The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Mercy” it comes from the Greek Word “eleos” which means “mercy, compassion.”
A tax collector gets an invitation nobody expected him to receive. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Matthew 9.
Jesus returns to Capernaum, where friends lower a paralyzed man through a roof to reach him. Seeing their faith, Jesus first forgives the man’s sins, provoking accusations of blasphemy from watching scribes. To prove His authority to forgive sins, He heals the man completely, and the man walks home carrying his own bed. Jesus then calls Matthew, a tax collector, a profession widely despised in that culture, with a simple invitation. “Follow me.” Matthew rises immediately and later hosts Jesus for dinner alongside other tax collectors and sinners, prompting criticism from the Pharisees.
Jesus responds with a statement that captures His entire mission. “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick… I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” He then quotes the prophet Hosea, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” The Greek word for mercy here is “eleos.” When questioned about why His disciples do not fast like John’s disciples do, Jesus explains that mourning does not fit while the bridegroom is still present.
A ruler comes seeking help for his dead daughter, and on the way, a woman who has suffered bleeding for twelve years touches the hem of Jesus’ garment and is instantly healed, prompting Jesus to say, “thy faith hath made thee whole.” Jesus then raises the ruler’s daughter from death, heals two blind men, and delivers a mute man who had been possessed by a devil. Moved by the crowds, “scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd,” Jesus tells His disciples the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
Jesus went directly to the people everyone else avoided, tax collectors, the sick, the outcast, and called it exactly what His mission required. Mercy, not religious performance, was always the point. Every person He touched in this chapter was someone the religious establishment had written off.
Visit Us At: www.youtube.com/@BibleLifeBasics
Support Us On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/BibleLifeBasics