Matthew 8

Matthew 8:1

Matthew is the gospel of the King. In the first four chapters, His Person is revealed. In chapters 5 through 7, His principles are recorded. But the question arises: Does Jesus have the power to carry out those principles? Or is He, like so many of our leaders, a nice person with good principles, yet impotent to really make erence? In Matthew 8, 9, and 10, we find the answer as we see the power of Jesus released. In the following three chapters, Matthew records ten miracles which show Jesus not only had the rhetoric, but He had the dynamic to make things happen. I think it fitting that the first miracle recorded in the New Testament deals with the cleansing of a leper because Isa_1:5-6 makes it clear that leprosy is a picture of sin. Leviticus 13 teaches that leprosy begins beneath the surface of the skinjust as sin does. What you see outwardly in people’s lives is only the result of what is going on within them. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we’re sinners. Leviticus 13 goes on to say that leprosy, like sin, spreads throughout the body.

Like sin, one could control it for a season. But if he didn’t destroy it, it would eventually destroy him. The Talmud taught that leprosy was second only to death in its list of sixty-one defilements. He who had leprosy was as good as dead because his disease would separate him from the rest of the community. When a person contracted leprosy, he was forced to live only with fellow lepers. If he had to come to the city, the Law required him to cry out, “Unclean, unclean,” in order for everyone within a one hundred fifty-foot radius to back away and clear the area.

In the beginning stages, the skin of a leper would take on a hard, glossy appearance. As it progressed, it caused his nerves to become numb, which in turn led to the loss of fingers and toes. The rabbis felt strongly that leprosy was a direct judgment from God. In fact, the word “leprosy” means “smitten.” They felt that those who had leprosy were being judged by God and therefore must be terrible people. This leper, whose sickness was a symbol of sin, saw Jesus and had the audacity to go right through the multitude following Him and say, “Lord, if You want, You can make me clean.” He didn’t doubt Jesus’ ability to make him clean; he doubted Jesus’ willingness to do so. And I suggest to you that, like this leper, there’s not one of us who doubts Jesus’ ability to do the miraculous in our lives. But I suggest every one of us at times doubts His willingness. “Lord, if You want, You can heal my marriage,” we pray. “If You want, You can save my child.” “If You want, Lord, You can take away this habit, free me from that bondage, deal with my leprosy.” We know He can, but we question if He will. This leper had the courage, the tenacity, and the audacity to approach Jesus and to come right into His presence. But like you and me, when he got there, he wondered, “Do You really want to make me clean?”

Matthew 8:3

To this one with gross, running sores, and a strained voice, odor emanating, and digits missing, Jesus could have said, “Be clean,” and the guy would have been clean. But what did Jesus do? He touched him. Regardless of the sin you might be struggling with right now, don’t make the mistake of countless thousands of lepers saying, “I need to stay away from Jesus. I’m unclean.” Jesus can handle your sin. He’s not shocked or horrified by it. He’s not embarrassed of it. Jesus touched the leper, and He can handle your sin as well. The biggest mistake people make concerning Jesus is thinking, “When I get it together, then I’ll let the Lord come near me. When I deal with my leprosy, then I’ll let the Lord touch me.” But they’ll never get it together until the Lord touches them! You who are faltering in faith, struggling in sin, caught up in carnality, I have news for you. Jesus can handle it. Not only are there those who say, “Don’t touch me until I get it together,” but there are those who say, “Touch me, Lord. I want to come into Your presence. I want to lift my hands and sing Your praise. But don’t change me. I like myself just the way I am.” If the Lord touches you, you will inevitably be changed. If you don’t want to be changed, it’s vain to seek His touch. How I love these words of Jesus. He said, “I will. I will! Be thou clean.” Did you know our Lord never refused anyone who came to Him looking for help? He never said, “No, I don’t have time for you.” In every instance, He dealt with people graciously, mercifully, and compassionately. Maybe you’re saying, “Well, I’ve sought the Lord. I’ve asked Him for His help. I’ve asked Him to do this thing in my life, but it never happened. Why would He help the leper and not me?” Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.Jas_4:3 The Greeks had a saying that when the gods wanted to punish a man, they answered all his prayers. Many times our requests are just plain wrong, and our Father loves us enough to say, “No,” if “No” is the best answer. But He’ll never turn you away. He’ll always do what’s best for you, and you’ll see it sooner or later, if you’ll just ask Him. There were multiplied thousands of lepers in this region, but only one came and asked Jesus to be healed, and only one went away clean.

