January 8, 2008 - The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 8
General Comment: We will be on the road again with
Jesus. He has come down from the mountain, and the crowds are astounded at this
new teaching. Unlike the Pharisees (the Rabbis of Matthew's time)
who always cite a list of the previous opinions of others to
their teaching, Jesus' teaching is his own, it is fresh and penetrating. It
does not need a pedigree. As John's Gospel puts it, "I speak the words I
hear God speaking. I do the things I see God doing."
Matthew Chapter 8:1-17; 28-34 The Dawn of the Messianic Age
8:1-4 Jesus Cleanses a Leper
In Jesus' time the word "Leper" did not mean the
same as the terribly disfiguring Hansen's disease. Any kind of skin
ailment or rash, most of which were not life threatening or a contagion to
others, could be considered leprosy. In fact a person's house could be
considered leprous by virtue of mold on the walls - think of that the next
time you look at your bathtub! There were elaborate examination rituals performed
by the Priests by which a person could be certified as ritually clean
again and able to be reintegrated into society. In the meantime a leper would
be required to separate himself from others (not in a cave as portrayed in Ben
Hur), warn others away if encountered on the road or in the village. And, of
course, the leper was considered unclean with regard to the Holiness Code in
Torah. The Leper was an untouchable, cut off and shunned. Leviticus 13-14, in
the Holiness Code, details the description of leprosy and the ritual
determination that one is free from the "disease."
But here is Jesus, with the crowds following him and a leper
approaches. Any sane person in that day would run from the scene, perhaps
throw stones at the person to drive him away. The leper's proximity would
make anyone ritually unclean. The crowd shrinks back in a horror.
Jesus stops, he stands still, watching the man walk toward him then kneeling in
supplication. In a moment of faith or the hope that faith inspires, the
man understands the possibility. "...Lord, if you choose, you can make me
clean." Jesus does choose, and he reaches out and touches the leper
and his leprosy is cleansed.
If we cannot move beyond questions of the miraculous we will
fail to understand this human drama. Here is a man who has been cut off from
his family, community, the Synagogue and Temple itself. He is desperate and
alone. But this Jesus, with his willingness to see beyond the Law to the
God who gave it, breaks all conventional wisdom, he touches the leper. In doing
so he has healed the breach in fellowship in which this man had been forced to
live. He is now ready to present himself to the Priest with his offering,
to be certified as ritually clean and to return to his place among
the people. A marginalized, outcast man, but not in the eyes of Jesus who
has at once been obedient to Torah by sending the man to the Priest
and obedient to his understanding of God's desire for compassion and human
wholeness, in body and spirit. He who had been a leper, will now be made
whole.
Matthew 8:5-13 Healing the Centurion's Slave
The Centurion is a Roman officer, the leader of 100
soldiers, stationed in the border area of Capernaum, where Jesus lives. As a
Roman, a member of an occupying Army, he is the hated enemy. He
is also a Gentile, and for that he earns from the citizens of
Capernaum the contemptuous epithet of "Dog." No one comes near a
Roman soldier. And a Roman soldier would prefer not to come to close to a
Jew except to quell a riot and to maintain order.
But this one is different. Perhaps he is a "God
fearer," the term used for a Gentile who has been drawn to the
God of Judaism but has not converted. Whatever the case, he knows of Jesus and
he has heard that Jesus is a healer. The Centurion is in need of a
healer. His slave lies paralyzed and in pain. He comes to Jesus and
appeals to him on behalf of his slave. When Jesus offers to go to the
Centurion's house to heal the slave the officer demurs. He is a man
who gives orders and they are immediately obeyed. Just say the word, Jesus and
my slave will be healed. Jesus is amazed! This Roman occupier, this ritually
unclean Gentile, cares about a slave, one over whom he has the power of
life and death, one who could simply dispose of one who can no longer meet
his needs, yet he cares. Jesus looks intently at this Roman
warrior. It is faith that he sees, a faith such as Jesus has not seen
in all Israel. This is the faith God is looking for as the model for those
who would inherit the Kingdom. This is the compassionate soul of justice
God desires, and it is found in this Gentile Roman enemy. Can such a man who
can love a slave, a piece of property, worth only the outcome of his endless
toil be turned away? Not by Jesus. The one who touches a leper of Israel to
make him whole will do so - even from a distance - for a slave of a Roman
who cares more for that sick slave than all the people of the leper's village
cared for him. "And the slave was healed in that hour."
Matthew 8:14-17; 28-9:1 Good versus Evil
These two sections introduce us to the ancient belief
in and exorcism of demons. In Jesus' time the world - the universe - was
locked in a cosmic battle between the demonic forces of Satan and the
angelic forces of God (more dramatically portrayed in the Book of
Revelation). Demons were those disembodied spirits that roam through the
darkness of night, in grave yards and other unclean places. Demons take every
opportunity of sin to take possession and control of the person's body.
