Jesus the Son of David: Matthew 9:18-34
Pitchers in baseball often have
only a few pitches that they can do really well. Some are really good with the fastball, like
Nolan Ryan, and others are known for other things, a good curve ball or slider. But as we’ve been going through these
miracles stories about Jesus, we are beginning to see that there is no realm
that Jesus does not have authority over.
In a manner of speaking, we could say that there is no pitch that he
cannot throw. He is powerful over
incurable diseases, over storms, over demons, over guilt and sin. In our text, we see that he has authority
even over death. So amazing is such
power that man of those who observed his miracles “marveled, saying, It was
never so seen in Israel” (Mt. 9:33).
Unfortunately, this is not the
only way that people responded. I don’t
think it is any coincidence that Matthew closes this section in the gospel
narrative by reporting the response of the Pharisees: “But the Pharisees said,
He casteth out devils through the prince of devils” (34). After all the demonstrations of power, after
all the proof for the reliability of his claims to be sent from God, some
people still did not believe and remained unmoved in their hostility and
opposition to Jesus.
There are people like that, even
today. It may be true that some people
do not believe because they have not heard the evidence laid out for the gospel
and haven’t seen the reasons to believe.
But there are many who, despite the evidence, refuse to believe in
Jesus. Recently, one atheist told his
audience during the closing arguments of a debate, that even if Jesus rose from
the dead and there was a God, he still wouldn’t accept him as Lord.[1] I myself have been told something similar to
this by a professed agnostic. You hear
people say that even if the Biblical God existed, they would not want to
worship him. Which points to the fact
that people ultimately need more than a changed mind to become followers of
Jesus. We not only need a changed mind,
but a changed heart and will as well.
Commitment to Jesus is more than an intellectual commitment to certain
truths, which is why we must never reduce the gospel, as some do, to reciting
facts about Jesus and sin, and then saying a canned prayer at the end. As Bonhoeffer put it, when Jesus calls a man,
he bids him come and die. He requires
not only the mind but the heart and will.
He requires not only the acceptance of truth in the mind, but the grasp
of truth in the heart so that it leads to worship and faith and obedience. People who reject Jesus in spite of the
arguments for him see this. They
recognize that Jesus is not calling them to a merely intellectual commitment to
certain facts but to a whole-souled embrace of his Lordship.
This is why, I think, that this
gospel not only give us evidence to believe the fact that Jesus is the Son of
David, the Messiah, the Bridegroom and Savior of Israel, and the one who can
forgive sins, but it also gives us reasons to love Jesus of Nazareth and to
commit our lives to him. In other words,
in this gospel there is not only an appeal to the mind but to the heart and
will, too. This morning, I want to
consider with you some of these reasons.
I want to argue that throughout chapters 8 and 9, and especially in the
miracles we will consider in our text, there is an appeal to the mind, heart,
and will for obedience, faith, and hope.
However, what makes the unbelief
of the ancient and modern Pharisee so reprehensible is that there is no reason
not to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world. There is no reason to reject him as Lord but
every reason to embrace him with all our hearts and to love him and to commit
our lives to him. We see that in these
miracle stories. The proof of Jesus’
claims was so convincing that even the Pharisees had to admit that there was
something supernatural going on with Jesus.
Remember Nicodemus, himself a Pharisee, who came to our Lord and
admitted, “Rabbi, we know that hat art a teacher come from God: for no man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (Jn. 3:2). Nicodemus was at least willing to consider
the evidence as pointing to Jesus as coming from God. However, other Pharisees refused to go there. But it wasn’t because of any lack of
evidence. They understood that Jesus did
things that no one else could do. So
they came up with the explanation that he did his works in the power of
Beelzebub, the prince of devils (cf. 12:24).
This claim makes no sense. As Jesus himself would later argue, how can
Satan cast out Satan? Why would the Devil
be committed to overthrowing his own kingdom?
Why would he work against himself?
