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chapter 9
1. So he stepped into a boat, crossed the lake again and came to his own town.
2. Some people brought him a paralyzed man lying on a mattress. When Yeshua saw their trust, he said to the paralyzed man, “Courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.”
3. On seeing this, some of the Torah-teachers said among themselves, “This man is blaspheming!”
4. Yeshua, knowing what they were thinking, said, “Why are you entertaining evil thoughts in your hearts?
5. Tell me, which is easier to say — ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Get up and walk’?
6. But look! I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your mattress, and go home!”
7. And the man got up and went home.
8. When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and said a b’rakhah to God the Giver of such authority to human beings.
Said a b'rakhah. A b'rakliah ("blessing"; plural b'rakhot) in Judaism is a sentence or paragraph of praise to God; usually commencing with the formula, Barukh attah, Adonai ("Praised be you, Adonai," quoting Psalm 119:12); and continuing with a description of the specific reason for praising God at that moment. Thus here God is praised as the Giver of such authority to human beings. A similar b 'rakhah is said by observant Jews upon seeing a person of profound secular learning: "Praised be you, Adonai our God, king of the universe, who has given of his wisdom to flesh and blood," i.e., to human beings. Likewise, on seeing an exalted ruler: "Praised be you, Adonai our God, king of the universe, who has given of his glory to flesh and blood." For more on b'rakhot see 14:19N, 26:27-29N, Lk 5:26&N, 2 Ti 4:6-8N, 1 Ke 1:3-4N.

9. As Yeshua passed on from there he spotted a tax-collector named Mattityahu sitting in his collection booth. He said to him, “Follow me!” and he got up and followed him.
10. While Yeshua was in the house eating, many tax-collectors and sinners came and joined him and his talmidim at the meal.
Sinners. This term came to be used by the P'rushim 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" (v. 13) were in fact worse, because they made themselves unteachable (see also Yn 9:38-41).

11. When the P’rushim saw this, they said to his talmidim, “Why does your rabbi eat with tax-collectors and sinners?”
12. But Yeshua heard the question and answered, “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick.
13. As for you, go and learn what this means: "I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices.". (Hosea 6:6) For I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous,’ but sinners!”
14. Next, Yochanan’s talmidim came to him and asked, “Why is it that we and the P’rushim fast frequently, but your talmidim don’t fast at all?”
Fast. See Lk 18:12N.

15. Yeshua said to them, “Can wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; then they will fast.
16. No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunk cloth, because the patch tears away from the coat and leaves a worse hole.
This verse and the next speak to the issue of whether faith in Yeshua the Messiah can be combined with Judaism. Here the old coat is Judaism. The unshrunk cloth is Messianic faith which has not been adapted ("shrunk") to the framework of Judaism as currently practiced. ("Shrinking" here is simply an aspect of Yeshua's "patch" metaphor. It does not imply that Messianic faith must be diminished in order to fit into Judaism.) Combining unadapted Messianic faith with traditional Judaism doesn't work — the patch tears away from the coat; that is, faith in Yeshua apart from Judaism — and, later on in the case of Gentiles, faith in Yeshua apart from the foundational truths about God taught in the Tanakh — is useless and worthless. Not only that, but it leaves a worse hole — attempting to combine unadapted Messianic faith with traditional Judaism leaves Judaism worse off than before. The implication is that one must shrink the new cloth — adapt Messianic faith to Judaism — for Yeshua does not imply that there is anything wrong with patching an old coat! The early Messianic Jews did adapt Messianic faith to Judaism, but the later Gentile Church did not. Instead, some forms of Gentile Christianity became paganized precisely because the Tanakh was forgotten or underemphasized. Messianic Ji/ws loday are once again trying to bring New Testament faith back to its Jewish roots.

17. Nor do people put new wine in old wineskins; if they do, the skins burst, the wine spills and the wineskins are ruined. No, they pour new wine into freshly prepared wineskins, and in this way both are preserved.”
Whereas in v. 16 Messianic faith has to be adapted to Judaism, here it is Judaism which must be adjusted to Messianic faith. If one tries to put new wine. Messianic faith, into old wineskins, traditional Judaism, the faith is lost and Judaism ruined. But if Judaism is freshly prepared, reconditioned so that it can accommodate trust in Yeshua the Messiah, both the faith and the renewed Judaism, Messianic Judaism, are preserved. This understanding is undergirded by the writer's careful choice of words: "new" (Greek neos) wine, "fresh" (kainos) wineskins. "Neos" means "new" in respect to time, implying immaturity or lack of development. "Kainos" means "new" or "renewed" in respect to quality, contrasting with "old" or "not renewed" and implying superiority. Old wineskins have lost their strength and elasticity, so that they cannot withstand the pressure of new wine still fermenting, although an old wineskin can be restored to service if its useful qualities are renewed.

