The King proves His power and authority by miracles
8
📚When he had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.8:1 This is a chapter of miracles. In it the Lord Jesus shows His authority and power
over human diseases (vs 1-17),
in the matter of spiritual life (vs 18-22),
over the forces of nature (vs 23-27),
in the unseen world of spirits (vs 28-34).
All this is abundant evidence that He was just who He said He was–the Lord from heaven (John 3:13; 8:23). Christ's miracles showed forth His glory – John 2:11. They were evidence that God the Father had sent Him and that He was one with God (John 5:36; 10:37-38; 14:11; Acts 2:22). They were Christ's credentials, God's commendation – not in writing, but in action. They were proof that the kingdom of God had come (Matt 12:18).
The miracles of the Lord Jesus were not tricks which can be performed by a magician's art. He healed diseases like leprosy, generally regarded as incurable, opened blind eyes (Matt 9:27-30; 11:4; 20:34), walked on water (Matt 14:25), and raised the dead (Luke 7:11-15; 8:49-56; John 11:43-44). Jesus did more than teach; He revealed the power of God and the character of God in ways which were unmistakable.
He heals a leper
2 📚And, suddenly, a leper 📖 came and worshipped him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean”.
3 📚And Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean”. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed away.
8:3 Jesus touching him was a demonstration of compassion and love. The holy King from heaven stretches out His hand to an unclean man to make him clean and whole. This is a picture of Christ's work in the spiritual realm also (John 15:3; Eph 5:25-27; Heb 9:13-14; 1 John 1:7). Observe His words, “I am willing”. We never read in the Bible that the Lord Jesus ever turned away anyone who came to Him for help. He was always both willing and able to do what people asked of Him.⚜
4 📚And Jesus said to him, “See that you do not tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, 📖 as a testimony to them”.
He heals a Roman officers servant
5 📚And when Jesus went into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him,
8:5 A centurion was an officer over one hundred soldiers in the Roman army.⚜
6 📚and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering terribly”.
7 📚And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him”.
8:7 Again we see Christ's willingness to go anywhere and help anyone.⚜
8 📚The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof, but just speak the word and my servant will be healed.
8:8 Those who think they are most worthy of receiving something from the Lord are the least worthy; those who think they are least worthy are actually the most worthy. In God's sight humility and worthiness go hand in hand. Compare Matt 5:3.⚜
9 📚For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, ‘Go’, and he goes; and to another, ‘Come’, and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he does it”.
8:9 The centurion had a wonderful faith in the power of the Lord Jesus, because he understood the nature of authority and was sure that God had given Jesus authority over diseases.⚜
10 📚When Jesus heard this, he marvelled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.
8:10 Jesus was not surprised at the man's faith. But he counted that faith very remarkable, He admired it. In the account of Jesus' life on earth only two things made Jesus marvel – strong faith where naturally it would not be expected and unbelief where there should have been faith (Mark 6:6). People in Israel were the ones who should have had the great faith, not this foreigner. The Old Testament with its examples of God's love and power, and its promises concerning the Messiah, had been given to Israel (Rom 9:4-5).⚜
11 📚And I tell you that many will come from the east and west, and will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
8:11 By “east and west” He meant peoples of all the earth. For the first time in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus indicates that His gospel and God's kingdom are for all the world, and not for one nation. Compare Matt 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8. The centurion was the first fruit of a great multitude who would later enter the kingdom of Christ. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the first ancestors and the patriarchs of the nation of Israel. Their stories are found in Genesis chapters 12–50.⚜
12 📚But the sons of the kingdom 📖 will be thrown into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
13 📚And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way, and it will be done for you just as you have believed”. And his servant was healed at that very hour.
8:13 Men always receive that for which they trust God. If we come to Christ with a large measure of faith we will receive a large blessing. Compare Matt 9:2, 22, 29; 15:28; 17:20; 21:21; Mark 5:34; 10:52; 11:22-24. In this case the healing performed by Jesus was instantaneous, complete, and permanent.⚜
He heals Peter's mother-in-law
14 📚And when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.
8:14 Peter was a married man, as, it seems, were all the original apostles of Christ. See 1 Cor 9:5.⚜
15 📚And he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and served them.
