Matthew 8

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Matthew 8 follows the Sermon on the Mount with a chapter of action, as if to show that the one who taught with authority also acts with it. Jesus touches and cleanses a leper, heals a Roman centurion's servant from a distance and marvels at the man's faith, cures Peter's mother-in-law, and heals crowds in fulfillment of Isaiah's "He took on our infirmities." He tells two would-be followers what discipleship costs, sleeps through a storm and then silences it, and frees two demon-possessed men in Gentile country, after which the whole town asks him to leave.

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Matthew 8 begins the moment the Sermon on the Mount ends. Jesus comes down the mountain and the crowds follow, and the first person to reach him is a leper, a man the law required to keep his distance. Jesus reaches out and touches him. The second is a Roman centurion, an officer of the occupying army, who asks for his servant and then declines Jesus's offer to come, because he understands authority: say the word, and it will be done. Jesus marvels, and says that many will come from east and west to sit with Abraham while the expected guests are left outside. Peter's mother-in-law is healed with a touch; an evening of healings follows, and Matthew hears in it Isaiah's servant who took on our infirmities. Then the chapter turns to cost. A scribe volunteers and is told the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head; a disciple asks to bury his father first and is told to let the dead bury their dead. A storm rises on the sea while Jesus sleeps; the disciples wake him, he rebukes the wind and the water, and they ask the question the whole Gospel exists to answer: what kind of man is this? The chapter ends on the far shore, where two men are delivered from a legion of demons, a herd of pigs drowns, and the whole town comes out to ask Jesus to leave.

Pasajes clave

Matthew 8:1-4 Matthew 8:5-13 Matthew 8:18-22 Matthew 8:23-27 Isaiah 53:4

Historical and literary context

The chapter opens as Jesus comes down the mountain, and Matthew arranges ten miracles across chapters 8 and 9 to present Jesus as the Messiah in deed as the sermon presented him in word. Lepers were excluded from the community under the law; a centurion was a Gentile officer of the occupying army; the region of the Gadarenes, on the east side of the sea, was Gentile territory where pigs were kept. Each encounter crosses a boundary of purity, nation, or power. The quotation of Isaiah 53:4 in verse 17 ties the healings to the suffering servant.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 4 are the leper, touched and cleansed and sent to the priest. Verses 5 to 13 are the centurion, whose understanding of authority astonishes Jesus and prompts the saying about many coming from east and west. Verses 14 to 17 are Peter's mother-in-law and the evening of healings, with Isaiah quoted. Verses 18 to 22 are two would-be disciples: foxes have dens, let the dead bury their dead. Verses 23 to 27 are the storm on the sea, the sleeping Jesus, the disciples' cry, and the calm. Verses 28 to 34 are the two demon-possessed men, the pigs, and the town that begs Jesus to go.

Why this chapter matters

Matthew 8 shows the range of Jesus's authority: over disease, over distance, over demons, over the sea itself. The centurion's words, "just say the word," have entered Christian liturgy, prayed before communion in many traditions. The question the disciples ask in the boat, "What kind of man is this?", is the question the whole Gospel is answering. The chapter is also honest about the cost and the rejection that come with Jesus: the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head, following him outranks even burying a father, and a town that has just seen two men freed asks him to leave because of the pigs.

Interpretive tension to watch

"Let the dead bury their own dead" is among the hardest sayings of Jesus, apparently overriding one of the most sacred duties of the ancient world. Was the man's father already dead, or was he asking to wait until an aged parent died? Either way, Jesus places the call to follow above every competing claim, and the saying resists softening. The pigs, too, trouble readers: two men are freed and a herd is lost, and the town prefers its pigs. The chapter lets the reader feel that choice.

