Every kingdom and empire had its enforcement. The Roman standard, symbolizing the authority of Rome, was carried at the head of every column of troops sent to assert that authority. Those troops had sworn allegiance, sometimes drafted at the point of a sword themselves, but it remained legally binding. The authority of the Kingdom of Heaven was not enforced by troops, but by faith. Faith replaces Mosaic Law, because it fulfills the Law of God. That the two -- the Law of Moses versus the Law of God -- were not synonymous is what Matthew emphasized. All the more so, the corrupt Talmudic teachings were hardly consistent with true faith. Further, faith can only come from God as a gift of grace. In that sense, you cannot have faith; faith must have you. This new revelation of faith in the life and teaching of Jesus confirms the Law of Moses in one sense, but also fulfills and completes it, closing the book on its authority on earth. Jesus had already said the Law would remain in force until it was fulfilled, but He meant the Cross. In the meantime, exposing the purpose of the Law meant showing His authority over it, and that authority expressed itself in faith.
In the Judaism of that day, it was taught all maladies were the result of sin. While it is true in the sense the Fall brought disease and death, the Jews taught every health issue was a direct result of that person's sin (or the sins of their parents). Even today, we tend to feel guilt when gripped in the sorrows of suffering. Everyone so afflicted in that day easily concluded they had sinned somehow. Worse, many afflictions would prevent one coming into the Temple to confess and repent, as was also commonly taught. Thus, Jesus addressed that issue when accosted by some fellows carrying their lame friend on a pallet. First, He announces the man's sins are forgiven. This takes care of that concern. Before continuing, Jesus must address those whose teachings brought such condemnation and guilt on the man's soul.
We need not assume Jesus knew the Scribes' minds on the issue as a miracle, since such teaching had been around for some centuries. His own education surely included it. More importantly, He realized as soon as He mentioned sins forgiven, these lawyers would think He had blasphemed. This was a major crime under the Law of Moses, either by pulling God down to a human level, or elevating something human to divine status. These lawyers would be duty-bound to report this crime. Jesus warned them it would not be blasphemy if He actually did have the authority to forgive sins -- that He was the Messiah. He asked them a question in logical terms they could understand: Which is easier to prove, that He could forgive sins or that He could heal the man? Any charlatan can say, "You are forgiven." If someone said, "Take up your bed and walk," we could clearly see and prove whether they had the authority to say it.
Turning to the man whose faith had now been restored, Jesus told him to rise and walk. The man did so, of course. In that context, it was legal proof under Jewish teaching. Jesus would not be able to heal a man still in His sins, so the healing proved the sins were forgiven. Thus, Jesus had authority to forgive sins. As a man of no great legal or political power and authority, nor wealth, Jesus showed all observers the power to forgive sins was something humans could exercise. The very idea brought the crowd to praise and wonder at God's unspeakable gift. At the same time, the Scribes were no doubt infuriated, not least because their power and authority over the people as their "God given right" was slipping away. The gift and power of faith made them insignificant, and even the legal recourse of accusations in a Mosaic Court was denied them, with hundreds or thousands of witnesses rejoicing around them.
This authority and power of Kingdom faith eclipsed the other side of the law, too, the civil law. Again, this account is not precisely chronological, as the other Gospels place events in a different sequence, while here it is by theme. Matthew, the writer of this Gospel, had no doubt already spent time with Jesus. Here was a rabbi truly possessed of a holy power, yet willing to associate with those despised by just about every upstanding Jew. Matthew worked in the toll station in Capernaum, where trade traffic on the main road south and north, or across Galilee by boat, must pass. Rome had levied taxes on their client kingdoms, and the kings collected it at the point of Roman swords. What better tax agent than a member of the nation from which it is collected? This was particularly distasteful to the proud Jewish leaders, itching to be free of political domination from pagans. Collecting taxes on behalf of such pagan overlords was sinful and treasonous. Yet, it was the civil law, but Jesus spared it nothing in pressing His claims under the Kingdom of Heaven to call Matthew away from this important task to a full-time discipleship.
Of all people, Matthew would be elated. Once a treasonous sinner, now an intimate of the Messiah, this easily outshone any other social occasion celebrated among Jews. Matthew put on a lavish celebration, and naturally invited His Master and fellow Disciples, as well as all the friends he had. Those friends would surely be other tax-collectors, a tiny defensive minority within Jewish society. This group would include other people labeled "sinners" by the Pharisees and Scribes, people who found themselves at risk of being shunned, kicked out of synagogues, treated spitefully if they dared attend Temple celebrations, and so forth. The Pharisees couldn't bring themselves to step inside the household, but as we are told in other Gospels, called from the outer gate of the enclosed courtyard in front of every large home. They inquired how a rabbi of the Law could eat with those whose sins made them by definition "non-Jews," in effect Gentiles. Jews were forbidden entering the homes of Gentiles, but Jesus reclined at their table. Jesus sent word back to the Pharisees at the gate: He was sent to heal broken spirits. Only those who knew they needed healing would submit to it. Those who felt themselves righteous could hardly repent and seek spiritual healing. It was a common Hebrew proverb. To drive it home, Jesus used a typical rabbinical phrase, telling the Pharisees to go back and study 1 Samuel 15:22: "And Samuel said, 'Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice! To listen is better than the fat of rams!'"