But even today, the excuses that people give for refusing to believe in
Jesus are often in the same category.
Any excuse will do. To give just
one example, one of the reasons often given for rejecting Jesus is because of
things professed Christians have done in his name over the centuries. But such people who use this excuse for their
unbelief are usually inconsistent. Ask
them if they reject liberty because of what people have done in the name of
liberty. Some people will grasp at
anything to remain in their unbelief. I
heard one preacher relate that a man told him that he could never believe the
Bible because he could never believe that a man could swallow a whale, clearly
confused over the story of Jonah. It
never occurred to him, evidently, to go look up the story and see if that’s
really what it said.
So people reject Jesus for all
sorts of wrong reasons. But there is
more than one way to reject him. Some
people reject him outright and openly, like the Pharisees. Others reject him quietly while seeming to
follow him, like Judas. It is possible
to be attached to Jesus in an external way, but to fail to really be a follower
of Jesus. There are many who through family
ties and tradition remain nominally in the ranks of Christianity, but their
heart is not there. But the reality is
that that is still a rejection of Jesus.
If he is not Lord of your heart, then he is not your Lord at all. This was our Lord’s point in the parable that
he gives in John 15 of the branches and vine.
Those who do not bear fruit (in keeping his commandments, verse 10) are
purged from the vine (15:2). These branches
were only externally attached to the vine.
They were not receiving their life from the vine (15:4-5). If they had, they would have borne
fruit. Instead, they are cut from the
vine and burned (15:6). Our Lord was
teaching that it is not enough to be externally connected to him. You have to be receiving your life from him,
being sanctified through his word (15:3).
That is the evidence that you are truly his disciple.
The question then, for all of us
is how will we respond to Jesus’ claims?
Will we embrace him heart, mind, and will? Now God could, I suppose, have simply demanded
this from us. Instead, he comes to us
and says, “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18). Moreover, God not only gives us the cold,
bare facts but he gives us great encouragements to believe on his Son. In our text, we are given encouragements to
obey Jesus, to trust in him, and to hope in him.
First of all, the miracles of our
Lord are given to encourage you to trust in Jesus with all your heart and for
every need. And the way this
encouragement comes to us in this text is by teaching us that Christ responds
to faith, no matter how great or small,
as long as it is true faith. We should
never allow our weakness to keep us from Christ. Our faith may be mixed with superstition and
unbelief; our faith may even need forgiveness.
And yet God rewards those who come to him, however mixed with weakness
is our approach. We should never allow
our own spiritual frailty to keep us from Jesus. He welcomes even the smallest faith in him.
We see this in at least two ways
in our text. We see it in the account of
the healing of the woman who flow of blood was staunched (20-23). Here was a woman whose hemorrhaging had
caused her to be ceremonially unclean and to be considered in the same category
as the lepers. Not only was she unclean,
but anyone who touched her was unclean.
She had therefore been excluded from the temple worship and was an
outcast in society. And she had endured
this for 12 years. We are told from the
parallel account in Mark that she had spent all that she had on physicians in
her pursuit to end this terrible condition but they had not helped her at all
(Mk 5:26). It’s not that they didn’t
want to help her, but that they lacked they knowledge and skill to heal
her. By the standards of the day, this
was an incurable disease.
But then this woman heard of
Jesus. And she was convinced that
finally here was someone who could help her. However, commentators note that she was
probably moved in part by a superstitious view of Jesus, because she thought
that touching the clothes of a healer would lead to her healing, as if
something was made powerful just because it came into contact with a healer
(21). Even today you have these televangelists
offer to send you an object that they have “blessed” if you send them some
money. And people respond to stuff like
that. People attach special value to a
string of beads that the Pope has blessed as if they have some special kind of
power because of that.
Nevertheless, whatever superstition
may have been mixed in with her faith, her faith was real and genuine. And our Lord responded to that: “But Jesus
turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort;
thy faith hath made thee whole. And the
woman was made whole from that hour” (22).