8:15 Christ's kindness towards us should produce a desire in us to serve Him.⚜
He drives out demons
16 📚When evening came, they brought many who were possessed by demons to him. And he drove the spirits out with his word, and healed all who were sick,
8:16 Christ's word had almighty power and authority behind it. Note on demon possession at Matt 4:24.⚜
17 📚that what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, who said, “He took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses”.
8:17 See Isa 53:4. That prophecy was fulfilled in Christ's healing ministry, not in His death on the cross. It speaks of His compassion, His identifying Himself with suffering people, and His power displayed in banishing their diseases.⚜
He gives qualifications for discipleship
18 📚Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave an order to go away to the other side of the lake.
8:18 The lake is commonly known as the Sea of Galilee. The “other” side is the east side, away from His headquarters in Capernaum.⚜
19 📚And a certain scribe 📖 came and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go”.
20 📚And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head”.
8:20 The Lord Jesus used the name “Son of man” to refer to Himself about 80 times in the Gospels. It is a title taken from Dan 7:13-14 and signifies the Messiah. It also signifies the real human nature of Christ the Son of God.⚜
21 📚And another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first permit me to go and bury my father”.
22 📚But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead”.
8:22 In other words let those who have no spiritual life bury those who have died physically. The man meant he wished to stay at home until his father died. If his father had already died he would have been at home preparing to bury him. When Christ calls men to a special ministry they must be willing to obey Him without letting earthly ties and responsibilities interfere. Compare Matt 10:37-39. See also Luke 9:61-62.⚜
He causes a storm to cease
23 📚And when he got into a boat, his disciples followed him, 24 📚and, suddenly, a great tempest arose on the lake, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But he was asleep. 25 📚And his disciples came to him and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
26 📚And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the lake. And there was a great calm.
8:26 Jesus' first task was to deal with the disciples – a harder task than stilling the storm. In dangerous or crisis situations little faith means much fear. Perfect faith means no fear. See also Matt 6:30, 34. Christ's disciples should not fear – all the forces of nature are in His control. Compare this verse with Ps 89:8-9 – there it is the LORD (Jehovah), the one true God, who stills the waves of the sea. Here it is the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the incarnation of Jehovah (Ex 3:14-15; John 1:1, 14; 8:24, 58; 10:11; Phil 2:6, 10, 11; Heb 1:10-12; and notes at Luke 2:11).⚜
27 📚But the men were amazed, saying, “What kind of a man is this that even the winds and the lake obey him!”
He heals two demon-possessed men
28 📚And when he arrived at the other side in the country of the Gergesenes, two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, met him. They were so very fierce, that no one could pass by that way. 29 📚And now they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the set time?”
8:29 Though men did not know who Jesus was, demons did know (Mark 1:24; 5:7), and were afraid. The “time” is the time God has appointed for their punishment. Compare 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6. God permits demons to act on earth for a time. He has not revealed to us the reason for this, but we can be sure that the all-wise God has a good purpose in it all. See 1 Chron 21:1.⚜
30 📚And some distance away a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 📚So the demons begged him, saying, “If you drive us out, let us go into the herd of pigs”.
8:31 Apparently demons are anxious to inhabit bodies – any kind of bodies. Compare Matt 12:43. Why did Jesus permit these demons to destroy a herd of someone's pigs? Under the law of Moses the pig was an “unclean” animal, and Jews were to have nothing to do with it (see Lev 11:7 and note on that chapter). If the owner of these pigs was a Jew, or if Jews were buying them for meat this would account for Jesus' behavior here.⚜
32 📚And he said to them, “Go”. And when they came out, they went into the herd of pigs, and now the whole herd of pigs rushed down a steep place into the lake and died in the water. 33 📚And those who had been feeding them ran away and went into the city and told everything, and what had happened to those who had been demon-possessed. 34 📚And now the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to go away from their region.
8:28-34 For a fuller account of this see Mark 5:1-20. There attention is focused on one man of these two who were demon possessed. The region of the Gadarenes was an area southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Note on demons at Matt 4:24.⚜
8:34 Evidently the fact that a great miracle had been performed and that two human beings had been wonderfully delivered meant little to them. The whole town wanted to get rid of Jesus. They thought of Him as a source of trouble and loss. So in every generation since then mankind has been divided into two camps. Those who welcome Jesus and those who want to get rid of Him.⚜