There was another question: Why should the Lamb of God neglect the observance of ritual fasting? The Law of Moses called for one annual fast, but the Pharisees pressed the Talmudic tradition of fasting Mondays and Thursdays. This was probably on one of those two days. Addressing the bigger question of Mosaic Law, Jesus answered with a bit of humor, referring to this lavish occasion as a wedding feast. In a spiritual sense, it was, for this was Christ seeking His bride. For Jesus, His whole ministry was a spiritual wedding feast. It was as if to say this partying was fully appropriate, for it signaled a new beginning. As ancient Eastern royalty often did, the vestment of the royal heir took place at the prince's wedding, marked by the symbolic rule of some small portion of the kingdom held up to that point by an appointed viceroy about to retire. In this case, the Law of Moses was being retired. The personal stamp of this Messiah Prince would replace the customs of the viceroy, Moses. Therefore, this celebration at Matthew's home was the beginning of such changes, a new and invigorating rule marked by joy. This joy could not fit in the old forms of Mosaic rituals, which had reached retirement age.
Jesus must have faced that fasting question all too often. We learn from the other Gospels Jesus heard this question at Matthew's feast, but here it is recalled as a question from the disciples of John the Baptist. After having answered it yet again, Jesus is approached by Jairus, ruler of the local synagogue (as we learn from Mark and Luke). This man had faith to worship Jesus as the Messiah, and knew He could raise the dead. On the way to his house, Jesus encountered a woman with an internal hemorrhage. Her faith told her simply touching His outer garment, one of the tassels required by Moses on the hem, and not His person, would restore her health. She could not simply come up an talk to Him in public. Indeed, He was not just any man, but an important one, with crowds and bigshots in His company. All the more so since her affliction was particularly odious, described in the text as permanent menstrual bleeding, making her ritually untouchable. It would be embarrassing to Him to even acknowledge her, much less touch her, so taking this unobtrusive route would have to do. Of course, it did. Jesus turned to inform her, and to teach the crowd as well, it was her faith which simultaneously cleansed and healed her, not the touch of His tassel. The other Gospels record a much fuller story, but Matthew here is focused on the important theme of faith and its authority over every other fact of life.
The authority of faith brought the same joy where there was once deep sorrow. We find it strange those who mourn could suddenly laugh in derision, but Eastern cultures understand emotions could be conjured when needed. That is, they weren't falsely weeping over the loss of life; it was quite real. Further, this would have been quite a large crowd of mourners, given her father's importance as ruler of the synagogue. They wept because it was appropriate, as the sorrow over death was never far away. They brought genuine sorrow in sympathy to the family who had lost a child. That did not prevent them also deriding Jesus for saying something they thought was silly, even madcap. They felt the context called for it at that moment. That Jesus used the term "sleep" to enunciate a spiritual principle was quickly forgotten by His disciples, we learn later. In the Kingdom of Faith, even death is just a circumstance, a temporary condition. Simply a touch from His hand, which would normally make Him ritually impure, brought her back. Faith took priority over every other authority on earth, including death. Such power and authority simply cannot be hidden, for it reaches beyond the one thing no man escapes -- the grave.
As He made His way back home, two blind men approach, having been alerted by the incredible news of the girl's reanimation. They had faith enough to recognize He could be no other than the Messiah, the promised Son of David. They also had faith enough to realize they had no merit, but needed mercy. Choosing a private setting, Jesus allowed them to follow Him inside the house. He queried their faith, as much for their own benefit as anything else, then touched and healed them. Then He challenged their faith to obey, with a command to keep this miracle private. Jesus didn't need a faithless mob following Him around as they might a traveling showman. In this they failed, for the two men could not keep silent.
As those two left, they passed another group bringing in a man demonized and mute. Picture a man silenced by demons, with no means to cry out in torment. Instead, he was restricted to non-verbal communication. His mannerisms in this would have made it clear he was demonized. It was the faith of his friends which brought this man to Jesus, and their faith enabled his deliverance and speech. This was a final point by Matthew showing faith had authority over the Kingdom of Darkness. That sort of authority was simply unheard of in the history of Israel. While Jesus did not answer it at that time, Matthew shows the Jewish leaders understand nothing, for they tell people Jesus' authority over demons could only come from the ruler of demons. They had long ago locked themselves out of understanding it was their sins which had unleashed the demons on their land. Under the power of Satan themselves, they insisted only Satan could order demons about with such ease. Their own rituals of deliverance were elaborate and expensive, and seldom seemed to do any good. This Jesus simply dismissed demons by an authority they never grasped, the authority of faith as a gift from God.
Instead, mistaking their spiritual prison for a castle, and their chains as power and freedom, the teachers of Judaism had rejected the call of God to bring light and truth to the world. For them, the downtrodden were despicable, worthy of contempt. Matthew tells us how Jesus looked upon them as precious sheep. Without a shepherd to lead them and protect them, they had been chased, mauled and nearly destroyed. Their spirit was gone, along with hope. In desperation, they clung to Jesus and His teaching as the one last grab at salvation. For Him, they were not the trash of Israel, but the valuable treasure to be salvaged from darkness and death. He taught His disciples to see them that way, as the long awaited harvest of souls. Pray the Father send more faith laborers, for the crop is beyond measuring.
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Ed Hurst
15 September 2007
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