Matthew 8-10
Matthew 8-10
Matthew’s initial description of Jesus’ Galilean ministry (4.18-25), set the stage for what readers would come to know (and expect) from Jesus through the rest of the Gospels. As one never has a second chance to make a first impression, so too Jesus; His ability to gain followers, preach, and heal in ch 4 introduced Him as the Messiah—and the description of His ministry in Mt 8-10 reveals that Jesus was not a ‘one-shot wonder.’ Rather, performing miracles and training men would characterize the Messiah’s ministry.
In 8.27 Jesus’ disciples were puzzled when He calmed the storm-tossed sea, asking, “What kind of a man is this?—even the winds and the sea obey Him!” Perhaps Matthew arranged chs 8-9 to answer this question. Multiple phenomenal events pointed the disciples to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah: He healed many (8.14-17; 9.18-31, 27-31)—even circumventing Mosaic legislation to cure a defiled leper (8.1-4; cf. Lev 13-14)—and praised the faith of the Roman Centurion who thought himself unworthy of Jesus’ presence (8.5-13). Most importantly, Jesus proposed that His healing manifested the ability to forgive sin—an act thought reserved for God alone (9.1-8). When Jesus displayed His Messianic authority over demons, He was again witnessing of the arrival of the kingdom of God among men (8.28-34; 9.32-34). In the midst of these acts of blessing and kingdom inauguration, Matthew commented: “He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases’” (8.16b-17). Matthew looked back to Isaiah’s song of a suffering servant (cf. Is 53), and saw that it pointed not only to Jesus’ suffering and death, but even to the days of His life; His works of compassion upon those affected by sin and disease—taking their pain upon Himself—was a precursor to the time when He would defeat sin and death on the cross—taking up their sin.
Despite popular caricatures of passivity and false ‘meekness,’ Jesus was an aggressive leader whose scope went far beyond even the grandeur of miraculous signs. He was also given to training men who would advance the Kingdom He inaugurated:
- He trained men in the midst of performing miracles. Sometimes men were trained by hearing Jesus’ words fall on cowardly, unbelieving ears—like those of the scribe and other disciple who wanted to follow Jesus on their own terms (8.18-22). On other occasions men were trained to rely upon Jesus as He demonstrated authority over the natural elements like the wind and the waves (8.23-27). Jesus chose to train those who were far out of the reach of the Jewish elite—men like Matthew and his tax-collecting comrades (9.9-13). To validate His willingness to dine with those thought unclean, Jesus quoted from the prophet Hosea, saying, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners” (9.12-13; cf. Hos 6.6). In Jesus’ understanding Israel was to act as a beacon of mercy to those in need, not excusing their sin, but showing them the knowledge of God—as Hosea had said: “I desire loyalty and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burn offerings” (Hos 6.6). Jesus showed Matthew’s friends the knowledge of God, Himself. Underneath all these snapshots of real-time ministry training was Jesus’ compassion for people who needed the kingdom—a vision He wished for His disciples to share, and thus told them: “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (9.37b-38)
- He called men away from the crowds so that He could train them for their specific mission (ch 10). Jesus bestowed upon them a measure of authority over demons and disease (v. 1), and instructed them to reach “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (v. 6). Because He expected those who received the message to provide for the needs of the messengers (vv. 9-10), He taught the 12 how they were to treat those who welcomed them, and those who didn’t (vv. 11-15). It was thus clear that they should expect extensive persecution—but Jesus told them that during their days of difficulty the Spirit would help them to endure as witnesses of the kingdom (vv. 16-25). It was thus necessary for them to fear God more than human opponents (vv. 26-31). Jesus commission of the 12 was so demanding that He required them to forsake all human relations in light of the kingdom; echoing the prophet Micah, He said: “I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household” (vv. 35-36; cf. Mic 7.6). While Micah was describing the infidelity of Israel around the time of the Assyrian onslaught (i.e., even in one’s family he or she could not find a faithful companion; cf. 2 Kgs 15-17), Jesus’ employed the words of the prophet in light of His coming and the superior demands of the kingdom. To be faithful to it required that one even lay down their very life—this was in fact the only means of hope for finding it again, as Jesus said: “Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it” (v. 39). Likewise, any who helped the 12 in their mission, even giving them a cup of cold water, would not go unrewarded—since they were in fact identifying with Jesus through their witness of the kingdom (vv. 40-42)
A broad survey of Mt 8-10 provides the reader with an opportunity to see Jesus’ mission of healing the sick and training future leaders. In the midst of all of this He had to deal with those who opposed or didn’t understand His message. When He spoke with them it was often in light of the storyline of Scripture—and His exalted place in it. When John’s disciples questioned Jesus about why His disciples didn’t fast like the Pharisees, He set forth the temporal nature of His ministry—after which the disciples would fast (9.15). On the whole though, their question gave Jesus an opportunity to teach of the more fundamental issue: “No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined” (9.16-17a). Jesus’ point was that only when new wine is placed into new wineskins can it be preserved (9.18); His message was the new wine that could not be carried by the old structures of Judaism. Everything that had come before—even fasting—was now to be evaluated in light of Him.
*For a complete list of references, please see scripturestoryline.com