When Jesus saw the faith of those who had brought the man sick of the
palsy, He said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."
These words offended the Scribes (or Doctors) and the Pharisees who
were sitting there; and they said within themselves, or thought, "This
man blasphemeth," that is, He takes to himself a power which no human
being can possess, for "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Here
they were right: no _man could_ forgive sin, nor with a word take away
the diseases consequent upon sin.
The Scribes and Pharisees do not appear to have even spoken their
thoughts to each other, but Jesus, by the Spirit of God which was in
Him, perceived that they so reasoned within themselves; "and knowing
their thoughts, He answering, said unto them, Why reason ye these
things, and think evil in your hearts?" that is, why do ye think evil
of Me, and condemn Me as guilty of blasphemy, because I have spoken
such words? Then Jesus asked them, "Whether is it easier to say to the
sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and
take up thy bed and walk?" Thus Jesus reminded the Scribes and
Pharisees, that to heal a man sick of the palsy was as impossible for
a man, as to forgive sin; and that therefore He who could do such
things, must be indeed the Son of God: and he instantly gave this
proof of his being the Messiah, saying, "But that ye may know that the
Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins"--no more _words_ were
necessary, the sentence was ended by an action; for turning to the
sick of the palsy, he saith, "I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy
bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he rose up
before them, and took up the bed whereon he lay," that is, the
mattress, rolled it up, "and went forth before them all, and departed
to his own house, glorifying God." Had the Pharisees and Scribes been
really anxious to know the truth, praying to God to show it to them,
this miracle must indeed have convinced them that Jesus was the
Messiah; but their hearts were hardened against believing in a
Messiah, who did not come as a king in earthly power and glory.
But whilst the Scribes and Pharisees would not believe the evidence of
their own eyes, the poorer people were less obstinate. When they saw
the poor sick man walk away completely cured, the multitude were all
amazed at such a wonderful proof of the power of God. "And they said,
We have seen strange things to-day: we never saw it on this fashion:
and they glorified God, which had given such power unto men." Perhaps
some of these people became real and true followers of Christ: but
many of them, notwithstanding all they had seen, did not like to give
up their sins, so as to become holy, as Christ's disciples must be.
We think it strange that men could see such miracles, and not believe
and follow Jesus: but do we do everything that He bids us? and yet we
_know Him_ to be the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. Let us take
care that we do not love our sins, so as to make us unwilling to be
true followers of Jesus Christ.
After these things, we read that as Jesus was walking by the Sea of
Galilee, He saw "a man, a publican named Levi," also called Matthew,
"sitting at the receipt of custom." A publican was a tax-gatherer; one
who was appointed by the Romans to collect the taxes which they
required the inhabitants of Judaea to pay. The Jews disliked paying
taxes very much, because it was a mark of their being under the
dominion of Gentile rulers: and therefore they hated all publicans or
tax-gatherers. In general, too, the bad characters and ill conduct of
these men did not tend to make men like them: the Romans were in the
habit of farming out the taxes; that is, they appointed some person
who was willing to give them a certain sum of money, and take his
chance of what taxes he could collect. If the taxes he collected did
not amount to as much as the sum he had paid to the Romans, of course
he was the loser: if, on the contrary, the taxes came to more than
what he had to give to the Romans, he was the gainer: thus the
publicans, having paid a large sum of money for the privilege of
collecting the taxes, were anxious to collect as much as possible, in
order to have more for themselves: and so they often oppressed the
people, by making them pay more than was right; and of course the
people could not like those whom they found so troublesome and unjust,
and therefore they hated the whole class of tax-gatherers.
Levi, or Matthew, of whom we are speaking, was a Jew, who had taken
the office of tax-gatherer under the Romans: his particular business
seems to have been to receive the money, which every person who
carried goods across the Sea of Galilee was obliged to pay as a tax to
their Roman masters. Matthew was sitting in his appointed place for
the receipt, or receiving, of "custom," that is, of the tax which it
was the custom to pay on landing, when our Lord passed by and saw him.