Many forms of sickness were thought to be caused by such possessions -
insanity, epilepsy, blindness, paralysis, to name but a few. It is a belief
which has existed for centuries, even to our own time as evidenced in the
existence of rituals for exorcism, and the usual dramatic fair of some
televangelists .
It is well attested in Jewish literature (Talmud, Mishnah),
referring to Jesus' time, that there were Jewish Exorcists who used elaborate,
formula incantations to drive out the demons. Jesus also was an exorcist
on occasions. We note in the first story that Jesus casts out the demons with
but a word, a loud word. In the second and more elaborate story the demons
know who Jesus is and cry out to him, "What have you to do with us, Son of
God?" However, if we linger too long on sorting out the reality of demons
we might miss what Matthew would have us see. First we are to be reminded
of the story of Jesus' temptation in which Jesus overcomes Satan's attempt to
enlist him into the "evil empire." These exorcism
stories are told as proof that the victory over evil has now begun. The
second story is particularly dramatic in that it takes place in Gentile
territory, the two "demoniacs (possessed persons) are among the tombs
(grave yard) and swine are involved. If one ever wanted to meet a demon
that would be the place to be. And there Jesus is: just as he cleanses the
rejected leper, just as he heals a Gentile Roman's paralyzed slave, here Jesus
has again "crossed the line" that separates us from them, the
not-so-acceptable from the rest of us. It is not an uncommon line of
demarcation in our own day. Jesus touches, speaks to, seeks out.
God's justice, God's regard for compassion in concrete forms, drives him to it.
It is the right, the righteous thing to do.
Matthew 8:18-22 The Would-Be Followers
Being a disciple, a "follower" of Jesus these days
is often defined in casual terms. We would like to be a disciple, but only when
we have free time - free from what else we would like or need to do. We
schedule it into an otherwise busy life. There doesn't seem to be much of
an urgency implied in the disciple's job description. In this paragraph
Jesus encounters two prospective followers on the road Jesus is traveling, the
road to the cross. One is a Scribe - well educated and engaged as an interpreter
of Torah. He says he will follow Jesus, and as a reminder of what that might
cost Jesus paints the picture of the hardships of being on the road with him,
where even he, the Son of Man and Messiah, already faces deprivations. We
are meant to conclude that the Scribe returned to his parchments and
comfortable room. The second is a disciple, one with a minimal level of
commitment. He is prepared to follow Jesus on the road but asks leave
to bury his father who has just died. One of the most sacred of a Jewish
familial duties was to see to the burial of their parents. In what
seems astonishingly harsh and insensitive, Jesus expresses the absolute
priority of spreading the word that the reign of God is at hand. After 2000
years it is difficult to capture the intensity of such a call. Let the
spiritually dead bury the dead! As for you, follow me.
Matthew 8:23-27 Stilling the Storm
Most people quickly skip over this story as a fanciful bit
of folk lore. To do so is to miss the point. The earliest Christian
writers' (the so-called Church Fathers) interpreted this text as a
reference to the Church. Often found in the catacombs, the image of
the small fishing vessel being tossed about on the stormy sea was a
revealing representation of the situation of the Church toward the end of
the first century, buffeted by Roman persecution, internal schisms and
Synagogue hostilities. It was like being on the stormy sea about to be swamped
by the waves. It was into this stormy time that the early Christians were exhorted
to have faith, faith and courage that Christ is with the Church in
and through all things. It is not that such a presence of Christ offers a
barrier withstanding these storms, but that Christ is in the
Church in life as well as in death. It was a time when such a
presence was sorely needed.
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There are many lessons in Matthew's words, perhaps many
questions we should be asking ourselves. The healing miracles may not be
something we can duplicate in any literal sense, but there is a deeper
dimension in the act of healing that is open to all of us. To heal is to make
whole. To make whole can be to facilitate reconciliation, to help mend the
broken communion among and between people, perhaps even those close to us
with whom mending is needed. When we act, as Jesus would act, in an accepting
way, with a touch, a smile and words of encouragement, we can help dissolve the
barriers that separate us, barriers built on the weakest of pretenses. In the
storms that rage in peoples lives, we can be Christ present to others, perhaps
as an anchor, a reminder that we share a common humanity.
In the cosmic battle between good and evil, we are wounded
soldiers, with no clear understanding of what weapons we can wield. There is
but one on which we can rely and that is a clear understand that it is
God's cause in which we stand, the cause of a world in which justice,
mercy and compassion reign. It is but a dream, this reign of God for which
Jesus died, but dreams do come true when dreamers are willing stake their lives
on their fulfillment. Not in our lifetime, that is a certainty, but each
step we take on the path that Jesus trod, will get us one
step closer.
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