JESUS REVEALS HIMSELF AS THE COMING ONE BY HIS ACTS OF POWER AND PROCLAMATION OF THE GOOD NEWS (8:1-9). In Matthew 11:4 Jesus sends to a doubting John in prison these words, ‘Tell John the things which you hear and see, the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and t... [ Continue Reading ]
INTRODUCTORY WORDS (8:1). These words set the scene for what follows, and together with Matthew 9:35 form an inclusio for the passage. In them His ministry is seen to be a public ministry, and His mission is to the people. Matthew 8:1 ‘And when he was come down from the mountain, great crowds fol... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEALING OF THE LEPER (8:2-4). Matthew abbreviates this story of the healing of the ‘Leper', bringing out only the essential detail (compare Mark 1:40). For it is that essential detail that he wants to get over. And we will soon learn that Jesus sees the healing of lepers as part of the Messiani... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And behold, there came to him a leper and worshipped him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean”.' ‘Behold.' This is probably to be seen as opening the whole series of incidents. Matthew is saying, ‘look now at the kinds of things that He did'. He wants to bring out that what now happe... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, “I will. Be you made clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.' We too should pause and worship as we consider this sentence and weigh up its significance. For in it we see compassion, and mercy, and thoughtfulness, and willingness... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus says to him, “See you tell no man; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.” But one more thing was required before the man could fulfil his dream and mix with other people. He must be certified as clean by the priests, in acco... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.” ' Jesus now entered Capernaum, where He had ministered from the start (Luke 4:23), a town at the top western end of the S... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CENTURION'S SERVANT (8:5-13). Jesus' first miracle had been on one who was skin-diseased, an outcast from society, one who was unclean and rendered all who came in contact with him as unclean. And he was made clean by Jesus' word of authority and power combined with His touch. The second will be... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he says to him, “I will come and heal him.” ' The ‘I' is emphatic and we should probably translate as a question, ‘Shall I come and heal him?' (New Testament Greek had no way of indicating a positive question. It had to be gathered from the context or the tone of voice). This gives the emphati... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” The centurion takes the point. He possibly recognises that a Jewish prophet would be hesitant about entering an ‘unclean' Gentile house where proper... [ Continue Reading ]
“For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers, and I say to this one, ‘Go', and he goes, and to another, ‘Come', and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this', and he does it.” The centurion gives a simple explanation for his faith in Jesus, and points out that he knows what it is... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to those who followed, “Truly I say to you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” ' Jesus was impressed by the man's open statement of faith. Others had believed that He could heal at a distance, but always at His instigation (John 4:4... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I say to you, that many will come from the east and the west, and will recline (at table) with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingly Rule of heaven,” The incident brought home to Jesus that in the future many Gentiles would be found in the eternal Kingly Rule of Heaven. We are left to re... [ Continue Reading ]
“But the sons of the Kingly Rule will be cast forth into the outer darkness. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” This contrast confirms that Gentiles were in mind in the previous verses. For here the ‘sons of the Kingly Rule', that is those who outwardly appeared to have a right to... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. As you have believed, so be it done to you.” And the servant was healed in that hour.' Notice the emphasis that Jesus places on the centurion's believing. Faith triumphed as it always must when it is faith in the trustworthiness of God to His promises... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever.' This incident occurs in all three synoptic Gospels. It gains in importance to Matthew because she is one of the inner group of believers who welcome Jesus to their homes. But she was not welcoming Him this... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose, and ministered to him.' Note how this parallels what Jesus did with the leper. He touched both the leper and the fevered woman and they were both healed, and both would have been seen as ‘unclean'. Jewish Halakah forbade the touching... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when evening was come, they brought to him many possessed with demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.' Having given three remarkable examples of healing; of a leper, a Gentile and a fevered woman, Matthew now goes on to emphasise how Jesus also healed man... [ Continue Reading ]
