of those who hate the light Christ brings 8:22 In other words let those who have no
MATTHEW 8:13 30
and gnashing of teeth.
man has nowhere to lay his head.
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.
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.
14 And when Jesus had come into Peters house, he saw Peters mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and served them.
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!
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, 17 that what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, who said, He took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.
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.
27 But the men were amazed, saying, What kind of a man is this that even the winds and the lake obey him!
18 Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave an order to go away to the other side of the lake . 19 And a certain scribe came and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
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.
20 And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
could only be disastrous for them. Compare 21:42-44. This is a warning Jesus often repeated 13:42-50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28. Darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth indicate something of the misery of hell. See also 5:29,30; 13:42,50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Mark 9:47-49; Luke 13:28; 16:19-31; 2 Pet 2:14,17; Jude 13. Eternal darkness will be the punishment of those who hate the light Christ brings (John 3:19,20). Gnashing of teeth may speak of both pain and rage against Gods justice. Compare Ps 112:10. 8:13 Men always receive what they trust God for. If we come to Christ with a large measure of faith we will receive a large blessing. Compare 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. 8:14 Peter was a married man, as, it seems, were all the original apostles of Christ. See 1 Cor 9:5. 8:15 Christs kindness towards us should produce a desire in us to serve Him. 8:16 Christs word had almighty power and authority behind it. Note on demon possession at 4:24. 8:17 See Isaiah 53:4. That prophecy was fulfilled in Christs 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. 8:18 The lake is Galilee. The other side is the east side, away from His headquarters in Capernaum. 8:19-22 Scribe note at 2:4. The Lord Jesus never made His way appear to be easy, and He never tried to attract followers by lowering Gods standards. Compare Luke 14:25-35. The man in v 9 was too hasty in
his decision. He had not counted the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. The man in v 21 was too slow in his decision. Both types of persons are still with us. 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 Daniel 7:13,14 and signifies the Messiah. It also signifies the real human nature of Christ the Son of God. 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 10:37-39. See also Luke 9:61,62. 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 6:30,34. Christs 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). 8:27 Here is a question all should ask. The answer is given in the Bible. We can learn spiritual lessons from this literal miracle (as we may from all Christs miracles). Life too has its storms which bring us into great danger. But if our trust is in Christ we need not fear Ps 46:1-3; 93:3,4. 8:28-34 For a fuller account of this see Mark 5:1-20. There attention is focused on one
31 MATTHEW 9:10
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?
brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a cot. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, Son, take courage! Your sins are forgiven you.
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.
3 And now some of the scribes said to themselves, This man is blaspheming.
4 And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Get up and walk? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he then said to the paralytic, Get up. Pick up your cot and go to your house.
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.
7 And he got up and left for his house. 8 But when the crowds saw this, they were amazed and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
9 And as Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, Follow me. And he got up and followed him.
And he got into a boat, and crossed over and came to his own town. 2 And just then they
10 And now it happened, as Jesus was sitting
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 4:24. 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. 8:31 Apparently demons are anxious to inhabit bodies any kind of bodies. Compare 12:43. Why did Jesus permit these demons to destroy a herd of someones 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. 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. 9:1 Here Capernaum is called His own town because it was the headquarters for His ministry in Galilee. 9:2 Notice it says their faith, not his faith only. Here is an example of how faith can work in bringing others to Christ. The man wanted physical healing. He received far more than that. 9:3 They knew that God alone can forgive sins (Isa 43:25; 44:22). No prophet ever had this power. They did not know that Jesus was God incarnate, so they considered His
words blasphemy. Blasphemy is speaking against God, using His name in vain, attributing evil to Him, or trying to claim for self what belongs to God alone (such as His nature, authority, rights, and power). See Lev 24:14-16. 9:4 Jesus being God in the flesh knew the thoughts of men. Compare 12:25; Luke 6:8; 9:47; John 2:25; Ps 94:11; Heb 4:12,13; Rev 2:23; 1 Sam 16:7; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chron 28:9; 2 Chron 6:30; Jer 17:10; Ezek 11:5; Prov 15:11; Acts 1:24. 9:5-7 Jesus proved He had Gods authority to forgive sin by a display of Gods power to heal. This miracle of healing is a picture of spiritual healing. Here we see that forgiveness was immediate, and all of grace a gift of God to a helpless man (compare Acts 13:38,39; Rom 4:7,8; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; 2:13; Heb 8:12; 1 John 1:9). Men may forgive offenses done against them (6:14, 15), but only God can forgive sins done against Himself, and in a very real sense all sin is against God (Ps 51:4).
Complete forgiveness of sin comes only when there is repentance and faith in the heart, and only God can see whether they are there. Jesus could see mens inner condition and could therefore pronounce forgiveness. The very purpose for which He came was to make Gods forgiveness possible (Luke 24:46,47; Acts 13:38,39). Anytime, anywhere a person turns to Him in faith, he will find forgiveness of all his sins (12:31). If people sought for forgiveness with the same earnestness as they do for healing and for other things, the world would be far different than it is now. 9:8 Men the crowd did not understand that Jesus was more than a mere man. 9:9 Compare 4:18-22. See also Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27,28 where Matthew is called Levi. He had a job the Jews despised, serving the ruling Roman government (5:46). But he became a great apostle and author of