Sermon Tone Analysis

As for the structural unity of , students of Matthew have offered several proposals, and it must be said that none of them holds the scholarly field.

Davies and Allison suggest that 8:1–9:34 should be viewed as three triads of miracle stories, the first and the third of which are followed by a summary and teaching material, with the second followed by the call of Levi and teaching material.

This proposal is not without weaknesses of its own.

Yet it does reflect Matthew’s preference for grouping his material in sections of three, which is well-illustrated in the Sermon on the Mount, in the three passion predictions (16:21; 17:22–23; 20:17–19), and in other features in Matthew.

Moreover, Davies and Allison’s suggestion pays attention to the three smaller units that have non-miraculous subject matter.

For the sake of convenience, then, and to offer some order, the arrangement of the commentary will follow the structural proposal by Davies and Allison.

The first triad of miraculous deeds consists of the cleansing of a leper (8:1–4), the healing of the centurion’s servant (8:5–13), and the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (8:14–17).

The second triad begins with a unit in which Jesus answers questions of discipleship and stills the storm (8:18–27).

Then the second and third miracles of the second triad are Jesus exorcizing the Gadarene demoniacs (8:28–34) and forgiving and healing a paralytic (9:1–8).

The third triad of Jesus’ deeds begins with a double miracle because the healing of the bleeding woman (9:20–22) occurs within the account of Jesus raising the ruler’s daughter (9:18–19, 23–26).

Those intertwined events can be considered one miraculous account.

The second miracle is the healing of two blind men (9:27–31) and the third miracle in the third and final triad is the exorcism of the mute man (9:32–35)

Theological Unity

After the framework (7:28–8:1) that closes Jesus’ first great discourse, the Sermon on the Mount (4:25–8:1), Matthew resumes his narration of Jesus’ ministry and reintegrates his readers/hearers into his narrative account.

Before examining the smaller units of these two chapters of historical narration, we may pause for a glance at the larger context so as not to lose the “forest” of Matthew’s Gospel for the “trees” of the individual pericopes.

Jesus’ ministry to and in Israel made its public beginning in 4:17, and during the first half (4:17–11:1) of the large middle section of the Gospel (4:17–16:20), Jesus’ ministry in Galilee grows.

There is only muted opposition.

Scholars commonly observe that 4:23 has already summarized Jesus’ ministry as one of word and deed: “And he began to go around in the whole of Galilee in order to teach in their synagogues and preach the Good News of the reign and heal every disease and every ailment in the people.”

Jesus has begun to call disciples to faith and service (4:18–22).

The Sermon on the Mount serves as the premier sample of Jesus’ ministry of word, that is, his “teach[ing]” and “preach[ing] the Good News of the reign” (4:23).

Having placed before his readers/hearers the Messiah’s teaching with authority (7:29), his ministry of word, Matthew offers in chapters 8 and 9 an account of the Messiah’s ministry of deed (“heal[ing] every disease and every ailment in the people,” 4:23).

In general terms, then, it is clear how fits into the structure of the narrative.

However, scholars continue to debate how and to what extent Matthew has structured these two chapters.

Nevertheless, it is still possible to offer lenses for reading these two chapters in a coherent way, all the while being fully aware of the difficulty of discerning precisely the coherent shape of what the Spirit was guiding Matthew to write.

A common theme unites , and this theme also binds together chapters 8 and 9 (both of which show Jesus’ ministry of deed) with the Sermon on the Mount (his ministry of word).

The theme is that of Jesus’ authority and how people react to it.

As both the content of the Sermon on the Mount and the crowds’ response to the Sermon in 7:28–29 reveal, in his teaching Jesus claimed an unparalleled, unconditional, divine authority: “for he was teaching them with the conviction that he had authority, and not as their scribes [taught]” (7:29).

ὡς ἐξουσίαν ἔχων—The construction of ὡς plus a participle “sets forth the ground of belief on which the agent acts, and denotes the thought, assertion, real or presumed intention, in the mind of the subject of the principal verb or of some other person mentioned prominently in the sentence, without implicating the speaker or writer.”

