This section of Matthew’s Gospel might best be summarized by the words we read in 9:35, that “Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction.” We see Jesus cleansing lepers, casting out demons, bringing the dead back to life, and healing paralytics, the blind, the mute, and even a mother-in-law! As the ESV Study Bible intimates, “Jesus has shown Himself to be the Messiah in word through His teaching (chs. 5-7) and now shows Himself to be the Messiah in deed through the performance of many miracles, demonstrating that the kingdom of God truly has arrived.” Jesus then sends out His disciples with not only this same authoritative message, but also with the same “authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction (10:1).” Well did Isaiah prophesy of this Suffering Servant, that “Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (this is what Matthew is quoting in 8:17 when he recounts Isaiah 53:4 as “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases”).
Reflect: How exciting it must have been to see the Word go out with such power, and accompanied by physical healing…and even better, to participate in it, as the disciples did! What we see in Jesus’ earthly ministry, in particular the miraculous healings, were foretastes of what is to come; they were small tastes of life in the new heavens and the new earth, breaking into our world, testifying to what Jesus will one day do on a cosmic scale. Although God doesn’t often seem to accompany His Word with such signs and wonders today, His Word is nonetheless still going forth in power, calling people from death to new life in Christ.
Connect: In the midst of a world fraught with disease and illness, you carry a message of Good News, the glorious message of Christ Jesus, who will one day bring full and final healing to our fallen and broken world. As we share this Good News, and as we await the glory that is to come, we have no need to fear anything that can kill only the body, but cannot kill the soul (10:28). We are Christ’s until that day, and He’s got us!
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:4-5
– Rev. John McCombs