THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
MORE DEEDS OF POWER: Mt 8,18-34
This second group of deeds of power is more diverse than the first. There we saw three healings. This time, we have a sea rescue (8,23-27), an exorcism (8,28-34) and then a healing (9,1-8).
The group is preceeded by the first interlude (8,18-22) which is about the demands of being a disciple. The interlude begins in verse 18 with Jesus ordering a trip to the other side but he gets into the boat in 8,23 at the beginning of the next episode. Both verses 22 and 23 speak of following Jesus.
Thus the interlude gives a background to the three episodes which follow. Whereas in the first group the emphasis was on Jesus himself, now the emphasis will be the response to Jesus and what is required of a disciple.
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Interlude "Follow me": Mt 8,18-23
Verse 18 is unique to Matthew. Jesus is clearly making the decisions, we will see the contrast with Mark in the next scene.
The scribe calls Jesus "teacher" or "rabbi", a term used by outsiders. The disciple in verse 21 calls Jesus "Lord", as used by insiders, the early Christians, as we saw in the previous healings.
More importantly, the scribe is making his own decision to follow Jesus: "I will follow you", verse 19. The disciple in verses 21-22 by contrast has to respond to the call of Jesus: "Follow me".
Psalm 8 speaks about humanity having dominion over creation. Verse 4 of the Psalm says literally: "What is man that are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him."
The important background to the title "Son of Man" is the vision of Daniel chapter 7 where the Son of Man has become a much more exalted figure.
The duty of burying the dead is seen in the book of Tobit, a marvellous story of Jewish piety from around 300BC. Here the discussion is about being a disciple so the background here is the story of Elisha's call by Elijah (1 Kings 19,19-21). The demands of following Jesus are even more radical.
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The Calming of the Storm: 8,23-27
This scene of the storm is linked to the preceeding verse by the word "follow", so the disciples follow in verse 23. In Mark (Mk 4,35-36) Jesus only makes a suggestion ("Let us go") and the disciples then get into the boat first. Matthew now makes a much clearer point than Mark with the disciples following Jesus into the boat. Even though it might not have been the case at the time of the evangelist, later readings of this passage would readily see the boat as a symbol of the Church.
Not so obvious is Matthew's word for storm: seismos means "earthquake"; it is the origin of a number of words in English. The shaking of the Church strengthens the symbolism.
In verse 25, Mark's cry "do you not care" has been changed into a prayer: "Lord, save us...
Whereas in Mark 4,40 the disciples have no faith, in Matthew they at least have little faith (8,26). It is still a faith which becomes panic at times of crisis.
Jesus rebuking the winds and the waves recalls the whole section in Psalm 107 about seafaring. The ancient Israelites were not great sailors.
In this story, a great storm of verse 24 becomes a great calm in verse 26.
The climax in verse 27 is the wonder of the disciples.
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The Gaderene Demoniacs: 8,28-34
Matthew as we will be seeing again in the next chapter cuts out all Mark's storyteller details. A twenty verse story in Mark becomes just 7 verses in Matthew. The whole description of the man (Mk 5,4-6) is taken out as well as the details of his healing (Mk 5,15). The possessed men just fade out of the story.
This leaves us with a contest between Jesus and the demons whose fierceness is stressed by Matthew. Yet the demons recognise the power of Jesus with their "if" in verse 31.
Jesus' only word in this episode is "Go" in verse 32. A straight command.
Pigs were unclean animals (Lev 11,6-7). Thus they belonged to Gentiles and it is likely that the demoniacs were Gentiles themselves.
As in the previous story, water is a place of chaos. Thus the demons are being returned whence they came. The land is once again a place of good order.
By asking Jesus to leave the district in verse 34, the Gentile townspeople may well have feared the reaction of the landlord to the loss of all those pigs. The Gentiles are not yet ready for Jesus.
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