Here Matthew condenses the account of the healing. In the more full account in Mark, we are told
that after she touched him and was healed (evidently trying to do it as
secretly as possible), Jesus asked who had touched him. When she realized she could not keep this a
secret, she came to him “fearing and trembling . . . and told him the truth”
(Mk. 5:33). Even after she had received
her healing, her faith was mixed with fear.
Probably she was afraid that Jesus was going to take back the
healing. To this our Lord replies,
“Daughter, be of good comfort.” This
woman, who had for years been ostracized by her own people and family, is
welcomed into the Savior’s family as a daughter. This woman, who had had her hopes dashed again
and again is given the promise of comfort.
He is not going to take back the healing, whatever fear and superstition
may have been mixed with her faith.
We also see our Lord’s tender
heart in the way he deals with Jairus.
Here was a ruler of the synagogue (cf Mark 5:22) who came with a very
similar request as the centurion. When
he first came to Jesus, his twelve-year-old daughter was at the point of death
(Mk. 5:23). It wasn’t until after Jesus
was already on his way to his home that word reached them that she was dead
(Mk. 5:35). Nevertheless, we see that
there is a difference between this man and the centurion because the centurion,
though he was a Gentile, believed that Jesus was able to heal Jesus by simply
speaking a word. This ruler, however, thought
that Jesus had to be there to heal his daughter. So he asks him to “come and lay thine hand
upon her, and she shall live” (18). Now
though Jairus was a layman and not a Rabbi or priest, nevertheless, he was
closely connected with the synagogue and a respected leader in the community of
God’s people. Jesus could have expected
him to exercise at least as much faith as a Gentile centurion. He
could have looked at this weak faith and rejected it. But he didn’t.
And when they learned that
Jairus’ daughter had died, our Lord responds by telling him, “Be not afraid,
only believe” (Mk. 5:36). No doubt, as
soon as the father heard the report of his daughter’s death, his heart must
have fell. Perhaps he even entertained
the doubt that Jesus could not have healed her now. But our Lord meets his fear and doubt with
the promise of his grace and power. Our
Lord, far from rejecting us when we waver, meets our fear with his
faithfulness, our doubt with his promise.
Over and over again he proves to us that “a bruised reed shall he not
break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench” (Mt. 12:20).
We are needy people. And we need to bring our needs to our loving
Savior, not fearing that he will reject us because of our weak and wavering
faith. If you truly seek the Savior, he
will receive you; he will not reject you.
We have no reason to abandon hope, as long as our hope is in him.
Second, the miracles of our Lord
are given to encourage you to obey him. In
the next section of the narrative (26-31), we meet with two blind men. Now it is important to remember that these
men are blind. They have never actually
seen a single miracle of Jesus. As they
followed the crowd leaving Jairus’ house, they could have only heard what had
happened. They didn’t see the daughter
restored to life. And yet, they not only
believed that Jesus had done that and that he could restore their sight, they
also had real insight into who Jesus was.
We are told that “when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed
him, crying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us” (27).
Jesus didn’t heal them right
away. They persevered. It wasn’t until he came into the house – with
them following close behind – that our Lord ask them, “Believe ye that I am able
to do this? They said unto him, Yea,
Lord. Then he touched their eyes,
saying, According to your faith be it unto you” (28-29). They were healed; their faith in the
Messiah was rewarded. Like the leper,
they didn’t heed Jesus’ instructions to not tell others. Instead, they did the very opposite and told
everyone (30-31). Though it was not
commendable for them to disobey Christ, yet there is no doubt that their
misguided zeal had as its root the confidence that Jesus was indeed the Son of
David, the Messiah.
What does this have to do with
obedience? Remember that Matthew is
recording these miracles to shine a light on the person of Jesus Christ. This is not so much about the people who are
healed or about the healings themselves, but about Jesus. They are meant to tell us who Jesus is and to
convince us that he is the Messiah. The
fact that Matthew highlights the fact that they call Jesus the Son of David
(this is the first instance of this in Matthew’s gospel) points to Matthew’s
concern that we see that Jesus really is the Son of David. The blind men called him that but the miracle
proved it.
