Matt 8, The Authority of the King

Overview:

	Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
Author	Disciple; tax collector	Follower; close friend of Peter	Historian; traveled with Paul	Disciple; inner circle
Theme	King	Servant	Man	God
Audience	Jews		Greek (Gentile)
Peculiarities	OT references	"immediately"	Healing; woman	Teaching
Genealogy	Joseph's	None	Mary's	God (3 statements)
	Goes through all Kings		Immediately splits after David
Reference	Abraham		Adam	Word
Time	40-60	40-60	40-60	70-90
Intro	Genealogy from Abraham	The beginning of the good news	An orderly account	A cosmic view (similar to Genesis)
Chronological	NO (Judaism is eastern in culture and is organized thematically over chronological)	Yes	Yes	Yes



Characterization of Matthew's Chronology (Theme-based, not time-based)

#. Event	Burton and Godspeed © 1917	A.T. Robertson © 1923
Matt 5-7 Sermon on the mount	24	54
Matt 8:1 Comes down from a mountain	27	54
3. Matt 8:2-4 Healing of a Leper	27	45
Matt 8:5-13 Centurion's Servant	45	55
Matt 8:14-17 A Day in Capernaum (Healing of Peter's Mother in law)	25	43
Matt 8:18 Cross the Lake, still the tempest	66	65
Matt 8:19-22 Answers to 3 Disciples	100	93
Matt 8:23-27 Cross the Lake, still the tempest	66	65
Matt 8:28-34 The Gerasene Demoniac	67	66
Matt 9:1-8 Healing of the Paralytic	28	46



Actual order of events in Matthew section based on above research:

Burton & Godspeed	1 - 5 - 2 - 3 - 10 - 4 - 6 - 8 - 9 - 7
A.T. Robertson	5 - 3 - 10 - 1 - 2 - 4 - 6 - 8 - 9 - 7



Outline (Major Themes so far)

Matt 1	Genealogy of the King
Matt 2	Reception of King: Worship, Hostility; Apathy
Matt 3	Preparation for King; Authority Declared
Matt 4	Interaction with the King: Satan; People; Disciples; Sick
Matt 5-7	Message of the King
Matt 8	Authority of the King



Matthew 7:28–29 (ESV) — 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.


• We have already discussed this before in the baptism of Jesus, but what is the author's point?
• Jesus has authority to interpret and apply scripture
• Jesus is not just repeating interpretation


Matthew 8:1–4 (ESV) — 1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”


• Note: This is one the three Messianic miracles
1. Healing of a Leper
2. Casting a demon out of a mute
3. Healing of a man born blind
• This is a key passage in Matthew because it establishes Jesus' Messianic claim
• Why does Jesus tell the person to go to the priest?
• Lev 13-14 are the key chapters on Leprosy
• Lev 14:1-2 (ESV) The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, …
• There is a lot of important imagery between the leper and Jesus. What do you see?
• The leper kneels before Jesus. This would be a recognition of his kingship or possible worship of his deity
• The touches the man, which probably produced a "gasp" in the crowd
• Leprosy is a picture of sin at its worst where it destroys everything good. It smells, it's ugly, it's painful, it separates us from community, it's gross
• Just as Jesus reached out to touch the leper, so he reaches out to touch us, no matter how ugly, stinky, grotesque our sin is
• This event (#3) establishes a "Messiah" sighting and initiates a process
• Observation (Matt 9:1-8 follows Matt 8:1-4; see Mk 1:45-2:12 and Lk 5:12-26) -- pay very close attention to the story of the paralytic and the audience)
• Interrogation
• Decision (Matt 12:22-32) and consequences (offer of the kingdom is removed)
• APPLICATION: Jesus has begun to identify his authority to the religious leaders. And we have the whole story, so we have no excuse. Choosing not to believe is an excuse, except if the story is true


Matthew 8:5–13 (ESV) — 5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.


