Jesus Verse by Verse...
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9:2 Jesus seeing their faith- He cured and forgave a person because of the faith of third parties. If our faith can influence the eternal destiny and wellbeing of others, then we should be making every effort for them, in prayer and practically. Either our efforts and prayers can be a factor in others’ salvation and blessing, or they are not. They are. So we should give our lives to prayer and care for others.
9:13 Not to call the righteous but sinners- All are sinners, it’s just that some think they are righteous. We will never be good enough for God, never morally ready enough for baptism- but the whole purpose of Jesus is to save us who are sinners.
9:17 The new wine represents the new covenant in the blood of Jesus; the old wine is the old covenant, Moses’ law. If we have received the new wine of Jesus, we must change- otherwise it will destroy us.
9:35 The theme of Christ’s preaching was “the gospel of the Kingdom”, the good news [‘Gospel’] of having God as our King now, and looking forward to the return of His Son to establish God’s Kingdom physically here on earth for ever.
9:37 The symbols suggest that the harvest is lost and spoilt because there aren’t enough workers to harvest it. The harvest refers to converts, spiritual fruit being given to God, the owner of all. God in some ways chooses to be limited by us. There will be some who will not be harvested for God because the church didn’t make enough effort for them, or there were simply not enough of us to reach them. “Few” in Greek can also imply weak, as well as numerically few.