1716 | Matthew 8:28
Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men
8:28-34pp— Mk 5:1-17; Lk 8:26-37
28 When he ar rived at the other side in the re gion of the Gad a renes, a two de mon-possessed s men com ing from the tombs met him. They were so vi o lent that no one could pass that way. 29“ What do you want with us, t Son of God?” they shouted.“ Have you come here to tor ture us be fore the ap pointed time?” u
30 Some dis tance from them a large herd of pigs was feed ing. 31 The de mons begged Jesus,“ If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them,“ Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the wa ter. 33 Those tend ing the pigs ran off, went into the town and re ported all this, in clud ing what had hap pened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their re gion. v
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
9:2-8pp— Mk 2:3-12; Lk 5:18-26
9 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. w 2 Some men
brought to him a par a lyzed man, x ly ing on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, y he said to the man,“ Take heart, z son; your sins are for given.” a 3 At this, some of the teach ers of the law said to them selves,“ This fel low is blas phem ing!” b 4 Know ing their thoughts, c
Jesus said,“ Why do you en ter tain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is eas ier: to say,‘ Your sins are for given,’ or to say,‘ Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man d has au thor ity on earth to for give sins.” So he said to the par a lyzed man,“ Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, e who had given such au thor ity to man.
8:28 s Mt 4:24
8:29 t Jdg 11:12; 2Sa 16:10; 1Ki 17:18; Mk 1:24; Lk 4:34; Jn 2:4 u 2Pe 2:4
8:34 v Lk 5:8; Ac 16:39 9:1 w Mt 4:13
9:2 x Mt 4:24 y ver 22 z Jn 16:33 a Lk 7:48
9:3 b Mt 26:65; Jn 10:33
9:4 c Ps 94:11; Mt 12:25; Lk 6:8; 9:47; 11:17
9:6 d Mt 8:20
9:8 e Mt 5:16; 15:31; Lk 7:16; 13:13; 17:15; 23:47; Jn 15:8; Ac 4:21; 11:18; 21:20
9:11 f Mt 11:19; Lk 5:30; 15:2; Gal 2:15
The Calling of Matthew
9:9-13pp— Mk 2:14-17; Lk 5:27-32
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Mat thew sit ting at the tax col lec tor’ s booth.“ Fol low me,” he told him, and Mat thew got up and fol lowed him.
10 While Jesus was hav ing din ner at Mat thew’ s house, many tax col lec tors and sin ners came and ate with him and his dis ci ples. 11 When the Phar i sees saw this, they asked his dis ci ples,“ Why does your teacher eat with tax col lec tors and sin ners?” f
a 28 Some manuscripts Gergesenes; other manuscripts Gerasenes
waves mount up.” Jesus demonstrates his divinity. 8:28 – 34 Mark refers to one demonized individual rather than two( Mark 5:1 – 20). But Mark does not say there is only one, and he may focus on the spokesman and / or the more distressed of the two. 8:28 the region of the Gadarenes. A large province east and southeast of the Sea of Galilee( see map, p. 2558). A city within Gadara directly across the lake from Tiberias was Khersa, which could easily have been put into Greek as“ Gerasa.” Hence Mark 5:1 has“ Gerasenes.” Textual variants sometimes substituted“ Gergesenes” as yet another translation for residents of Khersa. tombs. Demonized individuals were so unclean and destructive that they were attracted to tombs. 8:29 What do you want with us, Son of God? Demons in the NT regularly recognize Jesus’ identity but fear him and try to ward him off. Because Jesus’ ministry will deal the death blow to the demonic realm but not yet entirely vanquish it— that remains for after his return— these demons ask if he has come“ to torture [ them ] before the appointed time.” 8:30 – 32 In keeping with this timetable, Jesus does not destroy the demons but permits them to enter a herd of pigs, which the demons in turn destroy. 8:30 herd of pigs. Typical Jewish reaction to this story, in a culture in which pigs were the most unclean of animals, probably ranged from laughter to a quiet recognition that the farmers, who should not have been raising pigs for food in the first place, got their appropriate comeuppance. 8:34 pleaded with him to leave their region. Reasons likely ranged from anger over the loss of the farmers’ livelihood to fear of Jesus’ power.
9:1 – 8 For the third straight time, a miracle calls even more attention to the question of Jesus’ identity than to what he will do for people. 9:1 own town. Capernaum( Mark 2:1), not Nazareth( cf. Matt 4:13). 9:2 sins. Sometimes Jesus links a person’ s affliction directly to their sins( e. g., John 5:14); sometimes he denies such a link( e. g., John 9:3). Neither relationship applies in all situations. 9:3 blaspheming. Simply declaring a person’ s sins forgiven would not have meant one was blaspheming. Priests did it regularly. But making such a declaration while bypassing the temple authorities and the biblical requirements for animal sacrifices was something only God could do. 9:5 easier. It is far easier to say,“ Your sins are forgiven” than“ Get up and walk” because the first of these commands cannot be disproved as easily. So to show that Jesus has the authority to make the easier claim, he demonstrates his miracle-working power that vindicates the harder claim. 9:8 The onlookers do not necessarily draw the correct conclusions about Jesus’ identity, concluding only that God had given remarkable“ authority to man.” 9:9 – 17 As in 8:18 – 22, Matthew punctuates his collection of miracles with teachings on discipleship: his own call to be an apostle and Jesus’ teaching about fasting. 9:9 – 13 Unlike the fishermen in 4:18 – 22, there is no indication in any of the Gospels that Matthew had any prior exposure to Jesus, though of course he may have. 9:9 Matthew. Mark 2:14 refers to him as Levi. It was common for people in Jesus’ day to have two or three names. Matthew may be using the name by which he became better known. the tax collector’ s booth. It was probably on the edge of Capernaum as a place for collecting tolls and / or customs duties. Jews would have despised Matthew, a Jewish middleman collecting levies for Rome. He may also have made his own living by charging higher fees than required and skimming the extra off the top for himself. 9:11 tax collectors and sinners. Lumped together, showing how notorious the former had become.