14 When Jesus came into Peter's home , He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever . 15 He touched her hand , and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him. 16 When evening came , they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed ; and He cast out the spirits with a word , and healed all who were ill e . 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet : " HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES ."
18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 Then a scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher , I will follow You wherever e You go ." 20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests , but the Son of Man has nowhere e to lay His head ." 21 Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord , permit me first to go and bury my father ." 22 But Jesus said to him, " Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead ."
23 When He got into the boat , His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold , there arose a great storm on the sea , so that the boat was being covered with the waves ; but Jesus Himself was asleep . 25 And they came to Him and woke Him, saying , " Save us, Lord ; we are perishing !" 26 He said to them, "Why are you afraid , you men of little faith ?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea , and it became perfectly calm . 27 The men were amazed , and said , "What kind of a man is this , that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
28 When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes , two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs . They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way . 29 And they cried out, saying , " What business do we have with each other, Son of God ? Have You come here to torment us before the time ?" 30 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. 31 The demons began to entreat Him, saying , "If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine ." 32 And He said to them, "Go !" And they came out and went into the swine , and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters . 33 The herdsmen ran away , and went to the city and reported everything , including what had happened to the demoniacs . 34 And behold , the whole city came out to meet Jesus ; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region .
41 He began to teach again by the sea . And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down ; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land . 2 And He was teaching them many things in parables , and was saying to them in His teaching , 3 "Listen to this! Behold , the sower went out to sow ; 4 as he was sowing , some seed fell beside the road , and the birds came and ate it up. 5 "Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil ; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil . 6 "And after the sun had risen , it was scorched ; and because it had no root , it withered away . 7 "Other seed fell among the thorns , and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop . 8 "Other seeds fell into the good soil , and as they grew up and increased , they yielded a crop and produced thirty , sixty , and a hundredfold ." 9 And He was saying , " He who has ears to hear , let him hear ." 10 As soon as He was alone , His followers e , along with the twelve , began asking Him about the parables . 11 And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God , but those who are outside get everything in parables , 12 so that WHILE SEEING , THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE , AND WHILE HEARING , THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND , OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN ." 13 And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable ? How will you understand all the parables ? 14 "The sower sows the word . 15 "These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown ; and when they hear , immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 "In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who , when they hear the word , immediately receive it with joy ; 17 and they have no firm root in themselves , but are only temporary ; then , when affliction or persecution arises because of the word , immediately they fall away . 18 "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns ; these are the ones who have heard the word , 19 but the worries of the world , and the deceitfulness of riches , and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word , and it becomes unfruitful . 20 "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil ; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit , thirty , sixty , and a hundredfold ."
21 And He was saying to them, " A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket , is it, or under a bed ? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand ? 22 " For nothing e is hidden , except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret , but that it would come to light . 23 " If anyone has ears to hear , let him hear ." 24 And He was saying to them, "Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides . 25 " For whoever has , to him more shall be given ; and whoever does not have , even what he has shall be taken away from him."
26 And He was saying , "The kingdom of God is like e a man who casts seed upon the soil ; 27 and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day , and the seed sprouts and grows -how , he himself does not know . 28 "The soil produces crops by itself ; first the blade , then the head , then the mature grain in the head . 29 "But when the crop permits , he immediately puts in the sickle , because the harvest has come ."
30 And He said , "How shall we picture the kingdom of God , or by what parable shall we present it? 31 "It is like a mustard seed , which , when sown upon the soil , though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil , 32 yet when it is sown , it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches ; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE ."
33 With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; 34 and He did not speak to them without a parable ; but He was explaining everything privately e to His own disciples .
35 On that day , when evening came , He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side ." 36 Leaving the crowd , they took Him along with them in the boat , just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 37 And there arose a fierce gale of wind , and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. 38 Jesus Himself was in the stern , asleep on the cushion ; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher , do You not care that we are perishing ?" 39 And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea , "Hush , be still ." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm . 40 And He said to them, "Why are you afraid ? Do you still have no faith ?" 41 They became very much afraid and said to one another , "Who then is this , that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
51 They came to the other side of the sea , into the country of the Gerasenes . 2 When He got out of the boat , immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs . And no e one was able to bind him anymore , even with a chain ; 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains , and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces , and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Constantly , night and day , he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains , and gashing himself with stones . 6 Seeing Jesus from a distance , he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 and shouting with a loud voice , he said , " What business do we have with each other, Jesus , Son of the Most High God ? I implore You by God , do not torment me!" 8 For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man , you unclean spirit !" 9 And He was asking him, "What is your name ?" And he said to Him, "My name is Legion ; for we are many ." 10 And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country . 11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain . 12 The demons implored Him, saying , "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them." 13 Jesus gave them permission . And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine ; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea , about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea . 14 Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country . And the people came to see what it was that had happened . 15 They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down , clothed and in his right mind , the very man who had had the " legion "; and they became frightened . 16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine . 17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region . 18 As He was getting into the boat , the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany e Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, " Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed .
21 When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side , a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore . 22 One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him, fell at His feet 23 and implored Him earnestly , saying , "My little daughter is at the point of death ; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live ." 24 And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him. 25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage e for twelve years , 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians , and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all , but rather had grown worse - 27 after hearing about Jesus , she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak . 28 For she thought , "If I just touch His garments , I will get well." 29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction . 30 Immediately Jesus , perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth , turned around in the crowd and said , "Who touched My garments ?" 31 And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say , 'Who touched Me?' " 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this . 33 But the woman fearing and trembling , aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth . 34 And He said to her, "Daughter , your faith has made you well ; go in peace and be healed of your affliction ."
