Healing The Sick And Screening Volunteers
HEALING THE SICK AND SCREENING VOLUNTEERS
MATTHEW 8:14-22
True Christian commitment is ready for the cost—and cuts across every other claim and tie.
The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law from her fever—again by the touch of his hand—is mentioned as a sample of the many cures effected by our Lord that day in Capernaum (8:14-16). (The mention of Peter’s mother-in-law provides an “undesigned coincidence” with 1 Corinthians 9:5, where Paul confirms that he was a married man.) The “word” with which he relieved those who were victims of demonic powers (8:16) was the word of command which expressed his authority as Lord of all creation. The quotation of Isaiah 53:4 in this healing context (8:17) emphasizes the Servant’s removing the infirmities and diseases of men rather than (as in its Old Testament context) his enduring them vicariously; the verbs used can bear either sense. He bore his people’s sins; there is no suggestion that he shared their sicknesses, especially as demon-possession is included among these. Yet we cannot miss the note of sympathy which accompanies the power of his word and action: this is no dispassionate visitant from another realm who cannot be touched with a fellow-feeling for the ills of humanity, but One who is man among men, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh.
In 8:18-22 samples are provided of the tests which Jesus applied to discourage would-be disciples whose commitment was less than total. His reply to the scribe who volunteered to follow him wherever he went raises a question about the meaning of the title “Son of man.” If it is here little more than another way of expressing the first personal pronoun, then he says that whereas wild animals have their resting-places he himself can never be sure of a bed for the night or a roof over his head and his companions must similarly be prepared to have no fixed abode. But there were homes where Jesus was most welcome. The suggestion that it is a proverb contrasting the plight of man with the creatures which by instinct construct suitable homes for themselves has little to commend it. Perhaps the point is that “everybody is at home in Israel’s land except the true Israel. The birds of the air—the Roman overlords, the foxes—the Edomite interlopers (cf. Luke 13:32), have made their position secure. The true Israel is disinherited by them: and if you cast your lot with me and mine you join the ranks of the dispossessed, and you must be prepared to serve God under those conditions” (T.W. Manson). The other volunteer promised total commitment when his last family obligation was discharged. Jesus’ reply assures him that he need not fear that his father will be left unburied when he dies; the business of the kingdom of God is urgent and brooks no reservation or delay.