Matthew 8:18-27

IIIMiraculous works of Jesus on His missionary journey: The troubled disciples—the troubled sea

Matthew 8:18-27

( Matthew 8:23-27, the Gospel for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany.—Parallels: Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25; Luke 9:57-60.)

18Now, when Jesus saw great multitudes11 about him, he gave commandment to departunto the other side. 19And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I willfollow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;12 but the Son of man hath not where to layhis head. 21And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go andbury my father. 22But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

23And when he was [had] entered into a13 ship, his disciples followed him.24And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch [so] that the ship wascovered with the waves: but he was asleep [sleeping]. 25And his disciples [they]14 cameto him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us [save]:15 we perish. 26And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked thewinds [wind]16 and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man17 is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Matthew 8:18. Now, when Jesus saw great multitudes.—In this instance a motive for withdrawing, as in Matthew 5:1; John 6:3; John 6:15.—There were seasons when the multitude would have proclaimed Him King: sudden outbursts of carnal excitement, from which the Lord withdrew. That such was the case in this instance, we gather from the profession made by the scribe in Matthew 8:19.

Εἰςτὸπέραν, to the opposite side of the lake.

Matthew 8:19. And one, a scribe, came.—The εἷς refers to the ἕτερος in Matthew 8:21; from which verse we also gather that this scribe was already one of Christ’s disciples, in the wider sense of the term, and that he now proposed henceforth to follow Jesus continuously. When the Evangelists mention these calls to follow the Lord in a particular sense of the term, they seem always to refer to the apostolic office, not to discipleship. But as Andrew, John, Peter, James the Elder, Nathanael or Bartholomew, and Philip, had been previously called, and as the persons here addressed could not have been any of the brothers of the Lord (James the Younger, Joseph, Judas Lebbeus or Thaddeus, and Simon), we conclude that they must have been either Judas Iscariot, Matthew, or Thomas. From the peculiar characteristics which appear in the narrative, we venture to suggest, that the first of the two scribes was Judas Iscariot, the second Thomas, and the third individual (who is only mentioned by Luke) Matthew. This is, however, merely a hypothesis made more or less probable by the nexus of history (comp. Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 651).—In the Gospel of Luke, this event is introduced at a later period, when Jesus prepared for His last journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-62). A superficial investigation will serve to convince us that the transaction between Jesus and the sons of thunder, recorded in Luke, had led to the introduction of this history in that connection. It seems like a psychological combination designed to exhibit Christ’s mastery in dealing with different dispositions (say the four temperaments). Schleiermacher, Schneckenburger, Gfrörer, and Olshausen, adopt the chronology of Luke; Rettig, Meyer, and others, that of Matthew.

Matthew 8:20. Κατασκηνώσεις, “Dwelling-places, not nests, as birds do not live in their nests.” De Wette.18

The Son of man.—Jesus adopted the name ὁυἱὸς τοῦἀν θρώ που no doubt with special reference to the prophetic vision in Daniel 7:13, where Messiah is seen coming in the clouds of heaven, כְּבַי אֱנָשׁ. (Comp. Hävernick’s Daniel.) Hitzig imagines that the Son of man seen by Daniel in the clouds was not the Messiah, but the whole people of Israel;—an absurd hypothesis, refuted by Ewald (in his “Jahrbücher” for 1850). Daniel say only the image or likeness of the Son of man, who appeared in the full sense in Jesus of Nazareth. In all probability, Jesus chose this particular Old Testament designation of the Messiah, because, unlike the others, it had not been grossly perverted to foster the carnal expectations of the Jews. Thus our Lord met the morbid and fantastic expectations of His contemporaries—and among them, apparently, those also of the scribe in the text—by laying emphasis on His genuine and true humanity as the Messiah. His great aim was, that the people should view Him as true man—in the lowliness of His outward appearance, but also at the same time in His high character, as the Son of man, i. e., the ideal man, the second Adam from heaven (1 Cor. xv.). The bold supposition of Weisse, that the term, “Son of man,” is used in opposition to the name of Messiah, deserves no refutation. It is remarkable that John had similarly avoided the title of Elijah, under which Malachi had predicted his advent, while he chose the designation given him by Isaiah: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.” The reason of this was, that carnal notions concerning the Messianic kingdom were connected with the former, but not with the latter expression (John 1:19, etc.). Meyer conceives that there is an antithesis implied in the term, “Son of man,” as opposed to “Son of God,” and denies the conception of ideal humanity (p. 82).19 According to Augustine, there is a faint allusion to the boastfulness of the scribe in the expression, “birds of the air.” But this seems strained; and we would rather apply the term to the unreliable and fugitive character of his enthusiasm, while the word, “foxes,” refers to cunning.

