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COMPASSION 18
JESUS CARES ABOUT THE SICK
Matthew 9:10-13
(cmpas18.doc)
*DIVINE GENTLENESS*
The English surgeon Lord Lister was known for the sensitivity and compassion he displayed.
If a student who was assisting him would be careless in handling a fractured leg, the doctor’s kind face would grimace as if he himself felt the pain.
John Henry Jowett, speaking of our Lord’s even greater compassion, said, “With what infinite gentleness He ministered to bruised reeds and broken hearts!
He was never rough, never in a hurry!
His loving approach was part of the cure.
Many who sorrowed were unusually comforted by His presence even before their lives had been made whole.”
In the New Testament, we are allowed to view the compassion of Jehovah God as it is demonstrated in the life of Jesus Christ, His Son: God manifested in the flesh.
We see this compassion particularly when Jesus acts as the Great Physician.
Let’s observe the action of Jesus in this regard in Matthew 9:10-13.
Would you turn there with me please?
Would you follow along in your Bibles as I read this for us?
Over the course of my preaching ministry, I had never felt comfortable preaching about Jesus Christ.
I never felt I had the right format to convey the necessary information.
After reading a book entitled How To Read The Bible As Literature, by Leland Ryken, I was able to see why I felt what I felt.
I was treating the stories of Jesus Christ as doctrinal texts to exegete and expose, rather than narratives to be explored.
Narratives are an invitation to share an experience, as vividly and concretely as possible, with the characters of the story.
The function of doctrinal texts is to impart information.
The function of narratives is to draw the reader into the experience.
The logical, detailed, perfectionistic side of me has enjoyed, for a long time, exegeting doctrinal texts.
But now the feeling, emotional, sympathetic side of me enjoys a spiritual experience.
So, I have devised a format for preaching the narratives of the Bible that is much more appropriate and that helps me feel much more comfortable.
We shall use this format to explore the narratives of the Bible that deal with the compassion of God that was displayed in the life of Jesus Christ.
\\ /(Let’s get familiar with this format by using it to explore the narrative before us.
The first element of a story that we need to be aware is:)/
I.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES (OR SETTING) (v 11).
The setting of this narrative seems to be in the house of Matthew the tax-gatherer immediately after his conversion.
Jesus had just given the gift of salvation to Matthew and perhaps Matthew invited him to His home.
At Matthew’s home Jesus and His disciples were reclining at the table eating with the friends of Matthew who were still tax-gatherers and sinners.
/(It is very important, in exploring a narrative, to get to know and understand the characters in a story.
So, let’s do that now!)/
II.
THE CHARACTERS.
The main characters in most stories are the protagonist and the antagonist.
1.
The Protagonist in this narrative is Jesus Christ.
He is portrayed in this story in a number of ways:
1) By the responses of the Pharisees, disciples, tax-gatherers and sinners.
You can tell a lot about people, by how other people respond to them.
When people retreat from someone in hurt, it tells you something about that person.
When people flock to be in a person’s presence, it tells you something about that person.
The Pharisees were often confused by Jesus and hated Him, while the tax-gatherers and sinners loved Him and flocked to Him.
The religious legalists hated Jesus, but the common people loved Jesus.
/(The protagonist in this story, Jesus Christ, is also known and portrayed:)/
2) By His own words and thoughts in verses 12-13.
We shall consider these in detail in a few moments.
/(And the character of the protagonist in this story, Jesus Christ is seen:)/
3) By His actions which included having dinner with the sinners and rebuking the self-righteous Pharisees.
\\ /(We shall consider these portrayals in more detail later on, but before we do that let’s take a look at the antagonists in this story.)/
2.
The antagonists in this story are the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were always in opposition to all the Jesus taught, did and represented.
They were trying to discredit Jesus and refute His claim to being the Messiah, The Son of God.
The Pharisees were a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ.
The word ‘Pharisee’ means ‘separated’.
This was one of the chief religious parties among the Jews.
The Pharisees believed in being separated from anything that was common or unclean.
They considered the tax-gatherers and sinners as unclean and had no dealings with them.
When the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners, they asked their question.
The character of the Pharisees is portrayed through their words,
“Why is your Teacher eating with tax-gatherers and sinners.”
The nature of the question makes it a statement.
We have learned that “why” questions sit judgment of another person’s motives.
Therefore, the Pharisees were questioning the rightness and the motive of Jesus eating with tax-gatherers and sinners, whom they considered as practically and ceremonially unclean.
/(Now that we know the circumstances and the characters, we are ready to explore:)/
III.
THE CONFLICT (ACTION OR PLOT) (vv.
10-11).
Suspense is generated in this story by the Pharisees putting the actions of Jesus on trial.
Are the Pharisees right or is Jesus right?
/(There are various themes or elements of conflict in any narrative.
By reviewing these themes, we can classify and understand the nature of the action, plot or conflict in the narrative before us.
First we see:)/
1.
The Character Conflict.
The particular genre or class of plot represented here is a character conflict.
The conflict is between the Pharisees and Jesus.
This is one of the constant conflicts in the life of Jesus Christ.
He probably came into conflict with the Pharisees more than any other group.
They were violently opposed to His ministry.
If you love people with a godly love, you will run into this conflict.
The Pharisees are alive and well in our churches.
I face them all the time.
There are a number of people who do not understand and do not believe in my ministry, because I lift relationships over rules, love over the law, people over ceremonial policies.
That’s all right because I’m in good company!!!
\\ 2. The Moral~/Spiritual Conflict.
There is also represented here a moral~/spiritual conflict.
I say it is moral~/spiritual, because in this case what is moral is spiritual and vice versa.
The moral~/spiritual conflict is between legalism and compassion, harshness and grace.
Which will Jesus choose?
/(We also see in this particular narrative:)/
3.
The Testing And Choice Conflict.
The prominence of testing and choice in the Bible is instructive.
The particular test or choice in this story is between legalism versus compassion.
Our hero, Jesus Christ always makes the right choice.
He always pasts the test.
So, there is a valuable lesson to be learned by observing the choice that Jesus makes in this test.
Not only because it illustrates the nature and person of Jesus Christ, but because it leaves for us a model or example to follow.
We are to occupy until He returns.
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