Monday, March 08th, 2010 | Author: Chris
We’re starting off our week with Matthew 8. After reading it, which of these stories of Jesus stuck out most to you, and why?
Category: Daily Scripture Reading
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10 Responses
Monday, 8. March 2010
The story of the man with leprosy in verses 1-4 astounds me. The man would have been an out cast living apart from society but yet he approaches Jesus who is surrounded by a large crowd and begs Him to heal him. People with leprosy would not have been allowed to have even been around the crowd let alone falling at Jesus’ feet according to rules of the time so others weren’t infected. And of course Jesus takes it a step further and actually touches the man which would have made Jesus unclean but instead made the man clean!
What really gets me is that Jesus tells him make sure you don’t tell anyone (How you were healed) and there was a great crowd around them! Why? Jesus wasn’t afraid of the Pharisees or His reputation but He was concerned about anything that would hinder people from coming to Him. What if nobody would come near Jesus because they considered Him unclean? How many people would miss what God has for them? Jesus took risks but not at the expense of other people’s salvation.
Monday, 8. March 2010
I like the Centurion < humble and undeserving and has the faith that Jesus can heal his servant by snapping his fingers if he chooses.
“let the dead bury there own dead” if someone could expand on that, And so He drowns some pork, the people beg him to leave . They dont care that the demon posessed can now live normal lives.
Monday, 8. March 2010
Different details jump out at me from the different stories…
After healing the man from leprosy, Jesus tells him to “show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (Matt 8:4). The man didn’t need to follow the laws of Moses in order to be healed; he was already healed. He might have needed to do so in order to fit into Jewish society again, but that’s not the reason Jesus gives. He says to do so “as a testimony to them.” Sometimes we have to do things that we know aren’t strictly necessary in order to be a testimony to others.
It interests me that the Centurion describes himself as a man “under authority” (Matt 8:9). The relevant portion would seem to be that he has servants “under” himself–that’s how he understands that Jesus can merely say the word and his servant will be healed–so why the detail that he is under authority himself? It seems to me that truly understanding authority involves accepting authority over oneself–not just exerting it. Even Jesus obeyed the authority of the Father.
Overall, I see in this chapter that we have various types of healings, and then later on, miracles that demonstrate Jesus’ power over nature and over the demonic world. And right in the middle of all of that is a story of Jesus challenging people who want to be his followers (Matt 8:18-22). The implied message seems to be, if you want to tap into the great power that Jesus has, you need to be ready to count the cost.
Monday, 8. March 2010
“Let the dead bury their dead” is Jesus’ way of saying let those who are spiritually dead worry about that. Jesus called this man to obedience and that was more important than even the burial of his father. Jesus demands more allegiance than one has even to their own family (Matthew 10:37).
Monday, 8. March 2010
So much to comment on here! I’ll have to make several posts:
1) The leper in Matthew 8:1-4 has total faith in Jesus. And Jesus shows His kindness by healing him because of his faith. Notice that Jesus still seems to be acknowledging the First Covenant of Law, as He tells the man to “present the offering that Moses commanded”. By the time Hebrews was written, this Covenant is referred to as “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:6-13).
2) Matthew 8:5-13 develops the theme of Jewish rejection and Gentile acceptance. A Gentile Centurion is willing to trust Jesus to have the power to heal his servant even without touching him (contrast this story with the healing in John 4:43-54). Jesus commends this kind of faith, stating that the Israelites, who were supposed to be God’s people, do not even have this kind of faith. Jesus says that they’ll be rejected, however, but that many Gentiles will sit with the Jewish Patriarchs. For more on this, read Romans 9-11.
Monday, 8. March 2010
@Cecile
Excellent point! When Jesus touches something unclean, He doesn’t get unclean, it gets clean because of Him!
Monday, 8. March 2010
3) Many ancient peoples believed the sea to be a frightening place that housed their gods as well as an assortment of frightening creatures. Even the Old Testament uses the sea and sea creatures as spiritual allegory. For example, Isaiah 27:1 says, “In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent ; And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.” When Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea, He demonstrated that He not only had power over the Laws of physics, but He allegorically showed that He has power over satan and the evil spirits that the pagans worshiped (and He was sleeping while everyone else was freaking out, that made it extra cool).
Tuesday, 9. March 2010
Wow! Shane, bro you have some awesome comments. And lots too
What stood out to me was the disciples were panicking and said to Jesus “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
I think we’re the same way when we go through suffering. We think it is so bad that we start to panic and just cry out to God, please take it away I can’t stand anymore. I’m going to drown.
Tuesday, 9. March 2010
@Gabe
This chapter is jammed with a lot of important info so I hate to not address it!
4) The next block of verses (28-34) contain Jesus casting out some demons. Demonization is real and still occurs today. However, not every problem we experience is the result of a demon!
Its probably no coincidence that this follows Jesus’ exercising power over the sea and wind. The demons in these two men must submit to Jesus. There’s probably a lot of significance in the details of this story, but I certainly no expert on it.
Further, Jesus’ exorcisms pointed toward His ultimate exorcism of satan and the evil rulers of this age from this world. The Bible refers to satan as the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31, John 16:11) and as the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). It refers to evil spirits as “rulers”, “powers”, and says that they live in the “heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6). These critters are real, they’re powerful, and they help guide this twisted world into its foolish path away from God. We can’t battle these things on our own, but the Son of God is stronger, is high above them, and has complete power over them (Ephesians 1:18-23).
Tuesday, 9. March 2010
The faith of the disciples in the boat stands in contrast to that of the centurion. Whereas the disciples were amazed that Jesus had authority over the winds and waves, the centurion seemed to understand the authority of Jesus.
From what is recorded we see only healings that take place while in the presence of Jesus, but here is this centurion who believed that Jesus had true authority and as a result knew Jesus did not need to be present to perform a healing. He could just say a word.
Remember, as disciples, we have put our faith in One that has authority over all things – Jesus. Let’s approach life with that understanding.