‘That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “Himself took our infirmities, and bore our diseases”.' It can hardly be doubted that this quotation from Isaiah is intended to cover at least the whole of the final summary of exorcism and healing, although it is proba... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO DISCIPLES ARE FACED UP WITH THE COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS (8:18-22). Jesus' command to His disciples to prepare to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:18) sparks off the need for some of His followers to face up to the question of discipleship. The question now is, are they goin... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now when Jesus saw great crowds about him, he gave commandment to depart to the other side.' Jesus' ministry had begun with ‘great crowds' (Matthew 4:25) from which He had entered the mountain in order to teach His disciples. But when He had descended from the mountain it was again to be met by ‘gr... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS IS REVEALED AS LORD OVER NATURE, LORD OVER THE SPIRIT WORLD, AND LORD OVER SIN AND FORGIVENESS (8:18-9:9). This subsection from Matthew 8:18 to Matthew 9:9 can be seen as united around a series of travel descriptions deliberately used in order to unite them together: a It commences with Jesu... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And there came a scribe, and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' Matthew in his Jewishness takes particular note of the fact that this would-be close disciple was a Scribe. (For the fact that he was already seen as a disciple, compare ‘another' in Matthew 8:21). That he was... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus says to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nesting places, but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.” ' Jesus' reply is to point out that while even the lowest of God's creatures have their own homes and places of security, He Himself has no home, and no... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” ' This disciple recognises that to become a truly dedicated disciple will involve leaving his home behind. He acknowledges that while even God's creatures have their own homes, the disciples of Jesus are dif... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But Jesus says to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” Jesus' reply is that the man must be willing to immediately turn his back on his family life and follow Jesus. The dead can be left to look after their own dead. Here ‘the dead' is unquestionably figurative in at least... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.' As had previously been pointed out to the would be disciples, those who followed Him must be ready to put all other considerations to one side. And this is now exemplified. Jesus enters the boat and the disciples follow Him (while o... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS STILLS THE STORM (8:23-27). The issue of would be followers having been settled Jesus now prepares to go to Decapolis by boat across the Sea of Galilee. Decapolis was a semi-independent confederation of ten Gentile towns which ran their own affairs, loosely watched over by the governor of Syri... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, in so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.' Once in the boat the experts took over and Jesus went to the rear of the boat where He could lie down. And there, probably totally exhausted, He fell asleep, even though the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, “Save, Lord, we perish”.' They would have fought on as long as they could (pride was at stake), but in the end, with hope gone (literally ‘we have perished'), they fought their way through the water that was filling the boat, clinging on for dear life as... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he says to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” Jesus awoke, unmoved by the situation, and first turned to them and rebuked them for their fears. He pointed out to them that their problem lay in that... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the men marvelled, saying, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” ' Note that they did not begin exchanging reminiscences of how past storms had ceased suddenly, for they all knew that this had been different. They knew the lake and its idiosyncrasies, but neve... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with demons, coming forth out of the tombs, extremely fierce, so that no man could pass by that way.' When they landed on the shore of the country of the Gadarenes they were met by two wild and fie... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TWO DEMONIACS OF DECAPOLIS (8:28-34). Having experienced their amazing deliverance the disciples were no doubt pleased to reach a safe haven. Little did they realise that they were going to see even greater things than this. They had learned the lesson that as Jesus' disciples they did not need... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And behold, they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Are you come here to torment us before the time?” ' And on seeing Jesus they had no alternative but to react with horror. Men might not know that He was One who was close to God, but they were conscious of it immediat... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now there was afar off from them a herd of many swine feeding.' Had this been Jewish territory there would have been no herd of pigs, for to Jews pigs were ritually unclean. But this was Gentile territory, and here the keeping of herds of pigs was commonplace. That there were many pigs is importan... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the demons besought him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.” '. The demons, recognising His authority and His mastery, pleaded to be allowed to go into those distant pigs. They did not want to be totally disembodied for that would have meant that if they could no... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to them, “Go.” And they came out, and went into the swine, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep into the sea, and perished in the waters.” With a word of power Jesus told them to do what they had asked and go, and enter the swine, and, unable to resist, they left the two per... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, and what had happened to those who were possessed with demons.' Naturally those who guarded the pigs were terrified and extremely upset. They fled to the nearby city and described what had happened in full detail, and e... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they pleaded with him that he would depart from their borders.' And the consequence was that ‘all the city' (both Jews and Gentiles) consulted together through their elders and then came to Jesus in a large deputation on behal... [ Continue Reading ]