Read: Matthew 8
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Chapter 7 of Matthew's Gospel concludes with the comment that Jesus "taught as one who had authority." In chapter 8, Matthew reveals that Jesus exercises authority in more areas than just the ministry of teaching. We see that Jesus has the authority to heal: He heals a leper, a suffering paralytic, a woman with a fever, and many who were diagnosed as demon-possessed (with even the evil spirits acknowledging Jesus' authority as the Son of God in verse 29). We also see that Jesus has authority over nature itself: He calms a storm that His disciples believed was threatening to drown them. Matthew lets us know that large crowds followed Jesus at that point in His ministry, yet even then Jesus let people know of the cost involved in following Him (verses 18-22). Matthew continues to show Jesus' fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy concerning the promised Savior/Messiah (verses 16-17).
This is a chapter of Scripture that reminds us again of the importance of details. When we read and study a passage from the Bible, we want to take the time to observe everything we can; when a writer includes unusual detail, there is always a reason behind it. Notice that when the man with leprosy came to Jesus for cleansing, Jesus healed him by reaching out His hand and touching him. Because of the fear of the spreading of skin disorders, and because lepers were considered "unclean" from a religious perspective, leprosy victims were supposed to be kept in strict isolation; no one was ever allowed under the Jewish law to touch a leper, and Jesus would have been within His rights at the time to refuse to even talk with the leper. Yet, Jesus touched the man and said, "Be clean," and the man was immediately cured of his leprosy. Jesus was willing to touch the untouchable, and in doing so He was willing and able to cure the seemingly incurable. While Jesus' act of touching the leper went against the prohibition of the Jewish law, Jesus nevertheless made sure that the leper did not violate that same law: Jesus told him to do what was commanded in the Old Testament law in order to be declared "clean" by the religious establishment (verse 4) and able to again take his place among his family and his people. Matthew shows Jesus' "comprehensive care" for the man.
The details of the passage reveal even more to us: Jesus declares that faith can be exercised even by non-Jewish Gentiles (such as the Roman centurion), while teachers of the Law and would-be disciples often lacked the faith needed to follow Jesus (verses 18-22). Some may think that Jesus was seemingly insensitive to the disciple that wanted to bury his father before following Him, but the truth is that, if the man's father had already died, the son would have been busy making and carrying out the funeral arrangements commanded in the law and by tradition. In this instance, the would-be disciple was probably expecting the death of his elderly father in the not-too-distant future and anticipating all of the work that would be necessary to settle the estate. When Jesus says, "Let the dead bury their own dead," He is stating that postponing a decision to follow Him until all of the "demands of life" are wrapped up is a fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus' identity and mission. Someone who is truly "spiritually alive" in their faith recognizes their immediate and lifelong need for Jesus...right in the middle of the "stuff of everyday life." It's when we feel that life leaves little room for Jesus that we MOST need to make room...in fact, we need to give Him ALL of the room. THAT is faith!
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