35 While He was still speaking , they came from the house of the synagogue official , saying , "Your daughter has died ; why trouble the Teacher anymore ?" 36 But Jesus , overhearing what e was being spoken , said to the synagogue official , " Do not be afraid any longer, only believe ." 37 And He allowed no e one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James . 38 They came to the house of the synagogue official ; and He saw a commotion , and people loudly weeping and wailing . 39 And entering in, He said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep ? The child has not died , but is asleep ." 40 They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child's father and mother and His own companions e , and entered the room where the child was. 41 Taking the child by the hand , He said to her, "Talitha kum !" (which translated means , "Little girl , I say to you, get up!"). 42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk , for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely e astounded . 43 And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this , and He said that something should be given her to eat .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Matthew 8:14-34
Commentary on Matthew 8:14-17
(Read Matthew 8:14-17)
Peter had a wife, yet was an apostle of Christ, who showed that he approved of the married state, by being thus kind to Peter's wife's relations. The church of Rome, which forbids ministers to marry, goes contrary to that apostle upon whom they rest so much. He had his wife's mother with him in his family, which is an example to be kind to our relations. In spiritual healing, the Scripture speaks the word, the Spirit gives the touch, touches the heart, touches the hand. Those who recover from fevers, commonly are weak and feeble some time after; but to show that this cure was above the power of nature, the woman was at once so well as to go about the business of the house. The miracles which Jesus did being noised abroad, many thronged to him. He healed all that were sick, though the patient was ever so mean, and the case ever so bad. Many are the diseases and calamities to which we are liable in the body; and there is more, in those words of the gospel, that Jesus Christ bore our sicknesses and carried our sorrows, to support and comfort us under them, than in all the writings of the philosophers. Let us not grudge labour, trouble, or expense in doing good to others.
Commentary on Matthew 8:18-22
(Read Matthew 8:18-22)
One of the scribes was too hasty in promising; he proffers himself to be a close follower of Christ. He seems to be very resolute. Many resolutions for religion are produced by sudden conviction, and taken up without due consideration; these come to nothing. When this scribe offered to follow Christ, one would think he should have been encouraged; one scribe might do more credit and service than twelve fishermen; but Christ saw his heart, and answered to its thoughts, and therein teaches all how to come to Christ. His resolve seems to have been from a worldly, covetous principle; but Christ had not a place to lay his head on, and if he follows him, he must not expect to fare better than he fared. We have reason to think this scribe went away. Another was too slow. Delay in doing is as bad on the one hand, as hastiness in resolving is on the other. He asked leave to attend his father to his grave, and then he would be at Christ's service. This seemed reasonable, yet it was not right. He had not true zeal for the work. Burying the dead, especially a dead father, is a good work, but it is not thy work at this time. If Christ requires our service, affection even for the nearest and dearest relatives, and for things otherwise our duty, must give way. An unwilling mind never wants an excuse. Jesus said to him, Follow me; and, no doubt, power went with this word to him as to others; he did follow Christ, and cleaved to him. The scribe said, I will follow thee; to this man Christ said, Follow me; comparing them together, it shows that we are brought to Christ by the force of his call to us, Romans 9:16.
Commentary on Matthew 8:23-27
(Read Matthew 8:23-27)
It is a comfort to those who go down to the sea in ships, and are often in perils there, to reflect that they have a Saviour to trust in and pray to, who knows what it is to be on the water, and to be in storms there. Those who are passing with Christ over the ocean of this world, must expect storms. His human nature, like to ours in every thing but sin, was wearied, and he slept at this time to try the faith of his disciples. They, in their fear, came to their Master. Thus is it in a soul; when lusts and temptations are swelling and raging, and God is, as it were, asleep to it, this brings it to the brink of despair. Then it cries for a word from his mouth, Lord Jesus, keep not silence to me, or I am undone. Many that have true faith, are weak in it. Christ's disciples are apt to be disquieted with fears in a stormy day; to torment themselves that things are bad with them, and with dismal thoughts that they will be worse. Great storms of doubt and fear in the soul, under the power of the spirit of bondage, sometimes end in a wonderful calm, created and spoken by the Spirit of adoption. They were astonished. They never saw a storm so turned at once into a perfect calm. He that can do this, can do any thing, which encourages confidence and comfort in him, in the most stormy day, within or without, Isaiah 26:4.
Commentary on Matthew 8:28-34
(Read Matthew 8:28-34)
The devils have nothing to do with Christ as a Saviour; they neither have, nor hope for any benefit from him. Oh the depth of this mystery of Divine love; that fallen man has so much to do with Christ, when fallen angels have nothing to do with him! Hebrews 2:16. Surely here was torment, to be forced to own the excellence that is in Christ, and yet they had no part in him. The devils desire not to have any thing to do with Christ as a Ruler. See whose language those speak, who will have nothing to do with the gospel of Christ. But it is not true that the devils have nothing to do with Christ as a Judge; for they have, and they know it, and thus it is with all the children of men. Satan and his instruments can go no further than he permits; they must quit possession when he commands. They cannot break his hedge of protection about his people; they cannot enter even a swine without his leave. They had leave. God often, for wise and holy ends, permits the efforts of Satan's rage. Thus the devil hurries people to sin; hurries them to what they have resolved against, which they know will be shame and grief to them: miserable is the condition of those who are led captive by him at his will. There are a great many who prefer their swine before the Saviour, and so come short of Christ and salvation by him. They desire Christ to depart out of their hearts, and will not suffer his word to have place in them, because he and his word would destroy their brutish lusts, those swine which they give themselves up to feed. And justly will Christ forsake all that are weary of him; and say hereafter, Depart, ye cursed, to those who now say to the Almighty, Depart from us.