Matthew 8:4

Why would Jesus say this? Jesus often told those whom He healed, “Don’t tell anyone,” because He knew the vulnerability of humanity. He knew our tendency to get excited about the physical, while missing the truly significant realm of the spiritual. Because He evidently didn’t want people following Him merely to see what the next circuslike event would be, Jesus always downplayed the miraculous. He would send His disciples to share the gospel throughout the world, and He would preach before thousands. But when it came to miracles, it seems as though Jesus had a penchant for secrecy. “Go show yourself to the priest,” Jesus said, because in Leviticus 14, there was a prescribed cleansing ceremony for lepers who were healed. The interesting thing is, although the ceremony had been on the books for fifteen hundred years, never was one leper cleansed until this man.

Matthew 8:5

Keep in mind that the Romans had conquered Israel and were therefore the despised occupiers of the land. Furthermore, to attain the position of centurion, one had to prove himself a valiant warrior in battle. Therefore, the centurion in this story was not merely a soldier in the occupying forceshe was a commanding officer. We also know, from Luke’s account of the same incident, that he was wealthy. So, in the passage before us, Matthew paints a picture of a wealthy Roman approaching a poor Galilean, a powerful centurion seeking out a meek Carpenter, a mighty man of war addressing the Prince of Peace. God’s Final Word A Topical Study of Mat_8:10-13 Put yourself in this setting: You are in Capernaum, observing an encounter between Jesus and a Roman centurion. You hear Jesus commend the centurion, saying, “I have not found such great faith in all of Israel. And I say to you that men like you are going to be sitting at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But many of the religious people, the Jewish people who have so much, are going to be in outer darkness.” And you stand there absolutely amazed. We have been exposed to this gospel story for so long, we begin to think, “Big deal. So Jesus is commending a Roman centurion’s faith as the greatest faith He had found in the land. So He’s saying that Gentiles are going to be sitting at the table, and many Jews will be cast into outer darkness. So what?” But at the time Jesus said this, those hearing Him would have scratched their heads in utter disbelief. The reason Jesus’ contemporaries would have been shocked by what He said was because in this culture, there were three groups of people who were absolutely, irrefutably looked down upon. The first group was lepers. Lepers were believed to have been smitten by God. Lepers were banished from society. Leprosy was the AIDS of that day. The second group was women. Jewish men felt that women were necessary for the propagation of the race, but outside of that, they didn’t have a whole lot of value. In fact, if you were living in Jesus’ day and were giving birth to a baby, your friends and relatives would gather in your house with presents in hand, anxiously waiting for the news of the baby’s birth. If the midwife came out and said, “It’s a boy!” celebration would follow. Gifts would be exchanged, and your friends and relatives would stay at your home for three days in celebration and feasting. But if the midwife came out and said, “It’s a girl,” your friends and relatives would immediately leave, taking their presents with them. The third group looked down upon was Gentileseveryone who was not a Jew. The Jews basically believed that Gentiles existed only as fuel for the fires of hell. With this in mind, check out Matthew 8, where the first three healing miracles Matthew recorded involved a leper, a Gentile, and a woman. Matthew’s readers must have said, “What are you trying to tell us, Matthew, that the kingdom of God includes lepers, Gentiles, and women? This thing is more inclusive and more expansive than anything we’ve ever heard.” And Matthew would have said, “That’s the point. The kingdom Jesus is building is a lot different from what the religious people think it is.” Let me tell you, folks, the message for us is that we must be so careful in our evaluations. We who feel like we’ve been blessed because we have the Word and we know the Lord need to be careful because the kingdom is bigger than our own theological niche. It’s more expansive than our own flavor. It’s bigmuch bigger than any of us think. “Well, it can’t include Communists, can it?” You who are old enough might remember Nikita Khrushchev, who banged the table of the United Nations with his shoe, saying, “We will bury you.” I remember as a little boy that whenever I saw his face on TV, my heart was filled with terror, for he represented the Russian menace. I can recall many times during a school year when sirens would go off and we would get under our desks