Matthew saw smiles and heard snickering, and some shouted, “What news? Is He here?”
“As a matter of fact, the Christ is coming.”
“So the prophecies have said for centuries! But this shall not happen in our lifetimes!”
“He will be here at midday!”
“And how will we know Him?”
“He will preach repentance and the coming kingdom, as we do! And He will heal the sick and the lame, also as we will do!”
More laughter and jeering, and the crowd that had begun to gather now began to disperse. But a woman stepped forward, holding the hand of a young girl who limped. Many in the crowd seemed to know them. “Heal her!”
“Yes! Show us something!”
Thomas looked to Matthew, who suddenly felt emboldened. “This is not a trick, nor is it for your amusement. Bring the girl to me, and as is your faith, may it be done to you.”
Matthew looked carefully at the countenance of the mother to see whether she was skeptical, challenging, or hopeful. The fact was, she appeared desperate. And when he saw the little girl’s foot, Matthew nearly lost his faith and resolve. Her ankle looked as if bones were missing. Her foot flopped and there seemed no muscle, bone, or tendon in it.
The girl looked shy and fearful. Matthew reached for her and said, “Come to me.”
The crowd quieted and pressed close as the girl minced toward Matthew. He put an arm gently around her shoulders and found her trembling.
“Would you be healed?” he said.
She nodded, looking at her mother.
“God loves you, and your faith will make you whole. Do you believe?”
“I believe,” she said quietly.
Matthew knelt before her and cupped her destroyed ankle in his hands. He looked to the heavens. “In the name of Jesus the Christ and our Father in heaven, be healed.”
Matthew felt a surge of warmth through his body, from the top of his head through his chest and arms. The girl threw her head back and shuddered, and as Matthew loosened his grip, he felt the joint being restored and the foot turning to the front. As he pulled his hands away, the foot looked strong and new.
The mother fell to her knees and the girl gingerly tried her new limb. Within seconds she began leaping and twirling and dancing, and many in the crowd fell on their faces, weeping.
“Healed!” the girl squealed. “Healed! I’m healed!”
“Praise God!” her mother said.
“Wait here!” a man shouted. “I must bring my wife! She has been sick many years!”
“Yes! Wait! My son is deaf and mute!”
For more than an hour, Thomas preached repentance and the coming kingdom and Matthew healed all who were brought to him. Soon, of course, the local temple clergy arrived and watched from a distance, scowling. When Thomas reminded the people that Jesus the Christ would be there around midday, some ran off and returned with more scribes and Pharisees. The crowd swelled as more and more travelers paused in their journey to watch and wait for Jesus.
Thomas was preaching in the heat of a cloudless sky when Matthew saw Jesus on the road. He slipped away, but when he reached the Master, two other men had just gotten to Him.
“We are disciples of John the Baptist,” one said. “Our master in prison has heard about your works and wants us to ask of you, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’”
Matthew was puzzled by this, as he knew that John was the one who had baptized Jesus and had himself proclaimed Him the One. Perhaps his imprisonment had given him second thoughts.
Jesus said, “I want you to go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”
As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes, “Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But woe to you who see My mighty works but do not repent! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in the abominable cities of Tyre and Sidon, even they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.”
As the scribes and Pharisees drew close, their countenances clouded with what appeared to Matthew to be contempt, Jesus said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. No one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
NINETEEN
That night as Matthew sat by the crackling fire, he recalled the events of the morning. He had been used by God to perform miracles—an experience so foreign to his life up to that point that he knew he would never be the same.
All the disciples seemed energized by what they had experienced that day, and it was all they could do to wait their turn to tell their stories. But Simon the Cananite was most exercised. “We should all be zealots,” he said. “No king but Messiah. No tax but the temple’s. And no friend but the zealot.”
The others smiled and shook their heads, bemused. Thomas was the one who asked the question foremost on Matthew’s mind. “Tell us more, Master,” he said, “about the willingness to forsake all for Your sake. That is what you were saying, isn’t it, about pitting us against our families?”
