1. What rebuke does Jesus give to the two men in v. 18-22? What does this mean for our own walk with Christ?

2. Why does Jesus rebuke his disciples in v. 26 for being fearful of a terrible storm threatening to drown them all?

3. Jesus rebukes the storm, calming the wind and sea. What does this say about who Jesus is and the kind of faith we should have in Him? (see also v. 27)

4. Notice in v. 29 that the demons inside these men recognize Jesus and obey his command (in the NASB is literally just "go"). What does this say about Jesus?

5. How does the city respond to the exorcism? What does this suggest about what we can expect in our own ministries?

6. What is Matthew trying to say about faith in this passage? What does it mean to follow Jesus?

7. How do we handle rejection in our ministries?

Hello everyone, welcome to session 14. This session we will be going through some pretty famous passages, namely the calming of the storm and Legion. Don't forget to allot time in your group for building relationships, which is often best accomplished with food or an activity alongside idle chit chat. 

The discussion

1. What rebuke does Jesus give to the two men in v. 18-22? What does this mean for our own walk with Christ?

   • Jesus demands an unparallelled commitment to Him and Him alone. Our commitment to Him should be greater than any other, even greater than our commitment to our own mother and father.

2. Why does Jesus rebuke his disciples in v. 26 for being fearful of a terrible storm threatening to drown them all?

   • They seem to believe Christ can save them, but they don't yet truly trust in Him. Jesus is in control of all, they know He can do something about the storm, but they don't implicitly trust Him to keep them safe even if He is asleep. 

3. Jesus rebukes the storm, calming the wind and sea. What does this say about who Jesus is and the kind of faith we should have in Him? (see also v. 27)

   • Jesus is all powerful, He is God incarnate. This is an unprecedented miracle, this kind of control over water could be attributed to very few prophets, namely only Moses comes to mind in the parting of the sea. Yet this event here is mostly reminiscent of Genesis, the calming and ordering of the chaos waters in creation. 

4. Notice in v. 29 that the demons inside these men recognize Jesus and obey his command (in the NASB it is literally just "go"). What does this say about Jesus?

   • He has full authority. Yeah Satan and his demons will battle against us, but they are ultimately toothless. There is nothing much they can do, for we have God with us (and quite literally in us, this is the indwelling of the Spirit which we now enjoy) and He holds all the cards and all the authority. God having full authority is something we see back in the Old Testament as far back as Job. 

5. How does the city respond to the exorcism? What does this suggest about what we can expect in our own ministries?

   • They reject Jesus, either out of fear of Him or because they just lost a whole heard of pigs. 

   • If even Jesus is rejected, we should expect to get rejected as well!!!

6. What is Matthew trying to say about faith in this passage? What does it mean to follow Jesus?

   • We must be willing to follow Him above all else and trust Him implicitly. When troubles come, we need not worry. God will provide, He always has, and so we can trust that He always will.

7. How do we handle rejection in our ministries?

Welcome to session 14. For this session we will be focusing in hard on what it means to be a disciples as well as looking at just who Jesus is, a question that will become all the more pressing the further we get into Matthew. 

A lack of faith

Jesus has returned from the sermon on the mount and healed 3 people. As a result a crowd is now starting to gather and Jesus decides it's best to get out of town for a bit. These are people likely looking to Him as just a miracle worker, and that isn't Jesus' goal. We see this in who intends to come along with Him as He and His disciples set off across the sea of Galilee. 

First a scribe comes to Jesus, seeking to join him across the sea of Galilee. Instead of openly inviting him along Jesus gives the famous, though a bit initially confusing, line: "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Mt 8:20 NASB). Essentially Jesus tells the scribe that He and His true followers have taken on an essentially homeless lifestyle. Jesus has a place to stay but no place to call His own (we see just before this that Jesus was staying in Peter's house). To follow Him means to take on this lifestyle of wandering about and relying on the charity of others. We don't get the scribe's response, but considering he doesn't get mentioned again this may have been where his faith failed him.

Next we get another man who has been following Jesus around. He says, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father" (Mt 8:21). This seems to be quite the reasonable request, yet Jesus denies it. There are a few speculations about this man's intentions. Of course there is the obvious assumption, that the man's father has just died and needs to be buried. Yet it is also possible that the man's father is near death and may need to be buried soon, if that is the case then this follower is asking for an indefinite leave of absence (France, 164). Another possibility is that his father has already been buried but the disciple is in an extended mourning period or even may be speaking of a second burial in an ossuary according to some Jewish customs (Turner, 129). 

Regardless of the man's true situation or intentions, Jesus makes a point here that allegiance to the kingdom comes before all else. A priest would be exempted from religious duties and even permitted ceremonial uncleanness in order to bury his father (France, 164). There are two exceptions to this however, those who undertake the Nazirite vow and the High Priest (France, 164). Jesus is asking his disciples to have that level of conviction and faith in regards to following Him. 

The storm & the Demoniacs

Jesus and His disciples get on a boat to cross the sea of Galilee. While out on the sea a great storm suddenly set upon them. Mind you that Matthew hasn't recorded all of the 12 yet, only four fishermen who were used to sailing on this sea. I bring this up because these four fishermen are terrified by this storm, four men used to these very waters. For them to be as scared as they were, it must have been a truly horrific storm. 

In the midst of this storm, Jesus has fallen asleep on the boat. Let's not forget that Jesus has preached the sermon on the mount and healed three people, then had crowds pressing him so now here He is, likely seeking some well earned rest. The disciples proceed to wake up Jesus, panic has overtaken them and they plead with Jesus to save them from this storm. While on the surface it seems like a positive thing they have done, they believe Jesus can save them. Yet Jesus wakes up and first rebukes his disciples for their lack of faith. Yeah they seem to believe Jesus can somehow save them, but they also didn't trust Jesus to be in control of things. After rebuking His disciples, Jesus then rebukes the waves and the wind, both suddenly growing still. In my imagination He goes back to sleep, though it is not mentioned in Matthew.

When they reach the other shore they run into two men (not here that the other gospels only record one man which we typically refer to as "legion") who are demon possessed and have been seemingly hanging out in the tombs. All Matthew gives us about these men, beyond being demoniacs (in the modern world we would call them possessed), is that they are extremely violent. Yet these two violent demoniacs see Jesus and they instantly recognize Jesus for who He is, God incarnate. They know judgement is coming to them, which is why they ask "Have You come here to torment us before the time?" (Mt 8:29) Simply put they are asking 'have you come here to deal with us before the final judgment?' (think revelation, Jesus' second coming. That's the judgement they mean). These demoniacs plead with Jesus that they might enter the pigs instead of facing their judgment. Jesus simply says "Go" and these demons infest the pigs, and the pigs are driven off a cliff. 

Now pay close attention to how the city reacts to these events. There are two men who have likely been a hassle for the city that Jesus has now freed miraculously. We would expect the city to be joyous, just like the crowds Jesus had just escaped. Yet they reject Jesus, asking him to leave the region. This rejection could one or both of the following reasons.

1. This appears to be a genile region, the herd of pigs seem to be someone's property. Jesus just crashed a good chunk of their economy and a reliable source of food. 

2. Much like the disciples asking "who is this man" in v. 27, the people of this region are asking a very similar question. Difference is that the disciples want to know the answer and are filled with wonder. These men don't want to know the answer and are filled with fear. 

Bibliography

France, R. T. Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985.

Turner, David, and Darrell L. Bock. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 11: Matthew and Mark. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005.