Jesus’s Authority
Jesus's Authority
Image by Aristal Branson from Pixabay
Cleansing the Unclean
A man with a severe skin disease approached Jesus and bowed before him. “Lord, if you’re willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out and touched him. “I’m willing. Be clean!” Immediately, the man was cleansed from the skin disease.
Then Jesus told him, “Make sure you don’t tell anyone. Instead, go show yourself to the priest. Offer the gift Moses commanded as a witness to them.”
Image by Good News Productions Int. from Free Bible Images, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus amazed the crowd by speaking with authority about the coming kingdom. In the next section of his gospel, Matthew continued to show Jesus’s authority over the kingdom, this time by describing a number of his miracles. The stories in this section are arranged thematically, not chronologically, into three sets of three, with the sets separated by two sections focused on discipleship.
The first set shows Jesus as the Son of humanity, who came to save the entire human race, including those the Jewish elite looked down on.1 First among these societal outcasts, a man with a contagious skin disease came to Jesus and bowed before him.2 In order to prevent the spread of his disease, the law required him to live outside the city and declare himself unclean whenever anyone approached.3 Anything he touched also became unclean, and his mere presence produced fear in others. So he asked not just to be healed but to be made clean. If Jesus was willing.
Jesus assured the man of his willingness. Society had rejected him, but Jesus would not. In fact, Jesus did something his culture considered shocking. He walked up to the man and touched him. How long had it been since the man felt the touch of another person? But instead of making Jesus unclean, their contact cleansed the man by healing his skin disease.
To make his cleansing official so he could reenter society, the man had to travel to Jerusalem, present himself to a priest, and undergo an elaborate ceremony that included offering three lambs, or a lamb and two pigeons if he was poor.4 Jesus commanded the man not to tell anyone about his cleansing until the priest had certified it. That certification would serve as a witness. Along with the man’s own testimony, it would fulfill the law’s requirement for two witnesses to confirm a claim.5 Without this legal requirement, Jesus likely faced accusations of being unclean himself.6
The Unworthy Centurion
After Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached and begged him, “Lord, my servant lies paralyzed at home in terrible pain.”
“Should I come heal him?” Jesus asked.
“Lord, I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof,” the centurion answered. “But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. I’m also someone under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes, another to come, and he comes, and my slave to do, and he does.”
Hearing this, Jesus was astonished and told those who followed him, “I tell you for certain that I haven’t found anyone in Israel with faith like this! I tell you many will come from the east and west and feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside, where people will weep and gnash their teeth.”
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go. As you believed, let it be done for you.” The servant was healed that very moment.
While the man with a skin disease was a social outcast, at least he was Jewish. But when Jesus returned to Capernaum, an official in the Roman army asked him to heal his paralyzed servant.7 The servant must not have been Jewish either, since the centurion would have mentioned this important detail. The centurion represented not just the nations in general but Israel’s most hated enemy. Most Israelites believed the Messiah would come to save them from Rome. In fact, he came to save the Romans too.
Jesus responded to the centurion by asking, somewhat incredulously, whether he should come heal the servant. Pious Jews believed entering the homes of non-Jews made them unclean. Though Jesus wouldn’t have followed this tradition, he used it to test the centurion. His response reflected such a humble faith that it left even Jesus astonished. Jewish tradition aside, the centurion knew he wasn’t worthy of hosting Jesus under his roof, and he refused to use his earthly authority because he recognized Jesus as greater than himself. This distinguished him from the Jews, who weren’t worthy either. But they didn’t realize it.
The centurion’s faith stemmed from his recognition of the source of Jesus’s authority—God himself. That’s precisely the test the Jewish leadership later failed.8 The centurion knew the soldiers under him would obey his orders because he was under authority. The soldiers didn’t fear him personally. They feared Rome and knew Rome would back him up as long as he acted on the emperor’s behalf. Likewise, the centurion believed Jesus acted on God’s behalf, so God would back him up. All Jesus had to do was give the command.
The Kingdom Feast
“I tell you for certain that I haven’t found anyone in Israel with faith like this! I tell you many will come from the east and west and feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside, where people will weep and gnash their teeth.”
