Matthew 8

1 – 2

When Jesus came down from the hill, great crowds followed him. 2 Then a man sick with a harmful skin disease came to Jesus. The man bowed down before him and said, “Lord, you have the power to heal me if you want.”

This man is saying that it is ok with him if Jesus does not heal him. This is what God is looking for when we ask Him something. We need to say, “You know what is best Lord. All I am asking is that You do what You know is best. Anything You want to do with me is ok with me!”

3 – 4

Jesus touched the man and said, “I do want to heal you. Be healed!” And immediately the man was healed from his skin disease. Then Jesus said to him, “Do not tell anyone about what happened. But go and show yourself to the priest. And offer the gift that Moses commanded for people who are made well. This will show people that you are healed.”

The Old Testament said that if a man was healed of leprosy he should go and show himself to the priest. Jesus wanted this man to be a witness to the Jewish priests. They would remember that the Old Testament said the Messiah would heal.

5 – 9

Jesus went to the city of Capernaum. When he entered the city, an army officer came to Jesus and begged for help. The officer said, “Lord, my servant is at home in bed. He cannot move his body and is in much pain.”

Jesus said to the officer, “I will go and heal him.” The officer answered, “Lord, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. All you need to do is command that my servant be healed, and he will be healed.

I myself am a man under the authority of other men. And I have soldiers under my command. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes. I tell another soldier, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and my servant obeys me.

This man knew that Jews are not supposed to come to his house so he was being very thoughtful of Jesus.

10 – 12

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He said to those who were with him, “I tell you the truth. This man has more faith than any other person I have found, even in Israel. Many people will come from the east and from the west. They will sit and eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. And those people who should have the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. In that place people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.”

Sometimes people who do not know the Lord trust Him in certain ways that we do not!

13. Then Jesus said to the officer, “Go home. Your servant will be healed just as you believed he would.” And at that same time his servant was healed.

Sickness has to do what Jesus says in the same way that the soldiers had to do what this army officer said!

14 – 15

Jesus went to Peter’s house. There Jesus saw that Peter’s mother-in-law was in bed with a high fever. Jesus touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she stood up and began to serve Jesus.

Being healed so that we can serve is a normal part of the Christian life.

16 – 17

That evening people brought to Jesus many who had demons. Jesus spoke and the demons left them. Jesus healed all the sick. He did these things to make come true what Isaiah the prophet said: “He took our suffering on him. And he felt our pain for us.”

It is true that there is healing in Christ. There is not only healing for the sick in the body but healing for your mind also. We see many in the Bible who were not healed so we know that God has a reason.

Some teachers say that everyone must be healed or else they do not have enough faith. This is not the reason because there are many who were healed before they even showed any faith.
We pray for the sick and we ask for God’s mercy and wisdom to know what is behind this sickness. Isaiah 53:4

18 – 20

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he told his followers to go to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, I will follow you any place you go.”
Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes to live in. The birds have nests to live in. But the Son of Man has no place where he can rest his head.”

Jesus is showing that we need to think about all the things that will change as we follow Him completely.

21 – 22

Another man, one of Jesus’ followers, said to Jesus, “Lord, let me go and bury my father first.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the people who are dead bury their own dead.”

The Jews buried people very soon after they died so if this man’s father had just died he would not be standing and talking to Jesus. What this means in the Jewish culture is that the man is saying, “I will follow Jesus after my parents pass away.”

23 – 25

Jesus got into a boat, and his followers went with him. A very bad storm arose on the lake. The waves covered the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The followers went to Jesus and woke him. They said, “Lord, save us! We will drown!”

Jesus had already told them that they were going to the other side. After God teaches us something that will be a test to see if we were listening.

26. Jesus answered, “Why are you afraid? You do not have enough faith.” Then Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the sea. The wind stopped, and the sea became very calm.

First He rebuked the wind and the waves, and then He rebuked the disciples. When Jesus tells you that you are going somewhere then it does not matter if a storm tries to stop you. He had just told them to listen to what they were told and they did not listen carefully.

27. The men were amazed. They said, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

Elijah learned that God was not in the storm but He speaks quietly to us. 1 Kings 19:12

28 – 29

Jesus arrived at the other side of the lake in the country of the Gadarene people. There, two men came to Jesus. They had demons in them. These men lived in the burial caves. They were so dangerous that people could not use the road by those caves. The two men came to Jesus and shouted, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Did you come here to punish us before the right time?”

People say that Jesus has nothing to do with their problem. Today we are told that people with confused minds have to go to a professional doctor because pastors only know the Bible and cannot help with problems of the mind.

The church today has accepted this and pastors now send people to a doctor who has no idea what he is doing and gives the people medicine to make them sleepy so that they do not have to live a real life anymore. Do you see the plan of the devil in this?

Have you been angry at God and said the He has nothing to do with your problem? Has the devil said that God is angry at you and is torturing you? People say, “God, why are You doing this to me?” when it is the devil who is doing these things. The Bible says that we are the bride of Christ. Can you think that Jesus would torture His bride with anger?

30 – 31

Near that place there was a large herd of pigs feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you make us leave these men, please send us into that herd of pigs.”
Demons will not leave any place that has been given to them. Jews are not supposed to eat pigs so we see that they had given this area to the demons. The demons knew this and asked Jesus that if they could not stay in the man then could at least keep the area as their own because the people had given it to them. We need to take back any area that we have given to the devil. See Ephesians 4:27.

32 – 34

Jesus said to them, “Go!” So the demons left the men and went into the pigs. Then the whole herd of pigs ran down the hill into the lake and were drowned. The men who were caring for the pigs ran away and went into town. They told about all of this and what had happened to the men who had demons. Then the whole town went out to see Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their area.

It is sad to see how people do not care when they see someone has been set free from an evil life. They are only thinking of themselves. They think that God did these things to punish them and they do not see that they also need to be free from their own chains of sin.

They would rather have things stay as they were and not have Jesus stay around to make a change in their lives. Sometimes we will try to do everything our own way first and wait as long as possible before asking Jesus to help us!

These are Jews who living on the wrong side of the Jordan River. They did not want the land that God has promised to them!