Sermon Tone Analysis

Chapter 8

The following material is adopted from John MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew and his Study guide.

Additional material taken from sources listed at the end

Read and summarize

Look for

— Prayers ( Blue )

— Promises ( Green )

— Warnings ( Red )

— Commands ( Purple )

Introduction

MacArthur

Matthew 8 begins where chapter 4 leaves off, with the Sermon on the Mount as a sort of parenthesis in between.

At the end of chapter 4, Jesus was going about “all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people” ( 4:23 ).

His fame spread ( 4:24 )

In establishing Jesus’ messiahship, Matthew demonstrated Jesus’ legal qualification through His genealogy, His prophetic qualification through the fulfillment of prophecy by His birth and infancy, His divine qualification by the Father’s own attestation at His baptism, His spiritual qualification by His perfect resistance to Satan’s temptations, and His theological qualification through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount

Q: How does Jesus’ healings fit into Matthew’s Gospel?

Now, in chapters 8 and 9 Matthew dramatically sets forth another qualification: Jesus’ divine power.

These two chapters are critical to understanding the life and ministry of Christ.

Matthew’s purpose in recording these miracles, like Jesus’ purpose in performing them, was to confirm His deity and His claim to be the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world.

— Matthew focused on Jesus’ authority in both teaching and healing:

“28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

( 7:28-29 )

“8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.” ( 9:8 )

Jesus’ Power over Disease ( 8:1-5 )

— Matthew’s purpose in recording these miracles, like Jesus’ purpose in recording them, was to confirm His deity and His claim to be the Messiah and Savior of the world

— In treating those with physical needs, Jesus revealed the compassion of God toward those who suffer in life

— In each case Jesus responded to direct appeals for help

— In each of the first three miracles, He acted by His own will ( 8:3, 13, 15 )

— He showed special compassion toward those for whom society had special disdain; a leaper, a slave and a woman

Q: Should we expect God to heal today?

Does God heal today?

— It is not an academic question!

— Jesus’ healings were exceptional, not normative

“33 And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke.

And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” ( 9:33 )

— His healings were evidence that He was the promised Messiah

“17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.””

( 8:17 )

— The text doesn’t answer the question, “Will Jesus heal me?”

— It answers the question “Who was Jesus”

— John the Baptist asked the question, “Is Jesus the Messiah?”

“4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” ( 11:4-5 )

Will God heal me?

— Will Jesus heal me?

My Spouse?

— The biblical answer is maybe

— Some say that if you have faith you will be healed

— If that were true, we would have 200 year old Christians running around

— But the truth is that everyone eventually dies, if those who Jesus healed, including Lazarus

— This is only 1/2 the story: Jesus does heal today

— The bible challenges us to pray for the sick

“13 Is anyone among you suffering?

Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone among you sick?

Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

( Jm 5:13-15 )

His healings are anticipatory

— Jesus’ healings are a foreshadow of the coming kingdom

— “The already/not yet” kingdom of God

— As believers, we have, as Hebrews tell us, “5 ... tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,” ( Heb 6:5 )

— Isaiah tells us that in the millennial kingdom we will live to an old age

“20 “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.”

( Is 65:20 )

— J. Vernon McGee says, we will not need nursing homes in the Millennial kingdom.

If you die at 100, you’ll die as a youth.

If you die that young, it is assumed God took your life because of sin

— Healing are a taste of the future when we will all be made whole

— Why have some been given a taste of the future and others have not?

We have to leave that with God

Jesus as the Great Physician

— Let’s look at these three great healings

— The leaper

— The centurion’s servant

— Peter’s mother

The Wretched Man: A Leper ( 8:1-4 )

( 8:1-4 ) When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.”

Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

— As we noticed earlier, Matthew is not chronological but topical; we don’t know exactly where and when this miracle happened.

It is enough to know that this act of sympathy “was not done in a corner” ( cf.

John 11:47; Acts 4:16; 26:26 ).

There were many eye-witnesses

— Leprosy, like AIDS today, was a terrifying disease because there was no known cure.

In Jesus’ day, the Greek word for leprosy was used for a variety of similar diseases, and some forms were contagious

— Today we call it Hansen’s Disease

Socially Marginalized

— The physical aspect of the disease wasn’t the biggest problem

— The biggest problem was that the person was socially marginalized, not a part of the community

“46 He shall be unclean.

All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean.

He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

( Lv 13:46 )

— Outside the camp meant to be outside of the presence of God

— Social alienation

— This person was treated as if they were dead

“7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy?

Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.”” ( 2 Ki 5:7 )

— Miriam was struck with Leprosy when she attempted to usurp Moses’ position of leadership