In this passage Matthew is describing many of the miracles performed by Jesus. When Matthew (also known as Levi) was first seen by Jesus he was a tax collector for the Romans. He was probably despised by the Jews for being a traitor to them and he may well have been dishonest by cheating the people, and yet he was embraced into the close group of disciples that Jesus moved around the area with. If it wasn’t for his gift of noting and recording things in detail, we might not have these first-hand accounts of the miracles that occurred – God can use all of us! This is also an illustration that God invites all of us to be a part of His kingdom, the poor, the unclean and the outcasts and that is why we should be eager to share the gospel with everyone that we meet whether they are rich or poor.
The miracles that were of physical healing also demonstrated the faith of the people involved. The bleeding woman in Matthew 9:20-22 was not only healed from her physical symptoms but was then made clean so that she could be part of society again. What the Jews regarded as unclean Jesus saw was someone worth saving. The blind men in 9:27-31 persisted in following Jesus so that He could heal them and rather than keep this to themselves they left and spread the word about what Jesus had done for them. Are we active enough when it comes to praising God for what He does for us?
At this time the Pharisees were being shown that Jesus had the authority of God. They kept trying to trick him and declared He was blasphemous. They believed that God had given them clear laws by which to live by, yet Jesus was demonstrating a different God, a loving , healing, all-embracing Daddy to us all. They were too pre-occupied with their own appearance of what they thought holiness looked like and were totally disregarding the laws about helping God’s people.
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Do miracles still happen today? Just a quick search on Google and there are dozens of occasions which science cannot answer and the impossible seems to happen. Thank the Lord that even though we do not have the physical body of Jesus with us we can still see the works of our Father in Heaven all around us - Amen