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B. CHRIST MANIFESTING HIS PROPHETIC OFFICE BY MIRACLES WHICH ATTEST HIS WORD. BUT IN HIS MIRACLES, AS IN HIS TEACHING, HE EXPERIENCES THE CONTRADICTION OF THE PHARISEES, AND IS ULTIMATELY REVILED. TRIUMPH OF CHRIST OVER THE OPPOSITION OF HIS ENEMIES, BY PREPARING TO SEND FORTH HIS TWELVE APOSTLES.—CH. 8, 9
Contents:—The miracles of the Lord, as the evidence of His prophetic office, misunderstood and reviled by the Pharisees and Sadducees. 1. Miracles of the Lord beyond the pale of the ancient theocracy: the leper and the heathen. 2. Miracles of the Lord proceeding from the circle of the new theocracy (the house of Peter): the mother-in-law of Peter, those who were possessed of evil spirits. 3. Miracles during His missionary journey: the disciples, the storm at sea. 4. Miraculous works, despite the opposition of the kingdom of darkness: the Gadarenes, the man afflicted with the palsy. 5. Miraculous works, despite the contradiction of legalism: Matthew Levi the publican, the feast with the publicans, and the twofold offence of the Pharisees and the disciples of John 6. Miraculous works in the face of utter despair and of death: the woman with the issue of blood, and the daughter of Jairus. 7. Miraculous works of Christ as the dawn of His work of redemption, in opposition to the hardening and the reviling of His enemies: the two blind men, and the person possessed with a dumb devil. 8. Royal preparation for the mission of Christ’s disciples, and triumph over those who reviled His prophetic office.
The leper, and the heathen, or the centurion of Capernaum. Miraculous works of Christ beyond the pale of the ancient theocracy.
Mat_8:1-13
The Gospel for the 3d Sunday after Epiphany.—Parallels:—The Leper: Mar_1:40-45; Luk_5:12-16 The Centurion of Capernaum: Luk_7:1-10)
5And when Jesus [he] was [had] entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only [only say in a word], and my servant shall be healed. 9For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down [recline at table] with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: 12But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into [the] outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
Mat_8:2. A leper.—(Comp. on the general subject of leprosy Michaelis: Mosaisches Recht, vol. iv. p. 227, Winer sub voce, and Ewald: Jüdische Alterthümer, p. 218.) Leprosy, öָøַòַú , ëÝðñá , as to its general character, is a disease peculiar to Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria, although it has penetrated as far cast as Persia and India, and as far west as Italy. A most frightful calamity, resembling in some respects the pestilence; only that the latter sweeps away its victims with great rapidity, while leprosy is slow in its ravages. These two diseases formed, so to speak the centre of all others, such as blindness, palsy, deafness, fevers, bloody flux, etc. Analogous to these physical sufferings were the various kinds of demoniacal possessions.—Causes. Leprosy is caused by bad air, want of cleanliness, bad diet, dyspepsia, infection (especially by cohabitation), or a hereditary taint. It sometimes continues to the fourth generation (2Sa_3:29), but the disease loses in intensity as it descends, and is generally confined in the fourth degree to ugly teeth, offensive breath, and sickly appearance.—Kinds and degrees. Leprosy is a form of skin disease. Four kinds of it were known—elephantiasis (an Egyptian disease, hence, ulcus Ægypti), black leprosy, white leprosy, and red leprosy. Hippocrates classified the different kinds of non-malignant eruptions as ἀëöüò , ëåé÷Þí , ëåýêç , and ëåðñáß . The first of these is the áֹּçַ÷ of Lev_13:39, which is quite harmless in its character, and disappears, without causing any pain, in a few months or years. We also read, in Lev_13:47, of a leprosy attaching to clothes (probably from small insects); and in Mat_14:34, of one attaching to houses. The symptoms of white leprosy, Barras, also known as lepra Mosaica,—the form of the disease peculiar to the Hebrews,—are sufficiently described in Leviticus 13. When the disease is decided in its character, it is either rapidly cured, or else spreads inward. In the former case, there is a violent eruption, so that the patient is white from head to foot (Lev_13:12; 2Ki_5:27); in the latter case, the disease progresses slowly, and the symptoms are equally distressing and fatal, ending in consumption, dropsy, suffocation, and death. The effects of elephantiasis are even more sad. It chiefly affects the lower part of the body, and the patient may live for twenty years. It stiffens the ankle (making the foot like that of an elephant, hence the name), stupefies the senses, produces melancholy, sleeplessness, terrible dreams (Job_7:14), insatiable voracity, and ends in fever or sudden suffocation.