Chapter 8
- 1
- 1 When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
- 2
- And then a leper 2 approached, did him homage, and said, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."
- 3
- He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I will do it. Be made clean." His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
- 4
- 3 Then Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."
- 5
- 4 When he entered Capernaum, 5 a centurion approached him and appealed to him,
- 6
- saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."
- 7
- He said to him, "I will come and cure him."
- 8
- The centurion said in reply, 6 "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.
- 9
- For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
- 10
- When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel 7 have I found such faith.
- 11
- I say to you, 8 many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven,
- 12
- but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
- 13
- And Jesus said to the centurion, "You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you." And at that very hour (his) servant was healed.
- 14
- 9 Jesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
- 15
- He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him.
- 16
- When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits by a word 10 and cured all the sick,
- 17
- to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet: 11 "He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases."
- 18
- 12 13 When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side.
- 19
- A scribe approached and said to him, "Teacher, 14 I will follow you wherever you go."
- 20
- Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man 15 has nowhere to rest his head."
- 21
- Another of (his) disciples said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
- 22
- 16 But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."
- 23
- 17 He got into a boat and his disciples followed him.
- 24
- Suddenly a violent storm 18 came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep.
- 25
- They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! 19 We are perishing!"
- 26
- He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" 20 Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.
- 27
- The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?"
- 28
- When he came to the other side, to the territory of the Gadarenes, 21 two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road.
- 29
- They cried out, "What have you to do with us, 22 Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?"
- 30
- Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding. 23
- 31
- The demons pleaded with him, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine."
- 32
- And he said to them, "Go then!" They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned.
- 33
- The swineherds ran away, and when they came to the town they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs.
- 34
- Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.
Previous Chapter Next ChapterFootnotes
1 [8:1-9:38] This narrative section of the second book of the gospel is composed of nine miracle stories, most of which are found in Mark, although Matthew does not follow the Marcan order and abbreviates the stories radically. The stories are arranged in three groups of three, each group followed by a section composed principally of sayings of Jesus about discipleship. Matthew 9:35 is an almost verbatim repetition of Matthew 4:23. Each speaks of Jesus' teaching, preaching, and healing. The teaching and preaching form the content of Matthew 5-7; the healing, that of Matthew 8-9. Some scholars speak of a portrayal of Jesus as "Messiah of the Word" in Matthew 5-7 and "Messiah of the Deed" in Matthew 8-9. That is accurate so far as it goes, but there is also a strong emphasis on discipleship in Matthew 8-9; these chapters have not only christological but ecclesiological import.
2 [2] A leper: see the note on Mark 1:40.
3 [4] Cf Lev 14:2-9. That will be proof for them: the Greek can also mean "that will be proof against them." It is not clear whether them refers to the priests or the people.
4 [5-13] This story comes from Q (see Luke 7:1-10) and is also reflected in John 4:46-54. The similarity between the Q story and the Johannine is due to a common oral tradition, not to a common literary source. As in the later story of the daughter of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28) Jesus here breaks with his usual procedure of ministering only to Israelites and anticipates the mission to the Gentiles.
5 [5] A centurion: a military officer commanding a hundred men. He was probably in the service of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee; see the note on Matthew 14:1.
6 [8-9] Acquainted by his position with the force of a command, the centurion expresses faith in the power of Jesus' mere word.
7 [10] In no one in Israel: there is good textual attestation (e.g., Codex Sinaiticus) for a reading identical with that of Luke 7:9, "not even in Israel." But that seems to be due to a harmonization of Matthew with Luke.
8 [11-12] Matthew inserts into the story a Q saying (see Luke 13:28-29) about the entrance of Gentiles into the kingdom and the exclusion of those Israelites who, though descended from the patriarchs and members of the chosen nation (the children of the kingdom), refused to believe in Jesus. There will be wailing and grinding of teeth: the first occurrence of a phrase used frequently in this gospel to describe final condemnation (Matthew 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). It is found elsewhere in the New Testament only in Luke 13:28.