Where to lay His head.—A picture of a homeless pilgrim: hence, not of want in the ordinary sense, but of voluntary poverty. The answer of Christ implied, not a positive refusal of the overture of the scribe, but a solemn warning. He who saw not as men do, perceived, under that excessive profession of this man, an amount of unreliableness and insincerity which called for such caution.

Matthew 8:21. Another of His disciples.—In the stricter [rather in the wider] sense of the term—such as the “scribe” had been. Clement of Alexandria (Stromat. iii. 4) suggests that this disciple was Philip; but he had been called at an earlier period.

Bury my father.—The father had died. According to some critics, his old father was still alive, and the expression, to bury, meant to take care of him till his end, and then to commit him to his last resting-place. But the call to follow Christ immediately, evidently implies, that at the time the father was actually dead. Burial was the most ancient mode of disposing of the dead (Cic. Legg. 2:22; Plin. 7:55), and was always practised by the Jews, in opposition to the Greek custom of burning the dead, which was quite exceptional among the Jews. It was considered the duty of sons to bury their parents, Genesis 25:9; Genesis 35:29, etc. Tobith 4:3. Comp. Winer sub voce: Begraben, Schöttgen’s Horœ [W Smith: Bibl. Dict. sub Burial, vol. 1:233].

Matthew 8:22. Let the dead bury their dead.—Artificial explanations see in Meyer’s Commentary. The sentence is an Oxymoron, by which the burial of the dead is assigned to those who are spiritually dead.20 The expression conveys to the hesitating disciple that there were more urgent duties in the kingdom of heaven than that of burying the dead, and particularly, of going through all the ceremonies connected with a Jewish burial. At the same time, it also alludes to the goal and end of those who are spiritually dead—their last and highest aim here is to bury one another. Death of the soul is connected with death of the body.—Celsus (according to Origen) founded on this passage the objection, that the Saviour demanded what was inconsistent with duty to parents. But He only subordinates the duty of a Christian toward his own household and family, especially when another could take his place, to the highest of all duties—those of his spiritual calling, and to his Master.21 Lastly, we infer from this trait, that this and the former reply were addressed to disciples in the narrower sense of the term.

Matthew 8:23. The ship, τὸπλοῖον.—With the article, meaning a definite ship, which waited to take them across the lake; the words of Jesus having induced His disciples (in the narrower sense) to follow Him implicitly.22

Matthew 8:24. Σεισμός,—indicating the effect, of which the cause (the winds, Matthew 8:26) is afterward mentioned—a violent commotion of the sea. On the sudden storms occasioned by the situation of the Lake of Galilee, comp. Schubert 3:237; Robinson 2:416.

Matthew 8:25. Save! we perish! Σῶσο ν, ἀπολλύμεθα.—Asyndetic (disconnected) language of intense anxiety.

Matthew 8:26. Why are ye fearful?—The word “afraid” would be too weak, and “cowardly” too strong. At any rate, it was a fearfulness which the Lord censured. It is worthy of special notice, that, according to Matthew, the Lord first rebuked the disciples, and after that the sea. See גָּעַר, Psalms 106:9. (Mark and Luke reverse the order.)

Matthew 8:27. The men, οἱἄνθρωποι.—The men in their human nature,—more particularly, in their rapid transition from extreme anxiety to boundless admiration. Hence we infer that it applied to the disciples, and not, as Meyer supposes, to other parties accompanying Jesus. According to the account given by Mark, other vessels went along with that which bore the Lord; so that He must have been followed by a numerous company of disciples.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. In dealing with the different characters of the disciples, and adapting Himself to their natural dispositions, the Lord showed how closely He read, and how wisely He directed, the hearts of men. (Leben Jesu, ii.2, 651; iii.422.)

2. The Son of man. The description furnished by Daniel of the appearance of Messiah, under the form of the Son of man, indicates a very advanced stage of the prophetic doctrine of the Messiah. But, in order clearly to perceive its import, we must compare this term, as used by Daniel, with the passage about the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:0). [In the sixty-third week, the Messiah who was not a prince, was to be set aside by the advent of the people of the Prince who was not Messiah.] After seven weeks, i. e., at the close of the seventy weeks—cometh the Messiah, who, at the same time, is also a Prince. Hence the figure of the Son of man combines the two ideas of the suffering and the glorified Messiah. As the Son of humanity to which the curse attaches, He is humbled and rejected; while, as the Son of humanity on which the blessing is bestowed, He is exalted and declared Lord of an eternal kingdom. Gerlach: “The first man was simply called Adam—i. e., man, and every descendant of his is called a son of man; but Christ is called the Son of man, as being derived from Adam, and yet the Head of a new race, 1 Corinthians 15:47.”

