Matthew 9:12

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. BUT WHEN JESUS HEARD [THAT], HE SAID UNTO THEM - to the Pharisees and scribes; addressing Himself to them, though they had shrunk from addressing Him. THEY THAT BE WHOLE NEED NOT A PHYSICIAN, BUT THEY THAT ARE SICK - q.d., 'Ye deem yourselves whole; My mission, therefore, is not to you: The physician's business is with the sick; therefore eat I with publicans and sinners.' O, what myriads of broken hearts of sin-sick souls, have been bound up by this matchless saying!...

12._Not they who are in health need a physician _It is evident from Christ’s reply that the scribes erred in two ways: they did not take into account the office of Christ; and, while they spared their own vices, they proudly despised all others. This deserves our particular attention, for it is a disease which has been always very general. Hypocrites, being satisfied and intoxicated with a foolish confidence in their own righteousness, do not consider the purpose for which Christ was sent into the world, and do not acknowledge the depth of evils in which the human race is plunged, or the dreadful wrath and curse of God which lies on all, or the accumulated load of vices which weighs them down. The consequence is, that they are too stupid to feel the miseries of men, or to think of a remedy. While they flatter themselves, they cannot endure to be placed in their own rank, and think that i...

10-13 Some time after his call, Matthew sought to bring his old associates to hear Christ. He knew by experience what the grace of Christ could do, and would not despair concerning them. Those who are effectually brought to Christ, cannot but desire that others also may be brought to him. Those who suppose their souls to be without disease will not welcome the spiritual Physician. This was the case with the Pharisees; they despised Christ, because they thought themselves whole; but the poor publicans and sinners felt that they wanted instruction and amendment. It is easy, and too common, to put the worst constructions upon the best words and actions. It may justly be suspected that those have not the grace of God themselves, who are not pleased with others' obtaining it. Christ's conversing with sinners is here called mercy; for to promote the conversion of souls is the greatest act of...

Verse Matthew 9:12. _THEY THAT BE WHOLE NEED NOT A PHYSICIAN_] A common proverb, which none could either misunderstand or misapply. Of it the reader may make the following use:- 1. Jesus Christ represents himself here as the sovereign Physician of souls. 2. That all stand in need of his healing power. 3. That men must acknowledge their spiritual maladies, and the need they have of his mercy, in order to be healed by him. 4. That it is the most inveterate and dangerous disease the soul can be afflicted with to imagine itself _whole_, when the _sting of_ _death, which is sin_, has pierced it through in every part, infusing its poison every where....

THEY THAT BE WHOLE ... - Jesus, in reply, said that the whole needed not a physician. Sick persons only needed his aid. A physician would not commonly be found with those that were in health. His proper place was among the sick. So, says he, “If you Pharisees are such as you think yourselves - already pure and holy - you do not need my aid. It would be of no use to you, and you would not thank me for it. With those persons who feel that they are sinners I may be useful, and there is my proper place.” Or the expression may mean, “I came on purpose to save sinners: my business is with them. There are none righteous; and as a physician is in his proper place with the “sick,” so am I with guilty and miserable sinners.”...

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 9:1 _The_ _paralytic forgiven and healed. _Parallel passages: Mark 2:1; Luke 5:17. (For connexion of thought, cf. Matthew 8:18, note.) In the parallel passages this narrative follows our Matthew 8:1. Matthew's account is shorter, as usual. MATTHEW 9:1 AND HE ENTERED INTO A SHIP; _boat _(Revised Version). So completely did he grant the request of the Gadarenes. Obs

BUT WHEN JESUS HEARD THAT,.... The charge the Pharisees brought against him, and the insinuations they had made of him to his disciples; which he either overheard himself, or his disciples related to him, HE SAID UNTO THEM; the Pharisees, with an audible voice, not only to confute and convince them, but chiefly to establish his disciples, they were endeavouring to draw away from him: THEY THAT BE WHOLE NEED NOT A PHYSICIAN; by which he would signify that he was a "physician": and so he is in a spiritual sense, and that a very skilful one: he knows the nature of all the diseases of the soul, without being told them by the patient; what are the true causes of them; what is proper to apply; when is the best time, and what the best manner: he is an universal one, with regard both to diseases and to persons, that apply to him; he heals all sorts of persons, and all sorts of diseases; such a...

Matthew 9:1. _And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith_ The faith of the bearers, and the faith of the palsied man himself, Matthew 9:2. _Said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee._ It was remarked, by a mediaeval writer, that we do not find Christ calling any of the apostles, not even the very chief of them, by the name that he gave to this palsied man, «Son.» This is the title that he gives to a sin-sick sinner, lying on a bed before him, waiting to be healed. Oh, the tenderness of Christ to sin and misery! He puts a kind of sonship upon this man which he had not possessed before....

CHAPTER 9 1. A Man Sick of the Palsy Healed. (Matthew 9:1 .) 2. The Call of Matthew (Matthew 9:9 .) 3. With the Publicans and the Sinners. (Matthew 9:10 .) 4. The Question of John's Disciples. (Matthew 9:14 .) 5. The Ruler's Request.(Matthew 9:18 .) 6. The Woman Healed of an Issue of Blood. (Matthew 9:20 .) 7. The Maid Raised from the Dead. (Matthew 9:23 .) 8. The Two Bli

THE CALL OF MATTHEW. JESUS EATS WITH TAX-COLLECTORS (Mark 2:13 *, Luke 5:27). We need not doubt the identification of Matthew (= gift of Yahweh) and Levi; Peter had a double Jewish name, Simon and Kephas. Lk. notes how this disciple forsook all; he could not return to his old calling, as a fisherman could. The meal was apparently in Jesus-' house (_cf._ Matthew 9:13, It is not my mission to _invite_ the righteous); Capernaum was now his own city (Matthew 9:1). As a Physician, the Lord was bound to come into close contact with those who were sick, regardless of the contagious pollution which the Pharisees shunned....