Last week we had the opportunity to hear Matthew’s account of the moment when Jesus came to his work and called Matthew to follow Him. Scripture says that when Matthew heard that call, that he got up, he left everything, and he followed Jesus. There’s already an incredible challenge in that for us, to see a man, a mere man, sometimes people like to over glorify the disciples, but these were people, just like us, and this man heard the call and he followed immediately. And then he threw a huge feast at his house for Jesus and invited a bunch of other tax collectors and sinners.
The religious leaders that were still following Jesus and trying to catch Him up in something thought they found the problem now. They were like why in the world is Jesus sitting at the table with people like this?
Jesus answered them in an analogy and was like, I came like a doctor, I came for the sick, I didn’t come for people that think they are perfectly healthy already, I came for people that realize that they need my help.
And so that’s where we left off last week. We left off with Jesus explaining His engagement in this situation, explaining why He was there, and why He was with these people. And I wanted to make sure that we remembered that, because hopefully by the time that we are done today, we’ll have an even greater understanding of why Jesus cared enough to be there for these people. Let’s read our passage.
Read Matthew 9:14-38
The first part of our passage for today, deals with fasting, and it starts with a question. And it’s interesting, because the question being asked this time, isn’t coming from the scribes or the pharisees, like a lot of the recent situations. This question is actually coming from the disciples of John, the disciples of John the Baptist. And so, these guys, they come up to Jesus, and they are like, we fast all the time, and the pharisees fast all the time, but why don’t these guys that are following you fast? It’s almost like there is some comparison and maybe even competition going on in these guy’s minds. Kind of like, if You are, Who You say You are, Jesus, and these guys, are your disciples, then why aren’t they as spiritual as us or the pharisees? I look at this even from just, regular people dynamics, and I am like, are these guys trying to show up the disciples and maybe take their place or something? Like what’s the deal?
But Jesus engages with their question, and we have to understand something. John’s disciples were likely fasting in the right way, in humility and in reverence, but they were also likely fasting in preparation for Jesus’ coming and ministry. Remember John’s job was to prepare the way of the Lord. They were preparing for what Jesus was going to do. On the other hand, the Pharisees were just fasting to build up their own self-righteousness and pride as they attempted to impress other people. Jesus’ disciples were not fasting, likely because they weren’t trying to impress other people like the Pharisees, and they weren’t in preparation mode for Jesus like John’s disciples, because Jesus was right next to them, in person, at that very moment. And so, Jesus in His engagement with this question, uses an analogy in verse 15.
Read Matthew 9:15
So, what does Jesus mean by this? What does He mean by “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” To understand this, requires us to understand a little bit about the Jewish culture at that time. When a couple was married, they didn’t leave on a honeymoon or whatever else, like what is common in our culture today. They actually stayed home, and there would usually be an open house at that home for a week following the wedding. The bride and groom were treated like a king and a queen, and all of their closest friends would come and hang out, during that entire week, and share in the joy and the festivities around the marriage.
It’s this picture, that Jesus has in mind, when He makes this statement. So, He’s basically saying, like I’m here right now, this is the moment of festivities, in person, with me right now. Why would My friends and My followers be fasting, and downcast, right now, in the middle of being in my presence? It’s simply not the time for it. But He qualifies that, and lets us know, that it’s not the time for it…yet. At the end of verse 15, Jesus lets them know, that this period of time won’t be forever and when it ends, then it will be time for His people to fast.
Jesus is giving them a little glimpse of the future here, He’s saying that He wasn’t going to be there physically with them forever, but I wonder how many of them, if any, really understood that, in the moment. Because this was all pretty new to them still, I mean Matthew was just called shortly before this.
So, Jesus explained the situation to this other guy, He said it’s not time for them to fast yet, but that time will be coming. And then Jesus gives two more analogies as well. So, let’s look at these.
