14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
This is a direct tie back to the last chapter. I wonder why the author opted to highlight the calling of Matthew?
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
I love these "drop the mic" moments. Jesus has a way of saying things so absolutely that there's no possibility for an argument. What could you say to that?
But having cited these two verses....my favorite part of this chapter is the remembering of us acting out the lowering of the paralyzed man down between the cardtables, covered with blankets. "Is this thing on?" hahahaha...awesome!
ha what a great memory--only from 40yrs ago or so!!
ReplyDelete10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
I was just reflecting on the impact of Jesus healing the sick. Do you suppose if during his preaching he said your sins are forgiven and stopped there we would be reading about it 2,000+ years later. The healing of the body was a tool to get at what he is really after our hearts.
knut