• What is the Jewish concern that is raised here?
• Ritual uncleanness by entering a Gentile home--a lesson Peter has to learn later
• We know Jesus would have gone, why?
• The response, although some commentators think the translation should be "Shall I [emphatic] come and heal him?"
• Jesus previous action by touching the leper show his unconcern for ritual uncleanness.
• While the leper is unclean, I could not find any law that made a person unclean for touching a leper or for entering a Gentile home
• The Misdrah does reach the conclusion regarding the Gentile home and ritual washing of the hands
• What is the centurion's argument?
• He has authority
• Jesus clearly has authority
• Presence is immaterial--God's will is what is important
• We still confuse this concept today. We will treat a Pastor who visits our house differently than we will treat a neighbor because we have bought into the religiosity of the event
• The Centurion's argument is that you either have power or you don't
• Additionally, the Centurion shows sensitivity to Jewish customs (throughout scripture, the commissioned officers seem to behave differently)
• APPLICATION: Jesus has authority even where his physical presence is not. Also, we have a picture of Jesus reaching out to the Gentiles (second)


Matthew 8:14–17 (ESV) — 14 And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”


• Continuing our theme of authority, what do we see?
• Authority over sickness, such as a fever
• Authority over the demons
• Fulfillment of an authoritative passage of scripture:
• Isa 53:4 (ESV) Surely he has borne our griefs // and carried our sorrows; // yet we esteemed him stricken, //  smitten by God, and afflicted.
• This passage was interpreted at the time as two Messiahs by the Jewish community
• Today, it is interpreted as the Jewish nation (which doesn't make sense)


Matthew 8:18–22 (ESV) — 18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”


• This story is much later chronologically (probably the last year of Jesus' ministry)
• The author specifically brings up two disciples, one is a scribe and the other is not specified. So, they are responding to Jesus' claim and to Jesus' authority. They want to follow Jesus, but what is the problem?
• In the first case, we have to assume that Jesus understands the issue with the scribe since we are not given any information, what is it?
• He wants to follow Jesus, but he wants it to be comfortable
• There is no promise of comfortableness despite what the health and wealth gospel preachers might say
• That is not to say you can't experience it, but if that is your motivation then you are following for the wrong reason
• Jesus authority demands that he be on the throne, not our possessions, not our desire for the comfortable life
• In the second case, the request seems legitimate, but what is happening here?
• It is not clear if the father has died or has yet to die (if his Father was dead (and stinking), why is he out following Jesus?)
• If his father is dead the point is that commitment to Jesus overrides the command to honor your parents, why?
• Because Jesus is greater (in a Jewish understanding, the only one greater is a King or God)
• If the father is not dead, then this is another question of comfort. The son wants to go home, wait until his father dies, get his inheritance, and then with the money, come and follow Jesus
• Jesus' response is to follow me now and trust God to meet your needs
• APPLICATION: What or who truly has authority in our life? Jesus' authority extends over our comfort


Matthew 8:23–27 (ESV) — 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” 


• We've discussed the authority of the Messiah, the authority in the lives of Gentiles, the authority over disease, the authority over the lives of his disciples, and now the author presents his authority over ____________?
• Nature
• This is another of those key passages, partly because it is a story that is present in all three gospels (which give some more insight), but because it is a key passage in understanding what faith is.
• Jesus rebukes them for the lack of faith
• The question then, is what did they do?
• It could be fear
• But I think the key is found, not in the cacophony of statements thrown at Jesus, but in one statement that truly captures what faith is not
• Matt 8:25 says “Save, Lord; we are perishing”
• Luke 8:22 says  “Master, Master, we are perishing!”
• But Mark 4:38, someone says “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?”
• APPLICATION: I think the issue of faith for Israel during the Exodus was never God's existence or God's power, but it always God's care. Does God really care for me as an individual, not as some piece in a larger plan, but as me? That is what upset Jesus


Matthew 8:28–34 (ESV) — 28 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. 31 And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” 32 And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. 33 The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.


• And we add one more issue of authority -- Jesus has power over the demons
• There is a lot we could discuss about these verses
• This is the region of the 2 1/2 tribes
• It is Jewish but just like in historical Israel, it seems to have moved away from orthodox teaching
• It was part of the Northern kingdom that was destroyed first
• They are raising pigs in a culture that doesn't eat pigs
• They have given an opening for evil by cultural choices, and they see it in the surroundings of their society (this is also our country today)
• APPLICATION: Jesus has authority even when we allow evil to run amok