What astonishes the crowds is Jesus’ own attitude, Jesus’ claim to speak with authority.

Hence the translation is that Jesus was teaching them “with the conviction that he had authority.”

Moreover, one may describe Jesus’ disciples (in contrast with the crowds) as those who have been given the faith both to know and trustingly to accept Jesus’ authoritative revelation (see the commentary on 7:28–8:1).

Matthew brings the Sermon on the Mount to its conclusion by providing a final frame that corresponds closely to the narrative that led up to the Sermon (4:25–5:2).

There the Son of God and Messiah had gone up the mountain to deliver truth and revelation with divine authority.

Now, having completed “these words” (7:28), Jesus goes down the mountain.

Jesus’ disciples had come to him and formed the inner circle to whom his teaching was addressed (5:1–2).

The crowds, however, were also present, and Jesus offered his teaching also to them, as 7:28–29 explicitly says: “The crowds were being astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them with the conviction that he had authority.”

Just as great crowds had begun to follow Jesus in the wake of his preaching and healing and ministry of exorcisms (4:24–25), those crowds continue to follow Jesus (8:1).

The crowds follow Jesus, but they have not yet begun to understand or to believe in Jesus’ claim to authority.

Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, the crowds remain a transitional group when compared to Jesus’ disciples on the one hand and the various religious leaders of Israel on the other hand.

Although the crowds follow Jesus physically, they do not indicate that they have begun to believe, even imperfectly, that he is the Messiah of Israel and the man who is bringing God’s gracious rule and reign into history.

The crowds remain ambivalent, outside God’s reign in Jesus.

One thing is clear to the crowds, however, and that is Jesus’ evident conviction about the authority of his own words.

None of their scribes taught with such conviction.

Nor should they have.

Any authority that a scribe might possess in his teaching would be completely derived from the authority of the Scriptures.

Any other teacher in Israel would need to substantiate what he proclaimed by citing from God’s Word.

Jesus, however, teaches God’s Word from out of himself, with unfettered power and divine authority, and the crowds were astonished at this.

This is what lies at the heart of the life of discipleship: the authority of Jesus.

In a wonderful narrative fashion, much of chapters 8 and 9, which follow the Sermon, will recount how Jesus ministered to, healed, and forgave those who came to him and acknowledged his authority.

As the individual units in those chapters show, and as the commentary on them will attempt to extol, Jesus comes with authority for those who are in need.

His is the authority of grace.

His power is precisely the power to restore, forgive, heal, and make whole.

The crowds merely marvel that Jesus claims such authority for himself and for his teaching.

However, Matthew will relate how individuals approach Jesus from out of the crowds and come with faith that Jesus does, indeed, possess the authority that he claims to possess.

He responds to those who have such simple faith by restoring and saving them.

With that kind of faith, disciples of all ages and times will receive the foundationally important teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

We acknowledge that Jesus does have the authority to say what he proclaims, to speak from the mountain with the voice of God himself, and that his words are true.

Occupying the primary place in the Sermon, both narratively and theologically, are the Beatitudes, where Jesus with authority speaks salvation and blessing (5:3–12).

To the sinners, to the poor in spirit, yes, even to those who are persecuted because of him, he promises the present blessings of the reign of heaven: the forgiveness of sins, fellowship with him and fellow believers, community during his ministry.

After his death and resurrection, Jesus, through his Word, his Baptism, and his Eucharist, gives to all generations of believers the present blessings of forgiveness, everlasting life, and salvation, and the power of the Holy Spirit for faith and life.

To those who are lowly, who look for his coming on the Last Day, who have begun to be merciful in him and to share the Gospel peace that they have received, Jesus also promises the future blessings of the reign of heaven: the resurrection, full sonship, complete comfort, eternal mercies, the gift of seeing God.

He promises these blessings with authority.

Then, following the blessing, Jesus calls us with authority and reveals the character of our calling as his disciples (5:13–7:12).

