Scripture is in Red, Comments in black.
2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. The leper does not ask “can you make me clean?” he says if thou WILT thou CAN make me clean. That is faith.
3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. In the Old Testament a person that was unclean had to go through a process of cleansing and in the case of certain physical problems had to show the priest the problem was resolved. The priest instructed the person about atonement or testimony so that person could return into the camp. Why did Jesus say, “tell no man?” I believe Jesus wanted attention be drawn to His message and not to the miracles.
5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, A centurion is a Roman soldier in charge of a group of soldiers. He is a gentile and knows command.
6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. This centurion has shown Jesus he understands command and has shown faith that Jesus is in command of the world and when Jesus speaks the world will obey just as when the centurion speaks a command to his troops there is no doubt the command will come to pass.
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Even the disciples of Jesus have yet to have total faith in Jesus.
11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. When Jesus speaks of many coming from the east and west to sit with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob He is speaking about gentiles coming to know the true God.
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus is speaking of the children of Israel or the Jews. Jesus is not condemning all the Jews He is just making reference to those that reject Him as the Messiah. Darkness refers to the second death. Wailing and gnashing of teeth describes the agony of those that cannot or will not see the truth of who Jesus is, the Messiah.
13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. This woman had been laid up on her sick bed yet when Jesus touched her no recovery time was needed. She felt so good that she jumped up and, I imagine, started cooking, bringing them drink, washing their feet and whatever else may have been the custom of how to treat visitors in those days.
16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: As we learn the miracles that Jesus preformed we will see times where Jesus commands a recipient of a miracle to perform a task. This happens often so notice this and think of why each command is different and why some need to perform a duty.
17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. Jesus healed the sick and took all our sins upon Himself. This is another prophecy fulfilled by Jesus.
18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.
19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. This scribe says he will follow Jesus wherever Jesus goes but I think Jesus knows the scribe is used to comfortable living and just the thought of sleeping on the ground and doing without the creature comforts would change his mind. It is easy to boast of the willingness to do a thing but quite another to follow through once discomfort and problems and roadblocks are unveiled. The children of Israel constantly complained and rebelled every time a small problem arose. If you want to follow Jesus there will be discomfort and persecution in your life but the final rewards will be well worth it all.
21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. To many this may sound harsh but it is not. Since this disciple is not named it is probably not one of the twelve chosen but instead a self-proclaimed disciple. Jesus recognizes what is in a person’s heart and probably could see this “disciple” was not really willing to forsake all to follow Jesus (just like the scribe). Jesus has work to do saving souls and teaching God’s word. The most important thing for a disciple is learning and Jesus has but a short time to teach. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. The dead that should bury the dead Jesus mentions here could be those that that are alive but are living without God in their life.
23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. It will be shown over and over how little faith the disciples had. Once again just like the children of Israel, the disciples see miracle upon miracle and every time trouble arrives they doubt that Jesus will take care of them. This is why we living today who have true full faith in Jesus are more blessed because we believe without seeing. This is also a reference to a prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah 65: 6-7:
6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:
7Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.
Back to Matthew 8:27
27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? The devils recognized Jesus way before most people did. The devils were also afraid of Jesus. They were aware of why Jesus was on earth and the devils knew their war was lost. Were these devils sent back to Satan who sent them?
30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. Swine are unclean to the Jews and the demons desiring to go into swine indicates rebellion to the Jews and Jesus. They were basically saying they prefer the swine to Jesus. I believe Jesus thought it was an appropriate choice. The devils were unclean and so are swine.
32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. Jesus granted the devils request to save the men. I believe the owners of the swine were gentiles since it is unlawful for Jews to own swine. The swine perished to indicate the death of those that rebel against God.
33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. They that kept the swine fled.
34And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. This last verse shows how people fear the unknown without reason. Jesus has just preformed a miracle, helped a possessed man become a free and rational man. Jesus demonstrated his love and grace. The people of the town only reacted in fear and dread. This is sad for if they had but listened to Christ and taken the miracle as help instead of a threat they could have discovered the love and grace of God.
God bless the reader with understanding and thirst for God’s Holy Word.
