly, Matthew’s name does not pop up again in the Gospel history except in the lists of the apostles.

And the last notice of him is in Acts 1:13 where it is mentioned he was in attendance when the eleven were gathered in the upper room before the Day of Pentecost. We do not know how he died though there are rumors.

Anyway, back to verse nine and the call of Matthew,

9 And as Yeshua passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

There is an interesting aside not relative to Matthew and his description of being called. In Luke’s account he writes that Matthew, “left all.”

This little insight is humbly missing from Matthew’s account.

Now remember, we said that Matthew held a party before heading out in pursuit of the Lord. Verse ten seems to take us into this setting and Luke 5:10 confirms it.

10 And it came to pass, as Yeshua sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

Years ago – I picked up a enemy of sorts who thinks of himself as an apologist for the LDS church. We lovingly call him, “The Bob.”

One while speaking at a local church, the Bob showed up to quietly observe the festivities. After the event was over he came up to me and said:

“You know Shawn, it looks to me like this is a giant gathering of Santa’s broken toys.”

I’ll never forget the words nor the heart that delivered them. So here is the Lord.

He has asked Levi to follow Him, and in the transition of Levi the tax collector (or publican) becoming, “Matthew the disciple of Christ,” he throws a party and invites all his friends over.

Among them there must have been a LOT of Santa’s broken toys because the righteous Jews would never associate with him as a publican, right?

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, “Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?”

To eat and drink with others (like sinners) always denotes intimacy and familiarity.

And to the Pharisees, eating with sinful souls – publicans and sinners – the “great unwashed” was akin to being part of or joining with the great unwashed . . . of being a companion with men and women who do evil deeds.

The inference was “Your master is also unclean, unrighteous, unholy – just look at who He hangs with.” So the Pharisees saw it they asked, why does your master eat with publicans and sinners?

Verse 12

12 But when Yeshua heard that, he said unto them, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

Now, this phrase used to perplex the heck out of me. Because I would read it as if Yeshua was saying:

“I came here to save the lost and sinful. Those of you who are clean and whole won’t or don’t need me – but the sinners do – and this is why I eat with them.”

But my interpretation was only partially correct. If you are looking for a doctor to heal people look in places where sick people are gathered together.

There is no real reason for doctors to spend their time hanging around people who are well. So it was with the Great Physician. It is the sick that need his aid.

So, when He says:

“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

Which is like He is saying

"If you Pharisees think yourselves as already pure and holy, you have no need for my healing or what I am offering you.

I am here for the sick (or better put, I am here for those who know they are sick and are willing to admit it.)

They’re the ones who need a doctor. Why would anyone need a doctor who refuses to believe that they are ill? In this setting I am useful. Here I am needed.

"I came on purpose to save sinners. My business is with them. There are none righteous, but those in need of a physician have one right here in me.”

And then He adds the following to them – ready? Really important as He says to the Pharisees,

13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

As a means to reprove them, to call out their hearts and possibly to vindicate his conduct of eating with sinners and publicans, the Lord seems to appeal to a passage of Scripture with which they ought to have been acquainted – it comes from Hosea 6:6, and says,

"I will have mercy, and not sacrifice."

What does it mean?

It is a Hebrew mode of speaking, and means:

“I am more pleased with acts of benevolence and kindness than with a mere external compliance with the duties of religion.”

The word “Mercy,” here, means benevolence, kindness and compassion towards others.

You see, sacrifices were offerings made to God on account of sin, or as an expression of thanksgiving or praise.

They were commonly bloody offerings where animals were slain, signifying that the sinner offering them deserved to die himself but had the animal take his or her place.

It all pointed to the great sacrifice or offering which Christ was to make for the sins of the world.

Sacrifices were a major part in the worship services of the Jews, and so the word sacrifice came to signify “external worship” even “external religious practices” in general.

It is believed that this is the meaning of the word here. But Yeshua seems to be saying:

“You Pharisees are exceedingly tenacious of the external duties of religion; but God has declared that he prefers benevolence or mercy to those external duties.”

So, in citing this passage He is saying I am justified, therefore, in the sight of God that I should associate with sinners for the purpose of doing them good because God has Himself said, I will have mercy and not religious observations.

My Goodness, what a heart set for all believers today. And notice that Yeshua tells the Pharisees to go search out on their own what this line in Hosea meant.

Yeshua adds, in a sense that I think includes some sarcasm:

“I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

We know from scripture that no human beings are by nature righteous.

(Psalm 14:3, Romans 1:18-32, 3:10-18).

But the Pharisees pretended or actually thought they were. It may very well be that the Lord was saying that it was never His purposes to try and call such “righteous” people like the Pharisees to repentance – maybe He knew they would spurn his efforts because they never saw themselves in need of such.

But He came to seek and save those who would and could hear and these are typically the Humble, the lost, and/or Santa’s broken toys.

We will stop here- thanks for tuning in.