T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
27
January, 1934
They would send criminals to the hospital instead of to prison. Mrs. Eddy, of course, denies the existence of both sin and disease—an attitude which not only fails to solve the actual problem, but also creates a new one, namely, why something appears to exist when there is nothing. The Bible takes the only sensible posi tion, facing frankly both sin and disease as facts, recognizing the inseparable con nection between the two, and deals with them in the right order. Sin as the basic disorder was dealt with finally at the cross. Disease and infirmity will come to an end with the “redemption” of the body at the second coming of our Lord. This does not mean there is no divine help for disease in the present age. God has promised to answer prayer which is according to His will. To heal the suffering saint, however, is not always His will in the present age (2 Cor. 12:7-9). At any event, we should remember that any pres ent miraculous healing is a tasting of “powers” which belong properly to “the age to come” (Heb. 6:5, R.V.). Lesson Questions Vs. 1-8. What was Jesus’ “own city” ? What characteristic in the companions of the sick man pleased Jesus? Why did the scribes accuse Jesus of blasphemy? What was the purpose of this healing? Whom did the people glorify? What place did they give to Christ? V. 9. What was the “receipt of cus tom” ? Why was a publican not popular with the Jews? What was Matthew’s re sponse to Jesus’ call (Lk. 5:28)? What does Jesus say our response to Him must be (Lk. 9:23)? Vs. 10-13. Whose house, may it have been in which Jesus sat at meat? Why might Matthew prepare such a feast? What accusation was brought against Jesus for eating with publicans and sin ners? How did He justify His presence with such guests? In which of the two classés that Jesus named did the Pharisees belong? What placed them there? What was actually true of them (Matt. 23:13- 16) ? What is God’s estimate of our own righteousness (Isa. 64:6) ? How is true righteousness imparted (Rom. 10:10)? Have you accepted the righteousness of Christ by faith? Jesus Forgives a Sinful Man M atthew 9:1-13 Memory Verse: “Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” (Psa. 86:5). Approach: Because Jesus was God, He had all power to help people. In a mar velous way, He could cure them of all sickness'. As He went about and saw many people suf fering, He used this wonderful power to m ake them well. Many people began to follow Him, then, just to have their bodies healed. Jesus saw that they were forgetting that more important than to be cured of sickness, was to be cured of sin—and this was what He had come to earth to do. Lesson Story: One day, when a great crowd of people had gathered about Jesus to hear Him preach, some men brought a sick friend to Jesus hoping that He would cure the man. They brought him on his bed and laid him at the feet of Jesus. Jesus thought that this would be the right time to show the people that He had ■°'VlS'0'
Matthew had sold himself and- all that a man thinks worth while for the opportu nity of making money by this means. He had turned his back upon his people, his religion, and his honor, for the sake of money. In this lesson; he turned his back upon money for the sake of Christ. Money had been everything to him, now Jesus occupied the supreme place in his life. He had a clear call from the Lord, as all have. The call was an invitation to a place of high honor and privilege. It came suddenly and unexpectedly, without ex planation; yet Matthew heard and heeded at once. This is the only way to answer the call from the Lord. Matthew doubtless lost a great deal in the way of worldly goods by following the Lord’s call, but the gain was immeasurably greater. This is always the case. III. S inners S ought (10-13). “Many publicans and sinners came and sat down” where Jesus was (v. 10). Per haps this was •the dinner Matthew pre pared for his friends and associates in honor of Jesus (Lk. 5:27-29). The gen uineness of a conversion is revealed by the interest shown in getting friends to come to Jesus. Matthew revealed that his con version was genuine. Do we do the same ? But the Pharisees at once objected to Jesus’ eating with such a crowd (v. 11). Presuming that, salvation was by works, they thought Jesus was wholly wrong in doing what they would not do for fear of becoming unclean. They would allow publicans and sinners to go to hell, before they would lift a finger to help, and they would find fault with any one who did help, j Thus they revealed how far they were from the God who loved all the,world. Jesus then revealed their error (vs. 12, 13). In His teaching, He divided the hu man race into two classes : those who were whole, and those who were sick. As He had come with help for the sick ones, His place must be found among them. He had nothing for those who thought they were whole. Jesus had nothing for the Phari sees ; indeed, He could give them nothing, because they felt no need of anything He had or could give. But the publicans and sinners—those who felt their need and were ready to receive help—were the ob jects of His gracious power. To perform religious rites and cere monies while the needy went without a knowledge of the Saviour would be sacri lege and not sacrifice. Jesus had come for one class—sinners; hence, any sinner may be saved. No sinner is too bad to be saved, but many sinners think themselves too good to be saved, because they feel no need of the salvation Jesus came to bestow. It was the good people who finally were instru mental in crucifying the Lord of glory. Points and Problems In this lesson, we may learn something about the proper order of important things. In the palsied man there was a twofold problem— sin and disease. Our Lord deals first with the man’s sin, and then with his disease. Thus he fulfills the divine order as stated in Psalm 103:3: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases." It is interesting to notice how men try to deal with these two age-long problems of moral and physical evil. In the Middle Ages, men worried a great deal about sin, but seemed to accept disease as something quite inevitable. In modern times, men are much concerned about disease, but very little about sin. In fact, certain psy chologists and sociologists argue that there is no such thing as sin, but all is disease.
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