Fe y confianza

Faith in Action: Meeting Grace in Our Brokenness

From the paralytic's healing to the tax collector's calling, faith brings us to Jesus—He forgives, heals, and calls the unlikely.

BibleVibe EditorialJune 28, 2026Actualizado el August 10, 20265 min de lectura

Traducción：ESV

Mateo 9:1-20

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And he entered into a boat, and crossed 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 said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven. And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go up unto thy house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they were afraid, and glorified God, who had given such authority unto men. And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Teacher with the publicans and sinners? But when he heard it, he said, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast. And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made. Neither do men put new wine into old wine-skins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both are preserved. While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. And behold, a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: for she said within herself, If I do but touch his garment, I shall be made whole. But Jesus turning and seeing her said, Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute-players, and the crowd making a tumult, he said, Give place: for the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the crowd was put forth, he entered in, and took her by the hand; and the damsel arose. And the fame hereof went forth into all that land. And as Jesus passed by from thence, two blind men followed him, crying out, and saying, Have mercy on us, thou son of David. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it done unto you. And their eyes were opened. And Jesus strictly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. But they went forth, and spread abroad his fame in all that land. And as they went forth, behold, there was brought to him a dumb man possessed with a demon. And when the demon was cast out, the dumb man spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, By the prince of the demons casteth he out demons. And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest.

Matthew 9:1-20 presents three interwoven scenes: the healing of the paralytic (vv. 1-8), the calling of Matthew (vv. 9-13), and the discussion about fasting and new wine (vv. 14-17). At the heart of all three is the theme of faith and trust—faith that carries a friend to Jesus, trust that leaves a tax booth to follow a rabbi, and the trust required to receive the new things of God's kingdom.

📖 Mateo

🕰️ Second Temple Period (under Roman rule)📍 Sea of Galilee 📍 Bethlehem/Nazareth

Narration

Contexto

After the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:23-27) and the dramatic crossing described in Matthew 8:18, Jesus 'entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city.' Matthew identifies this city as Capernaum, which had become Jesus' base of operations after he left Nazareth (Matthew 4:13). The phrase 'his own city' suggests not his hometown of origin, but the city that had received and hosted him—the place that knew him, ate with him, and witnessed his teaching. It is striking that he returns here not to retire but to face deeper controversy and deeper grace. The scene opens with a paralyzed man being carried by friends to Jesus. The crowd is so thick they must dig through a roof to lower him down. Jesus responds not first to the man's physical need but to his spiritual condition: 'Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven.' The scribes, recognizing this as a divine prerogative, accuse him of blasphemy. Jesus answers with a question that still rings today: 'Which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and walk?' He then heals the man to demonstrate that the Son of Man has 'authority on earth to forgive sins.' Immediately after, Jesus walks past the tax booth and calls Matthew by name. The tax collector rises and follows, then hosts a dinner where 'many publicans and sinners' recline with Jesus. The Pharisees are scandalized. Jesus answers with one of the most tender diagnoses in the Gospels: 'They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.' He adds a quotation from Hosea 6:6: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' Finally, when questioned about fasting, Jesus speaks of himself as the Bridegroom and warns against putting 'new wine into old wine-skins.' The historical setting is early first-century Galilee under Roman occupation. Tax collectors like Matthew worked for the imperial system, collecting tribute and often enriching themselves. They were regarded as traitors and outcasts. Josephus notes in his description of the various sects and classes of Jewish society that publicans were hated for their collaboration with Rome (cf. Josephus, Antiquities 18.2.2 on the poll-tax and the disturbances it caused). To sit at table with such people was, in the eyes of the Pharisees, to endorse their corruption. Jesus' table fellowship is therefore a vivid enactment of his theology: he came not for the self-righteous but for the sick.

Tiempo y lugar

Set in the late First Temple period across the Galilee, Bethlehem, and Nazareth regions, where rural faith communities lived under David's ancestral line.

Qué significa

Three pictures of faith emerge from Matthew 9:1-20, and together they reveal what trust in Jesus actually looks like. 1. Faith is carried faith. The paralytic cannot come to Jesus on his own. He is laid on a mat and lowered through a roof by friends who believe that if they can only get him close to Jesus, something will happen. Jesus 'sees their faith.' Faith is rarely a solitary achievement. It is often the prayer of a mother, the witness of a spouse, the stubborn love of a friend who refuses to let paralysis have the last word. Trust in Christ frequently arrives on the shoulders of others. 2. Faith hears the harder word first. Jesus does not begin with healing. He begins with forgiveness: 'Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven.' The scribes see this as presumption. Jesus turns the question on them: which is easier to say? Anyone can whisper 'your sins are forgiven' into the air. But to command a paralytic to rise and walk requires visible, verifiable power. Jesus offers the visible miracle to confirm the invisible one. He teaches us that our deepest need is not the mending of our circumstances but the restoration of our relationship with God. Faith trusts Christ not only for what we can see but for what we cannot see—cleansing, pardon, the verdict of heaven. 3. Faith is leaving the booth. Matthew's call is the second picture. He sits in a place of profit and prestige, collecting taxes for Herod Antipas and Rome. Two words from Jesus turn his whole world upside down: 'Follow me.' And 'he arose, and followed him.' Faith is not only believing something; it is reorienting your life around Someone. Matthew will be renamed in tradition (Levi in Mark and Luke), but more importantly he is renarrated. He leaves the old ledger and takes up a new one—the gospel that bears his name. Trust always costs something. It costs the comfortable arrangement with the world. 4. Faith is willing to be seen at the wrong table. Matthew's dinner is the scandal of the chapter. Sinners and tax collectors recline with Jesus. The Pharisees grumble. Jesus does not adjust the guest list. He explains: 'They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.' And he grounds his answer in Scripture: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' Faith means agreeing with God's diagnosis of us. We are not 'whole.' We do not need a lecture; we need a physician. And the Physician has chosen to share our table before we have cleaned up our lives. 5. Faith receives the new. The fasting question is the final image. John the Baptist's disciples fast; Jesus' disciples feast. Why? Because the Bridegroom is present. To insist on mourning when the Bridegroom is among them is to misunderstand the hour. And the new wine of the kingdom cannot be contained in the old wineskins of religious expectation. Faith does not patch the old life with new experiences. It receives a new life altogether—one that requires a new heart, a new community, and new wineskins.

