A. Demonstrations of the King's power 8:1-9:34

Matthew described Jesus' ministry as consisting of teaching, preaching, and healing in 4:23. Chapters 5-7 record what He taught His disciples. We have the essence of His preaching ministry in 4:17. Now in 8:1-9:34 we see His healing ministry. He demonstrated authority over disease, demons, and nature. Matthew showed that Jesus' ability proves that He is the divine Messiah. The King authenticated His claims by performing messianic signs. In view of this the Jews should have acknowledged Him as the Messiah.

"The purpose of Matthew in these two chapters [8 and 9] is to offer the credentials of the Messiah as predicted in the Old Testament."³⁶¹

Matthew did not record Jesus' miracles in strict chronological order.³⁶²His order is more thematic. He also selected miracles that highlight the gracious character of Jesus' signs. As Moses' plagues authenticated his ministry to the Israelites of his day, so Jesus' miracles should have convinced the Israelites of His day that He was the Messiah. Moses' plagues were primarily destructive whereas Jesus' miracles were primarily constructive. Jesus' miracles were more like Elisha's than Moses' in this respect.

Matthew recorded nine of Jesus' miracles and referred to others. He presented these in three groups and broke the three groups up with two discussions about discipleship. The first group of miracles involves healings (8:1-17), the second, demonstrations of power (8:23-9:8), and the third, acts of restoration (9:18-34).

Miracles of healing

8:1-17

Demonstrations of power

8:23-9:8

Acts of Restoration

9:18-34

Jesus' authority over His disciples

8:18-22

Jesus' authority over His

critics

9:9-17

 1. Jesus' ability to heal 8:1-17

 2. Jesus' authority over His disciples 8:18-22 (cf. Luke 9:57-62)

Matthew evidently inserted these teachings about discipleship because they show the nature of Jesus' ministry and the kind of disciples He requires. The King has power over people as well as sickness. He can direct others as His servants, and they need to respond to Him as their King.

 3. Jesus' supernatural power 8:23-9:8

Matthew's first group of miracles (vv. 1-17) demonstrated that Jesus possessed the messianic power to heal physical ailments. His second group (8:23-9:8) shows even greater powers in other realms: disaster, demons, and disease.

"The miracles Jesus performs in Matthew's story divide themselves rather neatly into two groups: (a)therapeutic miracles (miracles of healing), in which the sick are returned to health or the possessed are freed of demons (cf. esp. chaps. 8-9); and (b)nontherapeutic miracles, which have to do with exercising power over the forces of nature. . . .

"The nontherapeutic miracles are less uniform in structure and differ in thematic [purpose from the therapeutic miracles]. Here the focus is on Jesus and the disciples, and the characteristic feature is that Jesus reveals, in the midst of situations in which the disciples exhibit little faith,' his awesome authority. . . . The reason Jesus gives the disciples these startling revelations is to bring them to realize that such authority as he exercises he makes available to them through the avenue of faith. In the later situation of their worldwide mission, failure on the part of the disciples to avail themselves of the authority Jesus would impart to them will be to run the risk of failing at their tasks (28:18-20; chaps. 24-25)."³⁹⁶

 4. Jesus' authority over His critics 9:9-17

Matthew returned to the subject of Jesus' authority over people (cf. 8:18-22). In 8:18-22 Jesus directed those who came to Him voluntarily as disciples. Here He explained the basis for His conduct to those who criticized Him. This is another section that contains discipleship lessons.

 5. Jesus' ability to restore 9:18-34

The two groups of miracles that Matthew presented so far demonstrated Jesus' ability to heal (8:1-17) and to perform miracles with supernatural power (8:23-9:8). This last cluster demonstrates His ability to restore. These miracles show that Jesus can restore all things as the prophets predicted the Son of David would do. Furthermore He can do this in spite of opposition.