3. The import of the miracle of stilling the tempest has frequently been misunderstood. Paulus (of Heidelberg) resolves it into a natural phenomenon; Ammon regards it as an allegory or symbol; while Strauss treats it as a myth.23 It may also be turned into magic,24 if, with Meyer, we were to overlook the connection between the tempest in the hearts of the disciples and that on the lake—between sin in man, and “the convulsions and throes of nature” (Olshausen)—and regard this history as merely a direct act of power exercised upon the elements, and nothing else. In this respect, it is sufficient to remind the reader of Romans 8:20. Not that we thereby explain the miracle, but that we present its Christian aspect. The Lord rebukes the storm in the minds of His disciples; thus preparing for calming the tempest on the sea.—He takes away the sin of the microcosm, in order then to remove the evils of the macrocosm. Hence this event has frequently been regarded as a symbol of the passage of the Church of Christ through the world. There is another aspect of it which deserves attention. In this miracle, the operation of the Son and of the Father coincide; as the New Testament completion of the Old Testament miracles upon nature, it is at the same time a prediction and a miracle, and thus a sign that the Son had, in the name of the Father, entered upon the government of the world.

4. Our modern degenerate and false philanthropy fails to perceive the difference between a soul that is mourning and one which is fearful or desponding. It is altogether erroneous, and must fail of its desired effect, if we administer to the fearful the comfort which is only appropriate to the afflicted. The latter, Christ ever upheld with words of kindness; while He rebuked the fearful, by setting before them the terrors of His word, and thus recalling them to a better state of mind. Thus He rebuked those who were possessed, who by their cowardice had become the prey of unclean spirits; and similarly He rebuked the disciples, when from want of faith they were desponding or fearful. Thus also He rebuked the fever which weighed down the mother-in-law of Peter; and, in the present instance, the sea and the winds. Such a rebuke must, of course, be regarded as symbolical, since neither sea nor tempest had personal consciousness. The ultimate ground of this rebuke lay in the fact, that the disturbances of nature were caused by unclean spirits. Christ apparently regarded those sudden outbursts in nature not as manifestations of healthy and regular force, but as manifestations of weakness; just as the fever was the consequence of inherent weakness, or of a germ of death, against which nature employed her utmost efforts in convulsive struggle.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Jesus sees the multitude and approaches them; Jesus sees the multitude and retires from them. 1. The fact itself,—(a) in the Gospel history; (b) in that of the Church; (c) in individual Christian communities. 2. Explanation of the fact: (a) He approaches when He sees multitudes longing for His salvation and waiting upon His word; (b) He retires at the first appearance of fanaticism, which would have confirmed the carnal expectations of man, and not the word of God.—The Lord eschews the sinful obtrusion of worldly men, in order to seek out the poor and the needy, afar off.—The watchword of Christ: To the other side! 1. A watchword of faith, breaking through all narrow boundaries; 2. a watchword of love, overcoming all selfishness; 3. a watchword of courage, overcoming all dangers.—The Saviour and the spiritual distemper of His disciples: 1. Spurious enthusiasm in our own strength (I will); 2. spurious scruples and spiritual hesitation (Suffer me).—Jesus the great model of pastoral work.—Jesus warning superficial enthusiasts to count the cost of following Him.—If we are willing to follow the Lord, we must become homeless wanderers, and be ready to renounce all our comforts.—The Son of man has not where to lay His head. 1. The fact: at the commencement, the manger; at the close, the cross; during His pilgrimage, a bench on the ship. 2. Its import,—(a) so far as He is concerned; (b) so far as we are concerned.—The nests and caves of professing disciples who are not ready to yield their all to Christ. They seek,—(a) high places (nests) in time of prosperity; (b) places of concealment (caves) in the hour of adversity.—Jesus teaches His faithful disciples to get quit of their scruples and hesitation by considering the final aim of life.—Let the dead bury their dead: 1. Compared with following Christ, which he had undertaken, this was the lesser duty; 2. others were able to take his place; 3. the disciple seemed to hesitate between two duties, while yet he had taken upon him the yoke of Christ.—Is a collision of duties possible? As little as,—(a) between the commandments of God; (b) between the angels of God; (c) between the ways of God; for such, indeed, are all duties, so far as we are concerned.—It is characteristic of the spiritually dead, that they busy themselves with special affection about the ceremonials of life.—The dead bury their dead: such is the end of all unbelieving lives.—Symbolical import of the passage of Christ with His disciples across the sea. It is a figure of all His leadings,—(a) of the people of God (the ark, etc.); (b) in the history of the Church; (c) in the experience of believers.—The unexpected tempest: 1. After so glorious a day, and on the beautiful, tranquil lake; 2. in company with the Lord Himself.—We read only once of the Lord being asleep,—a sleep full of majesty: (a) a sabbatic rest after His labor at Capernaum; (b) a sign of deep calm in the midst of the dreadful tempest; (c) a preparation for the most glorious awakening; (d) a type of His rest in the grave.—The cry of despair becomes a prayer when in proximity to the Lord.—How the Lord purifies even the supplications of the helpless.—All fearfulness or despondency in life springs from want of faith.—The little faith of the disciples: 1. A want of faith in what it forgot (Christ’s presence in the ship; the hope of Israel, the salvation of the race); 2. still faith in that they took refuge to Christ.—Jesus calms every storm.—What manner of man is this!—The admiration of Jesus a transition to praise and adoration. Our gratitude for deliverance and salvation should ever end in praise.