What person is there who having heard and received in faith the authoritative blessing of Jesus would turn away from the truth of his authoritative calling?

Jesus and his words are the source of life, both now and at the judgment.

Jesus disciples are not merely astonished at his claim to authority, as were the crowds.

We who are disciples believe in and submit to his authority, rejoice in it, and follow the Son of God.

In next recounting Jesus’ ministry of deed in 8:2–9:35, Matthew particularly emphasizes Jesus’ authority and the (mostly) believing response to that authority.

In the units in chapters 8–9, the term “authority” (ἐξουσία) occurs explicitly only in 8:5–13 and 9:1–8.

As Matthew presents the interaction between Jesus and the centurion, the verses are dominated by dialogue that builds to Jesus’ climactic declaration to the centurion in 8:13.

briefly sets the stage and prepares for the centurion’s opening words to Jesus.

This Gentile soldier addresses Jesus as “Lord” (8:6).

This is the typical way for Jesus’ disciples to speak to their Master; it suggests, but only suggests, that the centurion is approaching Jesus properly, with at least the essence of genuine faith.

And yet in the context of both the actual historical event and in the mid-first century AD context of Matthew’s hearers/readers, a question remains.

The man is a Gentile soldier.

Can this person know the one to whom he is speaking?

It was unusual enough for a leper to come out from the ambivalent crowds and approach Jesus (8:1–4).

How will Jesus respond to the statement of this Gentile soldier’s need?

The centurion has not yet asked Jesus for anything specific; he has only named the desperate condition of his servant (8:6).

The soldier’s brief statement of need and Jesus’ brief response give the Gospel’s audience the opportunity to learn more.

Dialogue will dominate the rest of the pericope.

Jesus responds with a question: “Shall I myself come and heal him?”

(8:7).

As suggested in the textual note on 8:7, the balance of evidence weighs slightly in favor of taking Jesus’ words as a question, rather than as a positive statement, “I will come and heal him.”

The evidence is not grammatical as much as it is contextual, historical, and cultural.

Modern Gentile readers of Matthew can easily forget how unexpected a thing it would be for Jesus, the Jewish Messiah who has come to fulfill the Scriptures of Israel, to enter the house of a Gentile soldier.

Matthew’s Gospel emphasizes, more strongly than the other canonical Gospels, Jesus’ Israelite lineage and his ministry as the true Israelite to and among the Jewish people.

Historically and culturally, then, it is easy to imagine that Jesus responds, “Are you asking me, the Messiah of Israel, to come to your house?”

If indeed Jesus’ words in 8:7 are a question, however, we should not think of Jesus as being reluctant to go to the house of a Gentile.

Rather, Jesus seems to want to discover more about the faith and the knowledge of this Gentile soldier who initially addresses him as “Lord” (8:6).

The conceptual parallels with Jesus’ interaction with the Canaanite woman (15:21–28) are extremely strong.

This Gentile woman addresses Jesus as “Lord” and with the messianic title “Son of David” (15:22).

Through his puzzling and drawn out interaction with her and with his disciples, Jesus learns (and Matthew’s readers/hearers learn) that the woman fully understands the nature of his ministry as the one who fulfills the Scriptures of Israel—on behalf of Israel’s lost sheep and for the salvation of the Gentiles too.

Just as Jesus drew out the faith and understanding of the Canaanite woman by his “delayed” response to her need, so his question to the centurion elicits the humble words from that soldier’s lips, “Lord, I am not worthy” (8:8).

With that humble beginning, the centurion responds at length.

In answer to Jesus’ question, the man replies with a small discourse that shows his stunning insight into the extent and the purpose of Jesus’ authority (8:8–9).

He does not regard himself, Gentile sinner that he is, to be worthy that the Lord should come under his roof.

Nor is such a thing even necessary.

This centurion is well aware of how real authority works.

The person in authority merely speaks, and his word carries the power to accomplish its purpose.

Even the centurion himself, who is only under an earthly, military authority, must obey those who speak to him.