Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- Mt 8-9, Mk 4-5, Lk 8
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hey, it's good to see you today. My name is Philip Thomas, Pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas, and welcome to our Journey Through Scripture. Hope that you are ready to continue looking through ⁓ scripture in a chronological order as we are making our way through the gospels ⁓ during this time. So today we're going to be looking in Matthew chapters eight and nine, ⁓ Mark chapters four and five, and Luke chapter eight. ⁓ so the main ⁓ stories that we're going to see here. are the the story of ⁓ Jesus calming the sea ⁓ and then also the story of Jesus healing demon possessed ⁓ individual. So ⁓ I think it it's important to kind of see the the differences. There's a little bit of differences here, but but they're they're also very similar. Matthew kind of says that there were two men that he healed ⁓ demon possessed men that he healed. Matthew also doesn't go into near the detail as Mark and Luke, ⁓ but we d we don't know. There were there were many that Jesus healed. ⁓ and so I'm sure Matthew he was probably using that. ⁓ people will say ⁓ because Matthew is directly connecting and drawing from the old testament and so there was an importance of having two people witness something happening. ⁓ and so Matthew is is pointing out that there were plenty of witnesses to see this, that it fit ⁓ what was needed ⁓ to witness a miracle that was ⁓ laid out in the old testament. So we we start off in Matthew chapter eight, ⁓ verses twenty-three through thirty-four. ⁓ you have Jesus ⁓ gets back into the boat, they start ⁓ traveling across ⁓ the lake, ⁓ and basically he falls asleep. And the wind starts blowing, right? And ⁓ I love what it says here. It says, they but he was asleep, verse twenty five, then his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we are perishing. But he said to them, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? He then arose, rebuked the winds and the sea, w there was great calm, and the men marvelled, saying, Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey him? Right. So I mean the disciples have been seeing amazing miracles, but this is something different. I mean, you know, it's it's not just healing someone who is blind, as as amazing as that is. this is this is different. All of a sudden, even nature listens to this guy. and they they were terrified of of the storm and then they began to be terrified of Jesus in a in a good way, ⁓ of recognizing, wow, who Who is this man? So we see Jesus doing this miracle that shows he has ⁓ power and authority over the physical world. And then ⁓ Matthew continues in verse twenty-eight, ⁓ where he comes and he heals a demon possessed ⁓ men. ⁓ it says ⁓ and suddenly they cried out, saying, What have we done to you, Jesus, you son of God that you have come here to torment us before the time? ⁓ and ⁓ then Jesus says cast them into the swine, ⁓ and ⁓ the pigs run and kill themselves. then verse thirty three, then those who kept ⁓ kept them fled, and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened ⁓ to the demon possessed man, and behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to depart from their region. Now we'll get into to to that here in just a minute, ⁓ and talk more about it. But what we see here is in Matthew, back to back miracles, you have Jesus showing his authority over the physical world, but also his authority over the spiritual world as well. I think there's there's a reason. ⁓ I mean, this this would have been very obvious ⁓ that this guy is not just a normal prophet. There's something powerful about him. ⁓ the winds and waves obey him. as well as the spirits obey him. Then in Mark chapter 4, starting in verse 35, all the way through chapter 5, verse 20, you have ⁓ the same same story. ⁓ and you have Jesus ⁓ falling asleep, ⁓ he and he wakes up, he rebukes ⁓ the wind. ⁓ and ⁓ this one's interesting in Mark ⁓ verse thirty eight chapter four verse thirty eight ⁓ the disciples wake him up and say, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Thought that's a interesting thing. It's something that we can learn. That's a human tendency, is when we find ourselves in the storms of life, ⁓ we forget that Jesus is always with us. And one of our first questions many times is, God, do you have you forgotten me? Do you not care? Well where is God? ⁓ and in fact, ⁓ that that's a a tool of Satan to get us to to doubt God. ⁓ when we by all rational ⁓ thought, especially for the disciples, they they should know of course Jesus cares for them. They've witnessed unbelievable things already. ⁓ but whenever the storm arises, it's easy for us not to think clearly. And we start allowing those doubts To creep in and we start wondering, God, do you really care for us? And of course the answer is yes. ⁓ I love that Jesus just gets up here in Mark and ⁓ he just says, Peace, be still. Everything became calm. And then he says, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, Who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him? And so again, they this is th th their level of faith is now becoming more mature and is ratcheting up because of what they're experiencing and what they have seen with Jesus. And then Mark chapter five is the casting out of the demon. He ⁓ we we learn a little bit about this ⁓ demon possessed man. He's crazy, he's so strong, he can't be bound, and he's just wandering around causing problems. ⁓ and ⁓ he Again, ⁓ responds to Jesus by saying, My name is Legion, for there are many right. A very ominous, very creepy response whenever Jesus says, Who are you? And he says, I am Legion, right? So it's multiple ⁓ demons that are ⁓ possessing this man. And ⁓ of course Jesus puts him in a herd of swine. I always thought that thought that was interesting. what why Jesus would send them to pigs, because I also wondered why would there be pigs? Guess was what was not a huge commodity ⁓ in ⁓ Israel is pigs. You're not they do not eat pork, right? So what's going on here? Well Mark actually kind of lets us know this. If if you know your geography, which I didn't, I read about this. ⁓ five ch Mark chapter five, verse eighteen. And when he got into the boat, ⁓ he who had been demon possessed