Matthew chapter 8 follows Jesus down the mountain after the Sermon on the Mount. He heals a leper and then the servant of a Gentile Centurion, at whose faith He was astonished. Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law and rebukes a teacher of the law who postpones following Him. He travels across the sea, calming the storm en route, and drives demons into a heard of pigs, leaving the people of that town to plead with Jesus to leave them.
1) V1-13 – 1When He came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed Him. 2A man with leprosy came and knelt before Him and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 4Then 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.” 5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, asking for help. 6“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” 7Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.” 8The 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. 9For 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.” 10When Jesus heard this, He was astonished and said to those following Him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11I 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. 12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
Just as Jesus made His way through the crowd and down the mountain (v1), “a man with leprosy came and knelt before Him and said, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean’” (v2). The sight of this man approaching Jesus would have frightened much of the crowd to back away, as lepers were outcasts, unclean, condemned, and contagious; but his simultaneous humility and boldness before Jesus was rewarded. The leper knew Jesus’ ability but showed his own unworthiness by avoiding a demanding spirit. Yet he did in fact approach with a desire to be healed, something a leper was forbidden from doing until they were healed and ceremonially clean to rejoin society. Jesus shocked the man and the onlookers by reaching out His hand and touching the leprous man. He said, “I am willing. Be clean!” V3 says, “Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.” Jesus then instructed the man not to tell about this miraculous healing but instead to follow the procedures required by Moses’ law to offer a sacrifice and show himself to the priests. By revealing his cleanliness to the priests, he would be a testimony of Jesus’ identity and power to them (v4).
V5-13 details the next experience of Jesus, who “had entered Capernaum” (v5), when a Gentile centurion approached Him with news that his servant was “paralyzed and in terrible suffering” (v6). Again we see a duality of humility and boldness from this Gentile military leader, who, on the one hand approaches Jesus acknowledging His power to do something about his circumstance, while, on the other hand, does not demand anything from Him as if he were in some way worthy of Jesus’ response. This is a great model for us, who, as believers, can approach the throne of grace with boldness and confidence while simultaneously maintaining a spirit of reverence and mere supplication rather than demandingness before the Lord, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
In v7, Jesus declared that He would go and heal the centurion’s servant, but the centurion replied in v8-9 with the acknowledgement that Jesus didn’t have to be physically present to heal. Being a man of great authority himself, this Gentile military leader astonished Jesus (v10) with his faith in the authority of Jesus to be capable of healing from afar. Declaring that none of the Jews had this strong a faith, Jesus went on to acknowledge the presence of many Gentiles in the kingdom of God (v11) at the expense of many Jews – “the subjects of the kingdom” (v12) – due to their unbelief. Finally, in v13, Jesus sent the centurion on his way with a promise of healing, and the servant was healed at that very same time (John 4:49-53).
2) V14-22 – 14When Jesus came into Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on Him. 16When 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. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases” [Isaiah 53:4]. 18When Jesus saw the crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19Then a teacher of the law came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever you go.” 20Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” 21Another disciple said to Him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Just the touch of Jesus removed the fever from Peter’s mother-in-law. We learn here that Peter was married, which is significant for disputing with Roman Catholics regarding marriage for priests and clergy. Otherwise, the more notable detail from this brief account is that she immediately began to serve Jesus; He healed her unto service. We might take from this example that we are saved unto service. We do not serve in order to be saved, as many Roman Catholics (and others) believe; rather, we are saved to serve.
Jesus continued His ministry of healing and driving out demons (v16) throughout the evening there at Peter’s house (or on the shore near the lake (v18)) in Capernaum, and Matthew tells us, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.’” Isaiah 53 is perhaps the clearest Old Testament prophecy of the complete ministry of the Messiah to come, making it hard to deny that this passage speaks about Jesus of Nazareth.
In v18, we see that Jesus wanted to escape the multiplying crowds at this particular point in His ministry. Responding to a teacher of the law who claimed a desire to follow Him (v19), Jesus revealed that He could not find rest, a place to escape from the people for a moment of solitude and silence (v20). There would be no rest for a follower of Jesus. Would this man really go anywhere with Jesus? Even to death? For Jesus, it must have been challenging during these three years, because people need time alone for refreshment. Jesus would make time to be alone with His Father in prayer, but this often came in the middle of the night while most people were sleeping. Apart from supernatural refreshing, as after His desert temptation, Jesus endured an extremely demanding lifestyle for these three years of ministry, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and every other way we could think of. Luke 9:57-62 elaborates on the likely common experience of Jesus in this regard. People would want to follow Him, but never enough to actually do so.
In v21, we read of a “disciple” who asked to “go and bury” his father before committing to full-time ministry in the footsteps of Jesus. But Jesus replied in v22, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Some think Jesus is being inconsiderate here, but it was improbable that this particular disciple’s father had recently died. Perhaps he was saying to Jesus, “Let me wait until I receive my inheritance, because then I’ll be able to serve You better.” And we do that today to a degree. We say, “Let me wait until retirement age, and then I’ll have the time and money to go on a mission trip.” Or maybe it’s, “Once my kids are raised and on their own, then I’ll devote more time to the Lord.” But Jesus effectively replies, “It’s now or never. I’m not calling you to a life of comfort, but a life of sacrifice. What’s more important? The Gospel? The Kingdom of God? Or money? Family? Comfort? Routine?”
Even if the disciple’s father really died that morning, Jesus would still be in the right. One commentator says,
“Let’s give this would-be disciple the benefit of the doubt and suppose that his father died that morning, and that he’s going to be buried that night. Now suppose that this man to whom Jesus has just said, ‘Follow Me,’ is the oldest son. As the oldest son, he would be expected to stop what he was doing and to handle all of the arrangements. It is regarded as his duty. In spite of all this, Jesus says to this volunteer, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:60).
