The Paralized Man and The Call of Mattiyahu

Mattiyahu 9:1-8 Mark 2:1-12 Luke 5: 17-26

“Yeshua’s authority” (Messiah Vol 1 Avi Ben Mordecai)

The understanding of sickness & disease in Judaism brought many opinions from the ancient and learned Torah scholars in Jerusalem. Some attributed illness & suffering to a lack of generosity (the evil eye= stinginess), others viewed deformities & diseases as results in living in ignorance of the Torah. In rabbinic literature one thing remains clear, health and disease both emenating from the same divine sources as interpreted from the passages of D’varim/Deut 32:39, Shemot/Exodus 15:26

First, this brings us to the Tanach definition of doing what is right (or wrong). To do right (according to Yeshua’s Bible) is to observe YHWH’s commandments. To do wrong is to negate any part of those commandments.

Everyone falls short of living according to YHWH’s perfect Laws but his should not stop anyone from trying. Rather we are enjoined to give our whole heart to the matter of obedience to His will, since the covenant given at Mt. Sinai was for all generations of Israelites for all time, again, deduced from D’varim/Deut. 29:13-15

Y’shua seemed to link sickness with sin i.e. the fall of Adam/Man

John 5: 12-14 Psalm 103:1-3 It is in context of these words that

Y’shua provided His authority on earth to heal a paralytic man.

Some of the “Saferim” begin to question Y’shuas words “In their heart” or “knowing their thoughts”

Mark 2:8-11 i.e. only YHWH can know what is in a persons

heart 1 Samuel 16:7 Jeremiah 11:20 Hebrews 4:12 Proverbs 4:23

Messiah’s words were so precise! He did not return to His original statement saying “take courage my son your sins are forgiven”, instead He admitted full heavenly authority to forgive sins. To prove it, He retorted “I say to you, rise, take up your palet and go home”

By healing the man, He was forgiving his sins and thus agreeing with contemporary rabbinic interpretation of Psalm 103:3

The Safarim could not possible argue with what they had just seen because they knew Oral and Written Mosaic Law and the rabbinic teachings in this passage from HaTehillim, the Psalms.

R. Alexandre said in the name of R. Hiyya b. Abba: “a sick man does not recover from his sickness until all his sins are forgiven him, as it is written “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases”

Sickness is a result of the Fall of Adam. Before Adam and Havah/Eve fell there was no sin so there was no sickness.

Matthew vs 8 A Lost Blessing “Judaism & The Origin of Christianity”

David Flusser, Jewish Scholar (1988) He detects a liturgical formula beneath the

text of vs. 8. Because of the amazing parallel of the last

half of vs 8 & the traditional formula & syntax of Jewish blessings, he suggests that the people responded to the miracle of the healing of the paralytic by quoting a blessing for a miracle.

Flusser supposes such a blessing may once have been among the blessings among the first century Judaism. The Talmud prescribed similar blessings for various phenominom.

For example:#1. Upon seeing a place where a miraculous deliverence occurred for you: “Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the Universe who performed a miracle for me at this place”

#2. Upon seeing lightening “Blessed are you Lord God, King of the

universe who makes the work of creation.#3. Upon seeing a King

“Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the universe Who has apportioned some of His glory to flesh and blood.

#4. Upon seeing a great Torah scholar“Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the universe who gave of His wisdom to his creatures.

Flusser reconstructs the last blessing along these lines:

Upon seeing some perform a miracle.. “Blessed are You Lord our God, King of the

universe who has given such authority to men”

Tim Hegg ( A study in Matthew)Again “Your sings are forgiven” Yeshua’s words

were clearly take to mean “your sins are forgiven my Me”. The statement of our Master here indicates that He is wiping away the sins of the man in general. In doing so, He has taken to Himself the perogative assigned only to YHWH Himself. They understood without question that Yeshua had, by these words put Himself in the position of the Almighty who alone is able to erase the penalty of sin which is death (i.e. sickness and disease)

Vs 6-8 The very purpose of Yeshua’s miracles is

here given explicitly. “But so that you may know…..” The miracles are done so they He would be know as “The Son of Man” spoke of by Daniel, the final and eternal Judge who had broken into the sphere to time, becoming a man to save sinners.

