Mateus 8
F.B. Meyer · Citado em PreceptAustin
Mateus 8
Meyer - He stretched forth his hand,and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. This leper, as the physician-evangelist remarks, was full of leprosy. It was a very aggravated case. He lay in the dust before Jesus. What a contrast! Loathsomeness and Divine beauty; disease and health; humanity at its worst and best; sinner and Savior; one of Satan’s most miserable victims, and the Almighty Deliverer. So, my reader, if thou art conscious of a heart and life which are full of sin, I would have thee meet thy Savior now. There is no if about his power — even the leper recognized that. The only doubt was about the Savior’s will: there is, however, no doubt on this score now, since He has healed myriads, and promises healing to all who come. Throw thyself, then, at his feet, and ask for cleansing. “He stretched forth his hand, and touched him.” No one else would have dared to do as much. To touch that flesh, according to the Levitical code, would induce uncleanness. But Jesus shrank not. On the one hand, He knew that the ceremonial restrictions were abolished in Himself: on the other, He desired to teach that sin cannot defile the Divine holiness of the Savior. Whatever be the stories of sin that are breathed into his ear; whatever the open bruises and putrefying sores which are opened to his touch; whatever the sights and scenes with which He has to cope — none of these can leave a taint of evil in his sinless heart. It would be as impossible for sin to soil Christ as for a plague to contaminate flame. And He will heal thee. Dare to claim it. Break up the heavens, O Lord, and far Through all yon starlight keen Draw me, thy bride — a glittering star In raiment white and clean. Matthew 8:4 And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." NET Then Jesus said to him, "See that you do not speak to anyone, but go, show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." GNT καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Ὅρα μηδενὶ εἴπῃς, ἀλλὰ ὕπαγε σεαυτὸν δεῖξον τῷ ἱερεῖ καὶ προσένεγκον τὸ δῶρον ὃ προσέταξεν Μωϋσῆς, εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς. NLT Then Jesus said to him, "Don't tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed." KJV And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. ESV And Jesus said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them." NIV Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." See - Mt 6:1 9:30 12:16-19 16:20 17:9 Mk 1:43,44 5:43 7:36 Lu 5:14 Joh 5:41 7:18 8:50 show - Mt 3:15 5:17 Lev 13:2-46 14:2-32 Isa 42:21 Lu 17:14 present an offering: Lev 14:4,10,21,22 for a testimony - Mt 10:18 2Ki 5:7,8 Mk 1:44 6:11 13:9 Lu 5:14 21:13 Joh 10:37,38 GO AND SHOW WITNESS TO THE PRIEST BUT NOT THE PEOPLE! Parallel Passages: Mark 1:44+ and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Luke 5:14+ And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” See that you tell no one: See (horao) is in the present imperative calling for him to continually keep quiet about his healing. Publicity over such miracles might hinder Christ’s mission and divert public attention from His message. Mark records that this is precisely what happened. In this man’s exuberance over the miracle, he disobeyed; as a result, Christ had to move His ministry away from the city and into the desert regions (Mark 1:45+). As Bruner wrote “Jesus will not storm Israel with his messianic claim”; instead he will “knock quietly at its door, leper by leper, little by little." (Matthew: A Commentary. The Christbook)
Mateus 8
Meyer has an interesting statement - As the authority of the Caesars flowed thr ough his own yielded life, so the authority of God over diseases, demons, and all else would flow through Christ’s. (IT DID THEN AND IT STILL DOES!) Authority (1849)(exousia from éxesti = it is permitted, it is lawful) means the power to do something and was a technical term used in the law courts, of a legal right. "Authority or right is the dominant meaning (of exousia) in the New Testament." (Vincent) Exousía refers to delegated authority and combines the idea of the "right and the might", these attributes having been granted to someone. Exousia is an important term in the Gospels for many conflicts in Jesus' life and ministry turn on debates about authority or the idea that Jesus taught with an unparalleled authority (Mt 7:29; 8:9; 9:6, 8; 21:23-27; 28:18; Mk 1:22, 27; 2:10; 3:15; 11:28-33; Lk 4:32, 36; 5:24; 7:8; 20:2-8). And I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it - The verbs in red are commands. His commands were immediately obeyed. The centurion's reasoning is in a sense from the lesser to the greater, so that if he as a lesser official could authoritatively give orders that were promptly obeyed, certainly Christ the possessor of greatest authority could do the same. "The thought is: “If I, a subaltern, am able to have my will done by a mere word spoken by me, how much more thou, Jesus, who art the ruler himself. If even a man under authority, in service to the king, and thus with soldiers under him is able to have his mere command executed at will, how much more Jesus in whom all authority resides, who has all powers and agencies at his command!” (Lenski) Perhaps the centurion had either personally heard or heard about Jesus giving commands to demons who obeyed without hesitation. In any event, he obviously recognized the greater authority of Jesus or he would never have ask Him to heal his servant with just a word! NET Note adds "The illustrations highlight the view of authority the soldier sees in the word of One Who has authority. Since the centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers, he understood what it was both to command others and to be obeyed."
