Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus’ Healings at Capernaum

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).

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

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:

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.

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

Like the disciples, we ask: what kind of man is this?

To quote Job 26:10-14, Jesus is the one who

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