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
Even though Jesus enjoyed less shelter than the animals and birds (v. 20), He was not the subject of nature. It was subject to Him.
8:23-25 It is difficult to know how much Matthew may have intended with his comment that the disciples followed Jesus into the boat. Perhaps it just describes their physical movements. Perhaps he meant that it symbolizes the disciples' proper response to Jesus in view of verses 18-22.
The Sea of Galilee was and still is infamous for its sudden and violent storms (Gr. seismos). They occur because of geographical conditions. The water is 600 feet below sea level, and the land to the east is considerably higher. As warm air rises from the lake it creates a vacuum that the air on the west rushes in to fill. This brings strong winds down on the lake with little warning.
On the occasion Matthew described, the waves were so high that they kept spilling over into the boat. Evidently Jesus was asleep from weariness and because He realized that the time for His death had not yet arrived. He apparently lay in an area of the boat where the disciples had given Him some privacy. The word Matthew used to describe the boat (ploion) could fit a boat of many different sizes. However it is probable that this was a fishing boat that carried at least a dozen or more people plus fish across the lake. Matthew probably would have used a different word if it was a larger boat. In spite of the storm Jesus continued to sleep.
Finally the disciples realized their inability to cope with their situation and called on Jesus to help them. They obviously thought He could do something to help, at least bail or at most perform a miracle. They had seen Him perform many miracles. However, their reaction to His help reveals that they did not really appreciate who He was.
8:26-27 Jesus did not rebuke His disciples for disturbing Him but for failing to trust Him as they should have. He said they had "little faith"(Gr. oligopistos). Wherever Matthew used this word in His Gospel it always reflects a failure to see below the surface of things.397Faith in Messiah and fear are mutually exclusive. Therefore the disciples should not have been "timid"(NASB) or "afraid"(NIV). Even though the disciples believed Jesus could help them, they did not grasp that He was the Messiah who would die a sacrificial death for their sins. How could the divine Messiah whom God had sent die in a storm before He had finished His messianic work? It was impossible.
"The life of discipleship is susceptible to bouts of little faith. Such little faith is not to be condoned. Nevertheless, Jesus does not abandon his disciples at such times but stands ever ready with his saving power to sustain them so they can in fact discharge the mission he has entrusted to them."398
The disciples expected help, but they were unprepared for the kind of deliverance Jesus provided. It was a much greater salvation than they hoped for. The sea became perfectly calm.
"His disciples who were seasoned fishermen had been through storms on this sea that had suddenly ceased. But after the wind would pass, the waves would continue to chop for a while."399
Jesus' ability to calm the wind and water with a word made it clear that He had greater powers than these disciples had witnessed previously. Who was He? The reader of Matthew's Gospel knows better than the disciples did. He is the virgin-born Messiah, God with us, come to provide salvation and to set up His kingdom. While the disciples were "men"(v. 27), Jesus was a different kind of man, the God-man.400Psalms 89:9 and 107:23-30 attributed the stilling of seas to God.
The Israelites viewed the sea as an enemy they could not control. Throughout the Old Testament it epitomizes what is wild, hostile, and foreboding. It stood for their foes in some of their literature. Jesus' miracle also taught this secondary lesson. Here was a man exercising dominion over the sea, which God had appointed to man before the Fall (Gen. 1:28). Jesus must be the Second Adam (cf. Rom. 5:12-17).
"The incident is related, not primarily for the sake of recording a miracle, but as an instance of the subduing of the power of evil, which was one of the signs of the nearness of the Kingdom; see xii. 28."401
In this incident Matthew again presented Jesus as man and God. As man, He slept in the boat. As God, he calmed the sea (cf. 4:1-4; 12:22-32). As man, He suffers; but as God, He rules. The pericope indicates Jesus' power to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah 30:23-24; 35:1-7; 41:17-18; 51:3; 55:13; Joel 3:18; Ezekiel 36:29-38; and Zechariah 10:1. He has all power over nature.
The central theme of this incident is Jesus' authority over evil spirits.
8:28 Gadara was the regional capital of the Decapolis area that lay southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Its population was strongly Gentile. This may account for the presence of many swine there (v. 30). The Gadara region stretched west to the Sea of Galilee. This was the country of the Gadarenes.
Mark and Luke mentioned only one man, but Matthew said there were two (Mark 5:2; Luke 8:27). Mark and Luke evidently mentioned the more prominent one. Perhaps Matthew mentioned them both because the testimony of two witnesses was valid in Jewish courts, and he wrote for Jews originally.
The Jews believed that demonic spirits could and did take over the bodies and personalities of certain individuals. Matthew reflected this view of the spirit world. A literal reading of Scripture leads to the same conclusion.402Demons are fallen angels who are Satan's agents.
These demoniacs lived among tombs away from other people in a place that rendered them ritually unclean in Judaism.
8:29 The demoniacs hated and feared Jesus. They recognized Him as Messiah calling Him by the messianic title "Son of God"(cf. 3:17; 16:16; Luke 4:41). The disciples in the boat did not know who He was, but the demoniacs taught them. The demoniacs may have known Jesus from some previous contact (cf. Acts 19:15), or perhaps the demons were already speaking through them (cf. v. 31).
