Matthew 8:14-17

Introduction

Have You Ever Heard the Story About the King Whose Palace was Overrun With Mice?

He Had Mice Everywhere!

In the Kitchen, Dining Hall, Pantry

In the Bedrooms, Closets, Bathrooms

They Were Everywhere, and He Had to Come Up With a Solution

So He Got Some Cats to Run Off the Mice

They Did Their Job, But Then He Couldn’t Get the Cats to Leave

So He Got Some Dogs to Run Off the Cats

But Then He Couldn’t Get the Dogs to Leave

So He Got Some Lions to Run Off the Dogs

But Then He Couldn’t Get the Lions to Leave

So He Got Some Elephants to Run the Lions Off

But Then He Couldn’t Get the Elephants to Leave

So You Know What He Did?

He Got Some Mice to Run Off the Elephants

Matthew 8:14-17

Matthew’s Gospel Account is Structured Around 5 Major Teaching Discourses of Jesus

We’ve Finished the First One (Sermon on the Mount)

And Now We are in a Middle Section Between the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ 2nd Discourse in Chapter 10

Here, Matthew is Telling Us About Some of the Miracles that Jesus Performed

Matthew’s Focus is to Show Us the Authority of Jesus Over Sickness and Demonic Forces

Matthew Structures These Miracles into 3 Groupings of 3 Miracle Stories Each

We are Now On the 3rd Miracles in the First Grouping

Matthew is Trying to Show His Readers Something Very Important About Jesus

He Reaches Out to Those Who No One Else Will

1st He Healed a Leper

2nd He Healed a Gentile’s Servant

And Now He is Going to Heal a Woman (Considered a 2nd Class Citizen in Jewish Society)

Matthew 8:14 (NASB)

When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.

Mark and Luke Tell Us that They Have Just Left the Synagogue

And Mark Tells Us This Took Place On the Sabbath Day

That Information Will Be Pertinent to Us in a Few Minutes

So Jesus Goes to Peter’s House

Mark and Luke Tell Us that this House Belongs to Both Peter and Andrew, His Brother

There are the Remains of 1st Century House in Capernaum that Many Believe was the House of Peter and Andrew

This Would Have Been the House Jesus Healed Many People In

Cast Out Many Demons In

And Taught Many People In

We Also Find Out in this Passage that Peter was Married

Because His Mother-in-Law Was Sick with a High Fever

Matthew 8:15 (NASB)

He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him.

Again Jesus Heals Someone By Touching Them

He Will Continue to Do This Throughout His Ministry

It Seems Like Many Religious Leaders Would Rarely Touch a Woman

They Wanted to Avoid Any Possibility of Becoming Unclean By Touching a Woman During Her Menstrual Cycle

But as With Each of These First 3 Miracles…

Jesus Isn’t Concerned With Becoming Unclean

He Touched the Leper

He Was Willing to Enter the Home of the Gentile

And He Touched the Woman

In Every Dealing With a Potentially Unclean Person…

Jesus Never Becomes Unclean

But the Unclean Always Become Clean

When Jesus Touched Her, She Immediately Became Well

Well Enough to Immediately Get Up and Start Working

In This Short Miracle Story, There is a Clear Chiastic Structure

Chiasm = A Literary Device Where a Sequence of Ideas is Presented and Then Repeated in Reverse Order

And the Part in the Middle of the Chiasm is the Main Point

A - He Saw His Mother-In-Law

B - Lying Sick in Bed

C - With a Fever

X - He Touched Her Hand

C’ - The Fever Left Her

B’ - She Got Up

A’ - [She] Waited On Him

The Situation Completely Reversed

What Caused Such a Transformation of Circumstances?

The Touch of Jesus

The Touch of Jesus Can Transform Our Circumstances Too

He Takes Away Our Spiritual Sickness that Leads to Our Eternal Death

And the Transformation that We See in Peter’s Mother-In-Law…

Is Exactly the Transformation Jesus Expects to See in Each of Us

We Were Helpless, Sick, and Dying

We Deserved No Healing, No Kindness, No Grace

But That is Exactly What He Has Given Each of Us

He Touched Us, Healed Us, Forgave Us…

By Being Punished and Dying For the Sins We Committed

We Had Nothing to Offer Him But Our Love and Devotion

And That’s All He Expects

By Placing Our Faith in Him as Lord and Savior…

By Dying, Being Buried, and Resurrecting With Him in Baptism…

We are Cleansed and Made New

And Like Peter’s Mother-In-Law…

We are Expected to Get Up and Serve Him

Mark and Luke Tell Us that She Served “Them”

But Matthew Tells Us She Served “Him”

Matthew Tells Us This Intentionally

This is an Illustration of Basic Discipleship

She Didn’t Serve Jesus in Order to Be Saved

She Served Jesus Because She Was Already Saved

Service to Christ is Not Something We Do to Be Saved

It’s Something We Do Because We are Saved

It’s the Only Appropriate Response to the One Who is Giving Us…

And Will Give Us Everything We Could Ever Dream Of

He Has Given Me Everything to Hope in and Live For

And So I Will Hope and Live in Him

Matthew 8:16 (NASB)

When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.