begged him that he might be with him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he has had compassion for you. And he departed and began to proclaim in Decopolis all that Jesus had done for him, and all marveled. Now that's interesting that it mentions Decopolis ⁓ specifically. It also says in the country of ⁓ Gardenians, Gardenines. ⁓ that is a a very Greek area. there would have been a lot of Gentiles in that area. ⁓ it would have been made up of about ten different cities. They were Roman cities. ⁓ so they would have been ⁓ numerous Hellenists, right? Or people of with Greek ⁓ background. ⁓ which is why there would have been pigs there, because they would have eaten eaten pigs. I think it's also another part about that is the the people they asked Jesus to lead. ⁓ well, they the the Roman people, ⁓ and ⁓ especially the Gentiles there were nervous about ⁓ people who did magic, right? They viewed it that was kind of sorcery and this guy's coming in doing this magic. Like, no, we don't want to have anything to do with you. Keep keep moving. ⁓ and that's that's kind of the feeling that you get. They see this amazing thing and they're just like, you know, we don't know who you are, just move move on. ⁓ and so that kind of fits in this this area. And ⁓ and again, of course, Jesus ⁓ has ⁓ performs this unbelievable miracle and this guy who is ⁓ freed from the ⁓ From the demons, he wants to hang out with Jesus, but he probably there's a good chance that he wasn't Jewish. It's a good chance that he was a Gentile. And so Jesus just told him to stay. And of course, he definitely starts spreading the message. ⁓ because you this is again, this is a ball is starting to roll now with all that Jesus has done and how he is ⁓ building a name for himself. ⁓ that everyone is starting to ⁓ to learn about Jesus. ⁓ then we get to Luke chapter eight ⁓ verses twenty two through thirty nine. the again same story he ⁓ Jesus ⁓ calming the the seas ⁓ and then the the last part of that chapter ⁓ of chapter eight is Jesus ⁓ healing the demon possessed man. Sor sorry I got got a little distracted there. ⁓ But then ⁓ wanna go ahead and read into Matthew chapter nine, Mark chapter five and Luke chapter eight. The the next one is ⁓ Jesus' two more miracles that kind of go hand in hand. ⁓ the healing of Jairus's daughter who died ⁓ and the healing of the woman ⁓ who ⁓ was ble had been bleeding for ⁓ twelve years. And ⁓ This is, you know, you can read through ⁓ those different different passages. ⁓ very similar in all three accounts. ⁓ what you have is you have Jairus who worked at the synagogue, who his daughter, his only daughter is very sick and ill. So he comes and and asks Jesus, which is a pretty big deal because he's works for the synagogue. So he works for the religious leaders. The fact that he's going to Jesus and asking him is is actually ⁓ shows his faith because it's going to probably put him at odds with some of the religious leaders. ⁓ but he he knows he is desperate and he is calling out and he believes that Jesus can heal ⁓ his daughter. And so then they start going through the crowds because the again the crowds have gathered, right? This ball is now rolling. People know who Jesus is. And they're trying to get to Jairus's house. And a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, which ⁓ would be horrible in any circumstance, but especially in that ⁓ culture and that day and age, she would have been considered unclean, ⁓ which means she could not go to the synagogue. She could there were many things she couldn't do, and if she touched anyone, they would become unclean and then they couldn't go to the synagogue. And and so what you have is She she knows this, so she's trying to do this ⁓ inconspicuously, and she just believes that if she just touches ⁓ Jesus, that she will be healed. And she does. By doing that, she made Jesus unclean, technically. But Jesus feels power leave from him. ⁓ I love it. Whatever, you know, you you can just imagine Jesus ⁓ he's just being surrounded by all these people, and he says, Whoa. Who touched me? And Peter is like, ⁓ Lord, ⁓ everyone is, right? And he says, No, I feel power, leave for me. And then he tells the the woman, Your faith has healed you, right? That that because she believed, ⁓ she was now healed. And ⁓ and what an amazing just what an amazing miracle for her. But again, Jesus allowing the the unclean to heal him. And he cleanses those who are unclean, just as he cleanses us ⁓ in our lives when we are unclean. And then they continue on, the story continues because right, he's going to see this gr ⁓ girl, ⁓ Jairus' daughter, and as they reach the house, ⁓ the the news comes that the daughter has already died. And Jesus in an interesting way says, Okay, I'm gonna only allow Peter, James, and John, y'all can come with me, ⁓ and the mom and dad, but no one else can come because the little girl is just sleeping. And of course he was mocked. ⁓ he goes up, the girl is dead, but Jesus raises her ⁓ to life again. And he's very specific here. He says, Do not tell anybody about this. I I think it you know, that's kind of interesting. Again, ⁓ that would have been going up a level, but right? So just as the disciples When Jesus calmed the winds and the wave, they were like, Whoa, that's another level the of of miracle and of power than what we have already been seeing. Well, whenever you bring someone back from the dead, that that's kind of upset again. And and Jesus is trying to ⁓ maintain calm, maintain peace, ⁓ and to it's a dicey situation, right? There's real things going on here that the The Romans are watching Jesus, the religious leaders are watching Jesus, and Jesus is aware of that. And so he he wants to be very careful. ⁓ but it's becoming very obvious. There's something. There's something about Jesus. All right. So we'll stop there and we'll ⁓ keep keep going on Thursday. ⁓ read Matthew, ⁓ chapter ⁓ thirteen, Mark chapter six. ⁓ also Matthew the end of chapter nine, chapter all of chapter ten, and just the first part of chapter eleven, ⁓ and then John chapter five. So that's Matthew, the very end of Matthew thirteen, Mark six, Matthew chapters, the end of chapter nine, ten, and the first of eleven, Luke chapter nine, and John chapter five. All right, so we will continue and we'll see you on