9 [14-15] Cf Mark 1:29-31. Unlike Mark, Matthew has no implied request by others for the woman's cure. Jesus acts on his own initiative, and the cured woman rises and waits not on "them" (Mark 1:31) but on him.
10 [16] By a word: a Matthean addition to Mark 1:34; cf 8:8.
11 [17] This fulfillment citation from Isaiah 53:4 follows the MT, not the LXX. The prophet speaks of the Servant of the Lord who suffers vicariously for the sins ("infirmities") of others; Matthew takes the infirmities as physical afflictions.
12 [18-22] This passage between the first and second series of miracles about following Jesus is taken from Q (see Luke 9:57-62). The third of the three sayings found in the source is absent from Matthew.
13 [18] The other side: i.e., of the Sea of Galilee.
14 [19] Teacher: for Matthew, this designation of Jesus is true, for he has Jesus using it of himself (Matthew 10:24, 25; 23:8; 26:18), yet when it is used of him by others they are either his opponents (Matthew 9:11; 12:38; 17:24; 22:16, 24, 36) or, as here and in Matthew 19:16, well-disposed persons who cannot see more deeply. Thus it reveals an inadequate recognition of who Jesus is.
15 [20] Son of Man: see the note on Mark 8:31. This is the first occurrence in Matthew of a term that appears in the New Testament only in sayings of Jesus, except for Acts 7:56 and possibly Matthew 9:6 (Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24). In Matthew it refers to Jesus in his ministry (seven times, as here), in his passion and resurrection (nine times, e.g., Matthew 17:22), and in his glorious coming at the end of the age (thirteen times, e.g., Matthew 24:30).
16 [22] Let the dead bury their dead: the demand of Jesus overrides what both the Jewish and the Hellenistic world regarded as a filial obligation of the highest importance. See the note on Luke 9:60.
17 [23] His disciples followed him: the first miracle in the second group (Matthew 8:23-9:8) is introduced by a verse that links it with the preceding sayings by the catchword "follow." In Mark the initiative in entering the boat is taken by the disciples (Mark 4:35-41); here, Jesus enters first and the disciples follow.
18 [24] Storm: literally, "earthquake," a word commonly used in apocalyptic literature for the shaking of the old world when God brings in his kingdom. All the synoptics use it in depicting the events preceding the parousia of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11). Matthew has introduced it here and in his account of the death and resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 27:51-54; 28:2).
19 [25] The reverent plea of the disciples contrasts sharply with their reproach of Jesus in Mark 4:38.
20 [26] You of little faith: see the note on Matthew 6:30. Great calm: Jesus' calming the sea may be meant to recall the Old Testament theme of God's control over the chaotic waters (Psalm 65:8; 89:10; 93:3-4; 107:29).
21 [28] Gadarenes: this is the reading of Codex Vaticanus, supported by other important textual witnesses. The original reading of Codex Sinaiticus was Gazarenes, later changed to Gergesenes, and a few versions have Gerasenes. Each of these readings points to a different territory connected, respectively, with the cities Gadara, Gergesa, and Gerasa (modern Jerash). There is the same confusion of readings in the parallel texts, Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26; there the best reading seems to be "Gerasenes," whereas "Gadarenes" is probably the original reading in Matthew. The town of Gadara was about five miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee, and Josephus (Life 9:42) refers to it as possessing territory that lay on that sea. Two demoniacs: Mark (5:1-20) has one.
22 [29] What have you to do with us?: see the note on John 2:4. Before the appointed time: the notion that evil spirits were allowed by God to afflict human beings until the time of the final judgment is found in Enoch 16:1 and Jubilees 10:7-10.
23 [30] The tending of pigs, animals considered unclean by Mosaic law (Lev 11:6-7), indicates that the population was Gentile.
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