Bible Commentaries

CHAPTER 8.

THE HEALING MINISTRY OF JESUS.

These two chapters consist mainly of miracle narratives, the greater number being reports of healing acts performed by Jesus, nine in all, being the second part of the programme sketched in chap. Matthew 4:23-25. These wonderful works are not to be regarded, after the manner of the older apologists, as evidential signs appended to the teaching on the hill to invest it with authority. That teaching needed no external credentials; it spoke for itself then as now. These histories are an integral part of the self-revelation of Jesus by word and deed; they are demonstrations not merely of His power, but above all, of His spirit. Therein lies their chief permanent interest, which is entirely independent of all disputes as to the strictly miraculous character of the events. This collection is not arranged in chronological order. The connection is topical, not temporal.

Matthew 8:1-4. The leper (Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16). This is the first individual act of healing reported in this Gospel, chap. Matthew 4:23-24 containing only a general notice. It is a very remarkable one. No theory of moral therapeutics will avail here to eliminate the miraculous element. Leprosy is not a disease of the nerves, amenable to emotional treatment, but of the skin and the flesh, covering the body with unsightly sores. The story occurs in all three Synoptics, and, as belonging to the triple tradition, is one of the best attested. Matthew’s version is the shortest and simplest here as often, his concern being rather to report the main fact and what Christ said, than to give pictorial details. Possibly he gives it as he found it in the Apostolic Document both in form and in position, immediately after Sermon on Mount, so placed, conceivably, to illustrate Christ’s respectful attitude towards the law as stated in Matthew 5:17 (cf. Matthew 8:4 and vide Weiss, Matt. Evan., p. 227).

Matthew 8:1. καταβάντος αὐτοῦ (for the reading vide above). Jesus descended from the hill towards Capernaum (Matthew 8:5), but we must beware of supposing that the immediately following events all happened there, or at any one place or time. Mark seems to connect the cure of the leper with the preaching tour in Galilee (Mark 1:40), and that of the palsied man with Christ’s return therefrom (Matthew 2:1). Jesus had ascended the hill to escape the pressure of human need. He descends, in Matt.’s narrative, to encounter it again—ἠκολούθησαν, large crowds gather about and follow Him.—ἰδοὺ, the sign mark of the Apostolic Document according to Weiss; its lively formula for introducing a narrative.—προσεκύνει, prostrated himself to the ground, in the abject manner of salutation suitable from an inferior to one deemed much superior, and also to one who had a great favour to ask.—Κύριε: not implying in the leper a higher idea than that of Master or Rabbi.—ἐὰν θέλῃς: the leper’s doubt is not about the power, for he probably knows what marvellous things have been happening of late in and around Capernaum, but about the will, a doubt natural in one suffering from a loathsome disease. Besides, men more easily believe in miraculous power than in miraculous love. θέλῃς, present subjunctive, not aorist, which would express something that might happen at a future time (vide Winer, § xlii., 2, b).—καθαρίσαι—of course the man means to cleanse by healing, not merely to pronounce clean. This has an important bearing on the meaning of the word in next ver.—ἥψατο, touched him, not to show that He was not under the law, and that to the pure nothing is unclean (Chrys., Hom. xxv.), but to evince His willingness and sympathy. The stretching out of the hand does not mean that, in touching, He might be as far off as possible to avoid defilement and infection (Weiss-Meyer). It was action suited to the word.—θέλω, “I will,” pronounced in firm, cordial tone, carefully recorded by all the evangelists. καθαρίσθητι, naturally in the sense of the man’s request. But that would imply a real miracle, therefore naturalistic interpreters, like Paulus and Keim, are forced to take the word in the sense of pronouncing clean, the mere opinion of a shrewd observer. The narrative of Matthew barely leaves room for this hypothesis. The other evangelists so express themselves as to exclude it.—ἐκαθαρίσθη: forthwith the leprosy disappeared as if by magic. The man was and looked perfectly well.

