A Bible Study from Matthew 9:6

This Bible Study comes from Matthew 9:6. We see in the scripture that Jesus tells the man to take up his mat and go home. Why is this important? Jesus could have told the man to take up his mat and walk around and tell people that Jesus had healed him. I believe that Jesus didn't tell the man to do this because his faith would have been taken from him. I will explain about this a little later. This man was at a very crucial point in his life. If you remember in Matthew chapter 9 verse 2 Jesus tells the man to take courage. Obviously this man was discouraged prior to this. He was in a weakened point in his life. He needed to be protected.

Let's look at some possible reasons for Jesus telling the man to pick up his mat and go home. The first reason that I can think of is that a reality would have set in this man as he carried his mat. He got to realize and think about how he had been tied to that mat for so long. He got to think about how he had been paralyzed and helpless. If he had not carried the mat with him, he may not have thought as much about his past. This made him realize his freedom all the more. We can analyze this in a spiritual way if we would like to. God wants us to recognize our past. He wants us to realize where we have come from. He wants us to recognize the freedom that He has given to us from the bondage that we once lived in.

The second reason that I can think of for Jesus telling this man to take up his mat and go home is because he had to walk home. He had to exercise this new way of life. It would take him time to learn to walk. This would give him an opportunity to practice. His faith would grow as he walked. It would also give him a whole different view of the world. Before when he was lying on the mat he saw the world from a position of illness. This time he would get to see the world and his surroundings from a position of wholeness. He would get to see things that he never noticed before. He would truly be blessed.

Another reason that Jesus may have told the man to go home was for a means of protection. The Jews had a way of bothering people that Jesus healed. They would bombard people with questions and make them feel unworthy. They would make them feel that they were wrong for following Jesus. This would put fear into the people's lives. Jesus did not want this man to be tormented or fearful. He wanted him in a safe place. He wanted him to be able to reflect on what had taken place.

The last reason that I can think of for Jesus telling the man to go home is because his family needed to see what had taken place. This would instill more faith in the man. His family knew him. His family knew that he had been paralyzed. They would believe him when he told them that Jesus had healed him. They would continue to want to talk about it. This would increase his faith and belief. Eventually he would be strong enough in this faith to go share it with others.

God knows what He is doing when He brings healing into our lives. We need to be obedient when He gives us a command to do certain things after a healing takes place. He knows what our emotional state is at that time. He knows that satan would love nothing more than to rip us off and take our faith away from us. We need to be sensitive to what the Lord is saying when He does miracles and healings in our lives.