Preguntas para este capítulo

Jesus touches the leper before speaking. What does the touch communicate that the word alone would not?
The centurion understands Jesus's authority from his own experience of command. What in your experience helps you understand how Jesus works?
The town asked Jesus to leave after he freed two men. What might make a community prefer its pigs to its neighbors' healing?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

Añadir a notas

1 When he was come downe from the moutayne moch people folowed him. 2 And lo ther came a lepre and worsheped him sayinge: Master if thou wylt thou canst make me clene. 3 And Iesus put forthe hys hond and touched hym sayinge: I wyll be thou clene and immediatly hys leprosie was clensed. 4 And Iesus sayde vnto him. Se thou tell no man but go and shewe thy selfe to the preste and offer the gyfte that Moses commaunded in witnes to them. 5 When Iesus was entred into Capernau ther came vnto him a certayne Centurion and besought hym sayinge: 6 Master my seruaunt lyeth sicke at home of the palsye and ys greuously payned. 7 And Iesus sayd vnto hym: I will come and heale him. 8 The Centurion answered and sayde: Syr I am not worthy that thou shuldest come vnder my rofe but speake the worde only and my servaut shalbe healed. 9 For I also my selfe am a man vndre power and have sowdiers vndre me and I saye to one go and he goeth and to anothre come and he cometh: and to my seruaut do this and he doeth it. 10 When Iesus hearde that he marveled and sayd to them that folowed hym. Derely I say vnto you I have not foude so great fayth: no not in Israel. 11 I say therfore vnto you that many shall come from the eest and weest and shall rest with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heven: 12 and the chyldren of the kyngdome shalbe cast out in to vtter darcknes: there shalbe wepinge and gnasshing of tethe. 13 The Iesus sayd vnto the Centurion go thy waye and as thou belevest so be it vnto the. And his servaunt was healed the selfe houre. 14 And then Iesus went to Peters housse and sawe hys wyves mother lyinge sicke of a fevre 15 and touched her hande and the fevre left hir: and she arose and ministred vnto them. 16 When the euen was come they brought vn to him many that were possessed with devyllis. And he cast out the spirites with a worde and healed all that were sicke 17 to fulfill that which was spoke by Esayas the Prophet sayinge. He toke on him oure infirmities and bare oure sickneses 18 When Iesus sawe moche people about him he commaunded to go over the water. 19 And ther came a scribe and sayd vnto hym: master I wyll folowe the whyther so ever thou goest. 20 And Iesus sayd vnto him: the foxes have holes and the bryddes of the ayer have nestes but the sonne of the man hath not wheron to rest his heede. 21 A nothre that was one of hys disciples sayd vnto hym: master suffre me fyrst to go and burye my father. 22 But Iesus sayd vnto him: folowe me and let the deed burie their deed. 23 And he entred in to a shyppe and his disciples folowed him. 24 And beholde there arose a a greate tempest in the see in so moche that the shippe was covered with waves and he was a slepe. 25 And his disciples came vn to him and awoke hym sayinge: master save vs we perishe. 26 And he sayd vnto them: why are ye fearfull o ye of lytell faithe? Then he arose and rebuked the wyndes and the see and ther folowed a greate calme. 27 And the men marveyled and sayd: what man is this that bothe wyndes and see obey hym? 28 And when he was come to the other syde in to the countre of the Gergesites ther met him two possessed of devylles which came out of the graves and were out of measure fearce so that no man myght go by that waye. 29 And behold they cryed out sayinge: O Iesu the sonne of God what have we to do with the? Art thou come hyther to torment vs before the tyme be come? 30 And ther was a good waye of from them a greate heerd of swyne fedinge. 31 Then the devyles besought him sayinge: if thou cast vs out suffre vs to go oure waye in to the heerd of swyne. 32 And he sayd vnto the: go youre wayes. Then wet they out and departed into the heerd of swyne And beholde the whoale heerd of swyne was caryed with violence hedlinge in to the see and perisshed in the water. 33 Then the heerdmen fleed and wet their ways in to the cyte and tolde every thinge and what had fortuned vnto the possessed of the devyls. 34 And beholde all the cyte came out and met Iesus. And when they sawe hym they besought hym to departe oute of their costes.

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