Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
(From: MATTHEW - #13 - 8:18-9:8)
B. 8:18-9:8 A TRIP OF TEACHING, MIRACLES AND HEALING
1. 8:18 And seeing a crowd about him :Jesus commanded to depart unto the other side.
I-DON de ho IeSOUS OCHlon peRI auTON eKEleu-sen [2753] a-pelTHEIN eis to PEran.
2. 8:19-22 FOLLOWING JESUS IS COSTLY
a. 8:19 And one scribe came to him andsaid, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
Kai pro-selTHON heis gram-maTEUS EIpen auTO, DiDAska-le, a-ko-louTHEsai soi HOpou eAN aPERche.
b. 8:20 JESUS DOESN'T MAKE HIS ACCEPTANCE EASY
kai LEgei auTOho IeSOUS,
And :Jesus says to him,
The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven havenests;
ho de huiOS tou anTHROpou ouk Echei pou ten ke-phaLEN [2776]KLIne[2827].
but the Son of :man has not where to lay his :head.
c. 8:21 A DISCIPLE ASKS A FAVOR
HEte-ros de ton ma-theTON EIpen auTO,
And another of the disciples said to him,
KUri-e, ePItrePSON [2010]moi PROton a-pelTHEIN kai THApsai [2290]ton paTEra mou.
Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my :father.
d. 8:22 JESUS REJECTS HIS REQUEST
ho de IeSOUS LEgei auTO, A-koLOUthei [190]moi;
But :Jesus says to him, Follow me;
kai Aphes [863]tous neKROUS [3498]THApsai tous he-auTON neKROUS.
and leave the dead to bury their own :dead.
3. 8:23-27 STILLING OF THE TEMPEST
a. 8:23 And when he was entered into a boat, his :disciples followed him.
Kai emBANti [1684]auTOeis PLOIon [4143], e-koLOUthe-san [190]auTOhoi ma-theTOI auTOU.
b. 8:24 A GREAT TEMPEST
kai iDOU, seisMOS [4578]MEgas eGEne-to en tethaLASse, HOste to PLOIon
And lo, a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat
kaLUPtes-thai [2572]HUpo ton kuMAton [2949]: auTOS de eKAtheu-den [2518].
was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
c. 8:25 And they came to him, andawoke him, saying, Save, Lord; we perish.
kai pro-selTHONtes, Egei-ran [1453]auTON, LEgontes, KUri-e, SOson [4982]; a-polLUme-tha [622].
d. 8:26a And he says to them, Why are you fearful Oyou of little faith?
kai LEgei auTOIS, Ti deiLOI [1169]es-te o-liGOpi-stois [3640]?
e. 8:26b Then he arose, andrebuked the winds and the sea; and therewas a great calm.
TOte e-garTHEIS, e-peTIme-sen [2008]tois aNEmois kai tethaLASse; kai eGEne-to gaLEne[1055]meGAle.
f. 8:27 THE RESULT CAUSES HIS DISCIPLES TO MARVEL
hoi de ANthropoi eTHAUma-san [2296], LEgon-tes, Po-taPOS [4217]es-tin HOUtos,
And the men marveled, saying, What manner of manis this,
that even the winds and the sea obey him?
4. 8:28-34 TWO DEMONIACS OF GADARA
a. 8:28 THE NATURE OF THE DEMONIACS
Kai elTHONtos auTOU eis to PEran eis ten CHOran [5561]ton Ga-da-reNON,
And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes,
huPENte-san [5221]auTODUo dai-mo-niZOme-noi [1139], ek ton mneMEIon [3419]e-xerCHOme-noi,
two demoniacs met him, coming forth out of the tombs,
cha-lePOI [5467]LIan, HOste meisCHUein tiNA pa-relTHEIN [2480]diA tes hoDOU eKEInes.
exceeding fierce, so that no one could pass by that :way.
b. 8:29 THE DEMONIACS CHALLENGE JESUS
kai iDOU, Ekra-xan, LEgon-tes, Ti heMIN kai soi,
And lo, they cried out, saying, What have we to dowith you,
huiE tou TheOU? ELthes HOde pro kaiROU ba-saNIsai [928]heMAS?
Son of :God? are you come here to torment us before the season?
c. 8:30 Now far from them was a herd of many swine feeding.
en de maKRAN ap' auTON aGEleCHOIron polLON bo-skoMEne.
d. 8:31 THE REQUEST OF THE DEMONS
hoi de DAImo-nes [1142]pa-reKAloun [3870]auTON, LEgon-tes,
And the demons besought him, saying,
Ei ekBALleis [1544]heMAS, aPOstei-lon heMAS eis ten aGElen ton CHOIron.
If you cast us out, send us into the herd of :swine.
e. 8:32a And he said to them, Go. kai EIpen auTOIS, HuPAge-te [5217].
f. 8:32b THE EFFECT ON THE SWINE
hoi de e-xelTHONtes, aPELthen ei tous CHOIrous:
And they came out, andwent into the swine:
kai iDOU, HORme-sen [3729]PAsa heaGElekaTA tou kremNOU [2911]eis ten THAlas-san,
and lo, the whole herd rushed down the steep into the sea,
kai aPEtha-non [599]en tois HUda-sin.
and they died in the waters.
g. 8:33 THE EFFECT ON THE SWINE-FEEDERS
hoi de BOskon-tes [1006]Ephu-gon [5343], kai a-pelTHONtes eis ten POlin,
And they that fed themfled, and went away into the city,
aPEGgei-lan [518]PANta, kai ta ton dai-mo-ni-zoMEnon [1139].
andtold everything, and what befellthe demoniacs.
h. 8:34 THE EFFECT ON THE CITY
kai iDOU, PAsa hoPOlis eXELthen eis huPANte-sin [4877]toIeSOU: kai iDONtes auTON,
And lo, all the city came out to meet :Jesus: and when they saw him,
pa-reKAle-san [3870]HOpos me-taBE[3327]aPO ton hoRIon [3725]auTON.
they besought himthat he would depart from their :borders.
