Matthew 8 records a very busy and intense period in Messiah’s life that reveals wonderful things about who He is, what He can do for us, and how we need to respond to Him.
Yeshua is in the north, in Galilee. Matthew tells us that when Yeshua came down from the mountainside (where He gave one of the greatest teachings on ethics and values and priorities ever given by a human being, the glorious Sermon on the Mount), large crowds followed Him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before Him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean”. Yeshua reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing”, He said. “Be clean”! Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Yeshua said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them”.
Leprosy could devastate a person’s life physically, socially, economically and religiously. Leprosy caused isolation from the community, and distance from Temple and synagogue worship. Leprosy could powerfully impact an individual’s life for the worse. But Yeshua is greater than leprosy! When Messiah touched this leper, He didn’t become unclean; instead, the leper was miraculously and instantly healed! Yeshua is greater than leprosy!
Because of the Fall, we are all lepers – spiritual lepers. Our spiritual leprosy has isolated us from God. Our spiritual leprosy has disfigured us, weakened us and is destroying us. But Yeshua is greater than our spiritual leprosy and wants to touch us and heal us and is able to heal us! But in order to be healed, we need to do what this man did – come to Yeshua and kneel before Him. We do that by understanding that He is the Son of God who is so much greater than us and then transferring our loyalties to Him and His Father.
Yeshua is greater than leprosy. He is also greater than paralysis. When Yeshua had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, asking for help. “Lord”, he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly”. Yeshua said to him, “Shall I come and heal him”? The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have You come under my roof (a wonderfully humble response from a Roman officer to a Jewish man under Roman occupation). But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go’, and he goes; and that one, ‘Come’, and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he does it”.
Even though many Jewish people didn’t understand how special Yeshua was, this Roman knew that Yeshua had tremendous spiritual authority. Spiritual powers were subject to Him. That understanding greatly impressed the Messiah. It resulted in a compliment about Gentiles with faith, and a rebuke for Jewish people without faith, and a healing for the paralyzed servant.
When Yeshua heard this, He was amazed and said to those following Him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven (and what a celebration that will be!). But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
Messiah is teaching us something that very important – that salvation will be made available to the other peoples – not just the Chosen People. The subjects of the Kingdom are the Jewish people. They were in a covenant relationship with God the King. The Kingdom was offered to the Jew first – the subjects of the Kingdom, but will also be offered to the Gentiles. And a Gentile who knows that Yeshua is the Messiah, the ultimate Prophet, Priest, King and Savior; and a Gentile who becomes loyal to King Messiah is far better off than a member of the Chosen People who refuses to accept Yeshua as King Messiah.
Then Yeshua said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would”. And his servant was healed at that moment. Yeshua is greater than paralysis! Because of the Fall, humanity is like this paralyzed man. We are spiritually immobilized. We are unable to function the way we need to. We can’t move the way we need to – to the God who is able to heal us.
The Holy Spirit is also teaching us that Yeshua is greater than distance. The leper was healed in close proximity to Yeshua. Yeshua touched the leper. This servant was healed from a distance. Healing is not limited by physical proximity. This planet is a large place. The universe is an immensely huge place. Great distances are involved, and we can seem so small, so weak, so insignificant. But Yeshua is greater than the greatest distances! What is important is spiritual proximity – closeness to Yeshua who is close to God. God the Father, working through Yeshua, is able to heal, to help, to bless, to save, to make our lives meaningful and relevant – no matter the distance!
The Spirit of God, working through Yeshua, is able to heal. And, the healing that comes through Yeshua is not limited by familiarity. The leper was most likely a stranger and yet Yeshua was used by God to heal him. The Roman centurion and his servant were most likely unknown to Yeshua and yet Yeshua was used by God to heal the servant. Next Yeshua healed someone He was probably familiar with – Peter’s mother-in-law. When Yeshua came into Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on Him. How wonderful!
You may feel that you have been far from God your whole life, that you don’t know God and He doesn’t know you, so why should He help you? None of that matters because the healing that comes through Yeshua is not limited by familiarity. God the Father and Messiah the Son are willing to help and heal all those who come to God on their terms.
Yeshua was empowered by the Spirit to heal individuals and to heal many. The Spirit of God working through Yeshua healed people with all kind of physical illnesses and also those being sickened by the demonic. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to Him, and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. The Holy Spirit, speaking through Matthew, tells us that: This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases”. Isaiah 53, which is quoted here, is about the Messiah, Yeshua, not the nation of Israel. It was written by Isaiah, not someone else, not some second or third or fourth or fifth Isaiah, like some liberals teach. The Holy Spirit wants us to know that Yeshua is the One who is able to heal all of humanities sicknesses – physical and spiritual. Yeshua is the long awaited Messiah, the promised Seed of the Woman who will crush the head of the serpent and undo all the horrible damage done by the Fall. Yeshua is the Suffering Servant, the Messiah who will heal humanity physically and spiritually and eternally, by suffering to atone for us.