—Legislation on leprosy. The Mosaic law took special notice of leprosy. The priests were commissioned carefully to watch its inroads. The object in view was to protect the healthy portion of the community, to pronounce on the harmless character of any eruption which resembled leprosy, and to readmit into the community those who had been cured. No remedy was known for the disease itself: the leper was declared unclean, and excluded from intercourse with all other persons. He had to wear the prescribed mourning garment, Lev_13:45, but was permitted to associate with other lepers. Their abodes were commonly outside the city walls (Lev_13:46; Num_5:2); but they were allowed to go about freely, providing they avoided contact with other persons; nor were they even excluded from the services of the synagogue (Lightfoot, 862). In this respect we note a great difference between the synagogue and the temple. On recovering from leprosy, several lustrations had to be performed, Leviticus 14 The main points in the prescribed rite were, to appear before the priest, and to offer a sacrifice; the latter being preceded by religious lustrations, and introduced by a symbolical ceremony, in which the two turtles or pigeons bore a striking analogy to the scape-goat and the other goat offered in sacrifice on the day of atonement, Leviticus 16—In general, the ordinances connected with leprosy may be regarded as the type of all other directions in dealing with that which was unclean.—Symbolical significance. Accordingly, leprosy was regarded as the symbol of sin and of judgment (Num_12:10; 2Ki_5:26; 2Ki_15:5; 2Ch_26:20-23); also of inscrutable visitations, Job_2:7. On the other hand, recovery from leprosy was regarded as a symbol of salvation, as in the case of Naaman, 2Ki_5:2; comp. Psa_51:9, with Lev_6:7. The uncleanness, the gradual destruction of the system, the disgusting appearance, and the unexpected recovery by a full outbreak of the eruption,—and, again, the slow but sure progress of the disease, the isolation of those who were affected by it from the society of the clean, the infectious nature of the trouble, its long duration and hopelessness,—presented a variety of views under which sin and guilt with its consequences and effects, even upon innocent individuals, might be symbolized.
Mat_8:2. And worshipped Him—fell down before Him (on his face). “As in Mat_2:2; Mat_15:25, a sign of profound reverence. The leper regarded Jesus at least as a great prophet, though it is difficult accurately to define the measure of knowledge possessed by such believers (comp. Mat_8:8-10). Hence the import of this worship, and of the designation, ‘Lord,’ differed under various circumstances. Some regarded even the promised Messiah as a mere man (?), while others were fully aware of His Divine character.” Gerlach.
Mat_8:3. His leprosy was cleansed, ἐêáèáñßóèç .—By his being brought into contact with Him who was absolute purity.
Mat_8:4. Tell no man: Mar_1:44; Luk_5:14; comp. Mat_9:30; Mat_12:16; Mar_3:12; Mar_5:43; Mar_7:36; Mar_8:26-30; Mat_16:20; Mat_17:9.—The injunction of silence upon the persons cured arose, in all instances, from the same general motives. It was primarily dictated by a regard for the spiritual and physical welfare of such persons. Besides, to prevent popular excitement, and not to endanger the ministry of Christ, it was better to keep silence on these matters. But, in each special case, there was also a particular motive. Maldonatus, Grotius, Bengel, and others, suppose that, in the present instance, it was enjoined in order that no prejudice might be raised in the mind of the officiating priest against this recovery. Fritzsche and Baumgarten-Crusius hold that it indicated that the first duty of the leper was to show himself to the priest, before proclaiming abroad the miracle. Olshausen: Jesus issued this injunction mainly to persons who were in danger of being carried away; while in other cases, especially where the individual was by nature retiring and prone to self-contemplation, He commanded an opposite course, Mar_5:19. But the principal motive, as mentioned by Meyer (following Chrysostom), was, that Jesus wished to prevent a concourse of the people, and enthusiastic outbursts on their part. This, however, is not incompatible with any of the other motives; as, in the present instance, the person cured had to undertake a journey to the temple at Jerusalem (Fritzsche, Baumgarten-Crusius, Meyer). According to Maimonides, a person restored from leprosy had, in the first instance, to submit himself to the inspection of the priest of his district. He then underwent a second inspection after the lapse of seven days, after which he performed the customary lustration; and then journeyed to Jerusalem, where he offered the prescribed sacrifice, and was pronounced clean.
Mat_8:4. Show thyself to the priest.—Comp. the ordinances of purification in Leviticus 14.
For a testimony unto them.—Meyer: i.e., “unto the people, that thou art healed.” But we must not overlook the fact, that the leper had been declared unclean by the priests who were now to certify to his restoration, and that his showing himself was the evidence of this. The remark, “for a testimony that I do not destroy the law” (Chrysostom), is inapt; as also the view of Olshausen, that the testimony here referred to was that of the priests.
