Matthew 9

Just recently someone responded to a Facebook post inviting him to church on Easter with some harsh words. I won't quote him, because I hope he'll someday come to regret those words and I don't want to further tie them to him. But the comment was similar in many ways to the famous quote by Richard Dawkins:

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

—Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

My reaction? He doesn't really know either God or Jesus. He's adopted an easy caricature that allow the rejection of God without bothering to know Him. I hope both Dawkins and our Facebook respondent will someday sincerely seek to get to know Jesus -- because I'm sure of one thing: They'd find him... unexpected.

But that will be true for each of us as well -- the more we get to know Jesus, the more we will be surprised by Him. We won't all be surprised by the same thing though -- it will vary according to our personal expectations.

Our reading for today, chapter 9 of Matthew, has several examples of the Unexpected Jesus. He confounded the assumptions people made about Him at every turn.

Jesus, Forgiver (v. 1-8)

What must the paralytic and his friends have thought when Jesus says his sins were forgiven?

Forgiven? That's not what we came for -- we're asking for a healing!

This one is important -- I think it bears on how we respond to prayers we think are going unanswered.

Why would Jesus have responded this way? He knew that he was going to eventually heal this man... so why not lead with that?

My best guess is just this: There was a lesson to be learned from this encounter -- for all concerned. And that was more important in the overall scheme of things than the healing of one man. Jesus knew that the healing would come, but before it did He had the opportunity to make an important point about who He was and what claims He was making.

This is really hard to take when we have greater trust in our own assessment of importance than in God's. But if we really believe that He knows best, we can be content to let Him work and bring from our current situation whatever is really best -- for His Glory and for our benefit.

One side-observation:

The Jewish leaders respond with anger and accusations of blasphemy. The people responded with a mix of fear and reverence for God. Why?

Both groups were increasingly coming to understand just what Jesus was claiming -- that at least some of the things previously understood to be prerogatives only of God in fact were shared by Jesus. This much seemed clear: Only God could forgive sins -- no one seemed to dispute that. Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sins and validated his claims with His miracles. So who was this man? Who was He claiming to be? The Jewish leaders drew their own conclusion and rejected Him. The people were coming to their own conclusion and responding with a mix of fear and reverence.

Jesus, Friend of the Despised (v. 9-13)

If God sends an emissary to bring a new message, He'll surely prioritize the most scrupulously religious people or the most upstanding citizens possible, right? That seems to have been the expectations of the religious leaders. What a shock -- and disappointment! -- to find Him associating with the common people.

For some of us today, we might have a similar reaction if forcefully confronted with the reality that Jesus loves "the least" of our society. But for those of us who recognize that we're among "the least" -- this is incredible good news!

If Jesus walked into Hutto, He might choose to visit my house -- the one on my street with the worst lawn and attention to outward detail. Or the home of those annoying neighbors whose kids run the streets all night. Or yours... however you might characterize yours. If you don't see yourself as too good for Him, He doesn't see you as too bad for Him. He loves even you and I.

We're only in danger of being rejected by Him when we think of ourselves as too good to need Him -- too healthy to need a doctor.

Jesus, Rejector of Religious Ritual (v. 14-15)

Surely, a religious teacher and His followers should be among the most ardent observers of religious rituals, right? So why would Jesus' disciples not practice fasting?

The disciples of John the Baptist, probably well-meaning but confused rather than adversarial, expected that Jesus and his followers would fast. Jesus points them back to what fasting represents -- mourning, sorry, repentance, longing. They wouldn't fast when the time wasn't right for fasting.

Jesus' response highlights an important truth -- any meaningful religious observance has a purpose. Divorce the action from the purpose and it becomes a mockery.

Jesus, Secretive Savior

If Jesus wanted to have growing influence, surely He wanted everyone to know of Him and His work and words, right?

Not so fast...

On many occasions, He actually encouraged discretion on the part of those who'd been healed. He knew that popularity is not the same thing as real influence. To paraphrase the terminology of a recent book some of us have studied, a "fan" is not the same thing as a "follower". The task He was set on -- and the task He left for us -- was making disciples. Like Him, we should be about finding people who will not just "accept Jesus" and "believe in Him" but people who will become students of Him, and model their lives on His teaching.

Jesus, Compassionate Shepherd (v. 35-38)

Perhaps we don't find this vignette particularly surprising -- but I find it profoundly revealing of Jesus' heart and motivations towards us.

The crowds came to Him, with all their problems, sins, sickness, needs, confusion, misunderstandings and general mess... and He loved them and felt compassion.

Surely the crowds look the same to Him today, don't you think? One of the things I loved the most about my missions trip to India last year was the realization that the crowds I saw must have been very much like the crowds of Jesus day. So many needs... So much need for God... I longed to be able to give, and give, and give -- but realized that the little I have, even if offered completely up, would not even begin to meet the real needs there.

But have you looked at our communities, our cities, our "crowds"? Strip away the thin veneer of prosperity and look at the people beneath it and you'll see the same problems, sins, sickness, needs, confusion, misunderstandings, and mess. And He loves us and feels compassion on us. We (our society) are "bewildered and helpless like sheep without a shepherd" -- just as they were.

For this, Jesus has a two-part remedy:

We should ask God to send workers for the harvest

Asking Him to send others to help us in our field.

• There are a lot of people, increasing every day, in Hutto and the surrounding areas. There are few of us who are committed to making disciples here. The task can seem overwhelming. But God has the resources at His disposal, and

Asking Him to send workers in the wider fields.

• Right now, I'm praying He'll send 10 to 12 of us to India next October to have an impact in a region where few have heard the Gospel.

He's very like to ask us to be among those workers!

Just read on into the next chapter. In the very next verses (and remember, chapter and verse divisions were not in the original manuscripts but were added for convenience later and so can sometimes be an artificial interruption in the flow of a single story) Jesus sent out His disciples into these very towns and villages to serve in the ways they'd seen Him serve.

My Prayer Today

Father,

Thank you for your astounding love for us. The more we come to understand the magnitude of who You are, the more astounding it seems that You would forgive us, care about us, love us... die for us.

We see our sin. We see how unlovely we can be. And we're thankful that You love us nevertheless.

Thank you that your love doesn't stop after reaching us -- but extends to our friends and families, neighbors and coworkers. Help us to have love like Yours that knows no artificial boundaries.

Help us to commit to the work you've left us -- making disciples. And as we work at that task and find ourselves too few for it, send us other workers to help.

May we live this day with compassion for the needs around us.

Amen

  

  SCOTT PURCELL | Elder

Scott committed his life to Christ as a child under the teaching of his parents and church. He graduated from Ozark Christian College in 1989 with bachelors degree in Biblical Literature and served 8 years as Minister of two churches in Missouri and then 3 years as a Church Planter in San Marcos. Since then, he has worked as a technical trainer at Dell and Rackspace. In 2008 Scott and Nan joined HCBC-NW and then Hutto Bible in 2011. Scott serves in Small Group leadership, as secretary to the Elder board, and as the elder over IT and Discipleship. Scott and Nan have been married since 1985 and have three children (Mindy Schultea (married), Kate, and Matthew) and two grandchildren.