Matthew 8
Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosya]">[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
The Faith of the Centurion
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
Jesus Heals Many
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”b]">[b]
The Cost of Following Jesus
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus Calms the Storm
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men
28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,c]">[c] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.
- Matthew 8:2 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
- Matthew 8:17 Isaiah 53:4 (see Septuagint)
- Matthew 8:28 Some manuscripts Gergesenes; other manuscripts Gerasenes
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I just read Matthew 8 this morning and there is a lot of things that came into my heart and mind. First of all, it is always interesting to see how Jesus tells people not to tell others about how He healed them throughout the Gospel accounts. Just in case you are curious, my study bible says that "Jesus carefully avoids stirring up a misunderstanding of his messianic identity. Although miracles attest to the authenticity of his message concerning the kingdom's arrival, he does not want to draw crowds who come simply for the sake of miracles..."
ReplyDeleteI think that can also be a warning in our faith also. I know that I am guilty of seeking God just for His gifts and blessings. I know how good it feels to be blessed by God that I forget that I am to seek Him for who He is rather than what He does for me.
The faith of the centurion is something that caught my attention last week. I was wondering why Jesus commended the centurion for his faith. Then it just hit me that maybe Jesus said the centurion's faith was so good because the centurion was able to believe that his servant was healed without having to confirm it with his own eyes. If I was the centurion and Jesus told me that my servant was healed, then I would be probably say, "Jesus, can you just come with me to double check if my servant is really healed." How great the faith is of the centurion! The centurion truly understood who Jesus was!
Then verses 18-22 where it talks about the cost of following Jesus stood out to me because it makes me realize that following Jesus is not just a ticket to heaven and living life as comfortably as possible. There is a cost to follow Jesus. Obviously the cost does not even compare to what we receive from Christ, but I realize how easy it is to think that God is supposed to take all our sufferings and problems away if we are in complete obedience to Him. Rather, we are promised suffering and persecution. We are called for absolute surrender. Yet it is all worth it if we can because the peace of God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love will consume our hearts and we will be blessed for eternity in heaven.
Then the disciples get on a boat with Jesus and a crazy storm comes. This storm must have been really bad because a lot of the disciples were fishermen, and I am sure fishermen do not get easily scared by storms. Yet, Jesus rebukes them of their little faith because they did not completely understand who Jesus was and did completely trust Him. In verse 18, Jesus gave the order to cross to the other side of the lake. When Jesus orders something, no storm will be able to stop us from accomplishing His order as long as we are with Him.
Finally, Jesus talks about the demons that get sent into a herd of pigs. There was about 2,000 pigs according Mark 5:13 and ironically, the pigs run off the steep bank and die in the water. I don't know why the demons would ask to go into pigs and then drown to death, but it just brought an image in my mind where we continue to ask God for something that God doesn't want us to have. We desire something sinful because the desires of the flesh, and maybe God will allow us to go in that direction and it will lead to pain and sufferings that He never wanted us to have.
Anyways, this comment got much longer than I expected. Have a blessed day everyone!