Matthew 8:4. ὅρα, see to it! Look you!—imperative in mood and tone (vide Mark’s graphic account). Christ feared the man would be content with being well without being officially pronounced clean—physically healed, though not socially restored. Hence μηδενὶ εἴπῃς, ἀλλʼ ὕπαγε, etc.: speak of it to nobody, but go at once and show thyself (δεῖξον), τῷ ἱερεῖ, to the priest who has charge of such matters. What was the purpose of this order? Many good commentators, including Grot., Beng. and Wetstein, say it was to prevent the priests hearing of the cure before the man came (lingering on the road to tell his tale), and, in spite, declaring that he was not clean. The truth is, Jesus desired the benefit to be complete, socially, which depended on the priest, as well as physically. If the man did not go at once, he would not go at all.—τὸ δῶρον: vide Leviticus 14:10; Leviticus 14:21; all things to be done according to the law; no laxity encouraged, though the official religion was little worthy of respect (cf. Matthew 5:19).—εἰς μαρτύριον, as a certificate to the public (αὐτοῖς) from the constituted authority that the leper was clean. The direction shows Christ’s confidence in the reality of the cure. The whole story is a picture of character. The touch reveals sympathy; the accompanying word, “I will, be clean,” prompt, cordial, laconic, immense energy and vitality; the final order, reverence for existing institutions, fearlessness, humane solicitude for the sufferer’s future well-being in every sense (vide on Mk.).

Matthew 8:5-13. The centurion’s son or servant (Luke 7:1-10). Placed by both Matthew and Luke after Sermon on Mount, by the latter immediately after.

Matthew 8:5. εἰσελθόντος, aorist participle with another finite verb, pointing to a completed action. He had entered Capernaum when the following event happened. Observe the genitive absolute again with a dative of the same subject, αὐτῷ, following προσῆλθεν. ἑκατόνταρχος: a Gentile (Matthew 8:10), probably an officer in the army of Herod Antipas.

Matthew 8:6. Κύριε again, not necessarily expressing any advanced idea of Christ’s person.—παῖς may mean either son or servant. Luke has δοῦλος, and from the harmonistic point of view this settles the matter. But many, including Bleek and Weiss (Meyer), insist that παῖς here means son.—βέβληται, perf. pointing to a chronic condition; bed-ridden in the house, therefore not with the centurion.—παραλυτικός: a disease of the nerves, therefore emotional treatment might be thought of, had the son only been present. But he could not even be brought on a stretcher as in another case (Matthew 9:1) because not only παραλ., but δεινῶς βασανιζόμενος, not an ordinary feature of paralysis.

Matthew 8:7. his is generally taken as an offer on Christ’s part to go to the house. Fritzsche finds in it a question, arranging the words (T. R.) thus: καὶ, λέγει α. ὁ Ἰ., Ἐγὼ ἐλθὼν θεραπεύσω αὐτόν; and rendering: “And,” saith Jesus to him, “shall I go and heal him?” = is that what you wish? The following verse then contains the centurion’s reply. This is, to say the least, ingenious.

Matthew 8:8, ἱκανὸς: the Baptist’s word, chap. Matthew 3:11, but the construction different in the two places, there with infinitive, here with ἵνα: I am not fit in order that. This is an instance illustrating the extension of the use of ἵνα in later Greek, which culminated in its superseding the infinitive altogether in modern Greek. On the N. T. use of ἵνα, vide Burton, M. and T., §§ 191–222. Was it because he was a Gentile by birth, and also perhaps a heathen in religion, that he had this feeling of unworthiness, or was it a purely personal trait? If he was not only a Gentile but a Pagan, Christ’s readiness to go to the house would stand in remarkable contrast to His conduct in the case of the Syro-Phœnician woman. But vide Luke 7:5.—εἰπὲ λόγῳ, speak (and heal) with a word. A bare word just where they stand, he thinks, will suffice.

Matthew 8:9, καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ: he argues from his own experience not with an air of self-importance, on the contrary making light of his position as a commander—ὑπὸ ἐξουσίαν, spoken in modesty. He means: I also, though a very humble person in the army, under the authority of more important officers, still have a command over a body of men who do implicitly as I bid them. Fritzsche rightly suggests that ἄνθρωπος ὑπὸ ἐξουσίαν does not express a single idea = “a man under authority”. He represents himself as a man with authority, though in a modest way. A comma might with advantage be placed after εἰμι. The centurion thinks Jesus can order about disease as he orders his soldiers—say to fever, palsy, leprosy, go, and it will go. His soldiers go, his slaves do (Carr, C. G. T.).