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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 8

1 After he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.⁠ 2 And a leper approached and bowed low before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 He stretched out his hand and touched him saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you do not speak to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and bring the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help: 6 “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof! Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. 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.” 10 When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! 11 I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet⁠ with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,⁠ 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness,⁠ where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” And the servant was healed at that hour. 14 Now when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying down, sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve them. 16 When it was evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to him. He drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. 17 In this way what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled: “He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.”⁠ 18 Now when Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake. 19 Then an expert in the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”⁠ 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”⁠ 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” 23 As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And a great storm developed on the sea so that the waves began to swamp the boat. But he was asleep. 25 So they came and woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are about to die!” 26 But he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was dead calm.⁠ 27 And the men were amazed and said, “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!” 28 When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way. 29 They cried out, “Son of God, leave us alone! Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 A large herd of pigs was feeding some distance from them. 31 Then the demons begged him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 And he said, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned in the water. 33 The herdsmen ran off, went into the town, and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

Texts in conversation

Compare Baruch 4:36 and Matthew 8:11

Deuterocanon · New Testament

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Summary

Matthew 8 describes people coming from east and west to join the patriarchs, echoing Jewish tradition found in Baruch, which describes the return of exiled Israelites from all directions. In Matthew, Jesus includes Gentiles in this tradition.

Passages

Baruch 4:36

Deuterocanon
32 Miserable are the cities which your children served. Miserable is she who received your sons. 33 For as she rejoiced at your fall and was glad of your ruin, so she will be grieved at her own desolation. 34 And I will take away her pride in her great multitude and her boasting will be turned into mourning. 35 For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days; and she will be inhabited by demons for a long time. 36 O Jerusalem, look around you toward the east, and behold the joy that comes to you from God. 37 Behold, your sons come, whom you sent away. They come gathered together from the east to the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.
200–50 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Baruch

Matthew 8:11

New Testament
8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof! Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. 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.” 10 When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! 11 I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... In the Matthean narrative context, this can only mean that the centurion exemplifies “many” non-Israelites who will be ultimately included in salvation and the great final eschatological feast—in contrast to at least some Jewish “sons of the kingdom” who will be excluded. The language used to articulate this message enacts a particularly surprising reversal, because it echoes a number of scriptural passages that envision the final gathering of Israel out of exile and their restoration to the land ... [Baruch] makes explicit what is implicit in the others: it is the children of Jerusalem, the Jewish people in exile, who will be gathered from east and west. This is also suggested by Isaiah’s reference to “everyone who is called by my name.” Thus, when Matthew’s Jesus speaks of many Gentiles coming from east and west to sit at the eschatological table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, he has dramatically transformed a standard Jewish apocalyptic topos. Now it is the Gentile outsiders being gathered to the feast ..."
Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016), 181–182.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Baruch 4:36 and Matthew 8:11

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