Matthew 9:1-17

Matthew 9:1-1

 ¹Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. ²Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."

 ³At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"

 ⁴Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? ⁵Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? ⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." ⁷And the man got up and went home. ⁸When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.

  ⁹As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

 ¹⁰While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

 ¹²On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

  ¹⁴Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

 ¹⁵Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

 ¹⁶"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.¹⁷Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

Devotional (by Mikey Skoglund)

"How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" John's disciples ask a good question here.  They see thePharisees and themselves acting a certain way, and Jesus's disciples acting a different way and they want to know why.  Jesus, as He always does, has a very good answer to this and takes it a level deeper. Jesus makes a very good distinction here between the way that the Pharisees are doing things and the way that his disciples are doing things. Between the old ways of doing things and thenew way of doing things.  Jesus paints a good picture of this when He talks about wineskins and the practicality of not putting new wine into old wineskins. Jesus is making a point to John's disciples here that the old ways of doing things are at an end.  Jesus brings a whole new outlook by emphasizing a relationship with Him above a religion full of rules.  Not only does this new outlook apply to the way that we are able to relate with Jesus, but He also takes this and applies it personally to our lives as well.  Thepicture of the old wineskins vs. the new wineskins in this passage show Jesus's outlook on the differences between one of His children before and after they choose to follow Him.  I think of 2 Corinthians 5:17 that says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Jesus is addressing more than just the subject of fasting here, but He's addressing the differences between the old ways of doing things as sinful humans vs the new life found in giving our lives over to Jesus and subscribing to His ways above our own.

Prayer
Lord, please help me to see the things you are doing in my life that make me a new creation in You.  Help me to not turn to my old ways of doing things, but to follow Your ways above my own.