The Collect
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
Psalm 30; 32
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+30%3B+32&version=KJV
Exodus 25:1–22
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+25%3A1%E2%80%9322&version=KJV
Gospel: Matthew 4:18–25
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Commentary:
In these verses assigned or out study this day, we find Matthew hurriedly describing the events—in his Gospel account—leading up to the Sermon on the Mount.
“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.” (vs. 18-22)
“Of effectual calling to Christ. In all his preaching he gave a common call to all the country, but in this he gave a special and particular call to those that were given him by the Father.” (Henry)
This was not the first time Jesus met these men, and other gospels describe previous encounters (John 1:35-42 and Luke 5:3), but this is when Jesus called them to leave their professions and follow Him with a full-time commitment.
“Its fishing industry was prosperous, and its fishermen not necessarily poor (Zebedee’s family employed workers, Mark 1:20).” (France)
In that long ago era, it was quite common for a young man wishing to gain an education, especially in Jewish religious law, to seek out and petition a Rabbi to take him on as a disciple. Undoubtedly, the most recognized Rabbis received handsome sums from Fathers wishing their sons to get the best education and thereby have an advantage over their peers. But here we see a break with this tradition, Jesus—the Rabbi/teacher—approaches these men God has chosen for him to teach the Holy Word to, men who would go on to lay the foundation of that which would become the Christian Church.
“Follow me,” would immediately suggest the disciples of a Rabbi…who literally followed him around to absorb his teaching, though this was by their own choice, not by his summons.” (France)
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.” (v. 23-25)
“Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues” The customs of the synagogue in that day gave Jesus many opportunities to teach, because they would often give a visitor – especially a distinguished one – a chance to speak. “After the address there came a time for talk, and questions, and discussion. The synagogue was the ideal place in which to get a new teaching across to the people.” (Barclay)
“teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel” The difference between teaching and preaching is one of emphasis and manner, not of content. “Preaching is the uncompromising proclamation of certainties; teaching is the explanation of the meaning and significance of them.” (Barclay)
“healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease ” One must remember that in that time period, there was no medical practices such as we have today. To heal, repeatedly, as Jesus did was obviously a sign of the miraculous. This healing ministry of Jesus’ did not go unnoticed, even his enemies, the Pharisees, noted that his abilities had to be from God.
In John 3 we find—just before the most famous saying of the book of John—the account of Nicodemus, the Pharisee, coming to Jesus under cover of night so as to avoid the attention of his peers, who said to Jesus; “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” From this observation, we have to acknowledge the fact that many of the people who witnessed or heard eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ miracles, knew intuitively, that Jesus was sent by God. His authority over demons (and those who were demon-possessed) shows He has authentic power over all creation.
“And his fame went throughout all Syria” There was no Internet, no videos, no TV or radio, neither were there any newspapers in that era; but none the less—through the power of the word of mouth—the news of Jesus’ miracles, spread far and wide throughout the land.
“and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick” (v. 24) We often hear oratory, or read essays, in which unbelievers attack the Gospel accounts of Jesus casting out demons; often insisting that he was not casting out spiritual entities, but cruelly accosting those with epilepsy. It is widely believed that first century people thought that conditions such as epilepsy, was a sign that the victim was demon possessed. We have all heard the arguments, often used to detract from the gospel accounts of Jesus performing exorcisms.
However, here in Matthew 4:24 we have an account demonstrating that even the disciples knew that epilepsy was different than possession. “…those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick ” “The term “lunatic” derives from the Latin word lunaticus, which originally referred mainly to epilepsy and madness, as diseases thought to be caused by the moon. The King James Version of the Bible records “lunatick” in the Gospel of Matthew, which has been interpreted as a reference to epilepsy.” (Wikipedia) They may have not understood all the symptoms and causes relative to epilepsy, in that era, but they obviously knew that epilepsy and “madness” (mental illness) were different than demonic possession. Therefore it behooves us to remember when we read biblical accounts of exorcism, Jesus—and those others who cast out demons in the name of Jesus—actually were dealing with spiritual entities, aka demons.
“This is the first mention of the demon-possessed in the New Testament, and the concept is rarely recorded in the Old Testament (Saul was one example, who was troubled by a spirit, as in 1 Samuel 18:10, 19:9). There is obviously much more record of demon possession on the pages of the New Testament than either in the Old Testament or in the contemporary western world. Many suggestions have been offered for this fact.” (Guzik)
Some bible authorities, suggest that God allowed the devil to afflict mankind in that era, so as to give evidence of Jesus’ authority over all creation, even demons. Others think that these accounts of demonic activity in that region was a plan by God to discredit the Sadducees, who did not believe in spiritual or paranormal entities. Many believe that there was no greater demonic activity then, than there is now, most people just refuse to admit the work of the devil in our world. To that end, some believe the devil’s greatest accomplishment is convincing mankind he does not exist.
“And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.”
“Christ’s fame spread very far doubtless, because of the good he did, and the miracles he wrought…all here again can signify no more than very many that were indisposed and ill affected as to their bodily health.” (Clarke)
“People from all these areas ‘followed’ Jesus. Despite contrary arguments ‘follow’ does not necessarily indicate solid discipleship. It may, as here, refer to those who at some particular time followed Jesus around in his itinerant ministry and thus were loosely considered disciples.” (Carson)
“multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis” We should remember that many of the people in these lands were not Jewish per se, but rather Gentile (usually Greek) or Jews that had joined or intermarries with the Gentile populations. Although he told the woman who was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race, that his ministry was intended for Jewish people exclusively, “Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.” (see Mark 7:24-30) it becomes apparent that Jesus intended his ministry for all mankind, if not, why did he spend so much time working in lands with non-Jewish people?
Benediction
It is not enough to acclaim Jesus Christ as our Lord and King. Our mission in life is to make his kingdom a reality among us and to bring it to those around us by our words and deeds. The way to do this is to live as he lived: for others, in love and service. May almighty God bless you for this task: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thought for the Day:
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
C. S. Lewis
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