The second group of three miracles has for its theme our Lord's authority: He is Master of every realm of life.
The miracles are:
1. The stilling of a storm - 8:23-27
2. The healing of demoniacs - 8:28-34
3. The healing of a paralytic - 9: 1-8
We use the word to convey a variety of meanings. An authority may be:
1. The EXPERT - one who knows.
To know about Skylab's flight path in its
orbit round the earth, listen to U.S the space authority, N.A.S.A. To
know about Halley's comet, listen to an authority like the Royal
Astronomer.
To know about life, listen to Jesus. He is the expert, the
'authority' on living.
2. The MASTER - one who has the mastery.
"Bjorn Borg," you used to read in the papers, "played with great authority today." He had command of his play: knowledge and tactics, skill and fitness were all combined to make it a masterly demonstration of the game of tennis.
So Jesus lived with authority -
... with knowledge (His teaching)
... with tactics (His sureness of touch - He had a 'grasp' of every situation)
... with skill (His deeds - He could do things others could not)
... with fitness (nothing was ever too much for Him).
3. The RULER - one who must be obeyed.
A referee, for example, or a general. "Who
is the authority round here?" means "Who's in charge?" Who has the
power to make the decisions, and make them stick?
Jesus exercised authority in this way too: His word produced results.
He is to be obeyed; and that is because His right to rule rests on
his fitness to rule - on the very qualities we have just noted.
Obedience, when obedience to Him is called for, is no arbitrary
thing. If life bewilders, confuses, disorientates us, we should go to
Jesus for answers. Why fool about with incompetent amateurs when we
can go to the 'Master,' the Son of God?
9:9b is a summary statement of the impact all three miracles in this group made: "When the crowds saw it they were awed, and they glorified God Who had given such authority to men."
In these three miracles, we see the Lord's authority in:
1. The Natural realm: He stills the storm. He is in command of nature;
2. The Supernatural realm: He casts out demons. He is in command of super-nature;
3. The Moral realm: He forgives sins and remedies their issue. He is in command of human nature.
As we have noted, Matthew links things thematically by combining them into a single journey. It is an editorial device he uses to alert us that he wants us to see these episodes as belonging together. They show us first ...
1. The stilling of the storm
It raised the question in the disciples' minds, as it must in ours, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?" (v. 27) Who is He? The disciples, and the first readers of Matthew's Gospel, who had been Jews, would at once recall passages like Psalm 89:9, "Thou dost rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, Thou stillest them." Or Psalm 107:23-29, "Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded, and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men, and were at their wits' end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed."
Jesus does what only God can do!
2. The casting out of the demons
It produced a similar bewildered response. They did not know what to make of a man who had such powers. It terrified them, and far from welcoming Jesus for the good He could do for them, they begged Him to go away for fear of what a man with such powers might do to them.
Matthew makes us sit up and take notice by recording that those who know the answer to the question, "Who is this?" are the demons! They knew Him to be the Son of God. v. 29. Why don't we?
Again we see that when Jesus demonstrated such authority over the powers of darkness, He did what only God can do. There is a reference back in all the Gospels at this point to an incident in Ex. 8:19 where it is recorded that Pharaoh's magicians were able, by the agency of the evil powers they controlled, to reproduce some of the miracles Moses wrought. But when he wrought one they could not imitate, they recognised the 'finger of God' in it. That is why, in the Beelzebub controversy, Jesus spoke of Himself that way: "If I by the finger of God cast out demons, then is the Rule of God in your very midst." He meant that His signs were wrought in the power of God.
3. The healing of the paralytic
It generated shocked outrage in the minds of the scribes who witnessed it. When Jesus said to the sick man, "Cheer up, sonny, your sins are forgiven," they thought, "That is blasphemy: no-one can forgive sins but God only." They were right of course.
But again, if by the word Jesus spoke the man's sins really were forgiven, then it follows that Jesus did what only God can do: He forgave sins. Only God can convey forgiveness to us for all our sins, because all sins we commit are ultimately against Him, so only He can finally remit them. Though my sin may be against a man, he is God's man, and it is God I must answer to for it as well as to the man, just as you must answer to me, their father, if you hurt my children.