and cover our eyes with one hand and the back of our necks with the other to “protect” ourselves from Russian A-bombs. “A Russian can’t be part of the kingdomnot a guy like Khrushchev!” Guess what happened to Khrushchev? The Lord included him in His kingdom. Nikita Khrushchev memorized the entire New Testament word-for-word. And in his later years, he would sit in Gorky Park reciting it to Russians who recognized him. Although he was politically defamed and dethroned largely due to his faith, he gave his comments on New Testament teachings to all who would listen. Nikita Khrushchev became a teacher of the Word in his last days. Furthermore, once, when Gorbachev came to America, he requested that Billy Graham travel in his entourage. Gorbachev’s mother is a born-again believera Baptist. When Gorbachev was asked directly if he too was a believer, he hedged the question and didn’t answer it directly. I’m not saying he’s a brother, but I am suggesting that something could be happening in his heart. I’ve listened to the prayers of Presbyterians and have been deeply touched. The prayers of some Catholic priests have penetrated my heart. I’ve listened to Christians who worship with rock and roll, and I’ve said, “Far out!” The kingdom is big. And I encourage you, as I remind myself, to be careful in our evaluations. Jesus marveled and said, “This Roman-Gentile-Occupier-Centurion has the greatest faith I’ve found in Israel thus far.” Only twice does Scripture say that Jesus marveledhere in Matthew 8, and in Mark 6, where He marveled at the unbelief of those in His home city who had been in the synagogue, who had journeyed to the temple, and who knew the Torah. Jesus marveled at Gentile faith and at Jewish unbelief. Let us be big people, realizing the kingdom is more expansive and inclusive than what our flavor might be philosophically, or what our theology might be dogmatically. May God give us eyes to see what He’s doing in churches other than ours, in fellowships flavored far differently than ours. Be embracive. Be a lover of people. See what the Lord is doing. The second thing I glean from this simple story is not just to be careful in my evaluations, but to be confident in His articulation. The centurion said, “Lord, I’m not worthy. Speak the word only.” I have heard messages on this verse that sound like this: “Speak the word, brother. Speak the word, sister. God said let there be light, and there was light, so name it and claim it.” But the issue is not God said, “Let there be light.” The issue is: God said, “Let there be light.” It’s not what was said. It’s Who said it. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.Joh_1:1-4 The Word is not an activity, not an exercise, not a theology. It’s a Person. It’s Jesus. He is the Word. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…Heb_1:1-2 God’s final Word is His Son, Jesus Christ. Anything I want to know about lifethe way to treat people, the way to handle various situations, the way to go through storms, the way to receive blessingsI find in Jesus Christ. I am freed from having to pretend to be some kind of a spiritual prophet, guru, or wise master because I can move with great assurance in simplicity and confidence, saying, “My friend, dear sister, precious brother, God’s final Word concerning anything you want to know about any situation you’re in is Jesus Christ. What did He do? What did He teach? How did He respond? How did He act? Get to know the Savior, for the entire Bible speaks of Him.” After Jesus rose from the dead, Luke tells us that as He walked with His disciples on the road to Emmaus, He opened the Scriptures and explained how they all spoke of Him. Everything God has to say is summed up in the Person of Jesus Christ. “How can that be,” you ask, “when Jesus was only here for three years?” The speaker preceding him talked an hour and fifty-six minutes. Then Lincoln stood up and began, “Four score and seven years ago…” Within three minutes, his speech was over. The audience was stunned. No one clapped. No one moved. The profundity of his words had silenced them. So, too, God said, “I’m going to speak to you, humanity, through prophets and through the written Word. But My final Word, My most profound speech is the Logos, the WordJesus. Anything you want to know can be found in what He said, taught, and did in those three profound years He was on earth.” Jesus Christ is God’s final Word to man. Therefore, throughout the Word, I look for Jesus. The Old Testament pointed to Him. The epistles of Paul looked back at Him. The Book of Revelation watches for Him. Hermeneutics is the science of Biblical interpretation. But, gang, it’s not hermeneutics that we need. It’s Him-aneutics. We need to look for Jesus in every story and on every page. Whatever your need is, whatever your question might be, the answer is Jesus Christ. He is God’s final Word.

