Sermon #12: Jesus' Authority & Love

Jesus’ Healings at Capernaum

Matthew 8:14–15 CSB

14 Jesus went into Peter’s house and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 So he touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve him.

After Jesus came to Capernaum and healed the centurion’s servant, He came with Peter to his home; it is here that the healing took place.

Much like with the Leper, Jesus was forbidden by Law to touch her, and so chooses to touch her in order to heal her.

Like with the Leper, “the touch did not defile the healer, but healed the defiled” (EBC).

Matthew 8:16–17 CSB

16 When evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed. He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, 17 so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.

That night—not the day, because it was the Sabbath—Jesus continued to heal, even casting out demons.

In this day, an exorcist called on the power of a stronger, usually good spirit, to subdue or cast out a less powerful, malevolent spirit.

In the OT the otherly power which was called upon was that of God Himself or His angels, but here “Jesus exorcised demons by his commanding word with no apparent appeal to authority beyond himself” (EDB).

Jesus is the Head of the Divine Council—God Himself in the flesh—and the most powerful being above or beneath the firmament.

And Matthew says this is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53

Matthew 8:17 CSB

17 so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.

Isaiah 53:1–8 CSB

1 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion.

Although Matthew uses a different version of Isaiah 53:4, he means the same thing and points toward Jesus as our Great Physician and the one in whom the OT is fulfilled.

Back to Matthew, this time in Matthew 8:18-20

Because of Jesus’ healings, many people flocked to Him and wanted to follow Him:

Matthew 8:18–20 CSB

18 When Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea. 19 A scribe approached him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Some say that Jesus refuses the man because he is a teacher of the law, but that is very wrong—Jesus calls everyone to repentance and fellowship with Him.

As we spoke about in one of my previous sermons: being a disciple is about imitating Jesus, but “unlike even the humblest animals, Jesus has to wander from place to place depending on the kindness of men.”

So Jesus’ response was not a rejection of his request, but a challenge that sheds light on what it means to be Christ’s disciple—to be like Christ.

Matthew 8:21–22 CSB

21 “Lord,” another of his disciples said, “first let me go bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Again we see that following Jesus is about leaving all things behind and giving everything over to Jesus.

This is reminiscent of the calling of Jesus’ most loyal disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, in Matthew 4:18-22.

In Matthew 4, the Lord calls the Zebedee brothers—James and John— from their boat and they respond by leaving the boat, with both their catch and their father in it, on the shore and following Jesus without a word.

So just like Zebedee was left in the boat, and the boat was left on the shore, and their catch was left along with it, this fellow, if he is to follow Jesus, must leave everything—even his father.

And if we want to follow Jesus and be like Him, then we must give up everything in that pursuit—every passion and lust, every selfish ambition, and every carnal attachment. And God have mercy—each one of us has every one of those things, and we have them in abundance.

Jesus went on his way and… Matthew 8:23-27

Matthew 8:23–27 CSB

23 As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. 25 So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!” 26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”

Like the disciples, we ask: what kind of man is this? To quote Job 26:10-14, Jesus is the one who

Job 26:10–14 CSB

10 He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. 11 The pillars that hold up the sky tremble, astounded at his rebuke. 12 By his power he stirred the sea, and by his understanding he crushed Rahab. 13 By his breath the heavens gained their beauty; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14 These are but the fringes of his ways; how faint is the word we hear of him! Who can understand his mighty thunder?

This same God was with them in the boat, yet they were terrified and thought that this would surely be the end of them

All they had to do was have faith in Jesus, but instead they gave into their ignorance and their doubt

Jesus Christ is one who has all authority in heaven and earth

Jesus Christ is one whose entire life is dedicated to saving the lost and to loving His Church

Jesus Christ is willing to calm storms for you and bring peace and rest upon your heart

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then just say the word and He will reveal Himself to you

If you have sinned against Jesus Christ and disobeyed Him, then beg His forgiveness and He will readily forgive you

You see, at the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat, being tossed side to side by the same raging sea, and for those of us with Jesus near to us there is nothing to fear, but for those of us without Jesus, the raging sea is certainly something to fear