Matthew 8

Compassion, and authority over human need, v. 1-17

• Healing the leper: The leper who worshipped the Lord knew whom he had come to. He had full confidence in the Lord’s ability to cleanse him completely but wasn’t sure it was God’s will. His faith brought Him to the right person and the touch of the Lord would have testified to him the fact that his cleansing was total. The Lord was true to His own laws, and the cleansing was instant and complete. To be faithful to the law, he was instructed to show himself to the priest. The reason he was to “tell no one,” was so that people wouldn’t misunderstand the mission of the Lord who came to seek and save the lost. Healing was a testimony to His saving grace and power to forgive sins, which was of far more importance than healing from disease.
• Healing the centurion’s servant: Faith crosses cultural, racial, social and religious barriers. For a Jew to enter a Gentile’s house was more than the centurion could grasp, because Jews would have been ceremonially unclean according to their tradition. The

centurion also understood authority because he was both under the authority of others and over the authority of his soldiers. He knew Jesus had authority over disease and took Jesus at His word by faith. He had no question as to Jesus’ power and that it was not limited to time or space. Such trust is vital to taking God at His word. For Gentiles to be included in the blessings of God at that time would have been quite astounding to the Jews who had believed in Jesus. For them to be included at the feast of the Messiah in the future kingdom of heaven, would have been beyond their imagination. They had thought the Jewish place in the plans of God had eliminated all other people from the place of privilege. They learned that God’s grace is unlimited as far as who is included when they come by faith and put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. They also learned that Jews who refuse to trust in the Lord Jesus, will be cast out from the presence of God just like any other unbelievers. All those who are forever cut off from God of whatever nation or people; have made their own choice to reject the Savior testified to in the universal Gospel message.

• Healing at Peter’s house: His mother-in-law and many others were healed at Capernaum. The response to his wife’s mother’s instantaneous healing was to meet the need of others immediately. That is an expected response of one who is grateful to the Lord for His grace. Our Lord Jesus showed His compassion with a touch; His authority with a word and then His power by casting out the powers of darkness.

Cost, and authority over human desire, v.18-22

• Scribe: He had a good desire, but there was weakness in his will to yield to authority. There are costs to commitment. Discipleship calls for vigor, vitality, and venture. The value of discipleship is higher than ambition, popularity, friendships, pleasures, and personal choices.
• Disciple: His normal and natural desire to care for his aged parent until they die, is common to everyone. To put off following Christ until it is convenient to us is to choose to not follow Him. To think we have a more important claim in our life is not an excuse for not following Christ. There will always be other things that compete for our loyalty and allegiance. To live for, and follow Christ as our Lord, is our supreme obligation as a disciple. It has a superior claim over even family obligations.

Creation, and Jesus’ authority over the forces of nature, v.23-27

• Fear: To follow Jesus is to trust Him over our greatest fears. The storm that struck the boat on the Sea of Galilee, was beyond what those fishermen/disciples had normally experienced. They were afraid they were going to drown. Opposition from Satan and the powers of darkness are to be expected when we go into areas of Satan’s domain with the good news of the Gospel. Positive thinking and human ingenuity cannot conquer the kind of fear that threatens to overwhelm the soul.
• Faith: It is a fundamental lesson to be learned by disciples of the Lord that faith in ourselves and our ability to control circumstances will fail. Our faith must be put in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone has authority over every power that would seek to conquer us because all power in heaven and in earth is under His sovereign power.

• Gentiles: God’s grace and authority go beyond the chosen Jews to the Gentiles. Each individual person is of great value to the One who gives life and breath to every person and all things that we need to survive, and even enjoy life. His authority is supreme over every nation, people, and individual.
• Demon-possessed people: Evil spirits need host bodies to carry out their nefarious deeds. Some are open and blatantly evil. Others are sly, subtle, and deceptive. Fallen angels/demons are under the control of Satan and can tempt people and seek to destroy the lives of those who yield to their power.
• Demons: Demons are fallen angels which “kept not their first estate,” and joined in Lucifer’s rebellion. They have been cast out and chained to satanic authority. However, the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ is far greater, and they must do what He commands. God has allowed people to choose to follow either the authority of the Lord or the powers of darkness. We cannot really discern whether the immoral, unrestrained wicked sinfulness of people is the work of the world, the flesh, or the devil. What we do know is that such beings will be cast into the lake of fire along with the fallen angels they yielded to, and the devil. The destructive intent of demons was clearly demonstrated when they killed all the pigs into which they had entered.