Read Matthew 9:16-17
Both of these analogies are looking at trying to make something new, work with something, that is old. Trying to patch old clothes with new materials or trying to put new wine into old wine skins. And both of these analogies make the point that this does not work. If you patch old fabric with new fabric that hasn’t been shrunk yet, then in our modern day if you were to run that patched up clothing through the wash and then into the dryer, then that patched area would shrink and at the very least mess up the shape of the clothing by that area shrinking and pulling all the fabric around it, or it very well might shrink to the point that it just rips away from the old fabric and messes things up even worst.
And it’s kind of the same idea with the wine, they would add new wine to a new soft leather wineskin, so that as the wine continues to ferment, and lets off gases and such, the new wineskin can expand with it and deal with the pressure. But if you add that same new wine to an old, hardened, wine skin, the new wine will still let off the gases and still try to expand, but if its old and hard it can’t deal with it, and it will very likely burst from the pressure.
And through these analogies, Jesus is kind of making the point that times are changing. Especially changing for God’s people. Before it was just the Israelites, and they had a specific way of doing things that was in most ways prescribed to them by God Himself. But, as we have also talked about, they in many ways added a bunch of unnecessary stuff themselves that was really just for the purpose of self-righteous display. And so, there was this way of doing things that existed and this guy’s question to Jesus, in verse 14, was kind of rooted in just the old ways of doing things. Jesus wants this guy to know that things are changing, so don’t just be stuck on what was, and definitely don’t try to force the new into the old system. Because that might cause some serious problems as His analogies taught us.
These people were coming to the time when the Old Covenant was getting replaced with the New Covenant, where before Israel was just God’s people, but God was opening things up for all nations, where before they needed animal sacrifices for sin, but now they were going to have Jesus’ sacrifice for all sinners, where before they had traditions and the laws and all of that, but now we have, believe in and FOLLOW JESUS. Things were changing, Jesus was changing everything.
And that reality is still true for us, everything changed with Jesus. But we also need to understand that many things change through time and often times the church is very resistant to change. Lots of people were resistant to the immediate changes that Jesus was bringing even in those times. But for us, the truth never changes, Jesus never changes, the core elements of God’s people gathering for God’s purposes as the church, doesn’t change, but the world is changing, culture is changing, lots of things are changing constantly. And I do believe that there is opportunity for the church to change, in some ways, maybe even in just specific local church settings, to adapt, with great reason, and for great purpose, in being more effective for the mission of the Kingdom of God in our present time.
So many times, good ideas for the Kingdom of God are met with, “well that’s not how we’ve always done it”. And what’s so sad is that “how we’ve always done it” is sometimes broken and ineffective. It’s not actually helping us reach and minister to people, but we’re just resistant to change, when change is probably what we need with a very particular heart and focus for reaching the lost, building the kingdom, and giving God glory.
Jesus told the disciples of John that my followers don’t need to fast right now, because they are right in the thick of it with me, right now. They are in my presence at this moment, but they will need to fast when I’m gone.
We’re in the while He’s gone part. And so, in this time, fasting is purposed to humble us and bring us closer to Him. It’s purposed to draw our heart and our mind towards His, to bring us to a place where we are humbly reliant upon Him, and listening, so that we can follow His direction. Fasting should help us follow Jesus, it should make us more like Him. There’s a passage on fasting that I really love, and I want to go to it, but I am going to read it in a newer Bible translation that makes it easier to understand without breaking it all down.
Read Isaiah 58:1-12 in the NLT
When we see fasting through the lens of this chapter. We see it lead to the care and compassion for people. We see it lead to a definitive reliance upon God, and calling out to Him for help. We see it lead to health for ourselves, but also for our families, and even community restoration.
The first few verses there was God dealing with people fasting for a self-righteous show, like the Pharisees were still doing, but in the following verses, God says that He wants fasting that leads towards helping the oppressed, the hungry, and even our own families. He talks about helping those in trouble and being a light that shines in the darkness. It says that godliness will go before us, and the glory of God will come behind us. It says that God will guide us, deal with our thirst, restore our strength, and then some will be used to rebuild the ruins of our cities and help restore homes. This fasting, this spiritual discipline as we have talked about before, is a catalyst for these things, it’s something to be taken seriously, it’s something that Jesus knew His disciples would need, once He was gone.
