22: Jesus did not have the slightest hesitation about the situation. He was far from being upset with this lady. Indeed, he was eager to reward her faith. He knew supernaturally that she had touched him for a reason. Many were touching him, jostling about, pushing, touching him just because, etc. The multitude was almost…

20: The difficulty of this woman must be duly noted. Her condition was very bad for several reasons. For one, she was not getting any better. She had consulted many doctors, spent her entire savings, and had nothing to show for the trouble. She was thus, in a bad way. Also, her condition, besides being…

18: This ruler, Jairus by name, was evidently a person of some prominence in the local synagogue there in Capernaum. Jesus had surely come into contact with him before, and his worship of Christ here indicates that he believed much more about Christ than most of the Jewish leaders.   One of the difficulties we find…

17: Whether this is taken to refer to wine bottles, or wine-skins (which is more likely), the illustration holds true. Old bottles or skins will be more brittle and liable to break than new bottles or skins. Many have suggested that the ‘new wine’ was the intoxicating kind that had not yet completely fermented. This is not necessarily the…

16: In richer nations this illustration will be more difficult to understand. Many in America especially would never dream of repairing the kind of holes that clothes can get in them when they are kept for a long time. This is what is in view here. Jesus was speaking of putting a patch on a piece of…

15: It was customary for Jews to refrain from certain duties, fasting included, when in the midst of a marriage celebration. In other words, Jesus is here paralleling the joy surrounding the wedding occasion with the disciples’ joy in having their Lord with them. There was no purpose for fasting with their Lord physically there with them.…

14: Fasting is a discipline of the Christian life. It was a regular practice for religious Jews in Jesus’ day. It is not a strange thing, but a normal part of spiritual maturity. Jesus’ disciples, however, did not do it. This provides an opportunity for Jesus to explain more about fasting and why it is…

12: Just as those who are physicians of the physical maladies with which we are faced, Jesus was to be the Great Physician for the spiritual needs of mankind. As a physician, he would, naturally, have to find himself among the sick. By implication, the Pharisees, who would think themselves the spiritual physicians of the…

11: The religious leaders in Jesus’ day had lost touch with the true face of ministry. They had no means by which to reach those who needed Almighty God the most. They had cut themselves off from ministry to the sinner. They had created an elite of hypocrisy. Daily Bible Reading: Matthew 21:1-22:46 Daily Memory…

10: In this verse, two things must be remembered in order to maintain a balanced view of the situation. First, Jesus did not have any problem at all with eating a meal with those who were obviously sinners. Jesus, of course, would have been eating with sinners if he ate with only his disciples. However,…