A Leper Cleansed
After the sermon on the mount was concluded, Jesus came down off the mountain and great multitudes of people followed Him [Matthew 8:1-4]. A leper came up and worshiped Him, and asked Jesus to heal him, which Jesus did. He touched the man, and the man clearly came very close to Jesus, neither of which were things that were done either in common practice or by the law. The healing was immediate and Jesus commanded the man to not tell anyone but to take the required offering to the priests for a testimony to them.
Jesus wasn't seeking His own fame. He knew that there was nothing He could do that would prevent people from thronging Him as He worked miracles and healing among them. But He also knew that the religious leaders of the day would be trying to trap Him and needed convincing of the truth of His being. So He ordered the man to follow through with the required elements of the law so Jesus couldn't be accused of breaking the law. He also knew that the religious leaders needed a testimony of the freedom and healing of the curse of leprosy.
One thing that the church tends to fail on today is following up with a return visit to a doctor or hospital if you've been healed to show the medical community that your healing is real and complete. Witness to truth of God's power to the medical people of your day today, just as Jesus commanded the man to show the truth of God's healing power to the medical people in Judaism then. We hate the high cost of doctors today. I'm pretty sure the man was hoping to skip the cost of the sacrifice to the priests as well. But having documentation of what has happened to us is beneficial in our witness.
The Centurion's Servant
Matthew 8:5-13 recounts Jesus entry to Capernaum, and the story of a Roman centurion who had a sick servant he wanted Jesus to come and heal. The Romans were the rulers of the land, and the centurion was one of significance in the army. But it still wasn't a common thing for a Jewish person to go to a Roman officer's home. But Jesus didn't look on the position of the centurion or what the man represented. He saw a man who had come to Him for help and nothing more. Jesus immediately said He would come to heal the servant.
Then the centurion said a curious thing to most listeners. He knew his authority and how he didn't have to go to do something himself but could order it done and knew that it would be done. He recognized, perhaps more than the Jewish people around Jesus that Jesus had that same authority. I'm not sure if that came from truly understanding that Jesus was the son of God or if he was confusing the power Jesus was demonstrating with the acts attributed to his own people's gods and was afraid to have someone with that power come under his own roof. But for whatever reason, he declared that it wasn't necessary for Jesus to come, but he knew that if Jesus said it would be done, it would be done too.
In Jesus answer to the centurion, He marveled that He hadn't seen faith like that anywhere among His own people, and would demonstrate and comment on that lack of faith later in the chapter with His disciples. Jesus went on to prophesy that there would be many from all lands who would end up eating meals with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when everyone who were heaven bound got to heaven. But He warned that many of Israel would be excluded because they didn't accept Him as Savior.
He told the centurion to go his way, and the servant was healed in the same hour that the centurion left. I was reading a novel today where a character had to make a choice whether to actually follow through with what they had declared they would do. The centurion was faced with the same choice. Jesus had offered to come with him. Then he had declared his faith in Jesus authority to heal. Then Jesus told him to go and as he had believed, it would be done to him. He didn't say the servant would be healed. He said that as the centurion believed, it would happen. The onus was now on the centurion. Would he walk away and put into practice the words he had said or would he take Jesus along just to be sure?
He chose faith, and the centurion's faith was rewarded. I'm pretty sure that when the centurion got back home, he had a whole different appreciation of Jesus and a whole different understanding of Jesus than any of the Jewish people who were coming to get Jesus to heal them and cast out demons that were plaguing them.
How about us? Do we have faith? More on that below, but suffice it to say that I think that kind of faith is still rare today. We need to pray for many more Christians to allow God to work through them and to give the glory for the works of God to God.
Peter's Mother Healed
Matthew 8:14-18 continues the healing work of Christ. Peter's mother was in bed with a fever. Jesus touched here and her fever went away and she had the energy to minister to the whole group. Both were miracles. It is one thing to have a fever go away, but it is another to be filled immediately with the energy to deal with a crowd of people for meals and drinks and getting a place for them to tarry for a bit.
Jesus didn't stop there. When night came, lots of people came to be healed or who were afflicted by demons. He healed those who needed healing and He cast the demons out of the people who were tormented by them.
As was common in His ministry, the people kept coming because they had needs that He was able to meet. The Bible doesn't record much about what else went on during these healing and casting out demons events. It doesn't say whether the disciples were doing teaching and preaching sessions while Jesus was at work, if they were helping in His work as they were able later, or if Jesus talked with each person for a bit. But it is clear that people kept coming because they were full of needs.
