CHAPTER 8

(A.D. 31)

JESUS HEALS A LEPER

¹When He was come down from the mountain (this particular Message is now finished), great multitudes followed Him (this is the result of the authority with which He taught).

²And, behold, there came a leper (leprosy was then considered a symbol of sin) and worshipped Him (did so as Lord, recognizing Him as the Messiah), saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean (C hrist Alone can cleanse from sin, of which leprosy was a type).

³And Jesus put forth His Hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be you clean (this statement forever settles the Will of God as it regards Salvation and Healing; His touch did not cleanse him, but rather His Word; according to the Greek, by the time His Hand touched the man he was already clean; so, Jesus did not break the Law by touching a leper). And immediately his leprosy was cleansed (immediately upon the word I will being spoken).

⁴And Jesus said unto him, See that you tell no man (the Mission of our Lord in His First Advent was to deal with sin and suffer its judgment at Calvary; He suppressed anything that would hinder that purpose of Grace, and so forbade the man to publish the fact of his healing); but go your way, show yourself to the Priest, and offer the gift that Moses Commanded, for a Testimony unto them (the Law of the Cleansing of the leper is found in Lev., Chpts. 13 and 14).

HEALING OF THE CAPTAINS SERVANT

⁵And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum (His Headquarters), there came unto Him a Centurion (a Roman Captain over 100 men), beseeching Him (strongly requesting of Him, begging Him; Jesus came not only to cleanse Israel, but to liberate the Gentile as well, and, accordingly, the servant of the Roman officer was set free from his malady),

⁶And saying, Lord (the leprous Jew had called Jesus, Lord, and now, the Gentile Centurion calls Him Lord, proclaiming Him Lord of All), my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented (this disease was a paralysis with contraction of the joints, accompanied with intense suffering; the mans life was threatened).

⁷And Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him (the emphasis is not on the coming, but, instead, on the One Who is coming, Namely Christ; the I is emphatic, meaning, I can, and I will! once again, the I will settles the question regarding Divine Healing).

⁸The Centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof (probably his referral to being a Gentile): but speak the Word only, and my servant shall be healed (the Word of Christ was all that was needed, and the soldier knew that).

⁹For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it(the intelligence of this Centurion was remarkable; he argued that the soldiers had to obey him because in his person resided the authority of the Emperor, and, similarly, disease obeyed Jesus because in Him was the Authority of God).

¹⁰When Jesus heard it, He marveled (records one of the only two times He marveled; the faith of this Gentile, and the unbelief of the Jews [Mk. 6:6]), and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel (this is a portrayal of the fact that the Gentiles would accept Christ, while Israel would not).

¹¹And I say unto you (proclaims the acceptance of Christ by the Gentiles, and His rejection by the Jews), That many (Gentiles) shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven (would come into the Abrahamic Covenant [Gen. 12:1-3; Gal. 3:14]).

¹²But the children of the Kingdom (Israel) shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (would die without God, thereby going to Hell, because of rejecting Christ).

¹³And Jesus said unto the Centurion, Go your way; and as you have believed (believe, not doing), so be it done unto you. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

PETERS MOTHER-IN-LAW HEALED

¹⁴And when Jesus was come into Peters house (in Capernaum), He (Jesus) saw his wifes mother laid (Peters mother-in-law), and sick of a fever.

¹⁵And He (Jesus) touched her hand, and the fever left her (immediately): and she arose, and ministered unto them (prepared a meal).

DEMONS CAST OUT; MANY HEALED

¹⁶When the evening was come (when the Sabbath ended at sunset), they brought unto Him (Jesus) many who were possessed with devils (demons): and He cast out the spirits with His Word, and healed all who were sick:

¹⁷That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah (Isa. 53:4), saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bear our sicknesses (took our sin penalty and sicknesses).

TESTS OF DISCIPLESHIP

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment (instructions) to depart unto the other side (the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee).

¹⁹And a certain Scribe (expert in the Law of Moses) came, and said unto Him, Master, I will follow You wherever You go.

²⁰And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head (the Earth had room for foxes and birds, but not Christ; Son of Man refers to the fact that He will take back dominion, which was done at the Cross).

²¹And another of His Disciples (not one of the Twelve) said unto Him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father (take care of my father until he dies).

²²But Jesus said unto him (tone of censure), Follow Me (nothing must stand in the way); and let the dead bury their dead (let the spiritually dead bury their physically dead).

JESUS STILLS THE STORM

²³And when He was entered into a ship, His Disciples followed Him,

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

²⁵And His Disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish (He Alone can save us).

²⁶And He said unto them (the reason for their dilemma), Why are you fearful, O you of little faith (misplaced faith)? Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea (great power); and there was a great calm (O you of little faith occurs four times [care, Mat. 6:30; fear, Mat. 8:26; doubt, Mat. 14:31; reasoning, Mat. 16:8]).

²⁷But the men marveled (were astonished), saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him! (He is man, but as well He is God.)

THE GERGESENE DEMONIACS

²⁸And when He was come to the other side (eastern side of Galilee) into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed with devils (demons), coming out of the tombs (where they lived), exceeding fierce (maniacs), so that no man might pass by that way.

²⁹And, behold, they cried out (speaking to Christ), saying, What have we to do with You, Jesus, Thou Son of God? (The demons had more intelligence than do the disciples of modern thought.)Are You come here to torment us before the time? (Judgment [Rev. 20:1-3].)

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

³¹So the devils (demons) besought Him, saying, If You cast us out (since You are casting us out), suffer us to go away into the herd of swine (leave the men and inhabit the hogs).

³²And He said unto them, Go (proclaims His approval). 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 (the Sea of Galilee), and perished in the waters.

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

³⁴And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw Him (took a little while to find Him), they besought Him that he would depart out of their coasts (borders).