Mat_8:5. Ἑêáôüíôáñ÷ïò , centurio, a captain over 100, in the service of Herod Antipas.—According to Mat_8:10, a Gentile, although in all probability a proselyte of the gate. Comp. the intercession of the ruler of the synagogue on his behalf, in the Gospel according to Luke.—Proselytes, âֵּøִéí , ðñïóÞëõôïé , Sept. 1Ch_22:2; Mat_23:15; Act_2:10;—those Gentiles who adopted Judaism in a more or less restricted sense (Suidas: ἐî ἐèíῶí ðñïóåëçëõèüôåò ). According to the Gemara and the Rabbins, we distinguish,—I. Proselytes of the gate, âֵּøֵé äַùּׁòַø ; i.e., strangers who lived within the gates of Israel, had adopted the religion of the patriarchs, and conformed to what were called the seven Noachic commandments, which prohibited, (a) blasphemy; (b) the worship of the heavenly bodies, or idolatry; (c) murder; (d) incest; (e) robbery; (f) rebellion; (g) eating of blood and of things strangled (Act_15:20). They were also called ïἱ óåâὀìåíïé ( ôὸí Èåüí ), Joseph. Antiq. Mat_14:7; Mat_14:2; Act_13:43; Act_13:50; Act_16:14; Act_17:4, etc.—Instances: Cornelius, Lydia, the Ethiopian eunuch, etc. II. Proselytes of righteousness, âֵּøֵé äַöֶּãֶ÷ , who had submitted to circumcision, and thus become naturalized Jews. The distinction between these two classes was kept up at the time of Christ; when, indeed, the number of proselytes of the gate had greatly increased.—The two parallel cases of the centurion at the cross (Mat_27:54) and of Cornelius (Acts 10), will at once occur to the reader.
Mat_8:6. My servant, ὁðáῖòìïõ .—The slave, or domestic servant, as distinguished from the common soldier, who was only officially subject to him; but not a son (Strauss, Baumgarten-Crusius). From the more detailed narrative in Luke, we learn that he was held in special esteem by his master; which, indeed, may be gathered from this passage also. The servant is distinguished from the soldiers. The latter come and go as it were mechanically, according to the word of command; while the servant doeth as he is told—his master can intrust to his care the business in hand. Evidently the centurion had only this one servant ( Mat_8:9).
Sick of the palsy, ðáñáëõôéêüò .—There is a manifest analogy between the sick of the palsy and the demoniacs. The latter were deprived of their consciousness, or of the organ of the soul; while the paralytics were deprived of the use of their bodily organs. Those afflicted with epilepsy formed a kind of intermediate link between these two ailments, being occasionally deprived of the use both of their mental and bodily capacities, and, at other times, of either the one or the other. The ðáñáëõôéêïß are as it were physically dissolved ( ðáñáëåëõìÝíïé ), and prostrated on beds (Mat_9:2; Mar_3:3, etc.). Luther translates gichtbrüchig, which signifies only a particular kind of the general disease of paralysis. “Modern physicians apply the term paralysis to the loss of voluntary motion, or of sensation in some part of the body, the muscles being entirely relaxed. This constitutes the difference between paralysis and catalepsis and the various kinds of tetanus, in which the muscles are excited and rigid. In paralysis, the circulation of the blood, animal heat, and the ordinary secretions continue. The disease frequently comes on suddenly (after a stroke of apoplexy), at other times slowly and insensibly, but in every instance is difficult to remove.” Winer.
Mat_8:9. For I am a man ὑðὸἐîïõóßáí .— in service.—Meyer: “He adduces a twofold analogy: the obedience which he is bound to give, and that which he claims from his subordinates.” But the former cannot have been meant, as it would imply that Christ was also a subordinate in spiritual matters. The conclusion is, however, not simply a minori ad majus, in the sense that Christ ruled in spiritual, as the centurion in temporal matters; but also in this sense, that if he, a subordinate, could issue his commands, much more could Christ, the absolute Lord. Various opinions are entertained about the meaning which the centurion attached to the supremacy of Christ. Fritzsche understands it as applying to His sovereignty over the demons as the supposed authors of diseases; Wetstein, Olshausen, and Ewald, over angels; Baumgarten-Crusius, over ministering spirits; Meyer, over diseases, as subject to Christ. But the centurion must have referred to sway over subordinate personages, and not merely over diseases; nor could it here refer to demons, as his servant was not possessed by them. On the other hand, we can readily conceive how a Roman, who was just passing from heathenism to Judaism, would easily confound his Roman notions about genii with the idea of angels. Bengel: “sapientia fidelis ex ruditate militari pulchre elucens.” What gives such charm to the illustration is, that the centurion ever again recurs to his poor faithful servant. Some familiar servant of the Lord Jesus, he thinks, would suffice to restore his poor slave.—There was no need, he meant to say, for His personal attendance, since even he was not required always personally to superintend the execution of his orders. “Humility and faith always go hand in hand.” Meyer.
