Matthew chapter 8

Matthew 8:1-17 gives the fulfillment of another Messianic prophesey. Isaiah 53:4 that Jesus "took up our infirmities and carried our diseases." While Jesus healed many people in this passage two special cases are mentioned.

Firstly a man with leprosy. The interaction between Jesus and this man shows us more than Jesus' power over illness. The leperous man came to Jesus with humility, he "knelt before Him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." He does not ask to be declared clean, as the priests could do, (this link is to a short post at Godward Thoughts and well worth a look at) but to be made clean. "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean..." can both refer to physical and spiritual healing with Jesus. This man not only recognised Jesus power and authority to heal, but also adressed Jesus with the proper heart. "Lord, if you are willing..." This is in accordance with how Jesus tells us to pray "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9-10)

Next is a Centurion, an officer in the Roman army, a man who would order those under him to "Jump!" and they would immediately reply "Into which mud Sir?". Yet he too came with Humility and an understanding of Jesus authority. "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed...When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith." Why is this Centurion's faith so astonishing? Because of who he was, a Gentile. One without the heritage of being one of God's chosen people as pat of the nation of Israel. He did not know the scriptures but still knew the power of Jesus. The Gentile mission was at most peripheral to Jesus' earthly ministry: he did not actively seek out Gentiles for ministry, and both occasions on which he heals Gentiles he does so from a distance (Matthew 8:13; 15:28). The Gentile mission became central to the early church, however, and early Christians naturally looked to accounts of Jesus' life for examples of ministry to the Gentiles. The significance of the passage is clarified by some basic information about Roman centurions and what they represented to Jewish people in the first century. In this period soldiers in the Roman legions served twenty years. Unlike nobles, who could become tribunes or higher officials immediately, most centurions rose to their position from within the ranks and became members of the equestrian (knight) class when they retired. Roman soldiers participated in pagan religious oaths to the divine emperor.

Verses 18-22 have Jesus commenting on the sacrifice needed to follow Him. Jesus' priority over social obligations includes even those family obligations one's society and religion declare to be ultimate. Let the dead bury their own dead may refer to the "spiritually dead". Jesus' demand may prove less harsh in some respects than it sounds to us at first. The 'disciple' is probably not asking permission to attend his father's funeral later that day; his father likely either was not yet dead or had been buried once already.
When a father died, mourners would gather immediately and a funeral procession would take his body to the tomb, leaving no time for a bereaved son to be talking with rabbis. For a week afterward the family would remain mourning at home and not go out in public. But current Semitic idioms show that "I must first bury my father" can function as a request to wait until one's father dies-perhaps for years-so that one may fulfill the ultimate filial obligation before leaving home.
A custom practiced only in the period immediately surrounding the time of Jesus may illumine this passage more directly, however. In Jesus' day the eldest son would return to the tomb a year after the father's death to "rebury" his father by neatly arranging his now bare bones in a container and sliding it into a slot in the wall. If the father of the man in Matthew's account has died, this young man cannot be referring to his father's initial burial and so must be asking for as much as a year's delay for a secondary burial.
At the same time, Jesus' demand also proves harsher than it sounds to us at first. The offense lies not in the immediacy of the demand but in the priority the demand takes over family obligations. Many Jewish people considered honoring parents the supreme commandment and burial of one's parents one of the most important implications of that commandment, regardless of the circumstances. In most current interpretations of biblical law, only the honor due to God took precedence over the honor shown to parents. Jesus does insist on honoring parents, yet he demands a greater affection toward himself. Jesus scandalously claims the supreme position of attention in his followers' lives. If we devote ourselves to anyone or anything more than to him, our claim to be his followers becomes hollow, no matter how many "disciples" around us live the same way.

Next comes the famous story of Jesus calming the storm. The deciples had seen Jesus miraculously healing crowds of people, but still did not comprehend the awesome power He possesed. They were "amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

Then we have the exorcism of two men possessed. Gadara and Gerasa were both part of the Decapolis, a primarily Gentile area with a large Jewish population. The demon posessed men ran to Jesus, and the demons protested, "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?". Jesus' presence also reduced them to seeking permission just to enter some pigs. Yet in contrast to demons, many people remain unaware of Jesus as Lord and Judge.

The demons here, probably believed they were free to torment people until the final day of judgment and expecting eternal torment in the day of judgment. However, they recognize that Jesus is their judge and that He has shown up before the appointed time. God's ultimate judgement is yet to come, but this did not and does not prevent Him from demonstrating His power through miraculous signs and wonders, or even defeating any unlucky demon which comes into contact with Him.