Once again we see that “Son of Man” here could not simply mean “human being” for the point is not that mankind in general has any authority upon earth to forgive sins, but that Yeshua does, making Him unique among men.

He states He has “The authority” to forgive sins”

Daniel 7:13-14 Psalm 32:1-2 1 Peter 1:18-20 2 Timothy 1:9 The whole point of this story, at least from

Matthews view, is to show the unique authority of Yeshua as one who is able to forgive sins.

The Call To Follow Vs. 12-13 “Those who are healthy” Strongs #2480 Grk Ischu – strong,

strength, healthy “Learn” Strongs #3129 – endeavor, desire, seek

Sinners #268 – This term comes to be used by they P’rushim/Pharisees to refer to Prostitutes, thieves and others of low reputation, whose sins were blatant and obvious not the kind the establishment winked at. Yeshua taught that those who considered themselves not sinners but “righteous” were in fact worse, because they made themselves unteachable. (Complete Jewish Bible Commentary).

Sacrifice – Andrew Gabriel Roth (AENT Bible notes pg 951-952)

“There are great disparities between religeou perspectives of sacrifice and what YHWH’s word instructs. The word “Sacrifice” is generally meant to relinquish something of value, to give something up that you would perfer to keep. But it is impossible to “appease” YHWH by offering up something of monetary value in exchange for forgiveness or atonement.

Sacrifice cont. The intent of the heart (motive or

Kavanah) is the potent “ingredient” of each and every sacrifice, not its monetary earthly value. The physical offering or sacrifice is simply a token of what is in the heart. The process of sacrifice & offering is a mechanism that helps bring restoration between two parties.

Yeshua is referring them back to Hosea 6:6 Context of Hosea – Israel and Baal worship Hosea is a rebuke to The House of Ephraim

and also The House of Judah is mentioned for their pagan practices. Baal worship and most pagan practices involved temple prostitution. Baal was considered the chief diety, but he also functioned specifically as the Canaanite storm god, the “rider of the clouds” The birth of healthy offspring and the staving off of famine was attriuted to Baal and also mixed with temple prostitution. He was also looked upon to provide “prosperity” and aggricultural fertility to the “rain of Baal”

Hosea 2:5 indicates the acceptance of Baal’s role at every level of life: “food” and “water” for sustenance, “wool” and “linen” for material goods and “oil” and “drink” for cultic rituals or personal luxury. Although sacred prostitution was not a part of the fertility cult, Israel incorporated this aspect as well (4:10-14) and the sexual temptation of the cult proved too much for many Israelites to withstand. The situation was so exacerbated by an enormous number of local shrines where “the Balls’ were worshiped under various titles (such as Baal Peor, Baal Hammon, Baal Zaphon, Baal of Lebanon or Baal of Sidon. This phenomenon is attested by the wide variety of representations of Baal in Phoenician inscriptions.

The fact that the Israelites identified Baal with YAHWEH is telling. Although Baal worship, viewed from a distance was obviously horrendous, those who were involved in it were so influenced by the dominant culture that they remained convinced that they were devout and orthodox followers of YHWV –when they were all the while worshiping Baal.

We also see pagan influences that have infiltrated Christianity over the past 2 thousand years as well with the same attitude that although some of the practices are pagan in practice i.e. Christmas Trees, Easter eggs, Sunday worship they have made the excuse, yes they might have been pagan, but we have turned them into worship of our God. i.e. the Golden Calf syndrom.

We must heed the warnings of the past and listen to the words of our Master Yeshua. We see even more pagan influences seducing people who consider them selves “Christians”

Some research (more to come in my teaching of the Jezebel & Baal influence in the Church today) are

Kundalini Energy Contemplative Prayer Reiki Practice New Age & Occultic Influence Labyrinths Taize Worship Lectio Devina Mantra Medications with Yoga Churches inviting New Age Occult teachers into

their Churches and saying it is a way of worship God and allowing seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. This was especially a weakness of the Northern Kingdom of Israel which caused them to be cut off from the covenant and lost among the gentiles.

Hosea 4:8 Hosea 6:1FF Hosea 12:6 Hosea 9:7 Joel 2:13

1 Samuel 15:22 Psalm 50:7-15 Proverbs 21:3 Isaiah 1: 10-26 Daniel 4:27 Micah 6:8

Again Yeshua answers his critics by referring them back to scripture, in this

case Hosea