Mat_8:11. From the east and west.—Referring not only to Gentiles, but to the more distant of them, without distinction of nationality, Isa_45:6.—And shall sit down, or rather recline at table, according to Oriental fashion.—In the minds of the prophets, a symbolical meaning attached to this feast of Messiah, as portraying the blessedness enjoyed in the kingdom of heaven (Isa_25:6). In this sense Jesus here employs the simile, which He afterward expands, as in Luk_14:7; Mat_22:1; Mat_26:29. No doubt those around Him would understand the term in this manner. Meyer remarks: “According to Jewish notions, splendid banquets with the patriarchs formed part of the happiness enjoyed in Messiah’s kingdom. See Berthold, Christologie, p. 196, and Schöttgen, Hor. ad loc. The expression is employed in a figurative sense by the Lord (although His Jewish hearers would probably understand it literally).” This last clause is somewhat doubtful, as it would scarcely reflect favorably upon the wisdom of Christ. Meyer very properly calls attention to the contrast between this promise of Jesus and the pride of the Jews, as expressed in the following rabbinical saying: “In mundo futuro (dixit Deus) mensam ingentem vobis sternam, quod Gentiles videbunt et pudefient.” Schöttgen, Hor.
Mat_8:12. But the children of the kingdom.—The Jews were children of the typical kingdom, or of the theocracy, and might cherish the expectation of becoming sons of the real kingdom—that of heaven (Rom_9:5; Rom_11:16). The expression, kingdom, must here be taken generally, as embracing both economies—the promise and the possession. The term õἱüò , áֵּï , indicates relationship either in a physical or moral sense. In the present instance, it refers to the heirs which belong to the kingdom, as well as to those to whom the kingdom belongs.
Outer darkness, ôὸóêü ôïò ôὸ ἐîþôåñïí .—The banqueting hall is lit up, the feast is served in the evening, and outside is utter darkness. So Judas went from the supper of the Lord into the dark night, Joh_13:30. The expression is here used in a comparative sense. They are cast out into deeper, nay, into uttermost darkness. Just as the feast refers to salvation and bliss at the coming of the Lord, so this picture of night, to the darkness and the horrors of judgment. Hence the description of their sufferings, ὁêëáõèìüò . “The article [which is omitted in the English C. V.] indicates that it is the well-known wretchedness experienced in hell; comp. Mat_13:42; Mat_13:50; Mat_22:13; Mat_24:51; Mat_25:30; Luk_13:28.”
Mat_8:13. In the self-same hour.—Emphatically—as soon as Jesus had spoken the word: comp. Joh_4:46. In this case, as in John 4, and in the cure of the daughter of the Syrophœnician woman, the miracle was performed by the Lord at a distance from the subject of it. Several critics (Semler, Seiffarth, Strauss, Weisse, Gfrörer, Baumgarten-Crusius, Baur) have confounded the history of the centurion of Capernaum with that of the royal courtier there (Joh_4:46). But this were completely to mistake the different characters of these two persons, and their marked moral peculiarities, as brought out in the Gospels. The courtier was weak in the faith, while the centurion was strong; the courtier deemed the presence of Christ absolutely necessary, and urged Him to come down to his house, while the centurion regarded the word of command sufficient. Hence the difference of treatment on the part of the Lord. (Comp. Lange’s Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 645.)
On the conception of miracles consult the works on the Evidences of Christianity, and the Systems of Biblical and Systematic Theology; my Life of Jesus, ii. 1, 258; my Philos. Dogmatics, 467; Jul. Müller’s dissertation: De miraculorum Jesu Christi natura, i., Marburg, 1839; ii., Halle, 1841; and other works quoted by Meyer, p. 176.
