Matthew 9:14-19

Okay so . . .

26 Matthew 9.14-19

October 4th 2026

So we left off in Matthew chapter 9 . . . THREE MONTHS AGO!

And we read where the Lord told a man “His sins were forgiven Him” and then He healed Him to prove He had the right to say so.

Let’s continue our study of Mattew, beginning at chapter 9 verse 14:

Matthew 9:14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

15 And Yeshua said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

19 And Yeshua arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

Now before we cover the passages we’ve just read, I want to point out something that frequently occurs among men – the mistake of glomming onto a person or thing that exists to present or support something greater.

Many of us who have had children experience this very thing when they are quite young.

It’s Christmas morning and you have gone to a lot of time and expense to buy and put together some large expensive gift that was delivered in a giant corrugated box.

The child excitedly walks over to the new giant dollhouse but by the time everything is open you find them playing more with the box it came in than the toy itself.

We are funny creations – easily mislead by things that were never meant to lead or govern us.

It happens anytime we place a person in between us and the Lord – I don’t care who it is . . . spouse, child, pastor, musician, money, church – whatever.

When we left off the Lord called Levi the tax collector to follow Him, who threw a party and some of those who attended were disciples of John.

John the Baptist was quite the draw back in the day. According to many accounts (including Josephus) he had a large number of people believing he was the Messiah.

Even to this day there is a group of people (called Mandaeists) who hold John the Baptist out as the one – the Messiah.

Of course, we know that John was brought forth to fulfill prophecy and prepare the way for the incarnated Messiah to come

And after baptizing the Lord, when his discipled came to him with a question about Yeshua and His disciples, the Baptist said (in John 3)

“Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him . . . He must increase, but I must decrease.”

But as in the case of the Mandaiests, some just won’t let go of a person or thing that once had hold of them – and they forever go about making comparisons between who they were and what they are supposed to be.

Not liking change, they forever vacillate between the two – meaning their “former master” and to the “Truth.”

We often see this with those of us who were once of another faith – in this area, it is usually the LDS CHurch.

I know a woman who was a long-time member of another faith (not Mormon but a Christian-based faith) which enforced many non-biblical teachings.

For YEARS she has tried to get assimilated with what we do in this ministry.

She’s attended many Bible studies and tapings of our programs but could not – for the life of her – break from the hold of her former religious training.

In the end, she would claim things from her former religion (which are often is met with resistance from others) and then, insulted, she would walk away for a season only to return later to seek again.

It’s a classic case of continuing to be, from the heart, a disciple of something other than Him.

Now in the case of John the Baptist and Yeshua it is expected that there would be some question.

Yeshua ministry was EXTREMELY different than the Baptists and I’m sure many Jews saw great benefit to John’s and nothing but trouble with the Lord’s.

But we also know from John’s account that several of the Lord’s chosen apostles came from first being disciples of John the Baptists first! (including Andrew, John and Peter). So, to verse one:

Matthew 9:14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we “the disciples of John and the Pharisees) fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

What were they asking? Questions about why “non-fasting” was the way of the disciples of Yeshua but fasting was done under John and the largest sect of religious leaders, the Pharisees?

If John the Baptist prepared the way for the true Messiah, why did He lead His followers to fasting when the Messiah does not?

The Pharisees fasted often, regularly twice a week, in addition to great national days of fasting, and it was the established custom of the land.

It is also thought that John the Baptist was in prison by this time and in response to this troubling and sorrowful situation that his disciples were fasting at that moment. It would have been a natural thing in that culture to do.

So, there are the disciples of John the Baptist at a party thrown by Matthew.

There was probably great food and wine there and John’s disciples are fasting and Yeshua disciples are eating and drinking and having a good old time.

Over the course of our ministry, I have had people (on a couple of occasions) say things to me like:

“You have a lot of freedom in Christ, don’t you?”

We have some very dedicated supporters who come from back east who, when they first met me, said something to that effect and just sat there amazed when they watched our televised program live for the first time.

Sometimes what people see and hear from me culminates into them believing that I am not a believer, or that I promote Christian carnality. Not in the least.

I am sold out to concepts like fasting, holy living, walking circumspectly before the Lord and dying to the flesh.

But I am also convinced that God created us specifically for a specific purpose, that where the Spirit of Christ is there is liberty and freedom, and that all things are lawful to them that believe and I embrace this in faith.

What this story or situation presents to us is religion verses relationship.

Where John was the greatest (according to Yeshua) under the Law and of the Prophets, Yeshua came to give life and to give it MORE abundantly.

In Luke chapter seven the Lord is discussing the Pharisees and Sadducees rejection of both He and John the Baptist.

And the Lord said (in Luke 7:31-34)

“Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?”

And in response he presents this analogy:

32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.

33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.

34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!”

In other words, Yeshua was saying nothing was going to satisfy them – neither the ascetic ways of John the Baptist nor the free-wheeling ways of Our God in His ministry.