Jesus told these guys that the time for fasting was coming, if we see through Isaiah that this fasting brings us to this place of total God reliance, but it seems to also bring us to this place where His heart is at, in the helping of people that need it. Jesus was always about that and that’s what we see in this passage.
We won’t read back through all of these verses, but in 18-26 of Matthew 9, a woman comes to Jesus saying that her daughter had just died, but she had faith that Jesus could raise her from the dead, and He did just that. Which is crazy. In 27 through 31, Jesus also heals two men who are blind. And they absolutely believed that He could. And then in 32 and 33, Jesus casts a demon out of a man who cannot speak.
Jesus was actively caring for and helping people. He was doing it miraculously, and we know Him, and He can still do the miraculous. But often times the call is for us, to help in practical ways, while in every opportunity directing people to Him. Jesus exemplified the care for people. He said the time was coming for His people to fast, we saw that the fast in Isaiah that God desires, looks like it should lead us right in line with that example, that Jesus was giving us, and it’s something we should definitely consider as part of our relationship with Him. Because we should want that heart, we should want to be about these things, and it will help us get there.
Because once again, that’s absolutely what Jesus was about, and we see that so clearly in these last verses.
Read Matthew 9:35-38
Jesus was going from city to city and from town to town. He was teaching, it says He was preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, but it also says that He was healing people, that He was actively caring for and helping people, as part of His mission. One of the specific parts, of his people engagement, was the very practical help for people that needed it. He taught, He preached, and He just helped. And we need to learn from that. We always need to be ready to share the truth of the Gospel, but sometimes people just need help, and that help can become a bridge for gospel conversation to had with someone. Sometimes I see these people, and maybe with good intentions, but they just go out and yell at people, condemn people, judge people, act like they are all righteous, and whatever else, and they claim to do this in the name of Jesus. But then I look at Jesus, and how He goes about things, and it just so quickly shows what’s wrong with all of that.
Because Jesus, as He went through all of these places, and as He saw all of these people, it says that He saw the multitudes, and He was moved with compassion for them. He looked at people and saw that they were weary and scattered, that they were like sheep that didn’t have a shepherd. Jesus looked at people, and didn’t just see the problems, He didn’t just see people as perhaps a burden to Himself or to society, He looked at people and HAD COMPASSION.
What response do we have when we see people? Maybe when we see someone that is struggling? Maybe struggling being unhoused? Maybe struggling with addiction? Maybe just struggling without enough means to provide what they need? Maybe struggling with mental health? Maybe struggling with sickness or disease? Maybe caught up in gangs? Maybe actually caught up in just really poor choices? Maybe a teen mom? Jesus looked across the masses and HAD COMPASSION. What do we have?
There are plenty of weary, scattered, shepherd-less people out there. That was each of us at one time. It may still be you right now. Jesus looked over at His disciples in verse 37 and said essentially, that there are plenty of people that need me (the harvest is plentiful), but then He says that the workers are few, and that we should be praying to the Lord of the harvest, to send out more laborers, into His harvest.
But if we bring this all full circle, and we see how Jesus engaged with looked down on people last week, with tax collectors and sinners, when we see His actual help and care for people this week, when we see Him talking about this time that was coming that we would need to be fasting and praying, when we understand that fasting and praying will draw our heart and will towards His, when we understand that His heart and His will is to care for and to save lost people, when we really stop to consider these things, then maybe we will see, that in praying for God to send out more laborers into the harvest, that in doing that, perhaps we will realize that we are praying, not just for God to send others out to do the work, but we are also praying towards our own growth to be those laborers out in the harvest.
Maybe that’s something that we haven’t been all that involved in before, but as Jesus said to that guy earlier, that things change, and maybe we shouldn’t be resistant to it. Especially when we can see so clearly that His heart is for these exact purposes.