Jesus is the Son of David. That is, I believe, the point of this
miracle. That is, Jesus is the one who
has the right to rule over the people of God.
Indeed, he has the right to rule over the world. All Jews understood the promise given to
David in 2 Samuel 7 in terms of a Messiah who would conquer all their enemies
and rule over the world in peace: “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be
established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever”
(16). You see this Messianic hope in
terms of the Son of David throughout the rest of the OT. For example, in Psalm 2, we read of God
speaking to the Son of David, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps.
2:8-9). We are all familiar with the
prophesy of Isaiah: “For unto us a child is born . . . of the increase of his government there shall
be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it . . .
forever” (Isa. 9:6-7).
Jesus is not only our high priest
to mediate for us, he is not only the ultimate prophet to speak God’s truth to
us, but he is also our King to rule over us.
This is the way he is announced to us, just as he was announced to Mary:
“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord
God shall give unto him the throne of this father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob
for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). What this means is that you cannot have Jesus
as your priest and prophet without having him as your king. Which means that you cannot have him for your
Savior unless you are also willing to bow the knee to him as your Lord.
And yet, what a King! How is this Son of David introduced to
us? He is introduced to us as one who
heals the blind. He is the one who gives
the mute the ability to speak (32-33).
He is the one who fulfills another prophesy of Isaiah: “Strengthen ye
the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold,
your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and
save you. 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” (Isa. 35:3-6). He
does not come, as so many kings and conquerors, to cast away the weak, but to
take the weak and make them strong. Is
not such a king worthy of our obedience?
Finally, the miracles of Jesus
are given to encourage you to have hope.
All of those who received the mercy of Jesus here in our text were
without hope, humanly speaking. Dead
people don’t come back to life. Blind
people didn’t receive their sight. Mute
people had no hope of ever speaking again.
And yet all who came to Jesus received life, sight, and speech.
Now this is not meant to
encourage us to believe that God will take away any problem that we have and
make it better right away. We always
must keep in mind that the purpose of Jesus was twofold: first, to prove that
Jesus was who he claimed to be: the Son of God and Savior of the world; second,
that as such he will one day restore all things. Thus, though the miracles of Jesus shouldn’t
lead us to seek heaven in the present age, they certainly are meant to point us
to the kingdom that he will one day establish.
Each miracle is a window into the future kingdom of God, into the new
heavens and new earth that our Lord will one day usher in.
It is by keeping the promise of this future hope that we
persevere. We must live in light of
eternity. I recently read an article in
which Hugh Hefner, the founder of the Playboy magazine, is quoted as saying, “I
urge one and all to live this life as if there is no reward in the afterlife.” Of course he would say that. You basically have two options: you either
live this life as if there is no reward in the age to come, or you live this
live knowing that there is such a reward.
If you don’t, then it makes no sense to be a Christian, as the apostle
Paul himself acknowledged. But if there
is a reward, then it makes absolutely no sense at all to live for the passing
pleasures of sin which can end only in everlasting judgment when the other
choice is eternal pleasures at God’s right hand forever.
However, that doesn’t mean that we are left simply to hold
on until death. God has not abandoned us
upon the island of the present. He is
with us even now. Our Lord, when he rose
from the dead, told his disciples, “I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world” (Mt. 28:20). The powerful
Christ is with us even now. And that
should also give us hope. As Calvin put
it, in his commentary on this passage, “We are taught by this passage, that we
cannot go beyond the bounds in believing: because our faith, however large,
will never embrace the hundredth part of the divine goodness.”
Amen!
[1] http://danielbwallace.com/2015/08/01/fact-checking-dan-barker-from-our-recent-debate-june-6-2015/#more-744
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