“the Free-wheeling ways of our God?”

Absolutely.

Where the Baptist was ascetic to the max, eating nothing but grasshoppers and honey, Yeshua loved food, and wine (not a drunkard) and associations with people of ill repute. Why?

(beat)

Love.

He loved.

He Loved the Father and submitted His entire will over to Him throughout His life and was therefore obedient to the Law AND He loved His neighbor as Himself.

And by and through this uncompromising faith and relentless love He was free (listen) to just “BE.” To live.

Are we “Free to Be?” in Christ Yeshua?

I am.

Free to be who He wants me to be.

Free to be what He wants you to be.

Free to produce whatever He wants me to produce.

Free to eat and drink what He wants me to eat and drink.

Free to walk without restrictions on every day of the week.

Free to wear what He allows me to wear.

Free to love, free to completely forgive all people of everything always.

Free to accept all people at all times and without exception.

Free to laugh in a bar with seekers.

Free to laugh at a funeral with believers.

Notice the link between my liberty and my chosen form of bondage – they come together in this world. Whatever we are free in comes with a price of bondage.

Followers of Christ are free IN HIM. He is the Law. He allows and prohibits. We submit to Him and place our will in His hands and act as He allows.

“Why don’t your disciples fast?” They ask the Lord.

The same questions are posed today when religious people ask:

“Why don’t you do communion weekly?”

“Why don’t you wear a tie?”

“Why is your music so different?”

One response to EVERY QUESTION:

Liberty IN Yeshua.

And this is the reply our King essentially gives these who question Him.

He’s not condemning fasting. He’s teaching “appropriateness based on what? On Him.”

Think about that concept for a minute: “Appropriateness based on Him.”

(Verse 15)

And Yeshua said unto them, “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.”

In reply to them the Lord uses three illustrations - all of which establish the same thing – “appropriate action based on Him and Him alone.”

The first illustration He borrows from a marriage – which is a celebration! (right?)

And He says,

“the children of the bride-chamber (meaning the friends of the groom who were in charge of setting up the bridal chamber) do not think of fasting while the groom is with them.”

Why would they? The groom is with them! It is a time of festivity and rejoicing – and a place when mourning would not be appropriate.

Of course, when the groom goes away and is forever subject to the chains of matrimony! . . . . ☺

. . . . that would be the appropriate time to mourn and fast.

The point is both obvious . . . and I believe not so obvious.

Obvious in the sense that Yeshua is saying, “My disciples are with me – there is no need to fast for now is not the time of mourning but of rejoicing! When I leave, they’ll have plenty of time to fast, because then they will have plenty of sorrow.”

But I would suggest perhaps an even more poignant message may be included here too.

That is, “You have chosen a master. His name is John the Baptist. And while the greatest of the prophets, He is but a man. And you will forever be in sorrow when you have hitched your wagon to the star of a man. My disciples have chosen Me – He whom your master came to prepare the way. Follow me and you will never hunger or thirst again!”

Huh? What? Then He gives another illustration, proving another point that relates to “appropriate action based on Him and Him alone,” saying:

16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

Here the Lord draws from a well-known fact: if you are mending and old piece of clothing better use similar fabric to mend it, of similar age and similar weathering, otherwise the new fabric will overwhelm the old and, being so strong, will tear from the old cloth when tension is placed upon the garment as a whole.

It’s almost a universal law.

Author Robert Pirsig points out that when people sell something that is old but in pristine condition at the time of the sale, there is often a break-down of the product because it is exposed to the hands of new owners.

Using an older home as an example, he says the home has pretty much stood as it is for decades prior to being sold.

Then a young family moves in.

And they open the shower door with completely new angles, speeds, and power than the metals are used to from the former owners.

In the process, new grooves are formed in the old cogs and tracks of the old and before you know it – the whole house is falling apart – with the seller being strongly accused of deception practices.

Not so.

And this is what Yeshua is saying here.

When we mix old ways with new there is going to be a breakdown. The real meaning?

I’ve come to fulfill and introduce to the world a New Commandment or method of operation – love . . . for God, for each other, for an abundant life here and into the eternities by virtue of spirit living.

As a result, I am not about to try and incorporate this wholly new approach to living into the old fabric of the Pharisees.

It will only bring a tearing, a split, a faction. Driving the point home, He adds another example in verse 17:

17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

In eastern nations bottles were and are still made of animal skins – like a boda-bag.

Generally, they would take the entire skin of a sheep or a goat, sew up the legs head, gut and butt, and fill it with wine or water.

One Bible researcher (Bruce) writes about witnessing such a “bottle” in Arabia, made an ox-skin, which would hold sixty gallons!

Over time these skins would wear thin and could be easily ruptured – especially if they were filled with new wine, or wine that was still in the process of fermenting because the process would cause the skins to swell - and then burst open.

“Have new wine?” Yeshua says, “Get a new skin.” Get it?