Mateus 8
Meyer - The centurion’s faith set Christ marveling. First, because it was found in such an unlikely place. Here was a Gentile who had come from the West, and was sitting down with Abraham in the Kingdom of God. Secondly, because of its greatness: “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” This Roman officer applied to our Lord principles with which he was cognizant through his connection with the army, he knew that he had no power over other men in his individual capacity, or apart from his organic connection with the machinery of government. If he said to one man Come; to another Go; to his servant Do this, and his command was immediately obeyed — it was entirely due to his own obedience, in turn, to the authority which was over himself. So long as he obeyed that authority, he represented it; and it passed through him to compel obedience to his commands. This is the principle he applied to our Lord. He recognized that Jesus of Nazareth was always acting under the authority of his Heavenly Father, and he inferred, therefore, that He could wield the power of God as he could that of Rome. As the authority of the Caesars flowed through his own yielded life, so the authority of God over diseases, demons, and all else, would flow through Christ’s. What a profound principle is here! Learn to obey, and you shall rule. Yield yourself absolutely to God, and God’s power shall pass through your heart and life. Be under Divine authority, and you shall be able to say, Go, come, do this. All things serve the man who serves Jesus Christ. Absolute consecration to God, as a soldier is surrendered to his country, is the condition of power. (Our Daily Homily) Gene Brooks - APPLICATION: Do you want Spiritual Authority? Then cultivate in your life the virtue of humility. Paul tells us in Romans 12:3, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” But humility is not weakness. It is strength. There is a boldness in humility. Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.” Proverbs 22:4: “By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life.” Proverbs 15:33: “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility.” Pride is the source of most all other failures of sin in your life. By asking the Holy Spirit to replace personal pride with humility, you will gain spiritual authority and Christ-likeness. (Ed: Also James 4:6+ But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”) Steven Cole on the Centurion's humility - On one occasion the well-known preacher, Harry Ironside, felt that he was not humble enough. So he asked an older friend what he could do about it. The friend replied, “Make a sandwich board with the plan of salvation in Scripture on it and wear it as you walk through downtown Chicago for a day.” Ironside followed his friend’s advice. It was a humiliating experience. As he returned home and took off the sandwich board, he caught himself thinking, “There’s not another person in Chicago who would be willing to do a thing like that!” How do we grow in humility? True humility stems from seeing my insufficiency and Christ’s all-sufficiency. The centurion’s servant was about to die (Lk 7:2). He was helpless to deal with this irreversible illness and imminent death. What a picture of the human race, impotent to deal with the ravages of sin and its ultimate result, spiritual death! The centurion saw his own insufficiency to deal with the problem, but he also saw Christ’s all-sufficiency. So he said to Jesus, “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Luke 7:7). False humility says, “I can do nothing” and stops there. True humility adds, “But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13) and cries out to Him to work. It’s a lesson we keep learning all our lives. I often experience it in preparing messages. I come to a point where I cannot get the flow of the passage. The message isn’t gelling. And I’m under time constraints! I don’t have time for it not to come together! Then I realize afresh that I can’t put sermons together. I can’t adequately communicate God’s truth. Only He can. And so I call to Him out of my weakness, and He answers. One of my spiritual heroes is George Muller, who trusted God to support over 2,000 orphans in Bristol, England, in the last century. His biographer observes, “Nothing is more marked in George Muller, to the very day of his death, than this, that he so looked to God and leaned on God that he felt himself to be nothing, and God everything” (A. T. Pierson, George Muller p. 112). That’s the proper focus of a servant of Christ.... The Lord is looking for servants like this centurion: *Who have an exalted view of Christ-He is the sovereign Lord of authority, and thus they trust Him for the impossible. *Who have a lowly view of themselves-they are unworthy and insufficient, but they know Christ as gracious and all-sufficient. *Who have a caring view of others-they are helpless, and thus need compassion. Christ’s authority and grace extend to those whom society may despise. Hudson Taylor, the great pioneer missionary to China, used to say, “All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.” May that same powerful God do great things through us as we trust Him in our weakness! (Luke 7:1-10 An Effective Servant) The Apostle Paul was a perfect example of a man who grew in humility as he grew spiritually...He the more he became like Christ, the more humble he became! Paul's Progress in Humility: Christ Increasing - Self Decreasing Approximate date Paul's Self Assessment 55 AD 1Cor 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 61 AD Eph 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints (literally = "less than the least of all saints"), this grace was given (Why was it given? What was Paul to do?), to preach (= The purpose of God's gift of grace) to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 63-66 AD 1Ti 1:15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am (Note: not "was" but "am" foremost!) foremost of all. William