In response to the centurion’s astonishing declaration of faith, Jesus issued a warning to the Jews who were listening. God had originally promised his kingdom rule to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of the Jewish people.9 So the Jews believed the kingdom belonged exclusively to them. Jesus corrected this misbelief by referencing Isaiah 26:6–8.
Yahweh of armies will prepare for every people
a feast of rich food and aged wine on this mountain,
with rich food seasoned with marrow and refined aged wine.
On this mountain, he will swallow
the shroud enveloping every people
and the blanket covering all nations.
He will swallow death forever.
The Lord Yahweh will wipe away the tears on every face
and remove the reproach of his people from the earth.
Yahweh has spoken!
At the inauguration of the kingdom, after the resurrection of the dead, a great feast will take place to celebrate Yahweh’s victory over his enemies and the destruction of death. Revelation 19:9 calls this same meal “the marriage feast of the Lamb.” Most Jewish scholars affirmed the presence of the nations, but only as witnesses to Israel’s victory. They would not participate in the feast.10 Jesus flipped this image. The nations feast with the patriarchs, while the “children of the kingdom,” the Jews who were its natural heirs, watch in anguish from the outside.
The Jews believed their ancestry would save them, but Jesus taught that, while God certainly loves Israel, he saves those who live by faith. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob received the promises because of their faith.11 The centurion had shown his faith by testifying that Jesus came from God. Yet Jesus hadn’t seen that faith among the Jews. He warned that if they rejected him, they would find themselves excluded from the kingdom. Meanwhile, those non-Jews who believed in him would take their place at the table.
Peter’s Mother-in-Law
When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever. So he touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she rose and served him.
In the evening, people brought to him many possessed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word. He also healed all who were sick to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
“Our sickness he took away,
and our diseases he carried.”
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
By healing an unclean, contagious Jewish man and a Roman centurion’s servant, Jesus showed his concern for men from every class and nationality. Only one group of people remained to show him as the Son of humanity—women. Matthew had plenty of examples to choose from. The number of women Jesus healed, spoke to, and even taught would have made most rabbis blush. Many, though not all, viewed women as having little spiritual aptitude or value beyond serving their husbands and childbearing. Jesus refuted this, treating women as perfectly capable of hearing God’s word and obeying it.12
One evening after returning to Capernaum, Jesus entered Peter’s house to find Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed. A high fever kept her from welcoming her guest. So Jesus touched her hand and healed her so completely that she immediately got out of bed and served him.
Later that evening, the people brought to him others who were sick or possessed by demons, and Jesus healed them all, male and female, young and old, rich and poor. His healing power fulfilled the prophecy recorded in Isaiah 53:4. As promised, the Messiah had come to heal, and one day he’ll take away sickness forever.
The Cost of Discipleship
Now Jesus saw a crowd around him and gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then one of the scribes approached him. “Teacher, I’ll follow you wherever you go.”
But Jesus answered, “Foxes have dens, and birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of humanity has nowhere to lay his head.”
Image by GabruPawPixels from Pixabay
In the first discipleship interlude between Matthew’s healing miracles, two of the men who had been following Jesus approached him, wanting to become true disciples. But instead of welcoming them, Jesus responded to both with a warning. Following him comes with a cost.
The first man was a scribe, a highly respected expert in the Jewish law. That means he’d already studied under another teacher, but he must have been attracted to Jesus’s healing power. As Jesus prepared to cross over the Sea of Galilee, the scribe promised to follow him not only over the lake but also wherever else Jesus might go. He likely expected even greater honor as a disciple of the famous miracle worker.
Jesus didn’t reject the offer of discipleship, but he wanted to avoid false expectations. His disciples must count the cost first, expecting hardships and persecutions and renouncing everything this world has to offer.13 Even foxes and birds have homes where they feel welcome. But Jesus’s own hometown rejected him, leaving him without a place “to lay his head.”14 The Son of humanity lacked even the basic comforts the animal kingdom enjoyed. His followers could expect the same treatment. Scripture never tells us how this scribe responded.
The Son of Humanity
“The Son of humanity has nowhere to lay his head.”
Image by Aristal Branson from Pixabay
Of all the titles used to refer to Jesus, he himself used the Son of humanity the most. The Son of God quickly angered the religious leaders.15 The Messiah (or Christ) and the Son of David aroused false expectations of a king who would free the Jews from Rome.16 Jesus avoided these issues by using an ambiguous term that he could gradually define through his own teachings yet that still had clear prophetic implications.