Now, what is beautiful about this teaching is not only the total truth to it –and applicability – but the fact that it was taken from a factual situation from the old world.

Additionally, we see that the Old Testament also speaks of this process of skins. Old wine bottles are mentioned in Joshua 9:4 and in Job 32:19, the oldest book in the Bible, it says,

"My belly is ready to burst, like new bottles."

Psalms 119:83 speaks of the curing of skins, saying:

"I am become like a bottle in the smoke."

All based in fact, history, and real people and places – which Yeshua borrowed from in His teachings. (verse 18)

18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

The account contained in these verses is also recorded, with some additional circumstances, in Mark 5:22-43 and Luke 8:41-56.

Mark and Luke say that his name of this certain ruler was “Jairus” and that he was a ruler of the synagogue, meaning he was an “elder” (which literally meant he was an older Jew) who was committed to help care for a synagogue.

And in the typical “eastern fashion” he prostrated himself (worshipped him) which was an expression of his profound respect for the Lord.

Luke tells us that Jairus’s daughter was twelve years of age and his only daughter. What a tender moment.

Fathers and daughters – especially young daughters – are such a unique setting of human life – can be so beautiful at times.

The father son relationship seems to me, not ever having sons, to be one of passing along wisdom and skills.

But the father/daughter relationship, at least to me having had three, is more about “protection,” love, laughter, and joy’ in seeing these little flowers experience life and to grow and mature.

I mean here we are, many of us men having said and done some of the most vulgar, obscene, carnal things in the course of our lives, and we are put in charge of little women who are so unaware, so trusting, so hopeful for their future.

When our middle daughter Cassidy was about three years old, she, following the lead of her older sister, loved a new Disney animation, Alladin. I mean they played it night and day.

Early one evening while having dinner Cassidy, in mid conversation, went cross eyed.

Being young parents, and especially having an idea of how I was supposed to be as “the man” of the house, we immediately called the doctor and learned that this little one, who loved her daddy so much, needed to wear glasses.

Now, Cassidy has always been independently minded. Stubborn as all get out but equally compliant if she respects you.

We let her pick out some corrective lenses - little pink round ones – but she refused to wear them once we brought them home.

We coddled, we persuaded, we reminded but nothing was working. It was time for “the man” to show up and make her do what we knew would be for her benefit even if she didn’t understand.

And show up I did. And I demanded, with all authority I could muster, for this little three-year-old to wear those glasses.

She did. But I watched as her little personality wilt before my eyes. And for the first time in our otherwise loving relationship we came to an impasse.

I was the angry father forcing her to do something I could see was hard for her to do, and she was the confused daughter who was doing what she was told but could not understand why.

I was miserable but did not know what to do. She was perplexed because the guy who was so fun had turned sort of demanding.

A couple of days passed. Then one Saturday morning I came into the den where the girls played.

Naturally, amidst their get ups and laughter they were playing the Alladin soundtrack on the recorder.

And their favorite began to play – A whole new world.

Cassidy, awkwardly wearing those pink glasses, walked up to me, took my hand and said,

“Dance with me, Daddy.”

And I picked her up and just wept listening to the words of her favorite song:

I can show you the world

Shining shimmering splendid

Tell me, princess, now when did

you last let your heart decide

Daddy’s and daughters. I am a blessed man to have had them. And here in scripture, another man, who too must have dearly loved his little twelve year old, comes desperately to the Lord.

And he says, “my daughter is even now dead.”

Both Mark and Luke’s accounts say that she was at the point of death, and that information of her actual death was brought to him by one who was sent by the ruler of the synagogue as Yeshua was headed to heal her.

The Greek words that say (in English) “that she is even now dead,” better read that she is about to die – if she is not dead already.

His request to the Lord? Please come and lay your hand upon her and she shall live. Another picture of the life He gives to any and all upon whom He lays His hand.

Why did the man request that the Lord come and lay a hand on her?

Many religionists will say it is only by this means that Yeshua healed – and that we can heal by and through His name today.

Certainly, Yeshua laid His hands on people but not always. See, it was customary for the Jewish prophets, in conferring favors, to lay their hand on a person that they were focused upon.

We often do this today even in our culture. When we give a nice gift or bit of really important advice, we too will place our hands upon the person we are focused upon.

(verse 19)

19 And Yeshua arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

So, the request was made. Yeshua responded to it, and they were on their way when they are about to be interrupted by another desperately sick individual – a woman with an issue of blood.

It is to this imposition, this story, that we will continue forward with next week.

There are 324 Old Testament prophecies that speak of the Lord.

Matthew wrote and spoke to many of them as a means of convincing the Jews that Yeshua is the promised Messiah.

In Isaiah 35:5, speaking of the Messiah, it says:

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.”

All referencing the healings that He would do. The healings that He did. The healings He continues to do – but which I believe are more of the human heart and mind and soul than the body.

We will pick it up here next week.