James weighed in. “Yes, Lord, tell about Your bringing a sword rather than peace. Because, as you know, we expect Messiah to bring deliverance for Israel and to bring an eternal kingdom of righteousness and peace. The ancient texts called You the Prince of Peace and speak of Your reign.”
Jesus nodded. “But I must prepare you for My rejection and suffering, and also yours. Mine is a gospel of peace, but because of sin, men and women will reject it. Some of your enemies will be the people closest to you.”
“Why did You say we had to take up our crosses to follow You?” Matthew said. “We all have seen the thousands crucified along the road after the rebellion. Are we to die for You in this horrible way?”
“I pray you will not,” Jesus said. “Yet everything may be required of all of us. But as I said, if you lose your life for My sake, you will find it.”
Several began to speak and question, but Jesus silenced them with a hand. “He who has ears, let him hear.”
ON THE NEXT Sabbath the disciples were with Jesus as He wandered through a grain field, followed by the seemingly ever-present Pharisees. Matthew knew the others had to be as hungry as he. They began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
Suddenly the Pharisees shouted, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
Jesus stopped and turned and let the holy men catch up to Him. “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and yet are blameless?
“Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice, ’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Matthew caught James’s eye and could see in his visage the same wonder he felt at merely hearing this Man talk. He did not deserve to have the privilege to get a glimpse of the Messiah, the Son of God, let alone to be called His friend and His disciple. He had lived his
whole life at war with God, yet now He felt forgiven and cleansed. Even better, his days were filled with the presence of a Man so wise, so profound, that it was all he could do to remember everything in order to be able to record it.
FROM THERE, Jesus went into town and entered the synagogue. A man with a withered hand approached him, but the Pharisees immediately said, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” It was obvious they were looking for something they could use to accuse Him.
Jesus said, “Is there a man among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
He turned to the afflicted man. “Stretch out your hand.” And when he did, it was restored as whole as the other.
The Pharisees immediately rushed out, and Jesus said to His disciples, “Let’s withdraw. They are plotting how they might destroy Me.”
But as they left, great multitudes followed, and He healed them all. Again Jesus warned them not to make Him known. James hurried to Matthew’s side and said, “Do you recall that which was written by Isaiah the prophet?”
Matthew shook his head. “Remind me.”
“He wrote, ‘Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust.’”
When Jesus and the disciples were back at Peter’s house in Capernaum, one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind, and mute. And Jesus healed him. The crowds murmured excitedly and someone said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
Jesus had his eye on the Pharisees at the edge of the crowd and whispered to Matthew, “They are saying again that I cast out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
He turned to them. “I know your thoughts,” He said. “But every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
“He who is not with Me is against Me. Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
“Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
Jesus shook His head. “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater Man than Jonah is here. Indeed a greater Man than Solomon is here.”
Matthew was stunned that Jesus would be so bold as to draw attention to Himself as the One who was greater than Jonah and even Solomon, if His intention was to stay out of the way of the scheming Pharisees. But who was he to counsel the Master?
While Jesus was still talking to the multitudes, Philip said, “Master, Your mother and Your brothers are outside, seeking to speak with You.”
“Philip,” Jesus said, “who is My mother and who are My brothers?”
He gestured toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
LATER THAT SAME DAY, Jesus left the house and sat by the sea where great crowds gathered. There were so many that to be heard He got into a boat and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
When He began to speak, Matthew immediately began writing.
“Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
When the disciples got time with Jesus alone later, Matthew said, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
“Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, that I should heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
“Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Another parable Jesus told the multitudes compared the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while he slept his enemy sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
“When the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
“He said, ‘An enemy has done this.’
“The servants said, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
“But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Later, back in Peter’s home, James said, “Matthew, He spoke to them that way that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of
the world.’”
Matthew was familiar with the prophecy, yet he still had trouble understanding all that Jesus taught. The others also seemed confounded. Peter said, “Master, explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
Jesus said, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
“Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew looked at the other disciples. How precious the kingdom seemed in the words of Jesus.
The Master said, “My friends, have you understood all these things?”
They said, “Yes, Lord.”