Modern medicine can do a lot of wonderful things. It doesn't touch the demonic. I'm not against modern medicine. If it can fix something, so be it. But there are still things that modern medicine can't fix. There is still a place for the gift of healing via the Holy Spirit. Get excited when God does something special in your life or the life of someone you know. Spread the word and give Him the glory.
Realize that the people who were coming to visit Christ for healing is probably nothing compared to what would come to someone who operated in the gifts of the Spirit today. That's why the Holy Spirit was meant to be poured out on all believers so that nobody would be overwhelmed. But realize there is a cost to working for God, then and now.
In Jesus case, he eventually commanded His disciples to leave where they were at and cross to the other side of the lake. That's one of the hardest things for a minister to do today. If you have a successful ministry going, and you are overwhelmed, walking away to get rest or to bring your ministry to a new place is a monumentally hard decision. You've come to know the people where you are and they have come to know you. Will it be the same if you move or is God wanting you to keep working where He is obviously working?
Gifts of wisdom and knowledge are also useful things to give you direction along your path. Jesus knew that wherever He went, people would be the same. They were full of needs because there wasn't really anyone else who could help them. Remember that while there are hospitals, doctors, and medicine today, there are still many who have no access or that medicine can't help. There is always a need for people who can work in the Spirit to do so, and there is always a need for more workers.
The Cost of Following
Matthew 8:19-22 gives an aside of a certain scribe who had witnessed or heard of all the things that Jesus was doing, and wanted to join the group, following Jesus wherever He went. But Jesus knew that the scribe was comfortable in his life and wasn't set out to go on the road as Jesus was going to do. Another disciple wanted to follow Christ, but needed to go deal with the burial of his father first. Jesus told him to follow Him and let the dead bury their dead.
We might not like either of these descriptions. Most Christians, even if they don't lead a comfortable life, wouldn't want to give that life up to take up full time ministry, especially under the terms that Jesus was operating. Jesus had no salary, no wage. While He may have done some work wherever He went, it isn't recorded like it was with people like Paul. Most today, myself included, aren't really too thrilled with the prospect of walking away from our lives and doing ministry full time.
The second statement, instructing the disciple to let the dead bury their dead is an interesting statement. As I read it, Jesus is saying that the disciple is alive, and the Jewish people that new the man's father were essentially dead in Christ. Leave the dead to be buried by the dead and come with Me in life!
Leaving family behind, even if their choices left them dead in sin, to do Christ's work is not an easy thing to do either. But those who are called to do God's work are called to put everything else aside and follow through with the work He has set before us. It isn't easy to do, for anyone. If it was a challenge for those who had just heard a great sermon and seen His the wondrous works God was doing through Him, think how hard it is today.
But at some point, each of us has some calling on our life that God has laid out for us. Maybe it is ministering to a handful of people regularly. Maybe it is writing words that may only be seen or read by a few. But whatever it is we are called to do, we need to step up and put Him first.
The Tempest
Matthew 8:23-27 records a great miracle of Jesus that happened after He left the shores where He had been ministering. As they were out on the lake, a great storm came up with waves that threatened to swamp the boat and drown them. Jesus had had a long day of preaching and was taking a nap. Oh that we could all have the faith in God and in His purpose for our lives to know when not to worry and when to be at peace, regardless of circumstances.
The disciples had no peace. Several were fishermen and were familiar with the dangers of being out in a reasonably shallow boat in a storm out in the middle of a lake known for storms. They came to Jesus and woke Him up asking Him to save them because they were about to perish. The Bible verse puts their request as just a single verse, but I suspect if a modern writer were describing the scene with unlimited space to expound, that writer would have gone on about their fear, their rush to Jesus when they felt overwhelmed, and would have probably recorded each of the disciples jostling Jesus awake and yelling at Him for not saving them. I suspect it was much more passionate than recorded in the Bible's text.
He asked them a simple question - "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" He rebuked the wind and the sea and a great calm immediately came around them. To say the men were impressed was an understatement. It isn't recorded what Jesus did, but I suspect He laid back down to continue His nap. At least I like to think He did.
Jesus asks in Luke 18:8 whether or not Jesus would find faith on the earth when he comes. This is after telling His disciples that if they had even the tiniest smidgen of faith, the size of a mustard seed, they could tell a sycamine tree to be plucked up by the root and cast into the sea and it would happen [Luke 17:6] These trees of the Middle East are known for their deep, sprawling root systems that can go hundreds of feet down seeking water. They're very hard to kill due to that root system. Yet Jesus declares the value of only a tiny bit of faith to handle such a seemingly impossible task.