“Isn’t Jesus being unduly demanding? Couldn’t Jesus have said to him, ‘I’ll tell you what, we’re going to go on. Why don’t you finish up with your father’s funeral and then catch up with us on our way to Jerusalem. We understand this is difficult for you, so just do what you’ve got to do. After all, it’s only 24 hours, so get your father buried, get your affairs in order, and then come join us.’ Jesus does not say that. What Jesus says is rather shocking, and it flies in the face of what everybody expects. The man’s request for a delay seems reasonable until you begin to look at what Jesus says in response. Jesus’ response brings His divine insight to bear on the problem. If the man were in military service, we’d have flown him home. If your father is sick or dying, even if you are in prison, they’ll often let you out of prison to visit your dying father. When there is a death in the family, people are usually willing to set aside normal routines so that one’s family obligations can be fulfilled. Jesus challenges us on this point, ‘No, you must follow Me now, rather than to take the time to bury your father.’ He now will tell us why. Ultimately, it all comes down to what is most important.
“I want to be sensitive about this, but I also must get down to the basic realities of life. What does burying this man’s father entail? It involves preparing the body, securing a burial spot, putting the body in it, and covering (or sealing) it up. Burial is disposing of the dead body of the deceased. Is there some reason why the oldest son can do this better than anybody else? When our Lord says, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead,’ He is saying that that is a job anybody can do. More pointedly, an unbeliever (‘the dead’) can handle a burial as well as a believer. In fact, our Lord indicates that it would be better if an unbeliever buried the dead, rather than one of His disciples.
“Please do not misunderstand me; I am not saying that our Lord’s words here set down a hard and fast rule prohibiting Christians from being involved in funerals. I am saying that if I were forced to choose between following Jesus and burying my father, I would have to choose to follow Jesus to be a true disciple. Consider the eternal value of these two activities: (1) of burying the dead; or, (2) of preaching the gospel by which men can enter into eternal life. The former does nothing that others who are spiritually dead cannot do; the latter proclaims a message by which men can escape the bonds of death and receive the gift of eternal life. Is that not what the gospel is all about? From Abraham, who reasoned that God was able to raise men from the dead, and all the way through the Old Testament, this is what the gospel is about. Consider these words of Job: ‘And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth’ (Job 19:25).
“The gospel is the offer of the gift of eternal life, life that extends beyond the grave. If one must choose between the two activities of digging a grave, or of preaching the gospel, which is more important? Viewed from this perspective, the sobering words of our Lord make a great deal of sense, do they not? Doesn’t following Jesus now appear to be vastly more important than staying back to bury your father, if you must choose only one of the two? Obviously for most of us, we don’t have to make that choice. As part of our Christian responsibility to our family, we carry out such duties as burying the dead. But if we had to make the choice, as some people have, between following Christ and fulfilling our family duties, which would we choose? Jesus suggests that the answer to this question should be determined according to what is eternally more important.”
3) V23-34 – 23Then He got into the boat and His disciples followed Him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26He 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. 27The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of Man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!” 28When He arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes [Gerasenes], 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?” 30Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31The demons begged Jesus, “If You drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32He 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. 33Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region.
After the hard teaching that turned away would-be-followers for their perceived lack of genuine urgency in gospel ministry, Jesus and His disciples put out to sea. As they were sailing, a sudden, “furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping” (v24). We wonder how He could sleep through such a storm, and we wonder why the disciples, many of whom were fishermen experienced in open water conditions, were so afraid; but Jesus was legitimately exhausted, and the storm was truly severe. The disciples woke Jesus calling Him to save them, which is good. But at the same time, they shouted, “We’re going to drown!” showing their lack of faith. Their fear and lack of faith, contrasted with the bold faith of the Jewish leper and the Gentile centurion from earlier in this chapter, is condemned as Jesus calmed the storm (v26), and the disciples were awed by Jesus’ power over the wind and waves (v27).
The final passage in this chapter details Jesus’ driving out of demons into the herd of pigs “in the region of the Gadarenes [Gerasenes]” (v28-34). After the storm, Jesus and His disciples made it across the lake (the Sea of Galilee), where “two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met Him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way” (v28). They – at least the demons possessing the men – acknowledged Jesus’ identity as Son of God and His authority over them both now and forever, but they (the demons, not the men) begged Jesus to send them into the nearby herd of pigs (v29-31). Jesus complied to their request, not in any way being submissive to them but certainly for the sake of the two men, and the demons rushed into the pigs and “down the steep bank into the lake,” where the pigs “died in the water” (v32). The swineherds ran to the nearby town, reported what had happened – not only regarding the pigs, which sadly would have concerned the townsfolk most, but also “to the demon-possessed men” (v33) – and “the whole town went out to meet Jesus” (v34).
This final verse contains one of the saddest realities in all of Scripture. V34b says, “When they saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region.” When the people of town saw Jesus, they begged Him to leave them alone. Matthew quoted Isaiah 53:4 earlier in this chapter, and here at the end he could have quoted v2-3, which say, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.” The people wanted their pigs more than the healer of men; they desired livestock – and unclean animals at that – more than the Creator and provider of the livestock. Even Peter at one point said to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8)! The Apostle Paul tells us that we have all sinned in this way in Romans 1:22-26, “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles… They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.” May we never ask Jesus to leave us, for if we belong to Him, He never will (Hebrews 13:5).
Bible text from
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International Bible Society.