Why The Difference? | Matthew 9:14-17

Scripture

• Matthew 9:14–17

About this sermon

Introduction: When Matthew begins to detail the ministry of Jesus in Galilee (a ministry that he describes in 4:23-25), he begins with the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5). That sermon was full of contrasts. Contrasts between what the people had heard from their religious leaders versus what the Word of God and the Son of God said. Contrasts between hypocrites and true disciples. Contrasts between the false shepherds and the true shepherd. Contrasts between empty religion and true religion. He then takes us beyond the sermon, and he shows us Jesus among the people (Matthew 8). The sermon that sounded with authority is confirmed with authority — we see signs. SO THAT, BOTH BY PREACHING AND BY PRACTICE, THERE IS SOMETHING ON DISPLAY IN JESUS THAT IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THE PEOPLE HAD KNOWN. The longer that contrast is on display, and the more apparent that contrast becomes, the greater the opposition to Jesus becomes. When Jesus pronounces a paralytic forgiven — they accuse Him of blasphemy. When Jesus, the great physician, feasted with the sick, the religious leaders of the Jews imply that He is a friend of sinners in a way that is unseemly. THEY FOUND CHRIST’S EXAMPLE TROUBLING — BECAUSE IT WAS UNLIKE THEM. THEY FOUND HIS RESPONSE TO THEIR GRUMBLING EVEN MORE TROUBLING — BECAUSE IT REBUKED THEM. His holy love was a rebuke to their unholy indifference. What is wrong with them was expressed in Hosea 6:6. They know religious formality, but they are strangers to a true heart for God. That indictment is now joined to the next challenge. The challenge we see in the next scene has to do with a religious formality. It has to do with fasting. WHY DOESN’T JESUS TEACH HIS DISCIPLES TO OBSERVE THE CUSTOMARY FAST DAYS? WHY ARE YOU FEASTING WHEN WE ARE FASTING? Jesus explains it with the truth that what is known in Him cannot be joined to what they have already known. We look at this encounter under three headings. • A QUESTION ABOUT CHRIST’S WAYS (vs.14) “Then,” τότε that is, “at that time.” It doesn’t require that it was during the feast, but it at the very least it was near to the time of the feast. “The disciples of John,” we are told, came to speak to Jesus. This is interesting because John had publicly and unmistakably turned his disciples over to Jesus. ESV John 3:22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized 24 (for John had not yet been put in prison). 25 Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness-- look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him." 27 John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.' 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease." If anyone should be expected to HEAR JESUS and to give HEED TO JESUS, it should have been John’s disciples. But these disciples had not yet shifted their allegiance. There will be others who evidence that they had made no movement away from John, when the gospel eventually reaches them in saving power (Acts 19). In fact, it appears that these disciples agree with the Pharisees, at least when it comes to the question of fasting. Fasting could sometimes involve abstaining from eating (normal fast), sometimes from eating and drinking (total fast), sometimes from CERTAIN foods (partial fast). Fasting could express mourning, it could express spiritual desire, it could express consecration and spiritual examination, BUT FOR THESE PEOPLE, it was a mark OF TRUE PIETY. We know from one of Christ’s parables that the Pharisees were known to fast twice a week. NAU Luke 18:12 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' The Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles), an early Christian church manual, probably written in the late 1st century, maybe the early 2nd century, said this: “And let not your fastings be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and the fifth day of the week.” (Monday and Thursday) One commentary summarizes the fasting of the Jews in this way: Wessel and Strauss – “The law required fasting only on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29, 31; 23:27–32; Nu 29:7), but after the exile the Jews observed four other annual fasts (Zec 7:5; 8:19). A fifth fast was added in association with the festival of Purim (Est 9:31). In NT times the stricter Pharisees fasted twice a week (Monday and Thursday; cf. Lk 18:12; Did. 8:1; b. Taʿan. 12a).” They also add: