Matthew

Chapter 8
{Chapter 8 - The Power of the King}
{Verses 1-17 - His Power over Disease}
8:1~~After He came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him {because He taught doctrine}.

{Note: In this Chapter, Jesus Christ is presenting His credentials as Messiah: His power of disease verses 1-17; His power over nature 18-27; His power over demons 28-34.}

{Case of the Faithful Believing Jewish Leper}
8:2~~And a {Jewish} leper approached, and kept on worshiping Him, saying, "Lord, you are able {omnipotence} to cleanse me, if You are willing -maybe You will, maybe You won't."

{Note: Only a believer can call Jesus 'Lord' so this man is saved and he is mature and knows it must be God's will for it to be so and if it is His will He can do it!}

{Note: Leprosy is a hopeless disease. It represents the hopelessness of man as a sinner.}

8:3~~He reached out His hand and touched him {no man would touch a Leper but Jesus did} saying, "I am willing. Be clean once and for all {never got Leprosy again}!" Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

{Jesus sending message to the Priesthood that the Messiah is here}
8:4~~ Then Jesus said to him, " 'Give me your attention'/'Now hear this' {leper is very excited and not paying attention!} . . . that you do not speak to anyone . . . but go, show yourself to a priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them {to the priests}."

{Note: This was Jesus' announcement to the priesthood that He {Messiah} had arrived. Under the Law of Moses, a leper must show himself to the priest for examination and be pronounced clean. After having his name taken off the leprosy list, he would make a sacrifice of two birds given in Leviticus14: 4.}

{Case of the Most Faithful Believing Gentile - the Roman Centurion}

8:5-6~~When He {Jesus} came into Capernaum a {Roman} Centurion came to Him asking for help {dramatic request} 8:6~~ saying, "Lord, my son is lying at home paralyzed, in constant terrible pain/anguish."

{Note: Paralysis represents the helplessness of sin and is solved by the filling of the Spirit.}

8:7~~Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."

8:8~~But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. {orientation to Grace - his quarters were not worthy for God}. Instead, just speak the word and my little son will be healed."

{Note: Shows there were also mature Gentile believers at this time!}

8:9~~"For I too am a man under authority. . . . having soldiers under me, 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."

Note: A man under authority understands it. All people who every want to be in command should be under strong discipline first to understand it!}

8:10~~When Jesus heard this He was amazed and said to those who followed Him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found faith like this in anyone in Israel! {No Jew in Palestine with as much faith as this Gentile Roman Officer right in the middle of all these Jews!}"

8:11-12~~"I {Jesus} tell you for your benefit, the many {Gentiles} will come from the east {to India} and west {beyond Spain} to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob {founders of the Jewish Nation and the Gentiles will eat with them!} in the kingdom of
heaven . . . 8:12~~ but, in contrast, the children of the kingdom {religious by unregenerate Jews} will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping {missed salvation}and gnashing of teeth {frustrated that the Gentiles without their background found Christ and Salvation}."

8:13~~Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go about your business; just as you believed, it is done for you to your advantage." And his young son was healed at that time {literally - in the same hour - and is an idiom for 'at the same time'}.

{Note: Uses the Centurion to speak to the crowd of Jews while sending the Leper to speak to the priesthood. There is no healing in the atonement, He carried away the sickness as credentials that proved He was The King.}

8:14~~When Jesus came into Peter's house, He saw his {Peter's} mother-in-law prostrate/lying down, dying with a fever.

{Note: Fever represents the restlessness of sin and is solved by the Word of God.}

{Note: Jesus healed miraculously in three different ways. He thought, He opened his mouth and He touched. Methods are no good without the Person!}

8:15~~He {Jesus} touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she got up and began to serve them {maybe the only good meal they had that day}.

{New type of illness cured - demon induced}
8:16-17~~When it was evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to Him. He {Jesus} cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick . . . 8:17~~ for the purpose that what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled {Isaiah 53:4}: "He {Jesus} Himself whisked away our infirmities, and {took by the hand and} carried away our diseases {he removed them but did NOT transfer the diseases to Himself}."