Starke:—We should occasionally retire into solitude, Luke 6:12; Luke 5:16.—Much preaching wearies the body, Ecclesiastes 12:12; Mark 6:31.—Sudden fervor and good inclinations are not equivalent to following Christ.—Many would like to be pious, but at the same time to retain their nests, houses, riches, honor, and comforts, Matthew 16:24.—We must not run before God calls, Romans 10:15.—Christ rejects none who come to Him, John 6:37; but he who desires only earthly things from Him, receives a solemn warning. Cramer.—Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, became poorer than the beasts that perish; yet His poverty is our riches, 2 Corinthians 8:9.—The poor, who have nothing of their own, may well derive comfort from the voluntary poverty of Jesus. Quesnel.—2 Corinthians 11:27.—Man is always opposed to the will of God: he either lags behind, or is determined to run before. The right way is, to wait till God speaks, and then not to delay a single moment following Him, Isaiah 55:8.—The spiritually dead, Hebrews 11:6; Jeremiah 5:3.—They who accompany the dead, are themselves subject to death.—A seafaring life affording striking signs of God’s wisdom and power (Psalms 107:23), but used for merely selfish purposes. Zeisius.—God leads His own wondrously, but well, Psalms 41:4.—Through fire and water, Psalms 91:14; Isaiah 43:2; Isaiah 42:16.—Genuine Christians follow their Saviour through storm and tempest, even unto death, 2 Corinthians 6:4; Psalms 73:23.—If Christ do not immediately come to our help, we are prone to imagine that He is asleep; but He never oversleeps the hour of our deliverance.—United prayer is the most effectual.—Prayer the best anchor in danger.—Let Christians beware of cowardice: His Church will continue so long as He endures. Bibl. Wirtemb.—In seasons of extreme danger, the omnipotence and mercy of the Saviour is most fully and gloriously displayed, 2 Chronicles 20:12; Isa 33:10; 2 Corinthians 1:8.—Weak faith is nevertheless faith, only it must increase.—After the tempest, sunshine.—The works of God, and His marvellous power in our deliverance, call for praise and thanksgiving.—Under the cross we learn what wonders our Lord worketh.—Gratitude, Psalms 14:7; Romans 11:20.

Gossner:—Christ taught His disciples in a wandering school. Here He led them to the stormy lake to teach them fearlessness.—Fearlessness great happiness.

Heubner:—Our whole life may be compared to a sea voyage, in which we make for the heavenly haven.—“Christus habet suas horas et moras.”—Christ the Lord of nature.—The passage across the lake, a figure of our lives: 1. The commencement; 2. the progress; 3. the end.

Lisco—Luther: Some make a pretext of good works for not following Christ; but the Lord shows that these are dead works.—Almighty power of Christ, by which He overcomes the world, and renders everything subservient to the kingdom of God.

The pericope, the calming of the tempest, Matthew 8:24-27.

Dräseke:—The passage across the lake, a figure of spiritual calm: 1. In reference to its character; 2. in reference to its origin; 3. in reference to its effects.—Marheineke:—How we may courageously meet every danger, when near to the Lord.—Harms:—This narrative a pictorial representation of the Christian life: The vessel which carries believers; the sea, or the world, with its tempest and waves, and the sufferings of the children of God; Christ asleep, or delaying His succor; then follow prayer, His rebuke, His word of command, and the exclamation of marvel.—Hagenbach:—Christ our refuge in the tempests of life.—Greiling:—The inner calm of the soul in the midst of the raging storm.—Hüffell:—God is always and everywhere near us.—Kraussold.—Lord save! we perish! 1. The distress; 2. the cry for help; 3. the deliverance.