The Pharisees and Scribes looked upon all publicans, whether they were
Jews or not, as heathens, unfit to be even spoken to: they would not
even try to make them better, as they chose to think that God had
quite cast them off. Jesus taught a very different lesson, and showed
that God is ready to receive all who will repent of their sins and
follow Him. Jesus, who sees what thoughts and feelings are in the
heart of every one, made choice of Matthew as a fit man to be one of
His constant attendants, and therefore, when he saw him sitting at the
receipt of custom, "He said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose
up, and followed him." At once, without doubt or hesitation, Matthew
left all and followed Jesus: now, Jesus calls all of us when we are
baptized; but how few of us try to follow Him really and truly? We
might perhaps think that it was wrong of Matthew thus to leave his
business and go away, because then the people who crossed the sea
would not pay the tax required by the Romans: but as he had paid money
to the Romans for the situation, they would not be cheated out of the
tax: he himself would be the only sufferer. If this had not been the
case, he _would_ have been wrong to go away before some other person
was appointed in his place: for the Bible teaches us, that we must do
our duty to man fairly and faithfully, in whatever state of life we
are. By doing our earthly business honestly and well, we serve God: if
our business takes up too much of our thoughts, and makes us forget
God and neglect His worship, then we must give up our business; for we
should always think _first_ of pleasing God.
The next event we hear of in our Saviour's life is, that with His
usual obedience to the Law, He went up to Jerusalem to keep a "feast
of the Jews": most probably the feast of Tabernacles; a feast
celebrated in the Autumn, as a thanksgiving for the harvest or
in-gathering of corn, grapes for wine, and all other fruits of the
earth: this feast was also intended to remind them of the journeyings
of their forefathers in the wilderness, where they lived in booths or
tents for forty years; and therefore they were to keep it, by dwelling
for seven days in booths, made of the branches of trees.
It seems that by the Sheep Gate, on the eastern side of Jerusalem,
there was a pool of water, in which at a certain time of the year God
showed His almighty power, by the miraculous cure of any sick person,
who, after the troubling or stirring up of the water, first stepped
into the pool. By this pool was a building, having five porches,
through which the unclean went down to wash in the pool. This building
was properly called Bethesda, a Hebrew word, meaning the House of
Mercy; and the pool was from it called the pool of Bethesda. Jesus
visited this place, where, in the porches, "lay a great multitude of
impotent folk," that is, people who were unable to help themselves on
account of blindness, or of diseases which took away the use of their
legs and arms. These poor creatures were waiting for the moving of the
waters; each hoping that he might be the one to get first into the
pool, and be cured. Amongst these was a certain man, who had been
unable to walk for thirty-eight years. Jesus chose this man as the
object of a miracle, and saith unto him, "Wilt thou be made whole?"
The poor man, thinking only of the pool, told the Lord that he had no
chance of being healed, for he had no friends to help him; and that
long before he could drag himself to the water, some other person was
sure to step in and secure the blessing. Jesus then "saith unto him,
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."
Whether this poor man had heard of Jesus before, we do not know; but
he at once showed his faith, by _trying_ to do, what he knew he _could
not_ do, unless he received some miraculous help from God. How
delighted he must have been, when he found that a perfect cure was the
reward of his faith and obedience!
It was on a Sabbath day that this miracle was worked; and the Jews,
probably the Scribes and Pharisees, found fault with the man, saying,
"It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed on the Sabbath day." This
was so far true, that in the Law it was written, "Take heed to
yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day"; and the Pharisees,
and others who were fond of adding to the outward observances of the
Law, and of keeping traditions, reckoned a man guilty of breaking the
Law, if he even carried anything in his hand on the Sabbath day. When
the Jews blamed this man, he answered very properly, that he could not
be wrong in obeying the commands of one who had showed that he had
power from God, by healing him of his disease. The Jews allowed that a
prophet had power to excuse men from the strict observance of the
Sabbath; and, as Jesus had proved Himself to be more than a prophet,
they could say no more on that subject; but wishing to have something
to find fault with, they asked the man, "What man is that which said
unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?" This question the man could not
answer, for he "wist not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed Himself
away" after working the miracle at the pool of Bethesda.