Devo: Matthew 9:1-8

The paralytic was brought to Jesus by his friends. His friends took the roof apart and lowered him down through it because of the crowd.

“When Jesus saw their faith…” v. 2

It was the faith of the paralytic’s friends, not his, that caused Jesus to forgive and heal him. They had faith that Jesus could heal their friend.

This shows us that our circle matters. Do our friends lift us up in prayer when we need it? Do our friends bring us to Jesus? Or do they talk about us behind our back? Do they wish the worst for us?

His friends cared about him so much that they brought him to Jesus. His friends knew that only Jesus could heal him.

“He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.'” v. 2

The paralytic could’ve been depressed because Jesus told him to cheer up.

“Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. And he arose and departed to his house.” v. 6-7

It’s because of his friends that he was forgiven and healed.

Also, we can see in these verses that Jesus forgave the man first before He healed him. It is because spiritual healing (forgiveness for our sins) is more important than physical healing.

Sometimes God allows diseases and physical disabilities to bring us to Himself. Until we realize that God is all we need, we will never come to Him.

God doesn’t promise that when we come to Him, we will be healed. God is sovereign and He knows what’s best for us.

As a friend, our job is to pray for our friends, to ask God to cover them with His blood because they could be suffering from things that they don’t talk to us about.

In the previous story in chapter 9, we learned that we have to choose our friends carefully because they will help us in our physical snd spiritual journey. However, in this story, God shows us that we also have to befriend sinners.

Here’s a caveat. We have to befriend sinners not to be influenced by them but to influence them for the Lord.

We were sinners before we came to know the Lord, and sometimes even as believers, we are tempted to sin.

When Jesus called Matthew, he was a tax collector. I read from the commentary, enduringword.com, that the Jewish people considered tax collectors before as traitors because they worked for the Roman government. They didn’t have a good reputation.

However, Jesus told him to follow Him. Jesus knew that he was a sinner but Jesus called him to be one of His disciples. We can also see the heart of Matthew here. It says in verse 9 that “he arose and followed Him.” Matthew obeyed God right away. Then, because he obeyed, his friends came to Jesus, too.

“Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.” v. 10

Eventually, Matthew wrote the gospel of Matthew. ❤️ This is a good reminder because sometimes, us believers tend to hang out only with believers because it’s easy and comfortable. However, we forget to reach out to unbelievers who need our influence so they can also know Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him.

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” vv. 12-13