Views from an Evangelist

Prov. 6:1-19

My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor,
Or have given a handshake for a stranger,
² If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth,
Or caught by the words of your mouth,
³ Then do this, my son, and save yourself:
Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and be urgent with your neighbor to free yourself.
⁴ Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;
⁵ Save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand,
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶ Go to the ant, you lazy one,
Observe its ways and be wise,
⁷ Which, having no chief,
Officer, or ruler,
⁸ Prepares its food in the summer
And gathers its provision in the harvest.
⁹ How long will you lie down, you lazy one?
When will you arise from your sleep?
¹⁰ “A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest,”
¹¹ Then your poverty will come in like a drifter,
And your need like an armed man.

¹² A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is one who walks with a perverse mouth,
¹³ Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
Who points with his fingers;
¹⁴ Who, with perversion in his heart, continually devises evil,
Who spreads strife.
¹⁵ Therefore his disaster will come suddenly;
Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

¹⁶ There are six things that the Lord hates,
Seven that are an abomination to Him:
¹⁷ Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
¹⁹ A false witness who declares lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Exposition:

King Solomon tells us the following wisdom:

Don’t sign a pledge to pay a debt for your neighbor. [vs. 1-5]

Work like an ant and don’t to be a sluggard [vs. 6 – 11]

The character traits and future disaster that will come upon a wicked man. [vs 12-15]

Perverse mouth

Winks with his eyes

Signals with his feet

Points with his fingers

They devise evil

They spread strife

The seven things the Lord hates [vs. 16-19]

Proud eyes

Lying tongue

Hands that shed innocent blood

A heart that devises wicked plans

Feet that run to do evil

A lying false witness

One who spreads strife amongst the brothers.

Matthew 9:18-38

¹⁸ While He was saying these things to them, behold, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will become alive again.” ¹⁹ Jesus got up from the table and began to accompany him, along with His disciples.

²⁰ And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind Him, and touched the border of His cloak; ²¹ for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His cloak, I will get well.” ²² But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” And at once the woman was made well.

²³ When Jesus came into the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd in noisy disorder, ²⁴ He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. ²⁵ But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶ And this news spread throughout that land.

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two men who were blind followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ²⁸ And after He entered the house, the men who were blind came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done for you according to your faith.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows about this!” ³¹ But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout that land.

³² And as they were going out, behold, a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to Him. ³³ And after the demon was cast out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

³⁵ Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.

³⁶ Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Exposition:

Jesus heals 5 people: The synagogues rulers’ daughter; the woman who is hemorrhaging; two blind men and a mute man. What did each person have in common? Faith. Either their own faith that brought them to Jesus or someone else who brought them to Jesus.

Faith is the operative act that leads people to come to Jesus for healing. Faith leads us to Him for the healing of our souls.

What do the Pharisees accuse Jesus of using to heal the people? A demon. This is a blasphemous comment. The Pharisees would say the Son of God is possessed by a demon and the demon is His power. Jesus ignores their comment in these verses but their comment expresses their view of Jesus: a demon possessed man vs. the Son of God.

But Jesus marches on teaching the Kingdom of God and healing people. Why? Because that is why He came into the world to show the world He is the Messiah and that He is the One is able to atone for their sins.

Jesus remains compassionate towards the people and therefore tells the disciples to pray for more laborers for the harvest because the people are like sheep without a shepherd.