Matthew 9 teaches us the importance of faith, how to have faith, and how God desires compassion and not sacrifice.
Faith is important to God
Faith is important to God. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). This is because the original sin that caused the fall of man was the lack of faith. The first couple doubted God’s goodness and thought God did not want to give them wisdom, so they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 3).
But it is not true that God did not want to give them wisdom. But God tested Adam and Eve to see whether they would love God and be loyal to Him above their love for wisdom. Love always comes first above knowledge, “for we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:9-10).
So now we need to overcome the original sin of lack of faith by having faith in Jesus.
Faith is believing in God and learning to be faithful to Him. This is why faith is important to God. And without faith it is impossible to please God.
How do we have faith?
What if a person starts out with very little faith?
The key is to do the right thing. “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
The right thing to do is to seek Him sincerely and earnestly.
Faith is not an emotion we muster up. Faith is simply looking to God and depending on Him. Faith is not depending on ourselves to depend on Him. Faith does not depend on our ability to have faith, but faithfulness is a characteristic of God.
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful— for He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)
All we need to do is to look to God and choose to believe in His words, and not listen to the words of the enemy. Faith is a choice. It is choosing to go by God’s words and not any words or thoughts that contradict His words.
If we simply choose to live by God’s words, it is faith.
Increasing faith
There are many examples of faith in Matthew 9. A paralytic’s friends’ faith helped the paralytic get healed. A woman who dared only touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloak got healed because of her great faith. A girl was resurrected even though most of the people didn’t believe. And blind men saw when they believed.
In each of these scenarios, a little faith was required. In the case of the girl, Jesus sent out the crowd, saying, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep” (Matthew 9:24). Jesus sent out the unbelieving crowd, and took only those with Him who had a little faith (Luke 8:51) and the girl’s parents.
What if you don’t have strong faith like some of these people?
Don’t worry. You can build your faith.
You can start to increase your faith by obeying God and practicing trusting Him.
- Obey God to do what you know He wants you to do.
- Use opportunities during your day to practice trusting Him.
Ask God to help you with your homework, ask Him to help you pass a test, ask Him to help you in your job, ask Him to help you in your relationships, ask Him to help other people. Ask Him to help you respond to someone you have a conflict with. Ask Him to help you with the tiny, tiny things and ask Him to help you with the big, giant things.
Ask Him everyday. See every challenge as an opportunity to ask for His help. See every negative emotion as an opportunity for Him to step in and give you peace. The more you ask, the more you will receive.
Ask without giving up.
You can even ask God for more faith!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
As you ask Him, you will see His faithfulness everyday. You can have ever-increasing faith, and grow to have great faith!
God’s compassion
“Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?’ But when Jesus heard this, He said, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'” (Matthew 9:10-13)
Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors who were social outcasts. Jesus showed mercy to these people and called them to repentance.
We are like these people, because no one is righteous and all are sinners.
If we consider ourselves like these people, then we are the ones Jesus also calls. However, if we consider ourselves righteous like the Pharisees did, then we rely on ourselves and will not receive the mercy of God.
God feels compassion for people. Jesus saw multitudes coming to Him and felt compassion for them.
“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.'” (Matthew 9:36-38)
God has compassion for us today. Before coming to Christ, many of us were distressed and dispirited. Some of us are still distressed and dispirited. We need to keep coming to Jesus to trust Him and let Him take care of us, because He is our Shepherd.
We also need to help other people by asking God to send out good workers to collect His harvest and feed His sheep.
God desires compassion and not sacrifice
God does not desire that we give sacrifices for Him. What sacrifice can we give to God that is not already His?
But God says:
“I shall take no young bull out of your house
Nor male goats out of your folds.
For every beast of the forest is Mine,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
Shall I eat the flesh of bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.” (Psalm 50:9-15)
God is compassionate and merciful. We need to be humble and accept His grace. And remember that whatever we give back to God came from Him.
God does not desire or enjoy the blood of animals. He is the One who provided the ultimate sacrifice for us through Jesus, the Lamb of God.
The sacrifices to God are a heart of thanksgiving. And whatever we promised to do for God, we should do.
“For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice,
And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
So God desires for us to be loyal to Him and to know Him!
Read Matthew 9 (NIV) in the Bible. See other lessons in the Gospel of Matthew.