{Note: There is no healing in the atonement, He carried away the sickness as credentials that proved He was The King. No suffering for disease was transferred to Christ.}

{Verses 18-27 His Power over Nature}
8:18~~Now when Jesus saw great crowds around Him, He gave orders to go to the other side of the sea.

{Note: Jesus wanted quality not quantity. Jesus cuts the size of the crowd down. Creates two crises - departure of Jesus and then the storm. The analogy is again to life. Some believers drop off at salvation . . . others drop off from spiritual maturity when testing begins.}

{Volitional test of the Religious Unbeliever type - Verses 19-20}
8:19~~ Then a religious scribe came to Him and said, "Master {Doctor, but not LORD} If you go {I don't think you will}, I will follow you."

{Note: The disciples included unbelievers. This was a Jewish theologian student who was religious and impressed with the speech and drawing of a large crowd but has not accepted Christ as his savior.}

8:20~~Jesus said to him, "Foxes have dens, and the birds all have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

{Note: Jesus says to this unbeliever that there are no comforts where Jesus was going, and the Religious unbeliever drops off here when he hears this!}

{Volitional test of the Procrastinating Believer type - Verses 21-22}
8:21~~Another of a different kind {this time a saved person} the disciples said to Him, "Lord {indicates he is saved}, permit me to first go and bury my father {procrastination - putting anything before the Lord - even important details of life}."

{Note: He will be ostracized by society if he does not show up at his father's funeral. He is choosing the approbation of people instead of the Lord -Jesus has little regard for a funeral.}

8:22~~But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and let the spiritually dead bury their own dead."

{The third Group - the Believers Who followed Jesus}
{Faith Rest Testing of the Disciples}
8:23~~And when He {Jesus} boarded the ship, His disciples {mathetes} followed Him.

{Note: Maqhthj - mathetes means a student, someone who is making the Lord/doctrine their number one priority.}

{Note: The principal here is you can not be tested if you do NOT get into the boat!}

{Verses 24-27 the Crisis of the Storm}
8:24~~ And a great storm {megas seismos} developed on the sea so that the ship was covered with waves, but He {Jesus} kept on sleeping.

{Note: Megas seismos means this was a very strong tempest or storm. Like a Force 12. We all will have storms for testing with which to apply problem-solving devices {PSD} and propel momentum. The waves represent adversity. And, Jesus sleeping represents His Relaxed Mental Attitude through all the testing - the Faith Rest Technique. Jesus has now given them the doctrine they needed to apply to this adversity, would they apply it for themselves?}

8:25~~So they came and got Him up saying, "Lord {recognizing His Deity} save us! We are about to die!"

{Note: This was an imperative message of fear driving their irrationality.}

8:26~~ And He {Jesus} replied to them for their benefit, "Why are you cowardly/worthless/ wretched? You of 'a little faith' {some faith, but little}." Then He got up and commanded the storm "STOP"; and it became perfectly calm.

8:27~~ But the men {anthropos} were amazed and they kept on saying "What kind of person is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

{Note: Anthropos means men. They boarded the ship as students and now they are failing once more by placing more emphasis on the miracle than on the doctrine our Lord had taught them.}

{Verses 28-34 His Power over Demons}
8:28~~When He came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met Him. They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way.

{Note: See also this account in Mark 5:1-13 and Luke 8.}

8:29~~ They cried out, "Son of God, leave us alone! Have You come here to torment us before the time?"

8:30~~ A large herd of pigs was feeding some distance from them.

8:31~~ Then the demons asked Him, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."

8:32~~ And He said, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed over the cliff into the sea, and they drowned in the water.

8:33~~ The herdsmen ran off, went into the town, and told everything that had happened to the men who had been demon-possessed.

8:34~~Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave.

{Note: Black market pork was a very lucrative business and Jesus was hurting their business. Their mind was closed to the fact that two maniacs were cured! They just wanted to make money!}

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