In the most general sense of the term, every manifestation of God is a miracle; and He does wonders, because He is wonderful. As the self-existent One, all His works are miraculous, whether in creation or in providence: i.e., He manifests Himself as the Almighty Creator, both in calling forth and forming that which is not, and in destroying, or rather transforming, that which is. His wondrous deeds are described in Psa_33:9 (Psa_148:5; Psa_115:3);—“He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast;” and again, in Rom_4:17 : “Who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things that be not as though they were.”—All creation is a wonder, Psa_136:4; Isa_40:26. All His administration is wonderful, Psa_89:6; Job_5:9, etc. His judgments for the deliverance of His people are wonders, Exo_15:6; Psa_77:15; Psa_9:2. So are His leadings of Israel, Psa_105:2 sqq. Such also is His advent as Saviour, Psalms 98—We have already adverted to the second or inner circle of wonders, within the first, or more general. In the ordinary course of nature and of history, God performs special miracles, for the purpose of restoring, of judging, and of delivering, Exo_34:10; Psa_105:5; Isa_25:1; Dan_6:27; Act_2:19. But these new miracles are intimately connected with His general marvellous dealings. As the Almighty and the Creator, He performs the more general miracles of His power. But His special miracles are the manifestation of those new and higher principles which break through and overstep the sphere of common life, and introduce a new and higher order of things, or, in other words, the kingdom of God. These higher miracles appear alongside of His word. Hence we distinguish in this respect between miracles of the word (predictions, prophecies) and miracles of deed (Isa_44:7; comp. Mat_8:26, etc.). The miracles of deed confirm those of the word, and distinguish them from the delusive predictions of false prophets. Similarly, however, the miracles of the word confirm those of deed, and distinguish them from the tokens of magicians.—Under the New Covenant, the distinction between miracles of word and deed merges in the person of Christ. He is the Wonderful (Isa_9:6),—the personal, the highest, the absolute Wonder,—because He is the absolute Principle of all Life manifested, the Word itself in outward deed, or God incarnate. As the absolute Wonder, and the Principle of that new and spiritual era which is destined to subdue and transform every relationship of the past, He cannot but perform miracles,—nay, all His doings are miraculous. Himself the new Creation, He performs the highest of all miracles—the wonders of regeneration. These were introduced and attested by the miraculous cures, in which He restored the mental and physical constitution, depressed through sin below the ordinary healthy level, by those almighty interpositions on His part, which we designate miracles in the special sense.
In general, a miracle is that almighty and creative action of God, in which He manifests Himself as the eternal, self-existent, and wonderful One. Creation is the miracle of deed, which is interpreted by the word.
But within this general sphere, the miracles of the kingdom of God were, so to speak, announced and prepared by the special miraculous cycles in the ordinary course of nature, in which the symbolical miracle of nature appears. Here each stage of nature prepares for a higher; which in turn may be regarded as above nature, as contrary to nature, and yet as only higher nature, since it introduces a new and higher principle of life, into the existent and nature order of things. It is not the law of nature which causes the principle of nature, but the principle of nature which lies at the basis of the law of nature. Each lower stage prepares for a new, in which a higher principle of life appears. This higher sphere may always be regarded as supernatural, because it goes beyond the former stage, and even as in a sense contrary to nature, because the former stage becomes, so to speak, the pabulum for this new and higher life; while in reality it is only a higher manifestation of nature which unfolds in accordance with the principles of development peculiar to itself.
Thus the chemical principle appeared as a miracle in the elementary world, as introducing a new and higher life; similarly, the principle of crystallization is a miracle with reference to the lower principle of chemical affinity; the plant, a miracle above the crystal; the animal, a miracle in reference to the plant; and man, over all the animal world. Lastly, Christ, as the second man, the God-Man, is a miracle above all the world of the first man, who is of the earth, earthy (1 Corinthians 15).
The Lord Jesus would have been an absolute miracle even in the world before the fall of Adam; much more since, instead of ascending to spirituality, man has through sin become the slave of the flesh, and thus degraded nature below its proper level. Hence Christ is not only a higher and a transforming principle in the sphere of our natural world; but, appearing among sin-laden men, He is also the Judge, the Redeemer, and the Saviour.
The New Testament miracle, then, is that working of Christ by word and deed which springs from the new principle of absolute life and salvation, and manifests itself in judgment and deliverance, in redemption and transformation.
But, as the advent of the first man was prepared and predicted by those symbolical miracles of the various stages of nature that gradually ascended toward man as their climax, so was the miraculous advent of the second man from heaven—of Christ, the Redeemer and Transformer of the world—prepared and predicted by the miracles of the Old Testament, which took place within that sphere of human life and nature, which sin had darkened. These were essentially miracles of the coming regeneration, or of the advent of the God-Man.
