Matthew Chapter 8

Matthew Chapter 8

After the sermon on the mount, Jesus was super popular, and everyone wanted to follow him.  Including a leper!  He wanted to be clean, and Jesus was happy to oblige.  He touched the leper and the leper became regular dude.  But Jesus sent him to the priest to offer the gift that Moses told us to give.  What that gift is, is not mentioned, I guess they assume it’s really obvious.

Jesus came to Capernaum, and met a Centurion who’s servant was sick with the Palsy.  Which I think mean he was at least partially paralyzed.  So Jesus tells him sure, I’ll heal him.  And the centurion is very demure about this, telling Jesus that he’s not worthy of a visit from the big JC but if he just speaks the words his servant will be healed.  Because he’s a big centurion and  he commands people, he says go they go, he says come, they com. 

Jesus  thought that was pretty cool, because this guy had more faith than anyone he had met in Israel.   Many would come from all over to chill with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the children of the kingdom are going to be cast out and boy will they be pissed off.  I’m not entirely sure who he’s talking about in that line.  I mean there is no real lead up to who the children of the kingdom are.   Moving on.

So Jesus tells the Centurion, to go and within the hour the servant was totally healed.  That guy can perform miracles!

Next Jesus goes to Peter’s house, because his wife was sick with a fever, so he touched her and her fever disappeared.  This was good because it gave her the opportunity to serve them, now that she wasn’t sick.  

That night the word had spread, so everybody was bringing out the possessed folk and Jesus cast out those devils.  Just like the prophet Esaias told us “He would take our sickness”  Jesus must have been getting tired because he told everyone to go to the other side.   But a scribe came out and told him he would follow him where ever he went.  Which given who he was really wouldn’t have been a bad idea.  Because four gospels can’t quite agree on exactly  what happened.

Jesus talks about how all of the animals have beds but not the Son of man.  And it’s weird because  Son is capitalized and man is all lowercase.  I’m not sure if the Son of man is Jesus, or if we are all the Sons and Daughters of man.  But I have a bed, and I’m guessing Jesus was looking for a place to crash that night.

A disciple asks if he can go burry his dad before they mosey along.  But Jesus nixed that idea, he tell him to let the dead bury their dead.  As if they are zombie slaves who do nice things… like bury themselves.

Anyway Jesus jumps on a boat and every one follow, a huge storm rises out of nowhere and the boat is getting slammed by waves.  But JC can sleep through anything, so his posse has to wake him up.  They say lord save us!  Jesus scold’s them with the classic “Ye of little faith” but he chastises the wind too and it calms right down.  Everyone is endlessly impressed.  Dude!  The wind and the ocean obey him!

So they get to Gergesenes,  and find two super fierce people who are possessed by devils!  And no one can pass them!  They shout out  to Jesus, “Have you come to torture us Son of God? What did we ever do to you?”

There was a big herd of pigs feeding nearby so the devils beg him to cast them out into the herd. Jesus obliges, and the herd runs pell-mell off a cliff into the sea to drown.   Well, that sent the two folks who had been possessed running into the city to their story.

So the whole city comes out to ask really nicely if Jesus would just leave their coast. 

Wow, the first time I read this story I thought the people who had been possessed died with the pigs.  Which kind of put JC in a bad light.   But it was just another case of confusing pronoun use again.  I like how the devils made the suggestion that they get transferred to the pigs, they must have know they could do more damage in the swine.  And I love how the city see’s the destruction and just asks them to go away.