Matthew 8:14

Mark tells us that Peter’s house was in Capernaum. Yet John points out in his Gospel that Peter was from Bethsaida. This caught my attention, and I realized that Peter moved lock, stock, and barrelfishing business, in-laws, the whole thing. He moved from his hometown of Bethsaida, which means “House of Fishing,” to Capernaum, where Jesus had His headquarters. Peter left the place of occupational prosperity to be closer to Jesus. I think it would do us well to remember Peter’s example. I am concerned about the number of people who move because of business reasons without considering if there is a group of people with whom they can worship and grow in the Lord. There was a man in the Old Testament who based the decision as to where he would live on economic conditions. He lifted up his eyes, saw green grass, and said, “This is a great place for my cattle.” The man’s name was Lot, and he got in a lot of trouble because the green grass was growing right outside of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was a great place to raise cattle, but a lousy place to raise kids. Lot lifted up his eyes, but he didn’t lift them high enough. Peter did just the opposite. He said, “I want to be in the place where Jesus is ministering, in the place most conducive for me to follow, serve, and walk with Him.” May the Lord give us such hearts in these days. Notice Peter was married. This is interesting because our Catholic friends suggest that to be a good spiritual leader, one should take a vow of poverty and celibacy. But they also teach Peter was the first pope, and look at him! He had a wife, a mother-in-law, and a house.

Matthew 8:15

You can always tell a person who has been touched by Jesus because he will begin to minister. When the Lord touches you, you can’t help but say, “To whom can I reach out and help?”

Matthew 8:16

The darkness was defeated by the light of His Word.

Matthew 8:17

Here, Matthew draws the attention of his Jewish readers back to Isa_53:4, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Based on this verse, there are those who teach that since Jesus bore our infirmities and our sicknesses, those who are sick are out of the will of God, or their faith is lacking. Please note that sin, sickness, and death were all defeated on the Cross. When the kingdom is established on earth, the power of sin will be eradicated. All will be healed. There will be no death. But until then, those who preach true believers should never be sick must also preach that true believers should never sin and never die. Am I saying that Jesus doesn’t heal? Of course He heals. Am I saying we shouldn’t pray for the sick?" No. We are commanded to pray for the sick. What I am questioning is the dogma, propagated on Christian TV that says “God never intends anyone to be sick. All should be healed.” All will be healed. Some will be healed now, some a year from now, some will be healed when they get to heaven. Jesus bore our sicknesses and our infirmities, and all of these problems, hurts, and pains and diseases are going to be healedsooner or eventually. That’s a promise.

Matthew 8:18

Perhaps this scribe was one who sat on the hillside and listened to the Sermon on the Mount. After hearing Jesus’ principles and seeing His power as He healed all who were sick, it’s no wonder he said, “Count me in. I’ll follow You.” Who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t follow the Lord? The words He spoke and still speaks are so right on. The work He’s done is so obvious. The Lord has done a work among us. We’re not perfect, but we’re being perfected. We’re not what we should be, but we’re not what we once were, either. He’s changing us. Who wouldn’t want to follow Him, seeing the work He’s doing in the midst of people?

Matthew 8:20

This man was stung by these words because Jesus knew he wanted a comfortable life. It’s sort of like when my son Peter-John was younger. Watching a parade, he was really into seeing the soldiers marching in their uniforms with white gloves on their hands, shiny guns on their shoulders, and huge tanks rolling behind. “Daddy, I want to be a soldier like those guys!” he said. I smiled because we who are older know it’s not all marching in starched uniforms before cheering crowds. There’s blood, dismembered bodies, and death. Yes, it’s fun to see the parade go by, but the price of battle is an entirely different issue. Watching the parade, this scribe said, “Wow. It’ll be fun to be Your disciple.” And Jesus said, “Wait. There’s a price.”