Their second question revealed their knowledge that Jesus would judge them one day. This was a messianic function. Evidently Jesus will cast them into the lake of fire when He sends Satan there (Rev. 20:10).403When Jesus cast out demons He was exercising this eschatological prerogative early. These demons asked if He planned to judge them then. He had cast out other demons recently (4:24; 8:16). "Here"probably refers to the earth, where demons have a measure of freedom to operate, rather than to that particular locale.
8:30-31 The presence of so many pigs may have been due to Jewish disobedience to the Mosaic Law since for Jews pigs where unclean. However this is unlikely since the Jewish leaders were very particular about such flagrant violations of the Law. Probably they belonged to Gentiles who lived in large numbers in the Decapolis where this story took place.
The demons may have requested asylum in the swine because they hated the creatures and or because they wanted to stir up trouble for Jesus. Exorcized evil spirits sometimes expressed their rage with acts of violence and vengefulness (cf. 17:14-20).
8:32-34 Why did Jesus allow the demons to enter the swine, destroy the herd, and cause the owners considerable loss? Some commentators solve this puzzle by saying the owners were disobedient Jews whom Jesus judged. That is possible, but the answers to these questions were outside Matthew's field of interest. They are probably part to the larger scheme of things involving why God allows evil. As God, Jesus owned everything and could do with His own as He pleased.
However we can observe from the reaction of the citizens that "they preferred pigs to persons, swine to the Savior."404They valued the material above the spiritual. This is the first instance in Matthew of open opposition to the Messiah. Matthew will show it building from here to the Cross. The pigs' stampede also testified to Jesus' deliverance of the demoniacs.
What happened to the demons? Matthew did not tell us. Probably he wanted to impress us with Jesus' power over them, not detract us by making them the central feature of the incident. Perhaps they went to the lake of fire.
This incident shows Jesus fulfilling such kingdom prophecies as Daniel 7:25-27; 8:23-25; 11:36-12:3; and Zechariah 3:1-2. As Messiah, He is the Judge of the spirit world as well as humankind. He has all power over demons as well as nature (vv. 23-27).
The incident that follows occurred before the one in 8:28-34. Matthew placed it in his Gospel here for thematic reasons. It is another evidence of Jesus' supernatural power but in a different realm.
9:1 Jesus arrived back in Capernaum having travelled there by boat. This is another transitional verse that sets the stage for what follows.
9:2 Jesus saw the faith of the men who were carrying their paralytic friend.
"The reason the reader is provided with inside views of characters is to shape his or her attitude toward them."405
The evidence of their faith was that they brought him to Jesus for healing. However, Jesus spoke only to the paralytic. The term "son"(Gr. teknon) is an affectionate one that older people often used when speaking to the younger. What Jesus said implied a close connection between this man's sin and his sickness (cf. 8:17; Ps. 103:3; Isa. 33:24), and He implied that sin was the worse condition. Forgiveness of sins is basic to healing. Jesus told him that his sins were forgiven, not had been forgiven at a previous time. He used the present tense that here has punctiliar force.406
9:3 Some of the teachers of the law who were standing by took offense at what Jesus said. He was claiming to forgive sins, but God alone can forgive sins since it is He whom people sin against (Ps. 51:4; Isa. 43:25; 44:22). They called Jesus' words blasphemy because they viewed them as a slanderous affront to God.
9:4 Jesus probably knew what they were thinking simply because He knew them. Jesus did not need supernatural power to perceive the typical attitude of the scribes. What they were thinking was evil because it involved a denial of His messiahship, the very thing His words were claiming.
9:5-7 Jesus' question in verse 5 was rhetorical. His critics believed it was easier to say, "Get up and walk,"because only God can forgive sins. Jesus had claimed to do the more difficult thing from their viewpoint, namely to forgive sins. Jesus responded ironically in verse 6. He would do the easier thing. From the scribes' perspective since Jesus had blasphemed God He could not heal the paralytic since God does not respond to sinners (John 9:31). By healing the paralytic Jesus showed that He had not blasphemed God. He could indeed forgive sins.
Jesus again used the term "Son of Man"for Himself (v. 6). His critics should have sensed the messianic claim Jesus' use of this title implied since they knew the Old Testament well. The Judge had come to earth with authority to forgive sins (cf. 1:21, 23).407
Finally Jesus not only healed the paralytic but also assured him that God had forgiven his sins. He also refuted the scribes' charge of blasphemy.
9:8 The response of the observing crowd was appropriate in view of Jesus' action. People should respect and admire the One who can forgive sins. Here was a manifestation of God before them. They glorified God because they saw a man exercising divine authority. Unfortunately they failed to perceive that Jesus was the divine Messiah.
Readers of Matthew's Gospel, however, perceive that this was the promised King come to rule "on earth"(cf. v. 6). The King had come to save His people from their sins. The kingdom of David's Son was at hand.
"This is one of the most significant signs Jesus performs relative to the kingdom program. It shows that He is capable of forgiving sins on earth."408
This miracle proves that Jesus could forgive sins and so produce the conditions prophesied in Isaiah 33:24; 40:1-2; 44:21-22; and 60:20-21. The three miracles in this section (8:23-9:8) show that Jesus could establish the kingdom because He had the authority to do so. He demonstrated authority over nature, the angelic world, and sin.
