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| Chapter 8 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, there came a leper and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." 3 And Jesus put forth His hand and touched him, saying, "I will: be thou clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said unto him, "See thou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them." 5 ¶ And when Jesus had entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a centurion, beseeching Him 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant lieth at home sick with the palsy and grievously tormented." 7 And Jesus said unto him, "I will come and heal him." 8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof. But speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goeth; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he cometh; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he doeth it." 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled and said to those who followed, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. 12 But the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, "Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." And his servant was healed in that selfsame hour. 14 ¶ And when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying and sick with a fever. 15 And He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered unto them. 16 When the evening had come, they brought unto Him many who were possessed with devils, and He cast out the spirits with His word and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, who said, "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." 18 ¶ Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto the other side. 19 And a certain scribe came and said unto Him, "Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest." 20 And Jesus said unto him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head." 21 And another of His disciples said unto Him, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus said unto him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead." 23 ¶ And when He had entered into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold, there arose a great tempest on the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves; but He was asleep. 25 And His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We perish!" 26 And He said unto them, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marveled, saying, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" 28 ¶ And when He had come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29 And behold, they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" 30 Now there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the devils besought Him, saying, "If Thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine." 32 And He said to them, "Go." And when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine, and behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters. 33 And those who kept them fled and went their ways into the city, and told everything and what had befallen the ones possessed with the devils. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of their borders. |
Matt. 8:1 - 9:34 The ministry of Jesus. v1-4 The Leper is cleaned Leprosy was considered "the visible sign of a persons spiritual corruption." Lepers were required to live outside the camp or city, Numbers 5:1-4. This disease was regarded as an awful punishment from the Lord, Numbers 12:1-15; Numbers 12:9-15; 2 Kings 5:1ff. The name "Leprosy" comes from the Greek word ’lepra,’ because the Greek doctors describe the disease from its scaliness. We have the description of the disease, as well as the regulations connected with it in Leviticus 13:1ff. v2 "Lord, if You will" shows the faith of this man, he knew the Lord could heal him, it was just up to Jesus. v3 "Jesus touched him," as He healed the man and made him clean. The man was clean before the Lord touched him so Jesus was not made unclean according to the regulations. v4 The instruction, "Tell no man," was not to keep the act secret, as Jesus was surrounded by the multitude during the healing. So why? It was possibly to prevent the priest hearing before the examination, according to the regulations, the priest could have been prejudiced (biased against) because the healing was by Jesus. Unfortunately the man did not obey this instruction, Mark 1:45. v5-13 The Centurion’s servant. A centurion was normally a Gentile soldier who was in charge of 100 soldiers. Centurions are uniformly shown as men of good character in the New Testament, Matt 27:54; Acts 10:22; Acts 27:3,43. Luke tells us in Luke 7:1-10 that the centurion made the appeal to Jesus through the Jewish elders and friends. v6 "Sick of the palsy," the word indicates that the servant had some sort of paralysis affecting the muscles, a number of diseases are able to produce this effect. This centurion obviously had a close relationship with the Jews as he had built a synagogue for the people, Luke 7:5, yet felt he did not have the right to approach Jesus to personally come to his home. v9,10 "I am a man under authority," - this minor officer had the power to issue orders to his soldiers, yet he believed that he was talking to Jesus, one who had authority over all things and could heal his servant without contact. v10 Jesus marvelled, admired this faith. How wonderful to realized that the Son of God still has human experiences. Jesus must have been sad that it was a Gentile who had such faith in Him and not a Jew. v11,12 As a result of this meeting Jesus reveals that His future kingdom will have many who are not Jews, Gentiles who will sit with Abraham. But those who should have been in this kingdom, the heirs, the Jewish nation, will be rejected due to their lack of faith. v13 The man believed Jesus was all powerful and could heal at a distance, he had great faith, and so Jesus did the healing. v14-17 Peter’s mother-in-law healed. Jesus has returned from a synagogue service, Luke 4:38; Mark 1:29 and they found the mother-in-law of Peter lying ill. Jesus just touches her and immediately she is able to look after the party. Note: This healing took place on the Sabbath. Some have suggested that Peter’s wife must have been dead for the mother-in-law to do the serving but this disagrees with 1 Cor 9:5. v16,17 When the evening came, at sundown, the Sabbath is over and many sick and demon possessed were brought to Jesus. These actions were signs of His power, a part fulfilling of Isaiah 53:4 which was finally fulfilled on the cross at Calvary. v18-22 Conditions for a disciple. Luke 9:57ff seems to suggest that this event happened later. It is possible that Matthew combined the events together. Scribes were not attracted to Jesus because of their interpretation of the law was not the same as Jesus. This scribe was however considering becoming a follower. Jesus could see into his heart and explained what it would cost him. The use of the title "Son of Man" would have been understood by the Jews to be referring to the Messiah, John 12:31-37; Luke 22:66-71. Another follower ask to bury his father, he must have only just died as the Jews bury their dead very quickly, often on the same day of death. It would not have delayed Jesus and a Jew felt great responsibility for their aged parents, so why did Jesus respond this way? A disciple must consider the requests of living for Christ more important than world requirements. Those who are ‘spiritually’ dead can care for the ‘physically’ dead. Luke 9:59-62 v23-27 The Storm. The words used in this passage indicate an unusual violence of the sea. Violent storms are quite common on the Sea of Galilee due to the geography of the area. The disciples faith in who Jesus was is obviously very weak, it was He who had commanded them to make the journey and He was peacefully asleep. Yet their turning to Jesus showed that they knew He had a greater power. We are told that Jesus stopped the winds and the sea. Following a high wind the sea would have taken many hours to become calm, so showing His power to the disciples. v28-34 Demon possessed men. Mark 5 1-20; Luke 8 26-30. The area of Gadarene’s was called from the city of Gadara to the South East on the lake shore. Matthew mentions two people were possessed with demons though Luke and Mark only mention the one more important in the event. In the New Testament, people who are possessed by demons are not shown as very sinful or mentally insane, though the presence of the demons could produce the same effect. The mind of the person had come under the control of Satan’s followers and it is interesting that it occurred so often during the period of Christ on earth, Satan’s effort to affect God’s plans? The demons were aware of who was present and what was the ultimate event in their future, they were totally subject to His power. Why did the demons make such a strange request for the action of Jesus? Perhaps if they occupied a person or animal they would not be sent to the abyss (deep) of eternal punishment. Luke 8:31; Rev 20:1-3. However, the swine(pigs), by rushing into the water and being drowned, prevented any plans the demons had. The owners of the swine did not complain as it was illegal, according to the Mosaic law, for a Jew to keep pigs. The objection to the presence of Jesus came from the towns population. They did not want to accept the message Jesus brought. |
Easy English Translation
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