The primary meaning of the Hebrew idiom son of humanity is simply “human being.” It’s used throughout the Old Testament in passages with no messianic implications. In the book of Ezekiel, Yahweh repeatedly addresses the prophet as “son of humanity.” But Jesus wasn’t just calling himself a human. He’s the Son of humanity. The ultimate representative of humanity. Humanity as we were meant to be before sin twisted our relationship with God and the rest of creation. As such, he not only perfectly fulfilled God’s will in his own life but also restored his followers.17
One passage, however, does point to the Messiah.
During the night, I saw in a vision one like a son of humanity coming with the clouds in the sky. He reached the Ancient of Days and was brought to him. He was given authority, honor, and a kingdom, and every people, nation, and language will serve him. His authority is forever and will not pass away, and his kingdom will not be destroyed.18
In Daniel chapter 7, the prophet first saw a vision of four beasts that violently ruled the earth and were judged by the Ancient of Days (God). These four beasts represent demonic rulers behind Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.19 But while those kingdoms fell, a fifth rose. “One like a son of humanity” rode the clouds to God’s throne room and received an everlasting kingdom, not through violence but by decree of the Ancient of Days.
By calling himself the Son of humanity, Jesus declared himself to be the one who would receive God’s kingdom and rule over every people, nation, and language—including Rome.20 After his resurrection, he ascended in the clouds to God’s throne room, where he began his rule over the promised kingdom on earth by sitting down at the right hand of God.21
Ultimate Loyalty
Another disciple said, “Lord, allow me to leave first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered, “Follow me. Let the dead bury their own dead.”
Image by George Webster from Creation Swap
As Jesus’s followers prepared to cross the Sea of Galilee, a second disciple approached him.22 The disciple had followed Jesus around Capernaum but felt he couldn’t leave the region before burying his father. This idiom doesn’t mean his father had died. The disciple was likely the eldest son and, therefore, culturally obligated to care for his parents until they died.23 After his father died, he would return and become a permanent follower of Jesus. According to Jewish thought, the request would seem entirely reasonable. But it showed that the man didn’t fully understand who Jesus is.
Based on the fifth commandment, the Jews viewed honoring their parents as one of their greatest obligations.24 Their only higher obligation was to God himself.25 Jesus rejected the disciple’s request to leave, but not because he denied the law or the man’s familial obligations.26 Rather, Jesus refused to allow his disciples to treat him like any other rabbi. He alone offers eternal life, but that requires recognizing him as the source of that life. Those destined for life devote themselves to him above all else. Those destined for death can worry about the dead.
Jesus doesn’t demand that his disciples turn away from legitimate obligations to follow him. Quite the opposite, he shows that he is himself our highest obligation, worthy of honor due only to God. Following Jesus means prioritizing him above even our families. To follow him at any point, his disciple needed to understand this.
Calming the Sea
Then [Jesus] got into a boat, and his disciples followed him. A violent storm shook the sea, and the waves covered the boat. But Jesus slept. So his disciples woke him up, crying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”
“Why are you afraid, you who have so little faith?” Then standing up, he rebuked the wind and the sea. It became perfectly calm.
The people were astonished. “What kind of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Image by Roger Casco from Pixabay
In the first set of three miracles, Jesus showed his authority as the Son of humanity. In the second set, he showed his authority as the Son of God.27 After demanding his disciples show him the level of honor due to God, Jesus proved his worthiness to the ones who listened.
Jesus and the disciples still willing to follow him got into a boat and started across the Sea of Galilee. Because of the steep hills surrounding it, the sea is notorious for the sudden rise of violent storms.28 During the crossing, one arose that even the experienced Galilean fishermen couldn’t handle. The wind shook the sea, and the waves flooded the boat. Yet Jesus slept peacefully, knowing nothing could harm him before his Father allowed it.
The disciples, on the other hand, feared the storm and believed they would die. They woke Jesus up and begged for him to perform a miracle. They had enough faith to believe Jesus could save them from the storm, yet he scolded them for their fear. They needed to learn to trust him through the storm. Still, he answered their pleas by rebuking it. At his command, the wind and waves immediately grew calm.