In the symbolical sphere of nature, the miracle appears, in the first instance, as a symbolical deed on the part of God, which only to the mind of him who is enlightened by the Spirit of God becomes transformed into a miraculous word. It is otherwise within the sphere of the ancient theocracy. Here the wondrous deed of God, and the human, but inspired word of prophecy, which in its symbolic import evokes the wondrous deed, go hand in hand (we might almost say, in a harmonica prœstabilita). Lastly, within the sphere of Christianity, the miracle, as deed, flows from the theanthropic word of the incarnate Word. In general, spiritual regeneration is always the first, and is afterward followed by miraculous cure, or transformation of nature, though in individual cases that order may seem partly reversed.
We may sketch, in the following table, the miracle in its development and varied manifestations (general expression for miracles: èáýìáôá , èáõìÜóéá , ðáñÜäïîá , miracula; ðִôְìָàåֹú , îִôְìָàåֹú , ôֶìֶà ).
(1) óçìåῖïí , ôåêìÞñéïí . signum.
The series of Old Testament miracles opened, in the history of Abraham, by the miracle of word and of initial fulfilment (the wonderful birth of Isaac), long before the ordinary miracles of deed commenced with the life of Moses. The latter were in the first place symbolical miracles; they next became miracles of judgment and deliverance, and grew into miracles and healing, until, in the predictions of the prophets, they pointed forward to the period of transformation.
All these elements appear fully defined and perfected in the life of the Lord.
A. Miracles of the word and of fulfilment.
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord had displayed the full riches of spiritual life. He preached as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. This became evident immediately on His descent from the high pulpit, by the miracles which He performed. In the mind of the Evangelists, these miracles, however different, are connected, and form a higher unity, although their historical succession is never overlooked. But the cure of Peter’s mother-in-law, and of the great multitude of sick persons, especially demoniacs, belongs to a former period, as has already been stated. All the other miracles were performed at the time of Christ’s second stay in Capernaum. The interrupted journey to Gadara is their centre.
But just as the utterances on the Mount were Divine deeds, so these deeds by which the Great Prophet confirms His word are also oracles of God,—i.e., Divine deeds which serve as symbols of the infinite truth and grace, and of the power of the Gospel to save.
It is significant that the miraculous cures of Jesus began with that of leprosy. This cure marks the new era in life, as the Sermon on the Mount marked that in doctrine. According to the Old Testament, he who touched a leper became unclean. Jesus touches the leper, and not only remains clean Himself, but by His touch cleanses the leper.—Still more remarkable is the second miracle. It consists in help given to a Gentile, and that on the strength of a faith which is declared to surpass that of the Jews. If in the former case the cure was effected by touch, it now takes place at a distance; thus, symbolizing that the influence of the blessed Saviour extended not only to those who were near, but also to the Gentiles at a distance.—Next, we have the miraculous cure of Peter’s mother-in-law—in contradistinction to the low estimate of woman in the old world. He takes her by the hand, and, being restored, she serves Him.—Jesus has now to cope with the whole weight of demoniacal suffering in and around Capernaum; but He proves equal to the load, and removes it.—Here we reach the period of His journey to Gadara, during which the Lord, by a different mode of treatment, restored two of His professing disciples from their spiritual disease—enthusiasm in the one case, and slowness of faith in the other.—The Lord next appeases the storm at sea, and, with it, the storm of anxiety in the souls of His disciples;—on the eastern shore, in the land of the Gadarenes, He performs the cure of two demoniacs who had been the terror of the whole district. But this miracle diffused greater terror among the Gadarenes than the demoniacs had ever done. The banishment of Jesus from that territory, consequent on this cure, may be regarded as the first formal rejection of the Lord. Orthodox Israel expelled Jesus for the sake of a herd of swine. No better fate awaits Him on the western shore of the lake. The healing of one afflicted with the palsy, whose faith had overcome all obstacles intervening between Christ and him, served as the occasion of stirring up the enmity of the scribes, who denounced as blasphemy His forgiving of sin. Among these miracles, Matthew introduces his own calling. A wonder of grace this, not less than the others, that a publican, one excommunicated, should be called to the apostleship. If the Pharisees found fault because He ate with the publicans and sinners, the disciples of John objected on the ground that His disciples fasted not, as they and the Pharisees did. The former cavil the Lord rebutted by reminding the Pharisees of the contrast between sacrifice and mercy; the latter, by pointing out that between the marriage and fasting, the new wine and the old bottles. Then for the first time the Lord raised the dead, restoring the daughter of Jairus from the death-bed to life; the cure of the woman afflicted with an issue of blood being introduced by the way. Next, two blind men recovered their sight, on the distinct profession of their faith that Jesus was the Messiah (the Son of David).—We regard it as a further progress in these miracles when He heals the dumb demoniac; and by the word of His power at the same time reveals and removes the cause of his affliction. After all these miracles, the Pharisees begin to revile Him, and to say, that “He cast out devils by the prince of the devils.” These were the very worst devils with whom Christ had to contend. The blind receive their sight, but they who see become blind; the possessed recover, but those who administered healing in Israel are cast into the kingdom of Satan. Christ now passes victoriously from His prophetic to His royal administration, which commences with the mission of His Apostles.
