THE LEPER CLEANSED. THE CENTURION'S SERVANT HEALED. HEALING OF PETER'S WIFE'S MOTHER AND MANY OTHERS. STILLING OF THE TEMPEST. HEALING OF THE GADARENE DEMONIACS 1-4. Cleansing of the leper (Mark 1:40; Luke 5:12). No natural explanation of this miracle is possible. Leprosy has always been, and is st... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE WAS COME DOWN] Only St. Matthew mentions the historical connexion of this miracle, though both St. Mark and St. Luke agree that it took place during one of the early preaching tours in Galilee. St. Luke says that it was done in a city. The miracle comes appropriately after the sermon. Having... [ Continue Reading ]
WORSHIPPED HIM] Lk says, 'fell on his face.' The act of reverence that was paid to kings. Perhaps the leper already regarded Jesus as the Messiah, the rightful king of Israel. He certainly had full faith in His miraculous powers. He only doubted His willingness ('if thou wilt') to heal so miserable... [ Continue Reading ]
TOUCHED HIM] No one was allowed to touch or even to salute a leper. If he even put his head into a place it became unclean. No less a distance than 4 cubits (6 ft.) had to be kept from the leper, or if the wind came from that direction, 100 cubits were scarcely sufficient. By thus touching the leper... [ Continue Reading ]
SEE THOU TELL NO MAN] According to St. Mark He dismissed the man abruptly, almost violently, with an urgent command to be silent. Only one explanation of this is at all probable. He feared, as in John 6:15, that the people would proclaim Him Messiah, and force Him to be the leader of a revolution. O... [ Continue Reading ]
A CENTURION] A Roman legionary officer commanding a century (i.e. from 50 to 100 men, the hundredth part of a legion), and occupying the social position of a modern sergeant or non-commissioned officer. Whether this centurion was directly under Roman authority, or was in the employ of Herod Antipas,... [ Continue Reading ]
HEALING OF THE CENTURION'S SERVANT (Luke 7:1, not, however, John 4:47, q. v.). The accounts in St. Matthew and St. Luke are partly drawn from independent sources, which, though agreeing in essentials, differ considerably in details. In St. Matthew the centurion himself comes to Jesus. In St. Luke he... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SERVANT] The expression might mean 'my little son,' but it is plain from St. Luke that it was a favourite slave who was ill.... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, I AM NOT WORTHY] Both the centurion and the elders judged Jesus by Jewish standards. That Jesus should heal a Gentile at all, except for some very special reason, was thought impossible. Still more unlikely was it that He would enter a Gentile house, which was regarded as defiled, and defiling... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I AM A MAN UNDER AUTHORITY] The sense is: I am myself only a servant of others, and yet I have soldiers under me whom I can send where I please to carry out my will. How much more canst Thou, who art Lord of the powers of nature, speak the word and be obeyed. The centurion expresses his faith th... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL SIT DOWN (lit. 'recline at table') WITH ABRAHAM, AND ISAAC, AND JACOB] The rabbis taught that the Messianic age would be ushered in by a great feast. All Israel, with its patriarchs, prophets, and heroes, would be there. The Gentiles would be excluded, and would have the mortification of seein... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN (RV 'SONS') OF THE KINGDOM] i.e. the Jews. OUTER DARKNESS, etc.] a rhetorical description of the sorrow and disappointment of those who are excluded. The GNASHING OF TEETH represents anger and disappointment, not torture: see Psalms 112:10; Acts 7:54.... [ Continue Reading ]
PETER'S HOUSE] Peter was a married man (1 Corinthians 9:5). He had a house in Capernaum, which he shared with his brother Andrew, and apparently with his wife's mother.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEALING OF PETER'S MOTHER-IN-LAW, AND OF MANY SICK AND POSSESSED PERSONS (Mark 1:29; Luke 4:38). According to St. Mark and St. Luke these miracles took place on the sabbath, after the synagogue service at which Jesus preached and healed a demoniac.... [ Continue Reading ]
MINISTERED] i.e. 'waited at table.' The fever had left no weakness.... [ Continue Reading ]
POSSESSED] According to St. Luke the devils cried out, 'Thou art the Son of God,' and recognised Him as the Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 53:4, quoted from the Hebrew. This application of the passage to the miracles of healing does not conflict with its deeper fulfilment in Christ's atoning work on the Cross (John 1:29; 1 Peter 2:24).... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYINGS TO A SCRIBE AND ANOTHER DISCIPLE (Luke 9:57). St. Luke introduces these sayings much later in our Lord's ministry. Both evangelists apparently borrowed from a common source, which did not specify the occasion of the utterances. 19, 20. The offer of a recognised rabbi (scribe) to become a fo... [ Continue Reading ]
MASTER] i.e. Rabbi, a title of respect properly belonging only to scribes. It was sometimes accorded by courtesy to our Lord, as here.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SON OF MAN] This title of Christ is found only in the Gospels and Acts 7:56, and (except in Acts 7:56) is found only in the mouth of our Lord Himself. It corresponds in Aramaic, which our Lord habitually spoke, either to _barnasha,_ which may mean either 'the man,' or (but this is not so certain... [ Continue Reading ]
FOLLOW ME; AND LET THE DEAD, etc.] This difficult saying is variously interpreted: (1) My claim comes before all other claims. It is better that the dead should remain unburied, than that thou shouldest delay to enter upon the solemn ministry to which I have called thee. (N.B. The funeral and subseq... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STILLING OF THE TEMPEST (Mark 4:35; Luke 8:22). St. Mark and St. Luke both place the incident after the series of parables which St. Matthew records in Matthew 13. This is at once one of the best-attested miracles, and one of the most incomprehensible to those who desire to limit our Lord's mira... [ Continue Reading ]
TEMPEST] lit. 'shaking.' The word generally means 'earthquake.' 'To understand the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember that the lake lies low, six hundred feet lower than the Mediterranean Sea, that the vast and naked plateaus of Jaulan (the district E. of the lake) rise to... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT MANNER OF MAN] The disciples already begin to think that Jesus is more than a mere man.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE COUNTRY OF THE GERGESENES (RV 'Gadarenes')] Gadara was an important Gentile town, the capital of Peræa, situated at least 6 m. from the lake in a south-easterly direction, and separated from it by a broad plain and the gorge of the river Hieromax, a tributary of the Jordan. St. Matthew mentions... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEALING OF THE GADARENE DEMONIACS (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26). There are real difficulties in connexion with this narrative, but that upon which Professor Huxley laid so much stress in his controversy with Mr. Gladstone, 1889-91, is assuredly the least. Speaking of the destruction of the swine he said... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SON OF GOD] The demons similarly acknowledge Jesus in Mark 3:11; Luke 4:41. TO TORMENT US BEFORE THE TIME] viz. of the Last Judgment, when the demons will be consigned to hell. The demoniacs identify themselves with the demons and speak in their names.... [ Continue Reading ]
In St. Luke the demons beg not to be sent into the 'abyss,' i.e. into hell.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY BESOUGHT HIM THAT HE WOULD DEPART] The drowning of 2,000 swine represented a considerable monetary loss, and they feared further losses if Jesus remained in their neighbourhood. It is not clear whether the owners of the swine were Jews or Gentiles. The population of Decapolis was mainly, but b... [ Continue Reading ]