Matthew 8:21

The second man wasn’t hindered so much by riches as by relationships. “I’ll follow You, Lord, just as soon as I bury my dad.” Now, please don’t misunderstand. It’s not as though his father died and was lying in the front room while this guy was saying, “Let me go home and bury my dad, and I’ll come right back.” No, he was saying, “As soon as my dad passes away, then I’ll really start following You. But right now I feel obligated to that relationship. Plus, I get part of the inheritance.” “Let the dead bury the dead, and you follow Me,” Jesus answered because no relationship can stand in the way of those who are serious about following Jesus. It’s still those two issues, I believe, that keep people today from following Jesus. Following Him might mean some changes in business practices. Or it might mean letting go of that unbelieving boyfriend or girlfriend. It might cost riches. It might cost relationships. And like these two men, people today still conclude that they like the parade, but not the price.

Matthew 8:23

The word translated “tempest” is seismos in Greek, from which we get our word “seismology"the study of earthquakes. This storm was really a shaker! Keep in mind that the Sea of Galilee, where this story takes place, is six hundred eighty feet below sea level. Directly to the north, 9,280 feet above sea level, is Mount Hermon, which gets so cold it can be skied in the winter. So what happens is this: Cold air descends from Mount Hermon through a small ravine in the northern part of the valley, which funnels into the Sea of Galilee. As the cold air strikes the hot air below, it creates turbulence, and storms can erupt in seconds. Waves mount up, which in recent times have been recorded at higher than twenty-five feet. As you surfers know, waves are measured from the back, so we’re talking about a face of perhaps forty feet.

Thus, this wasn’t a little drizzle on a lake. We’re talking about a sea that terrorized even these salty fishermen. I love this because it shows the humanity of Jesus. He was tired because He was a Man. In fact, He refers to Himself as the Son of Man eighty times in the New Testament, identifying with His humanity more than any other element in His personality. Next time you feel totally exhausted, remember Jesus can relate to you. In Jesus sleeping, we see His humanity. In His speaking to the storm, we see His deity. If you sense Jesus is asleep in the storm you’re going throughrelax! If He’s not doing anything, it means He’s not pacing. He’s not anxious. He’s not worried. He’s resting. You can rest as well if you remember that at any given moment, Jesus can stand up, speak a word andboomthe storm will stop.

Matthew 8:25

“O ye of little faith.” Why did Jesus say this to these men at this time? Mark tells us that Jesus previously had said to His disciples, “Come let us go over to the other side of the sea.” He hadn’t said, “Come let us sink to the bottom of the sea.” He said, “Let us go over. We’re going to make it.” And He says to you, …And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.Mat_28:20 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.Isa_41:10 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.Php_1:6

Matthew 8:28

To what time are the demons referring? To the day they would be cast into the bottomless pit. Notice that these demons had fairly solid theology. They understood eschatology, the study of end times. And they called Jesus the Son of Godwhich is more than the scribes or Pharisees did. In his Epistle, James says, “You say that you believe? So what? The demons believe and tremble” (see Jas_2:19). It’s not enough to believe Jesus is the Son of God intellectually. Bunches of people will miss heaven by eighteen inchesthe distance between their brain and their heart.

Matthew 8:30

Note that the demons could not even go into a pig without permission from Jesus. People are saying, “Ooh, the Medford Mail Tribune has a horoscope on page 14, and if I have that newspaper in my house, the demon of horoscopes is going to come into me.” Not true. It seems one of the biggest problems we have in the church today, at least here in America, is not demon possession, but demon obsession. Remember, gang, He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. Why would the demons want to enter pigs? I believe it was an attempt by these demons to drive Jesus out of the area. You see, pig farming was the number one industry there, and the demons knew that if Jesus interfered with business, the people would drive Him out. Keep in mind that pork was absolutely forbidden for Jews, making these pork ranchers the “marijuana farmers” of their dayhanging out on the rocks in Eastern Galilee, raising an illegal “crop.”

Matthew 8:34

“Leave, Lord. We care more about pigs than we do about people.” Jesus doesn’t stay where He’s not wanted, so He left. But in chapter 9, Matthew will continue to portray Jesus the King revealing His power to radically change those who were open to Him.