The only nonhealing miracle in Matthew 8–9, the calming of the sea showed Jesus’s authority over creation itself. He simply told the storm to stop, and it obeyed him. In doing so, Jesus reprised creation, when his Father spoke and it happened. Though they didn’t fully understand the sign, the Jews with him recognized it and were astonished. They wondered what kind of man Jesus could be, since even prophets didn’t have that kind of power. They would soon find out, but the information would come from the most unexpected source.
Subduing Demons
When he arrived at the other side in the land of the Gadarenes, Jesus was met by two men possessed by demons coming out from the tombs. The men were so dangerous that no one could pass through that way. They cried out, “What business is this of yours, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?”
Now in the distance, a large herd of pigs was feeding. So the demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
“Go,” he replied.
They came out and entered the pigs. Suddenly, the entire herd raced down the slope into the sea and died in the water. So the pig herders fled. They entered the town to inform them of everything, including what happened to the two men possessed by demons.
Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. So getting into a boat, he crossed back over to his own town.
Image by Csaba Nagy from Pixabay
After Jesus calmed the storm, he and his disciples finished crossing the Sea of Galilee and landed on the eastern shore in territory belonging to the city of Gedara, about five miles away from the sea. They quickly encountered two men possessed by demons, who probably came from a smaller town nearby, possibly Khersa (the Gerasa of Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26).29 The demons made the men dangerous, so they had to live outside the town among the caves used as tombs.
Jesus’s disciples had wondered what kind of man he was, but the demons immediately knew they were dealing with the Son of God. Yet instead of honoring his authority, they challenged him for appearing to them in the wrong place at the wrong time. In crossing the Jordan, Jesus had left Jewish territory and entered their territory, as evidenced by the herd of pigs. They felt he was meddling in their business before the time God had appointed for their judgment. They accused the Son of God of not respecting God’s timing.
If the demons thought they could manipulate Jesus into leaving them alone, they were sorely mistaken. He always respected his Father’s timing, but the fact that the men weren’t Jewish didn’t mean Jesus had to allow their torment. As the Son of God, he commanded even the demons, and they had no choice but to obey. So the demons begged Jesus to allow them to possess the nearby herd of pigs instead. But they probably didn’t plan on the animals panicking and drowning themselves in the sea, leaving the demons without the host they desired.
This display of Jesus’s power inspired fear, not faith, in the herdsmen watching the pigs. They ran back to town and told everyone what happened, including the healing of the men and the death of the town’s pigs. The people wanted nothing to do with someone who could do that. So they came out en masse to beg Jesus to leave, and he returned to Capernaum with his disciples.
Forgiving Sins
Then they brought [Jesus] a paralyzed man lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Cheer up, child! Your sins are forgiven.”
So some of the scribes thought, “This guy’s blaspheming!”
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus asked, “Why are you pondering evil in your minds? Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? But so you might know that the Son of humanity has authority on earth to forgive sin—” Then he commanded the paralyzed man, “Stand up! Pick up your mat and go home.” So he stood up and went home.
Seeing this, the crowd was afraid and glorified God, who had given such authority to humanity.
Image by Lumo Project Films from Free Bible Images
After Jesus arrived back home, some people brought to him a man lying on a mat. The man couldn’t walk due to paralysis, but he had some loving friends and family willing to carry him. When Mark and Luke tell this same story, they include the desperate measures the group took to reach Jesus through the crowd.30 Matthew skips this to focus on a new dimension of Jesus’s authority as the Son of God.
When Jesus saw the man, his first thought wasn’t to heal his paralysis. Instead, he encouraged the man by addressing a much deeper problem—his sins. By forgiving the man, Jesus angered the scribes, who thought he was blaspheming. Only God can forgive sins, and he did so through a system of sacrifices that only the priests in Jerusalem could perform. Jesus claimed the authority to circumvent that system, authority equal to God’s.
The penalty for blasphemy was death by stoning.31 Although the scribes didn’t audibly accuse him, Jesus condemned their evil thoughts. Their hearts were so far from God that they considered killing him for the “crime” of forgiveness! Jesus then silenced their criticism with a rhetorical question.32 Is it easier to say “Your sins are forgiven” because that can’t be disproven? Or is it easier to say “Rise up and walk” because humans can heal while only God can forgive? There is no correct answer. Both are easy to say. Neither is easy to do.