Cómo aplicarlo

How do we carry the shape of this passage into our ordinary week? First, carry someone to Jesus. If you cannot come to him yourself because of paralysis, depression, shame, or unbelief, ask the church to carry you. And if you know someone in that condition, do not wait for a convenient moment. Climb the stairs. Move the tiles. Bring your friend into the presence of Christ, even if it is messy and disruptive. The roof of the house belonged to someone else, and it was damaged for the sake of one paralyzed man. Faith is often a community project, and it frequently requires sacrifice. Second, let Jesus speak the harder word first. We pray constantly for the visible things—jobs, health, reconciliation, peace. Jesus here speaks of forgiveness before healing. Let your first prayer be the prayer of pardon: 'Lord, be of good cheer to me; forgive me.' You may find that the visible circumstances shift when the invisible verdict has been settled. Third, leave the booth. What is your 'tax booth'? It may not be a literal desk, but it is the place where you have made peace with a small compromise because it pays well. 'Follow me' is still Jesus' word to many of us. It is a word that asks us to leave the predictable ledger and follow a Rabbi whose books have never balanced in the world's eyes. Fourth, sit at the right table. Do not be scandalized by the company Jesus keeps. He is still welcoming sinners, tax collectors, the sick, and the poor. If your church only has room for people who have arrived, you are probably running a Pharisees' fellowship, not a physicians' clinic. Practice mercy over sacrifice. Open the table wider than your theology would prefer. Finally, receive the new wine. If the Christian life has begun to feel like a patch on an old garment, perhaps you have been trying to add Jesus to a system rather than letting Jesus replace it. The new wine requires new wineskins—new rhythms, new habits, new community, new humility. Do not be afraid. The Bridegroom is present, and his presence makes the old categories obsolete.

Reflexión

Take a moment to picture yourself in this chapter. Where do you see yourself most clearly? Are you the paralyzed man, unable to move toward Jesus but carried by others? Are you the friend climbing the roof, doing the awkward and disruptive work of intercession? Are you the scribe, silently suspicious that Jesus is overstepping? Are you Matthew, sitting at a comfortable booth about to hear two words that will undo your plans? Are you a Pharisee at the edge of the dinner, arms folded, calculating who is worthy of the Master's company? Or are you one of John's disciples, fasting while the Bridegroom feasts, trying to figure out why the new way does not match the old patterns? Each of these is a faithful position. Each can become a doorway. The paralyzed man rises and goes home. The scribe, we hope, will one day lay down his notebooks. Matthew will write a gospel. The Pharisees will be invited again and again. John's disciples will learn to fast in a new key. None of them is beyond the reach of grace, and neither are we. Faith, in this chapter, is not a feeling or a doctrine. It is a posture—the posture of letting Jesus see you as you are, in the room you are in, with the people you are with, and trusting him to speak the word that matters most. He is still speaking. He still says, 'Be of good cheer.' He still calls, 'Follow me.' He still asks, 'Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn?' And he still welcomes the new wine.

Preguntas frecuentes

Why did Jesus forgive sins before healing the paralytic?

Jesus wanted to demonstrate his authority to forgive sins on earth. Healing is visible, forgiveness invisible; he used a visible miracle to confirm an invisible verdict (Matthew 9:6). It teaches us that our deepest need is not physical restoration but reconciliation with God.

What does 'seeing their faith' mean, and why isn't it the paralytic's faith alone?

The plural 'their' in 'seeing their faith' includes the friends who carried him. Faith is often communal—the intercession and persistence of friends and family can bring a person into Christ's presence. This reminds us that believers are often essential links in another person's faith.

Why were the Pharisees so scandalized by Jesus eating with tax collectors?

Tax collectors were viewed as traitors who collaborated with Rome and as extortioners considered unclean and unfit for fellowship. The Pharisees believed that sharing a table with such people meant endorsing their sin. Jesus counters: the healthy do not need a physician; he came to call sinners, not the self-righteous.

What does Jesus mean by the Bridegroom and the wedding guests?

Jesus uses a wedding image to identify himself as the Bridegroom. While he is with his disciples, it is a joyful wedding feast—a time for feasting, not fasting. He also foreshadows that he will be 'taken away,' which will then be the appropriate time to fast and mourn (Matthew 9:15).

What does 'new wine in old wineskins' mean?

New wine ferments and expands; old wineskins have lost their elasticity and will burst. Jesus uses this image to teach that his kingdom is an entirely new reality that cannot be contained in old religious forms, rules, or expectations. The people of God's kingdom need new life, new hearts, and new community to hold the new thing God is doing.

← Anterior

The Faith of Rest: Lessons in Trust from Mount Sinai

First Steps of Faith: Seeing the Miracle in the Ordinary