Episode 218: Matthew 9 Part 1 Hanging Around Scum

Jesus is run out of Gadarene after casting demons out of the two men who lived in the graveyard and he crosses the lake with his disciples and arrives in his hometown. There, some people bring him a man who is paralyzed and they want Jesus to heal him. The religious leaders, along with the disciples and the crowd, are watching Jesus to see what is going to happen. Jesus sees their faith and tells the man, “Your sins are forgiven.” The religious leaders think to themselves, “This is blasphemy…only God can forgive sins!” So to prove to everybody watching that he is the Messiah, that he is God, that he does have the authority to forgive sins, he tells the man, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.” The man leaps to his feet and heads home. He has exposed the evil hearts of the religious leaders. Then Jesus meets Matthew, a tax collector, and asks him to join his team. Matthew invites Jesus to eat with a bunch of his tax collector friends and the religious leaders have a fit, “Who would eat with such scum?” The Messiah, the Savior of the world, that is who eats with scum.