5. 9:1-8 HEALINGS BACK IN HIS OWN CITY
a. 9:1 And he entered into a boat, andcrossed over, and came into his own :city.
Kai emBAS eis PLOIon, di-ePEra-sen [1276], kai ELthen eis ten iDIan POlin.
b. 9:2 JESUS ENCOURAGES A PARALYTIC
kai iDOU, proSEphe-ron [4374]auTOpa-ra-lu-tiKON [3885], ePI KLInes [2825]be-bleMEnon [906]:
And lo, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed:
kai iDON ho IeSOUS ten PIstin auTON EIpen topa-ra-lu-tiKO,
and :Jesus seeing their :faith said to the paralytic,
THARsei [2293], TEKnon [5043]; aPHIenTAI [863]sou hai ha-marTIai.
Be of good cheer, child; your :sins are forgiven.
c. 9:3 And lo, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This manblasphemes.
kai iDOU, ti-nes ton gram-maTEon [1122]EIpan en he-auTOIS, HOUtos blas-pheMEI [987].
d. 9:4 JESUS CHALLENGES THE SCRIBES
kai eiDOS ho IeSOUS tas en-thuMEseis [1761]auTON EIpen,
And :Jesus knowing their :thoughts said,
HIna ti en-thuMEISthe [1760]po-neRA [4190]en tai karDIais huMON?
Why do you think evil in your :hearts?
e. 9:5 JESUS EXPLAINS HIS CHALLENGE
ti GAR es-tin eu-koPOte-ron [2123], eiPEIN, A-PHIenTAI [863]sou hai ha-marTIai;
For which is easier, to say, Your :sins are forgiven;
eeiPEIN, Egei-re, kai pe-riPAtei [4043]?
or to say, Arise, and walk?
f. 9:6 JESUS EXPLOITS HIS CHALLENGE
HIna de eiDEte HOti e-xouSIan Echei ho huiOS tou anTHROpou
But that you may know that the Son of :man has authority
ePI tes ges a-phiEnai [863]ha-marTIas (TOte LEgei topa-ra-lu-tiKO),
on the earth to forgive sins (then he says to the paralytic),
Egei-re, aRON [142]sou ten KLInen [2825], kai HUpa-ge eis ton OI-KON sou.
Arise, and take up your :bed, and go to your :house.
g. 9:7 And he arose, andwent away to his :house.
kai e-gerTHEIS, aPELthen eis ton OIkon auTOU.
h. 9:8 THE EFFECT ON THE CROWDS
I-DONtes de hoi OCHloi, e-phoBEthe-san [5399],
But when the crowds saw it, they were afraid,
kai eDOxa-san [1392]ton TheON ton DONta e-xouSIan toiAUten tois anTHROpois.
and glorified the God who had given such authority to :men.
NOTE: 8:19-22 - We tend to “lower the bars” in America to gain decisions! Notthe Son of man, Jesus! He faithfully represented His Father in wordand deed. He was always after disciples, not just counting decisions.
Dawson Trotman, founder of the “Navigators”, learned this lesson the costlyway. In his booklet “Born to Reproduce”, he tells how after six months of soul winning, he went to check on his first converts, and found noneleft. Greatly chagrined, he vowed to stick with allfuture converts, disciplethem, and then stillstick with them until they in turn were discipling their converts into reproducers! “Easy believism” is not the answer, because it is notthe way of God, nor the teaching of the Bible.
Billy Graham's life was transformed, when after a sleepless night praying in the woods, he made a vow: “I will take the whole Bibleby faithas the Word of God, and proclaim, “The Bible says”, even in areas where I do not fully understand it!” It was thenin Los Angeles that his exceeding fruitful ministry as an evangelist began, and continued to the end without abatement!
From Genesis to Revelation, the 66 books of the Bible, we find our marching orders. Forget the Modernists and Doubters. Like Billy Bray of old, say, “Down with the Doubters, and Up with the Shouters!” The 144 men and women I have felt led to make my mentors, are allof this category!
In one church in Chicago, God led me to “lower the bars”, because of the pressure of deacons to get results at any cost. We went from 16 to 200 members in 5 years, and on to 800 shortly afterwards. But at whata cost! One lady said, “The Little Church” isn't what it used to be.” Indeed it wasn't! God said, “I will never ask you to compromise again, but I wanted you to see the price other churches pay in 'lowering the bars' for carnal results.”
It is called “Seeker Friendly” today. Brother Yun, “The Heavenly Man” of China, comments on this in a similar manner.
8:28-34 - Others have pointed out the following also. But note even this: Not even swine (pigs) could stand being demon-possessed. They would rather drown, than live inhabited by demons. But these two men - and many other men and women like them, live regularly as demon-possessed creatures; and unlike the swine, put up with this abnormal situation.. Mary Magdalene had 7 demons which Jesus cast out, to her ever-lasting gratefulness.
Many religious leaders do not believe in demon-possession today, and count these Bible records to be but myths. One evangelist from the Near East said, “Yes - we in our area do have human beings possessed just as in Bible days. But do not think you in the West live apart from such states! You in the West do have demons, very wise demons - who live in many behind pulpits! - J.A.W.