[Alford:—“The symbolic application of this occurrence (the calming of the tempest) is too striking to have escaped general notice. The Saviour with the company of His disciples in the ship tossed on the waves, seemed a typical reproduction of the ark bearing mankind on the flood, and a foreshadowing of the Church tossed by the tempests of this world, but having Him with her always. And the personal application is one of comfort and strengthening of faith in danger and doubt.”—Hilary:—Those churches where the Word of God is not awake, are in danger of shipwreck, not that Christ sleeps, but He is slumbering in us by reason of our sleep. But where faith watches, there is no fear of wreck from the powers of this world.—P. S.]

Footnotes:

[11] Matthew 8:18.—Lachmann with B. only: ὄχλον for ὄχλους. [Cod. Sinaiticus sustains the plural—P. S.]

[12] Matthew 8:20.—[Dr. Lange translates: Wohnnester, Zelte, Horste, dwelling places, tents, which is more literal for κατασκηνώσεις, but not so popular as nests.—P. S.]

[13] Matthew 8:23.—[Lange translates “the ship,” τὸ πλοῖον, agreeing here with the Received Text and with Tischendorf’s edition. But Codd. B., C. and other ancient authorities, and the editions of Lachmann, Tregelles, and Alford omit the article.—P. S.]

[14] Matthew 8:25.—Recepta: οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ. Various authorities [and Dr. Lange] omit αὐτοῦ. [Lachmann, Tregelles, Ewald, and Conant omit also οἱ μαθηταί. So does Cod. Sinait.—P. S.]

[15] Matthew 8:25.—Us, ἡμᾶς is omitted in Codd. B., C. al. [Cod. Sinait.] The speech is more lively and dramatic without ἡμᾶς. [Tischendorf, Lachmann, Tregelles, Lange, Conant, all omit ἡμᾶς.]

[16] Matthew 8:26.—[Cod. Sinait reads the singular τῷ for τοῖς .—P. S.]

[17] Matthew 8:27.—[Conant: “What manner of man belongs to the best English usage. ‘What kind of man,’ or ‘what sort of man,’ is not a suitable expression here.” A. Norton (Translation of the Gospels with Notes, Bost, 1855) translates: “Who is this.” But ποταπός is not simply τίς, but the interrogative of disposition, character, quality, i. q. ποῖος.—P. S.]

[18][Meyer to the same effect: “Places of abode where the birds are used to live, to sleep, etc. comp. Matthew 13:32; not specifically nests”—]

[19][Not, however, in a rationalistic sense, but as contrasted with His former δόξα. Meyer correctly sees in the term: the Son of man an expression of the κέςωσις, which implies the consciousness of a purely divine and eternal preexistence (in deren Hintergrunde dus Bewuss etsein der rein göttlichen Ureœistens liegt).—P. S.]

[20][The key to this and all the other paradoxical sentences of Christ is the different senses—a higher and a lower, a spiritual and a literal—in which the same word is used. Let those who are dead in spirit (in trespasses and sins) bury their kindred and friends who are dead in body.—P. S.]

[21][Chrysostom: “Jesus forbade him to go, in order to show that nothing, not even the most important work of natural duty and affection, is so momentous as care for the kingdom of heaven; and that nothing, however urgent, should cause us to be guilty of a moment’s delay in providing first for that. What earthly concern could be more necessary than to bury a father? a work, too, which might be done speedily. And yet the answer is: ‘Let the dead bury their dead. Follow thou me.’ If, then, it is not safe to spend even so little time as is requisite for the burial of a parent, to the neglect of spiritual things, how guilty shall we be if we allow slight and trivial matters to withdraw us, who are Christ’s disciples, from His service! But rather let us endeavor, with Christ’s aid, to raise those who are spiritually dead and buried, from the death of sin to a life of righteousness, as He raised Lazarus from the tomb, then we shall be His disciples indeed.”—P. S.]

[22][Wordsworth likewise presses the def. art. τό, and quotes from Bengel: “Jesus habebat scholam ambulantem;” he sees in this ship an emblem of the church. But, unfortunately for this interpretation, the article is of very doubtful authority, see our crit. note above.—P. S.]

[23][In German: “Von Paulus naturalisirt, von Ammon allegorisirt, von Strauss mythisirt” (better: mythificirt).—P. S.]

[24][Not: “presented in a material light,” as the Edinb. trl. has it, misled by a printing error of the first edition. The third ed. reads: “Es kann freilich auch magisch gemacht (not: materialisirt) werden,” etc.—P. S.]