Mark Tells Us that the Whole City Gathered at the Door of Peter and Andrew’s House

And Mark Also Mentions that it was After Sunset

We Mentioned Earlier that the Healing of Peter’s MIL Happened On the Sabbath

Now People are Bringing the Sick and Demon Possessed to Jesus After Sunset

Why is That Worth Mentioning?

Because, to the Jewish People, One Day Ended and a New Day Began at Sundown

So it Was No Longer the Sabbath

Because of the Harsh Traditions of the Jewish Elders and Teachers…

The People Felt it Would Only Be Appropriate to Seek Healing After the Sabbath was Over

Matthew Emphasizes How Jesus Was Able to Cast Out Demons With Just a Word

This was Very Different Than the Drastice Measures Used By the Jewish Exorcists, Like:

Using Repulsive Odors to Drive the Demons Away

And Calling On More Powerful Demons to Drive Out the Lesser Demons

Sounds Like the King Who Wanted Rid of the Mice

Jesus’ Authority was Unlike Anything They’d Ever Experienced

With a Simple Command, Demons Were Forced to Obey His Authority

Matthew 8:17 (NASB)

This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”

Matthew Tells Us that Jesus’ Healing and Casting Out of Demons Was to Fulfill a Prophecy

The Prophecy Comes From Isaiah 53:4

Isaiah 53 is the Famous Prophecy of the Suffering Servant of God

Matthew Sees Jesus’ Miraculous Healings and Exorcisms as an Obvious Fulfillment of Part of This Prophecy

Isaiah 53:4 (NASB)

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

“Griefs” = “Sicknesses”

“Sorrows” = “Pain”

The Suffering Servant of God Would Take Away the Sicknesses and Pains of the People

(Put Matthew 8:17 Back Up)

Matthew May Have Been Using His Own Translation of Isaiah

“Infirmities” = “Weaknesses”

“Diseases” = “Diseases”

Regardless of the Exact Words Used…

Sicknesses, Pain, Weaknesses, and Diseases are All the Effects of Sin

And to the Jewish People, When the Messiah Arrived…

Sin and the Effects of Sin Will Be Dealt With

Matthew’s Overarching Theme that He Wants His Readers to Understand is This:

The Kingdom (Reign/Rule) of God Has Come

And it Has Come Through the Messiah, Jesus

And He Has Begun His Redeeming, Reconciling, and Renewing Work

Jesus Went Around and Restored People Who Had Been Damaged By the Effects of Sin

He Made Them a New Creation

And While On Earth, He Began His Work to Restore All Things that Had Been Damaged By the Effects of Sin

His Work to Make All Things New

Not Only Did He Make New the Physical Effects of Sin as We See in This Section of Matthew

But He Would Go On to Renew the Spirits of Individuals Who Had Been Overrun and Damaged By Sin

Renewing People Inwardly

Removing Sin and Guilt

Reconciling a Newly-Created Holy People to Their Holy God

The Recreation Under the Reign of God Began With Jesus’ Ministry

And it Continues Today While Our King Sits On His Thrown

And While We Still Live in a World Affected By Sin…

Sicknesses and Diseases Continue to Ravage Our Bodies…

Time Continues to Push Us Down into Our Graves…

We Know That He is Returning Someday

And When He Does…

Not Just Some, But All Sicknesses and Diseases Will Be Taken Away

All the Effects of Sin in This World Will Be No More

Old Age, Pain, and Entropy Will No Longer Affect Us

As the Prophets Told Us From So Long Ago…

God’s Kingdom Will Fill the Whole World

Death Will Be Destroyed

And Life Will Never End

The Healings, Casting Out of Evil Spirits, and Resurrections We See in Jesus’ Earthly Ministry…

Are Just a Tiny Foreshadowing of What is to Come

When God Reigns, This is What Happens

And Now, Like Peter’s MIL…

We Resurrect From Our Sickness of Sin and We Serve Him

We Live Our Lives in Total and Indescribable Gratitude to the One Who Has Begun His New Creation in Us

And We Wait Eagerly But Patiently For the Day When He Returns to Make ALL Things New