The meaning of the figure is that the new wine of Messianic living cannot be poured into old religious forms if they remain rigid. But if the old religious forms become "fresh," they can accommodate Yeshua. When "kainos" is rendered "new," as in many translations, the implication seems to be that Judaism cannot possibly be a suitable framework for honoring Yeshua the Jewish Messiah — only the "new wineskin" of Gentilized Christianity will work. This is a peculiar conclusion, especially if it is recalled that Yeshua was speaking with his fellow Jews. As rendered here the point is mat the only vessel which can hold the new wine of Messianic life in a Jewish setting is a properly renewed, restored, reconditioned and refreshed Judaism, such as Messianic Judaism was in the first century and aims to be now.

Taken together, verses 16 and 17 imply that both Messianic faith and Judaism should adjust to each other. However, the accommodating must be true to God's Word; on that there is no room for compromise. See 13:52&N.

18. While he was talking, an official came in, kneeled down in front of him and said, “My daughter has just died. But if you come and lay your hand on her, she will live.”
An official. From the parallel passages (Mk 5:22, Lk 8:41) we know that he was a synagogue official named Ya'ir (Jairus). Compare Psalm 119:46, "I will also speak of your testimonies before kings, and I will not be put to shame."

19. Yeshua, with his talmidim, got up and followed him.
20. A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years approached him from behind and touched the tzitzit on his robe.
Tzitzit (plural tzitziyot). Observant Jewish men in Yeshua's time and today have worn fringes on the corners of their garments, in obedience to Numbers 15:37-41, the third of ihe three Torah passages recited in the Sh 'ma portion of the synagogue service. These fringes are made in a special way and have a unique appearance. Their purpose is to remind God's people to obey his commandments. Since they are not merely decorations. the usual renderings of Greek kraspedon — " hem," "fringe," "border," "tassel" — are replaced here by "tzitzit" Today Jewish men wear tzitziyot on a tallit godol ("large tallit"), which is not an article of clothing but a ritual cloth donned primarily for synagogue worship, or on a tallit katan ("little tallit"), which is an undergarment especially designed with corners for the tzitziyot. But Yeshua wore his on his robe, a heavy blanket-like over-garment similar to that worn by Bedouins today.

A woman who had... a hemorrhage approached him from behind and... touched the tzilzit- She was in a state of ritual impurity because of her hemorrhage.

She tunched the holiest part of Yeshua's garment. No wonder she approached from behind — she was afraid; this is also why she hesitated to answer Yeshua's question, "Who touched my clothes?" (Mk 5:29-33). For normally the impure defiles the pure (seeHaggai 2:11-13; also the Talmud, Taharoi). But in this case, the opposite happened: the purity of Yeshua the Messiah and of his iziiziyol remained uncompromised, whild instead the cause of the woman's impurity was instantly removed. In the following incident, the raising of the dead girl, this principle is exemplified even more strongly, since Yeshua himself initiates contact with what is regarded in Judaism as the primary source of all impurity, a dead body (v. 25; compare also above, 8:1-4).

21. For she said to herself, “If I can only touch his robe, I will be healed.”
22. Yeshua turned, saw her and said, “Courage, daughter! Your trust has healed you.” And she was instantly healed.
23. When Yeshua arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute-players, and the crowd in an uproar,
Flute-players and the crowd. Hired musicians and professional mourners, in keep with the custom both then and now in Middle Eastern countries.

24. he said, “Everybody out! The girl isn’t dead, she’s only sleeping!” And they jeered at him.
25. But after the people had been put outside, he entered and took hold of the girl’s hand, and she got up.
26. News of this spread through all that region.
27. As Yeshua went on from there, two blind men began following him, shouting, “Son of David! Take pity on us!”
Son of David. See 1:1N. By shouting, "Son of David!" the blind men were publii acclaiming Yeshua as the Messiah.

28. When he entered the house, the blind men came up, and Yeshua said to them, “Do you believe that I have the power to do this?” They replied, “Yes, sir.”
29. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it happen to you according to your trust”;
30. and their sight was restored. Yeshua warned them severely, “See that no one knows about it.”
31. But instead, they went away and talked about him throughout that district.
32. As they were going, a man controlled by a demon and unable to speak was brought to Yeshua.
33. After the demon was expelled the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Isra’el,” they said.
34. But the P’rushim said, “It is through the ruler of the demons that he expels demons.”
Ruler of the demons, that is, the Adversary, Satan. See 4:1 N.

35. Yeshua went about all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and weakness.
In their synagogues. Whose synagogues? Those of the people in the towns and villages of the Galil. See 11:I&N.

36. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
37. Then he said to his talmidim, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few.
38. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers to gather in his harvest.”