The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 8

¹ When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

The Sermon on the Mount began in chapter 5 and ended in chapter 7. After he had finished the sermon, he came down from the mountain and the people who were there listening to him followed him. His sermon was like nothing they had ever heard before.

² And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

The leper came to Jesus, worshiped him and said, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” It was like saying “Lord, if you are willing, would you heal me of this leprosy.”

³ And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Jesus touched this man with leprosy, something that most people back them would not have done. Lepers were forced to leave their families and live with the other lepers outside the city…and they were considered to be the lowest of people. Our Lord Jesus touched this man and healed him of his leprosy.

⁴ And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Jesus instructed him to go to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony before the priest. If you read Leviticus 14:1-14 you see it’s a cleansing of the leprosy as God instructed Moses.

• Leviticus 14:1-14
  ¹ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
  ² This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
  ³ And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
  ⁴ Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
  ⁵ And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:
  ⁶ As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:
  ⁷ And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.
  ⁸ And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.
  ⁹ But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.
  ¹⁰ And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.
  ¹¹ And the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
  ¹² And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord:
  ¹³ And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy:
  ¹⁴ And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

⁵ And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

This professional officer in the ancient Roman army was over between 80-100 soldiers. His job was to train them and command them. It was a very important position to hold. He has servants also and could have sent one of them to find Jesus and ask him to heal this servant who has the palsy, but he didn’t… he went himself. This shows the care the Centurion had for his servants.

⁶ And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

He told Jesus that his servant was sick of the palsy and was grievously tormented. The Centurion clearly respected his servants and loved them enough that their problems were his problems.

⁷ And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

⁸ The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

The Centurion didn’t have a doubt about Jesus being able to heal his servant. He humble and honored Jesus, “I’m not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.”

⁹ For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

The Centurion had the faith that his servant would be healed if Jesus said so… he didn’t need Jesus to come to his house and lay hands on servant in order to feel like Jesus had healed him.

¹¹ And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

¹² But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹³ And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

The Centurion wasn’t just paying lip service and claiming her believed hoping the claim alone would count as faith, he truly believed Jesus could heal his servant just like that, without even coming to his house and seeing them. Jesus said, ” Go your way and as you believe, it’s going to be done.” His servant was healed right away.

¹⁴ And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

¹⁵ And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

¹⁶ When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

Another reason we need to know the word of God, it’s our weapon in spiritual battles. The sword of the spirit is the Word of God…and when we use it we proclaim the word of God and affirm that we align our beliefs with the word. We stand in obeyance of God’s word. We state in action and word that we believe in the Word of God and stand on the truth…thereby rejecting the lies of the enemy. The word says “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 When we stand on his word, we resist the devil.

¹⁷ That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

• Isaiah 53:4-5 ⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

¹⁹ And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

²⁰ And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

²¹ And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

²² But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

²³ And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

²⁴ And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

²⁵ And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

²⁶ And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

²⁷ But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

²⁸ And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

(Ger-ga-seenz)

• Googling “Exceeding fierce” describes an extreme, dangerous, or uncontrollable intensity, famously used in Matthew 8:28 to depict demon-possessed men so violent that no one could pass by them. It signifies a level of violence, ferocity, or savagery that goes beyond normal limits, often implying a demonic or highly dangerous, uncontrollable nature. 

²⁹ And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

• These fierce acting demons that possessed these men …who were so violent and savage acting people were afraid of them… reacted to Jesus by asking if he was coming to torment them before their time.

³⁰ And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

³¹ So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

• These demons asked Jesus to cast them into the swine. I’ve heard they were cast into the swine because Jews were not supposed to own or raise pigs Leviticus 11:7-8 ⁷ And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.⁸ Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.

³² And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

³³ And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

³⁴ And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

• Instead of coming out to praise Jesus for delivering the 2 men possessed of the devil that was causing terror to others with their fierce behavior, not to mention the destruction in the lives of the 2 who were possessed… the town folk came out to ask Jesus to leave because the loss of the swine caused a signifcant financial loss to them.
• The next verse in Matthew Chapter 9:1 ¹And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. Jesus got on the ship and left.