Sharper Iron: Justifying Yourself with Mountain Dew

Rev. Chris Hull from Zion Lutheran Church in Tomball, Texas, studies Matthew 9:1-17. Today’s study covers man’s weakness and Christ’s mercy, the type of God Jesus is, the baptism of the paralytic, whether traditions and the Old Testament are bad, and justifying yourself with Mountain Dew.

Matthew 9:1-17

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

9 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.²And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” ³And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” ⁴But Jesus, knowing^[a] their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ⁶But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ⁷And he rose and went home. ⁸When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Jesus Calls Matthew

⁹As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁰And as Jesus^[b] reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹²But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast,^[c] but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”