Matthew 9:27–38

Wonderful things happen!

Israel was a country where God had done wonderful things. But Jesus did even greater things. He was not trying to show how great he was. His reason was love.

The miracles in:

• Matthew 8:1–17. – They showed God’s truths. They were living lessons.
• Matthew 8:23–9:8. – They showed who Jesus really was.
• Matthew 9:18–26. – They showed that Jesus defeated illness and death.
• Matthew 9:27–34 – Here we learn that Jesus was ‘great David’s greater son’.

Two blind men (Matthew 9:27–34)

In 2 Samuel 7, God promised to send a great king. He would rule for ever. This king was called the ‘son of David’. The Jews believed that this would happen. These two blind men were sure that Jesus was this king. Yet they had not seen any of his miracles.

Jesus tested the two blind men’s trust. First, he ignored them. Then, he helped them not to trust just anything. He showed them that it was important to trust him. They showed Jesus that they did trust him. Then he healed them by his word (verse Matthew 9:29–30a). Jesus warned them ‘very strongly’ not to tell anyone about it. Probably this was to stop people following him for the wrong reason. They might see him just as a worker of ‘magic’. The men did not obey him. This was wrong. But, it is easy to understand why they did not obey him. They wanted everyone to know.

There is a final miracle. We have a brief account of it in Matthew 9:32–34. There was a man who had a demon (evil spirit) that made him dumb. (This means that he could not speak.) Jesus completely healed him.

Matthew showed the importance of these events. They caused two reactions. He described them in Matthew 9:33-34.

The first reaction was from the crowd. It was all wonderful to them. ‘We have never seen anything like this in Israel’, they said. The OT does not record a blind person who was able to see again. It is not in the NT either, except for Jesus’ miracles. (Paul’s experience was different. Read Acts 9:1–19.) The Jews were expecting things like this to happen. It would be when the Messiah came. They had been waiting and hoping for so long. Now, the time seemed to have come!

There was another reaction too. (Read Matthew 9:34.) This was sad. The religious leaders could not deny the facts. (Compare Acts 4:16.) But they did not want to believe the real meaning of the facts. They knew Isaiah 35:3–5. They could see these events happening now. But they refused to believe. They thought that God ought to act in a certain way. They knew what they wanted him to do. What was happening just did not fit with their ideas.

Kind Jesus (Matthew 9:35–38)

This is a new section of Matthew’s Gospel. The section is Matthew 9:35–10:42. The subject is about how to be a disciple. There were three parts to Jesus’ special work. He taught every day. He preached. (This means that he declared God’s word in public.) He healed the people. (Read Matthew 9:35. Read Matthew 4:23 too.)

Jesus saw the needs of those who came to him. He had a lot of pity and sympathy for them. Five things caused this feeling:

• People’s pain. (Read Matthew 14:14; 20:34 and Mark 9:22.)
• People are often very sad. (Read Luke 7:13.)
• Hunger. (Read Matthew 15:32.)
• Some people are lonely. (Read Mark 1:40-41.)
• The crowds (Matthew 9:36).

The crowds of people were ‘worried and helpless’ (Matthew 9:36). There is a Greek word for this state. It has several meanings. It can mean an animal that is without its skin. It could be when someone is extremely tired. That person could be lying down and alone with nobody to help them. Also, there are the words ‘to scatter’ and ‘to throw about’. These words all give an idea about how Jesus saw the crowd. Jesus knew that those who should look after them were neglecting them. He saw the spiritual needs of the people who were in the crowds too.

Jesus had great pity for them. He saw how urgent and how great their needs were. He also saw the lack of resources (Matthew 9:37). Jesus described a field of corn that is ripe. It required immediate action. Otherwise, it would spoil. The harvest also needed many workers. Jesus felt very sad as he looked at the crowd. They were like the field. There were very few people to work among them.

So he gave his disciples an important task. He told them to pray (Matthew 9:38).

• There are no excuses for not praying.
• Only God can give people the desire to help with the ‘harvest’ of men and women.
• Prayer is the best way to make us feel pity and sympathy. This prepares us for God’s call.

Questions

What lessons can we learn from the accounts of Jesus’ miracles?

How can you learn more about the ‘harvest’ of men and women? How can you pray more successfully?

Do non-Christians think that people in the church are kind? What could we do to make this happen?