Matthew 8:5-27 Faith is Not Baseless Belief, It is Rational Belief
Watch the video or scroll down to read the transcript.
Transcript:
Romans 3:28 says “a man is justified by faith”. Romans 4:5 says “his faith is counted as righteousness”. Ephesians 2:8 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith”. Hebrews 11:6 tells us it is impossible to please God without faith.
Faith is an essential component of Christianity. Therefore, Christians should have a clear understanding of what faith is. Unfortunately, many do not. In fact, many Christians have a wrong concept of faith. Many people think faith is believing something when there is no evidence to back up the belief.
That is not correct. True faith is believing something you can’t see or don’t have yet simply because God promised it. Matthew chapter 8 illustrates the correct definition of faith with an example of great faith and an example of a lack of faith.
Early in His ministry, Jesus went up on a mountain and gave His Sermon on the Mount in which He talked about blessings, the Law, treasure in heaven, prayer, worry, good fruit, and the narrow path that leads to salvation. After Jesus completed His sermon, He came down from the mountain and large crowds followed Him. He healed a leper and told the leper to tell no one, but to go to the priest instead.
Most of the events in today’s passage took place in Capernaum. It was on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. The dark green colors on the map are lower elevations. The light green are higher elevations. The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountains.
Matt. 8:5 ¶ And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,
Matt. 8:6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.”
Matt. 8:7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
Matt. 8:8 But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not good enough for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
The centurion was humble. Politically, the centurion was higher than Jesus, but the centurion still felt unworthy of having Jesus enter his house.
The centurion believed all Jesus had to do was speak and his servant would be healed. The centurion knew Jesus was not using medicines or techniques to heal. Instead, he understood that Jesus had so much power, all He had to do was speak in order to make something happen.
Matt. 8:9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
Matt. 8:10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.
Jesus used the word faith. He credited the centurion with great faith. The centurion demonstrated faith because he believed Jesus could heal his servant from a distance. The centurion believed all Jesus had to do was speak and something would happen.
Why did the centurion believe this? This was not a belief in the absence of evidence. Large crowds were following Jesus because Jesus had healed many people of many different diseases. See Matthew 4:23-24. The centurion saw this and understood the power Jesus had.
At that point the centurion probably had not seen Jesus heal from a distance just by speaking. Jesus probably had not healed anyone close to the centurion. However, based on the evidence the centurion did see, he knew Jesus could heal his servant from a distance just by speaking. That is an example of faith.
Matt. 8:11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;
Matt. 8:12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus essentially said many gentiles will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while many Jews will be cast into outer darkness. He said this because the centurion was a gentile who was demonstrating great faith.
Matt. 8:13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.
Matt. 8:14 ¶ When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.
Matt. 8:15 And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and began waiting on Him.
The disciples were following Jesus so they would have seen Jesus heal Peter’s mother-in-law.
Matt. 8:16 Now when evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill
Matt. 8:17 in order to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES.”
Once again the disciples saw Jesus demonstrate His power.
Matt. 8:18 ¶ Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea.
Matt. 8:19 Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
Matt. 8:20 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
There is a tendency in modern Christianity to present Christianity as something easy and pleasant. This is done in an effort to gain as many converts as possible. However, Jesus did not do that. Instead, when the scribe offered to follow Jesus, Jesus emphasized how difficult it would be. He listed the cost.
Matt. 8:21 And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”
Verse 18 tells us Jesus gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. Verse 21 tells us one of His disciples asked to bury his father first.
Matt. 8:22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”
Jesus demanded immediate obedience. Jesus told the disciple to allow the spiritually dead people to bury his father. Following Jesus is more important than family.
Are we willing to obey Jesus no matter the cost? Is obeying Jesus more important to us than our family?
Matt. 8:23 ¶ And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.
Matt. 8:24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was sleeping.
Matt. 8:25 And they came to Him and got Him up, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”
Matt. 8:26 And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.
Why did Jesus accuse His disciples of being men with little faith? The disciples had seen Jesus heal people. They had seen Jesus demonstrate His power. The disciples should have believed that Jesus was more powerful than the storm. They should not have been worried. Jesus specifically accused them of cowardice.
Based on everything they had seen Jesus do, they should not have been worried or cowardly. Since they were cowardly in the face of the storm, they were demonstrating a lack of faith. The evidence they had seen did not lead them to believe Jesus could do something they had never seen Him do.
Matt. 8:27 And the men marveled, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
It appears the disciples did not grasp who Jesus is as well as the centurion did.
Faith is an essential component of Christianity, so Christians need to have a correct concept of faith. Unfortunately, many do not. Many Christians believe faith is believing something when there is no evidence to back up the belief.
Actually, true faith is believing something you can’t see on the basis of things you can see. Jesus demonstrated His power by performing many healings. The centurion saw that and understood that Jesus had the power to heal his servant simply by speaking. The centurion had faith. He believed Jesus could do something that had not been done yet on the basis of what Jesus had done in the past.
On the other hand, the disciples saw the power of Jesus, but when the storm arose they became cowards and were afraid. They did not draw the proper conclusion about the storm and future events on the basis of the past deeds of Jesus which they had seen.
Let’s be like the centurion and have great faith in what Jesus can do based on the deeds which Jesus has done in the past.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”