This was a very busy, intense time for Yeshua. He wanted a break from ministry to the crowds. But before He could leave, He had two interactions with potential followers. When Yeshua saw the crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the Torah came to Him and said, “Rabbi, I will follow You wherever You go”. Good words. These are words that all of us should speak – and mean. This man knew that he should follow Yeshua and be with Him wherever Yeshua went – and we should too. But talk is cheap. Following Yeshua means more than saying words and making confessions. Yeshua replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head”. Following Yeshua, being a disciple, being saved, means that Yeshua comes first. It means being willing to give up convenience, comfort, even home. Is that you?
Following Yeshua also means putting Him before family. Another disciple said to Him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father”. The father was probably still alive. This man wanted to follow Yeshua – but later, after his father died, and maybe after his inheritance was secure. Yeshua said no; now. I come first. But Yeshua told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead”. Honoring your father is very important, but the Creator-creature relationship is our most important relationship that takes precedence before all others. Our loyalty to Yeshua comes first, before family. Is that you?
In the last part of this chapter, Matthew teaches us that Yeshua is greater than the storms that assail us from within and the storms that threaten us from without. Remember, Yeshua is trying to get away from the crowds and get some needed rest, and wants to go to the eastern shore of the Kinneret. Then He got into the boat and His disciples followed Him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Yeshua was sleeping. This indicated that He must have been very tired from this busy, intense time of ministry. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown”! He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him”!
This sudden violent storm that threatened to drown them revealed that Messiah is greater than the winds and waves and storms and is able to save those who become loyal to Him from the storms of life. We live in a fallen world that is satanically controlled and is in rebellion against God and is under a curse In such a world, there will be storms – mental and emotional storms, family and work-related storms, financial storms, health-related storms, stormy relationships. There will be storms in life and there will be storms when we or others we care about face death. Things may be calm, but suddenly, like this sudden dangerous storm these men experienced on the Kinneret, you may find yourself in the middle of a deadly storm. The good news is that Messiah is greater than all of these storms! He is greater than the winds and waves and is able to save those who become loyal to Him from all the storms of life. And He is with you in your boat in your storm! You just need to wake Him up so that He can act!
It’s not that He is sleeping where He is now – there at the right hand of God. It might seem that He is asleep, but He isn’t. If He is seemingly somnambulant, it’s because you don’t know how to rouse Him so that He will act. We need to learn how to stay close to Yeshua – by living for Him, by serving Him, by righteous living, by resisting temptations, so that when we are in a storm and really need to pray, we will be ready to pray, and we will be in a place to pray, and know how to effectively pray.
Yeshua is greater that the storms that threaten from without. He is also greater than the storms that assail from within. When He arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes (ah, finally, time to get away, time to rest), two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met Him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time”? Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Yeshua, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs”. He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Yeshua. And when they saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region.
Demons are real. If you don’t believe that, it’s because you don’t believe the Word of the Living God, and you are not a believer and are not saved and are headed for Gehenna, the Hell which was prepared for Satan and the demons which you deny. Satan, demons, evil spirits are real, and they are powerful, and they do afflict humanity in a lot of ways – including demon-possession. But Yeshua is greater than all of them! He is greater than the most powerful demon, and all of the demons put together, and is able to free those most possessed, most controlled by those demons. He is the Seed of the Woman who will crush the head of the satanic serpent and heal humanity from his poisonous bite and free humanity from his deadly control and educate humanity from the deadly deceptions of the Adversary.
What makes His great saving ability ineffectual is what the people of this town did – asking Yeshua to leave. Is that you? People ask Yeshua to leave in various ways: by rejecting Him when they hear about Him; by being willfully ignorant about Him; by choosing the status quo above Him; by putting other things before Him. Is that you? You have had some contact with Yeshua, and suspect that there is something very special about Him, and that He might be able to help, but you prefer that He is not part of your life?
Matthew 8 – Yeshua is greater than leprosy. He is greater than distance. He is Lord of Jews and Gentiles. He can heal a few or He can heal many. He is greater than all sicknesses – physical and spiritual. He is the Messiah of Isaiah 53 who will heal humanity though His sacrificial sufferings. He must come first – before our conveniences, our comforts. He comes before home. He comes before family. He can calm the storms without and the storms within. He is the mighty Seed of the Woman who is greater than Satan and all of his demons and will crush the head of the serpent and fix the catastrophe that took place in Eden.
The proper response to this amazing Savior? That of the Torah-teacher: Rabbi, I will follow You wherever You go! And may God give us the grace to say the same good words, and mean them!