2. We have already pointed out how significantly the series of miracles in Matthew opens with the recovery of a leper. Another point deserves, notice. The Old Testament provided no remedy for the leper, nor was he tolerated in the congregation. His disease was treated like sin; he was banished from the camp; and whosoever touched him, shared for a time that banishment. Levitical impurities, such as touching the dead, ceased after a certain period had elapsed; but the leper was excluded for an indefinite time—perhaps for ever. Their only hope of restoration to the Church lay in their recovery. Meantime the leper was left to the mercy of God. In this respect the arrangements of the synagogue were, as we have shown, less strict than those of the temple. In the Old Church, to touch an unclean person, rendered unclean; Christ, the Founder of the New Church, cleansed the leper by touching him. There is a formal disannulling of the old arrangement in this stretching forth of the hand and touching the leper, and in the words.—“I will, be thou clean!” And yet the two institutions agree in spirit, for it is the object of both to exhibit the Church pure and unspotted. But what the Old Covenant could not bestow, the Lord vouchsafed. The Old Covenant could only distinguish, but not separate, between sin and misery. This the Lord accomplished. From the moment He touched the leper with His finger, suffering became hallowed, and the Lord entered into full fellowship with it. From that moment until His death on the cross, Christ remained in continuous fellowship with the suffering of the world. True, it seems as if His contact with the leper had not led to any immediate suffering; but from the narrative in Luke we gather that such was the case. The leper related what Jesus had done for him, and traditionalism may have pronounced the Lord unclean. On this account He retired for a time into the wilderness, thence to issue to fresh manifestations of His miraculous power. If the first miracle presented a striking contrast to the old order of things, the second was still more remarkable as being performed on the heathen slave of a heathen household. True, the attachment of the centurion to the synagogue formed a kind of intermediate link of connection; but Matthew passes over this circumstance as apparently secondary, in view of the grand motive influencing the Lord—the faith of the centurion. Viewed in their combination, the two miracles show that infinite mercy reaches to the lowest depths of misery, and extends to the utmost bounds of the earth—its only conditions being personal need and believing trust.
3. The acknowledgment of proselytes of the gate may be regarded as a victory of the genuine theocratic spirit over Pharisaism, which at an earlier period had been typified in the construction of a “court of the Gentiles” in the second temple. It was not a new arrangement, but a recurrence to the faith and practice of the patriarchs, in room of the rigor of legalism. The synagogue and the court of the Gentiles were the gates by which the heathen might enter the Jewish Church; the proselytes of the gate formed the intermediate link between heathenism and the theocracy. Thus the way was opened for the Gospel. As instances of the religious movement among soldiers at that time, we mention not merely the three centurions in the Gospels and the Book of Acts, but also the soldiers who resorted to John the Baptist, Luk_3:14.
4. The judgment of outer darkness referred to the severest dispensations upon earth, and in Hades; although there is some difference between it and the final judgment of hell-fire, Matthew 25.