Perhaps a two word rebuke "Be Still", and it was so. God hasn't changed in power.He is unchanging. The same God that worked at the rebuke of Jesus is still there to help His people today. Clearly, we need to pray according to God's will. It won't do us any good to command something happen that is outside of God's will. But clearly, Jesus drowning in the lake wasn't in God's will that day. He had a higher purpose. So Jesus' command was completely in God's will, and God acted on Jesus faith in knowing God's will and God's power.
If you want to act in that power, be filled with the Holy Spirit and get in tune with the will of the Father. Jesus Himself declared He was successful because He did what He saw the Father doing first. He wasn't out trying to do things on His own outside of the will of God. He was always acting in God's will [John 5:36, 9:3-4, 14:10-12]. And everything He did was to bring glory to God. If we can keep all of those things in mind, there is no reason that the church can't see the same level of great things happening today as were recorded in Jesus day. Just remember who is actually doing the work.
Freeing Men of Demons in the Gergesenes
Matthew 8:28-32 recounts what happened when Jesus arrived at the other side of the lake in the area of the Gergesenes. Two men came out who were possessed with devils who prevented the passage of people along the way Jesus was going. The devils recognized the identity of Jesus, and likewise the authority under which He operated. They immediately caused the men to declare they had nothing to do with Him, identified Him as the Son of God, and asked if they were due to be tormented before their appointed time.
Suspecting that the two men they were inhabiting were going to be set free, the devils caused the men to ask Jesus to allow the devils to occupy a nearby herd of swine and Jesus told them to Go. They went out to the herd of swine and the entire herd ran violently down a steep slope into the sea and drowned, leaving the two men free. It isn't clear whether the devils took possession of "leaders" of the swine or whether the devils moved from one to another to cause them to all go and drown. But at Jesus command, they did leave the men and entered the swine.
Clearly, the devils didn't die when the swine died. Jesus knew they would not. And yet He permitted the destruction of the herd. When the people who were herding the swine saw what happened they fled back to the village. I would suspect that at first, when the two men came out, they anticipated Jesus and His followers would either turn away or get beaten up severely. The herders and villagers had been living with this situation for an unknown amount of time.They were probably used to what these two men did, and were just happy, like the rest of the village, that the two men weren't harassing them. They'd become familiar with having evil around.
When Jesus changed the status quo so abruptly, they were terrified and ran away as fast as they could to get reinforcements. They might not have known who Jesus was at this point (other than what the devils had declared), but they knew that His presence had shifted the truce they had with evil forces. They asked Him to leave immediately. I would have thought, after His demonstration of authority over satanic forces, that they would have been encouraging Him to stay. But the reality was that before, the two men were just harassing new people who came, perhaps guarding the path in the minds of the villagers, and now, evil was not only loose, but it had caused significant economic damage to the village by causing the herd of swine to die.
Their comfort level with evil was upset. The balance was broken. And they didn't care that the two men who they had written off as not worth anything (or perhaps they were using as guards) were now free and in their right minds. They didn't know what Jesus would do next, but they didn't want it to be around them, probably worrying that something worse would come to attack this individual who had demonstrated power over demons. I suspect they felt that the evil forces would go after Jesus Himself and if Jesus wasn't around, maybe it wouldn't linger there.
For whatever reason, they lost out on all of the blessings that could have come their way (as Jesus had demonstrated in the rest of the chapter) because of fear of the unknown. How often does our comfort with the bad that is around us keep us from wanting to change it for the better? All too often, I suspect. If you see things that the Holy Spirit is telling you to deal with, do it. Pray, fast, pray some more. But don't get comfortable with what is wrong in this world or in your own life. Don't be afraid to offend. Do what the Holy Spirit is telling you to do.
Do we push away that which is good and powerful in the Holy Spirit because we don't want to invite another attack on our church or our denomination? Whole denominations ignore the baptism of the Holy Spirit, wrongly saying that it was only a New Testament church, two millennia ago thing. The Baptists have chosen to take their denominational name from the practice of water baptism practiced by John the Baptist, ignoring the baptism that was meant to provide the power to witness to the world [Mark 1:8; Acts 11:16, 19:3-9]. Other denominations may acknowledge the gifts and the Holy Spirit's work, but limit that work to just leading hearts to God and aren't comfortable letting the Holy Spirit be in charge of lives or services.
Well they are right that it is a New Testament church experience, but it didn't end millennia ago. It is still very much occurring every day in our world. Jesus is still baptizing in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is still at war with the world through us. The Holy Spirit will still be working in new Christians through the tribulation and probably beyond. The girts and fruit of the Spirit are still available, and God wants His people to be fully armed to stand in the armor of God against the enemy.