The reasoning in the Lord's answer to the Scribes was simply this: "I may say the words 'your sins are forgiven'; anybody can do that, and who is to know whether they are not just empty words? The question is, is there the power in my words to produce the result? For answer, hear me say some other words and see what their effect is: whereupon (addressing the paralytic) He said, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk.'" And the man did. If there was power in His words when their effect was visible, why doubt the power in His words when it was not?
We may draw out of these incidents some truths for faith, under the heading:
1. He removes threats to our well-being
He rebuked the winds and the sea - threats from the world around us.
He dismissed the demons - threats from the world beneath us.
He removed sins and raised up sinners - threats from the world within us.
2. He brings us peace
He calmed unruly nature.
He quieted a raging spirit.
He eased a troubled conscience.
"Come to Me," He said, "and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28)
3. Jesus slept while men panicked
But He woke in time! He always does. He never comes too late. Trust Him to come. "Stand still and see the salvation of God, which He will work for you today." (Ex. 14:13)
4. The human and the divine are mingled in Him
He sleeps - and rebukes the wind! He is so very human - yet so clearly divine. Both natures are mingled in Him, just as fear and faith are mingled in the disciples. It will ever be so. He is God - but God most near.
Then notice His impact on people who are representative of three groups:
a. The disciples, representing believers
Before He calmed the storm in their
circumstances, He calmed the storm in their hearts. He dealt first
with their anxiety. "Why are you so worried?" He delayed to speak to
the wind and the sea while He spoke first to them: then He rose and
rebuked wind and water.
He would deal with our distress before He removes the
stresses.
b. The demons, representing the powers of evil
1. His presence was torment to them, as
light is to creeping things when you lift a stone and expose them.
This man's first experience of encounter with Jesus was acutely
disturbing before the Lord gave him release. We must be willing to
let Him wound so as to cleanse.
And we must not say "Go away" to Him, or we join the powers of
darkness.
2. But He did not destroy them - they destroyed themselves. All He said was "Go." It was they, not He, who drove the pigs into the sea. Evil destroys itself.
I am astonished that Jesus should here be accused of doing harm. How is it acceptable for us to destroy pigs in an abattoir to satisfy our appetites, but not acceptable for Him to allow their destruction to restore a man's sanity?
c. The paralytic, representing sinners
He brought them the good cheer of forgiveness; for the secret of good cheer is a cleansed conscience. Jesus says that is what we need to make us happy; not health, friends or money, but forgiveness. It is no use saying "Cheer up" to anybody till you can say to them, "Your sins are forgiven."
Paul Tournier offers an example of that in
his "Doctor's Case Book." He had for a long time treated a girl with
severe anaemia, but to no avail. So as a last resort he decided to
send her to a mountain sanatorium for clear air and rest. But before
he could do that, she needed a health clearance from the District
Medical Officer, so he sent her first to him; he of course took blood
samples as part of the precautionary routine. He was quite happy to
let her go, "But," he wrote to Dr Tournier, "I don't see why she
needs to go; her blood count is quite normal."
"Normal?!" Dr Tournier was astonished. So he checked her again, and
normal it was. "What has happened?" he wanted to know; "it's a
miracle."
"Oh," she said, "since my last visit to you, I have been able to
forgive someone against whom, for years, I'd held resentment and
great bitterness." (Paul Tournier, 'A Doctor's Casebook,
[S.C.M.] p. 150)
With forgiveness, her condition was cured.
To be healthy, really healthy, we should first get rid of our sins. The sin of resentment, of bitterness, of an unforgiving spirit, may need to be the first. We find the ability to forgive only in the experience of being forgiven. There is no other way.
Finally - varying reactions:
The disciples marvelled and wondered.
The Gadarenes begged Him to go away.
The Scribes rejected Him as an imposter.
The crowds were afraid, but they glorified God.
In particular, they marvelled that God had given such authority to (notice) men. Not to the man, Christ Jesus, only; but to men. What men? Who but His men, the church? It is given to the church to proclaim His healing word. Not the church's forgiveness, of course (the church cannot forgive us anything) but God's forgiveness proclaimed by the church.
This material is copyright; it may not be quoted, published or reproduced without the author's permission, nor preached without acknowledgment!