Starke:—Quesnel: Ministers must ofttimes condescend to those who are in misery, visit them in their sorrow, and point them for relief to the word of God, Act_8:30.—A blessing ever attaches to our following Jesus, Mat_19:27; Luk_8:43.—Majus: If we have tasted Christ, the Bread of life, we shall always hunger after it, and follow Him, Mat_5:6; Isa_55:1.—Zeisius: Outward leprosy a type of original sin, or of spiritual leprosy, Psa_51:7; Isa_1:6.—Bodily affliction often the occasion of leading us to Christ. O blessed sorrow! 1Pe_4:1; Jer_30:11.—The whole world a vast sick-ward.—A Christian must not insist on anything in prayer, Mat_26:39.—Zeisius: The surest and most effectual means in all our sorrows, is recourse to prayer, Dan_9:3-4; Mat_15:25.—Quesnel: Let us not despise even the greatest sinners, nor avoid meeting them, provided we beware of infection, Gal_6:1; Jam_5:19-20.—Bibl. Tub.: Jesus can and will deliver us in our most grievous afflictions, and where all human means were in vain, Psa_6:9-10.—Majus: The word of Christ is an effectual remedy for curing spiritual leprosy, Joh_15:3.—The most acceptable sacrifice on the part of those who have been restored, is new obedience, Joh_5:14; Isa_38:15.—We are bound publicly to acknowledge the goodness of God, Rom_5:11; Ps. xxvi.—The centurion, a soldier, a heathen, and a superior, cares for his subordinates, and rays for his servant, is humble, and believes in Christ. Go thou and do likewise. Rom_15:4; 1Co_10:11; Bibl. Tub.—Let us not despair of the conversion of any man, in any condition of life.—What too frequently military men are not, and what they should be.—Osiander: A genuine Christian will plead with Jesus not only for his own wants, but also for those of his neighbor.—The cross is sent even to pious families, and sometimes to the best members of them.—“The Lord is near to all that call upon Him,” Psa_145:18-19; Psa_6:10.—Lord Jesus, speak the word only!—We admire riches, beauty, power, or art; but Christ admires faith.—All men have not faith, 2Th_3:2.—Osiander: Ofttimes we find more faith with soldiers and worldly persons than in many who pretend to be saints.—Luther: Faith is not confined to time, place, or condition. God has had a people at a time when it was little thought, in places where we should not have expected to find them, and among persons whom we should not have imagined to be His.—Majus: Believers under the Old and New Testaments have all the same doctrine, the same faith, the same kingdom, and the same glory, Heb_13:8; Act_15:11.—The rejection of the Jews caused by their unbelief, Rom_11:20; Isa_53:1; Isa_6:9; Deu_9:23.—Lo, the children who trust in external service, in the temple, and in the possession of gifts, are condemned; while strangers who are sincere in the faith are received: Isa_2:4, etc.—The more light and grace we have rejected, the greater will be the condemnation and darkness awarded us.—Blessedness of intercession, Jam_5:18; 2Ki_19:34; Jer_29:7.—The stronger our faith, the less will God refuse us, especially in spiritual requests.—True faith the source of all other gifts. Quesnel.
Gerlach:—Luther (Randglosse): Faith does not know, it trusts in the mercy of God. Faith ever says, If Thou wilt; not, if Thou canst.—Weeping and gnashing of teeth: the former perhaps the expression of softer, the latter of bolder, characters.
Heubner:—Jesus can and will deliver.—Jesus is willing to come under our roof, although we be unworthy of it.—The kingdom of heaven the meeting-place of the children of God from among all nations and from all climes.—The power of a living faith in Christ: 1. Its character. Faith cleanses from sin, makes holy, and induces us to procure help for others by leading them to Christ. 2. Inferences: Beware of unbelief, but strive after true faith.—All men are equal before the Lord Jesus.
Footnotes:
Mat_8:3.— Ἰçóïῦò in wanting in Codd. B., C. [Cod. Sinait.], etc.
Mat_8:8.— Ëüãῳ (dat.) with one word, or in a ward, sustained by Codd. B., C. [Cod. Sinait.] and other weighty testimonies, instead of the ëüãïí (accus.), the word, of the text. receptus.
Mat_8:10.—“With no one in Israel.” Cod. B. and others.
Mat_8:11.—[’ ÁíáêëéèÞóïíôáé , expressing the well known ancient custom of reclining on conches at meals and banknotes. This explains, how St. John could lean on Jesus’ bosom at the holy supper, Joh_13:23.—P. S.]
[The English palsy is evidently derived by contraction from the Greek ðáñÜëõóéò , as alms from ἐëåçìïóýíç , through the medium of the Latin.—P. S.]
[Comp. also R. Ch. Trench: Notes on the Miracles. Preliminary Essay. p. 9–81 (Amer. ed., 1856; in England this useful work has already gone through seven editions); Horace Bushnell. (of Hartford): Nature and the Supernatural as together constituting the one System of God. New York. 1858 (a work of rare power and genius), especially Matthew 10, 11; Dr. Ths. H. Skinner: Miracles, the Proof of Christianity. New York, 1863 (in the Amer. Presbyt. and Theol. Rev. for April, 1863. p. 177 sqq.); Prof. A. Hovey of Newton Centre: The Miracles of Christ, Boston, 1864; and a number of recent dissertations on Miracles called forth by the “Essays and Reviews” controversy, especially one by Prof. H. L. Mansel, B. D. of Oxford, in the “Aids to Faith,” Lond. and New York, 1862.—P. S.]
[In German: “Hier ist das Wunder der wohlvermittelte, übernatürliche, widernatürliche und höhere natürliche Durchbruch eines neuen höheren Lebensprincips durch die bereits vorhandene gesetzmessige Ordnung der Dinge.” This is a fair specimen of Dr. Lange’s style in the more doctrinal and philosophical portions of his Commentary.—P. S.]