Jesus gave the scribes no time to think about his riddle before he proved his authority over sin by healing the man’s paralysis. God would not give such power to a blasphemer. Yet the man picked up his mat and walked out right in front of the scribes. The sight filled the crowd with the healthy fear of God, and they glorified him for giving such authority to a person. Not the authority to heal paralysis but the authority to forgive sins. Through Jesus and his perfect sacrifice, that authority would eventually extend to his followers as well.33
Matthew’s Call
From there, Jesus passed by and saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.
“Follow me!” Jesus said.
So Matthew stood up and followed him.
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
The second section on discipleship begins with Jesus calling another disciple, a tax collector named Matthew.34 The Roman government sold the right to collect provincial taxes to tax farmers, wealthy citizens who hoped to make a profit by collecting more than they paid for the contract. These tax farmers then hired local residents as tax collectors, who also often profited by forcing people to pay more than required.35 From his roadside booth, Matthew likely collected customs from merchants entering the territory of Herod Antipas over the Sea of Galilee or along the ancient trade route called the Via Maris.36
Most Jews despised tax collectors and considered them traitors for collaborating with the Romans. They also viewed them as unclean because of their frequent contact with non-Jews. So in calling Matthew away from his booth, Jesus defied all social conventions. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were respectable middle-class fishermen. Matthew had grown rich from unjust gain. Yet Jesus called them all to leave everything behind for a life of hardship and persecution.37
Despite the differences between Matthew and the other disciples, he responded to Jesus the same way. Jesus said to follow, and Matthew immediately stood up and left his life of luxury. By that time, Matthew had certainly heard of the famous healer and may have heard some of his teachings. He probably never imagined Jesus would want anything to do with a traitorous cheat. But Jesus saw through Matthew’s past to what he could become if he obeyed. And Matthew obeyed.
- Matthew 8:20. In the traditional title Son of Man, man means “mankind, humanity,” not “adult male.”
- Though usually mistranslated as “leprosy,” the Hebrew and Greek words for this malady referred to a variety of skin diseases, not all of which were incurable. See Leviticus 13.
- Leviticus 13:45–46.
- Leviticus 14:1–32.
- Deuteronomy 19:15.
- Mark 1:45.
- Luke 7:3–5 make it clear the centurion didn’t speak to Jesus himself. He sent a delegation to speak on his behalf. Matthew omits this detail as irrelevant to his point.
- Matthew 12:24–32, 21:23–27.
- Genesis 13:14–17, 26:2–4, 28:13–14.
- Keener, Bible Background Commentary, Matthew 8:11.
- Genesis 15:6.
- Mark 3:34–35; Luke 10:38–42, 11:27–28.
- Luke 14:25–33.
- Mark 6:1–4.
- Luke 22:70–71; John 10:33–36, 19:7.
- Matthew 2:2–4, 21: 5–9; Luke 23:2; John 19:12.
- Romans 5:12–19, Hebrews 2:17–18; see Humanity’s Purpose.
- Daniel 7:13–14.
- See Revelation 13:1–2.
- Matthew 24:30, 26:64.
- Psalm 110:1, Acts 1:9, Hebrews 10:12–11.
- Disciple referred to any student of a rabbi. This man was not one of the Twelve.
- France, Gospel of Matthew, 329; Morris, According to Matthew, 202–203.
- See The Fifth Commandment.
- See The First Commandment.
- Matthew 15:3–6.
- Matthew 8:29.
- Associates for Biblical Research, “Jesus and the Sea of Galilee,” by Todd Bolen, March 6, 2009, https://biblearchaeology.org/research-articles/jesus-and-the-sea-of-galilee/; France, Gospel of Matthew, 336.
- Wilkins, “Matthew,” 61.
- Mark 2:3–4; Luke 5:18–19.
- Leviticus 24:16.
- See Rhetorical Question.
- John 20:23.
- Matthew was also called Levi. Mark 2:13–14, Luke 5:27–28.
- Luke 3:12–13; 19:2, 8.
- Wilkins, “Matthew,” 63.
- See The Cost of Discipleship.