Seeds for 07/13/2023 - Matthew 8:16-17
Scripture: 16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to Him, and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”
Observation: Having related three specific instances of Jesus’ healing ministry, Matthew summarizes the rest of Jesus’ day of healing, liberating, and restoring people.
Then, a statement of purpose: “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”
This is clearly a commentary from Matthew, discerned after the fact. He’s not simply reporting an historical event—that Jesus “drove out the spirits… and healed all the sick” that day. He’s interpreting history, continuing to build his case that Jesus fulfilled the Messianic texts of the Hebrew Scriptures. More than that, Jesus will have expanded what they thought they understood about those texts. He’s not simply a great king in the lineage of David, He’s God come in the flesh.
The cross shattered the messianic hopes they had about Jesus. Apparently this was no victorious revolutionary warrior. But Jesus’ bodily resurrection in turn destroyed that analysis too. The resurrection was the victory that confirmed Jesus was the Messiah after all.
Having figured out that the cross and resurrection together meant that God was making a new creation in the midst of the old, forgiving and reconciling people to Himself, restoring in them the Divine Image, and making them into a covenant people called the Church, the old texts now burst with new meaning.
The lyrics to the praise song This is Our God, by Chris Tomlin capture the sentiment well: “This is the One we’ve been waiting for!”
I imagine Matthew giddily writing the words, “This was to fulfill…” As we’ve already seen, Matthew quotes many OT passages to point out their fulfillment in Jesus. He’s discovered a bounteous treasure and is happily inserting the jewels into the story of Jesus’ life and ministry because he wants us to enjoy the discovery as well.
Application:
How has Jesus fulfilled hopes and needs you have in your life?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, help me see all the ways you are the One I’m looking for and the One the world has been waiting for all along. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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