Parson Brown

Matthew 5:13-16, “Salt and Light”

Jesus’ first word to his disciples is “blessed”. The first lesson he would teach us is that we are a blessed people. It may not appear so outwardly (and it usually doesn’t appear so outwardly). But regardless of how the world may evaluate us, Jesus’ evaluation of us is clear—we possess every spiritual blessing; our heavenly reward is great. We shall inherit the earth; we shall see God; we shall be called the sons of God; etc.

However, before we are able to enjoy that blissful heavenly reward in full measure, we must endure the world’s spite. Those who hate Christ will take out their hatred against Christians. We will suffer “all kinds of evil”, but even in that persecution we are blessed, because Jesus is there with us in that persecution. He takes note of the injustices, and he will reward those who remain loyal to him even through the malice they suffer for his sake.

Nevertheless, since Jesus has told his church, in advance, to expect such abuse at the world’s hands, it’s not unreasonable to think that his church may flirt with the idea of trying to avoid the conflict. For example, if you were back in school and a friend informed you that the class bully was waiting for you on the playground, you might well consider staying away from the playground while on your way home from school. If you know an attack is coming, why don’t you try to do something to dodge it?

Before any of Jesus’ disciples are able to proceed very far down that line of reasoning, Jesus informs his disciples in these verses that the world desperately needs them.

1. The church is in the world.

The church must not flee the world. The church must not try to isolate itself physically from the world. The church must stay in the world. This is one of the main lessons we learn from this passage. The kingdom of heaven doesn’t come to snatch us out here, to take us to another place. The kingdom of heaven comes to take over this place. Meek Christians are the ones who inherit the earth. This world doesn’t belong to our persecutors; it belongs to us. It is our Father’s world, not their father’s world.

So, we must not abandon the world or give up on it as a lost cause. Christ claims the whole world as his own, every square inch of it. “The earth belongeth to the Lord, and all that it contains.” And the whole creation is groaning in eager anticipation to join us in our future glorification (Rom 8). Jesus is the Savior of the World, and his kingdom promises to renew/transform all creation with us.

When Jesus instructs us here that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, we ought to be mightily stirred up by these words. The world needs us. We have a vital role to play in God’s plan for this world, and if we don’t fill that role no one else will! This great duty has been entrusted to us, and to none other. Not upon the rich and mighty, but upon poor and meek Christians this status has been conferred. This world can do without many things, but this world cannot do without Christians. This world needs Christians, and more of them.

Christians are needed in every part of the world. Christians are needed not just in pews, but in fields and factories, in classrooms and offices, in arts and athletics, in politics and business, in workshops and kitchens, in hospitals and courtrooms, in laboratories and battlefields. Christians must be active in every facet of human life. Countless vocations may be pursued to the glory of God. Every sphere of life needs a Christian influence.

We must not avoid all contact with unbelievers. Given the darkness of this world, it oftentimes seems like the spiritually preferable thing to do—to withdraw from unbelievers and to socialize only with Christians. Some Christians have even tried to withdraw geographically, to relocate to a place with a higher percentage of like-minded believers. It’s even become popular among some Reformed Christians in recent years to form these little enclaves or communes, to separate themselves from the world’s darkness.

I’ve known Christians who have packed up their things and have left their homes, jobs, friends, and churches to travel hundreds (if not thousands) of miles to seek Christian refuge in some remote location. This is not a new phenomenon. The church has always had some members who have tried to live the Christian life isolated from as many unbelievers as possible (e.g. various monastic movements).

The question that needs to be considered here is this: If you think that, in order to live a good Christian life, you must move somewhere far away, then perhaps you need to reconsider what a “good Christian life” is? Isn’t a good Christian life one in which the darkness of this world is squarely faced and resisted? To do that, it takes a strong and courageous soul. How much virtue is there in trying to escape the world? Besides, you can only really escape the world by dying. So, you might as well stay where you are, and live for God in the place where he put you.

2. The church is in the world, but not of it.

Thus, we start with the fact that the world desperately needs Christians. But this isn’t the whole equation, of course. The world doesn’t just need Christians; the world needs Christians who act like Christians! While this passage clearly implies that Christians must be in the world, it also clearly implies that Christians must be different from the world. This tension is captured well in that familiar slogan, “in the world, but not of it”.

Indeed, Jesus would elsewhere say of his disciples, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (Jn 17:16). And in that same prayer, Jesus asks specifically that his disciples not be taken out of the world, but that they be kept from the evil of this world. Jesus’ disciples are sent into the world, to be different from the world. Your calling as a follower of Christ is to live a life before a watching world that shows the world what this life is really all about.

This world is both our home and not our home. As God’s good creation, this world belongs to us. But as this world is a rebellious place, hostile in heart toward God, we have nothing in common with it. While we don’t try to flee from this world entirely, we do try to flee from the things of this world. We are to flee from sexual immorality (1Cor 6:18), from idolatry (1Cor 10:14), from the love of money (1Tim 6:10-11), and from youthful lusts (2Tim 2:22).

We can’t leave this world until the days God has appointed for us are fulfilled. But neither can we excuse iniquity in our present lives because of the fact that we rub shoulders with unbelievers. If we are going to live our lives according to the sinful values of our neighbors, then there is no point in calling ourselves Christians. Christians live according to a different standard, a higher standard, a heavenly standard.

We are motivated by different things. We love different things. The Holy Spirit leads us. The love of Christ compels us. We have a heart for truth and righteousness and holiness. The world follows Satan’s lies and loves the things that God hates. Since our hearts are different, our actions ought to be different. Since we start our lives on different foundations, we ought to end our lives differently. The picture is captured beautifully in the First Psalm—the godly man is like a tree, and the wicked man is like chaff. The difference couldn’t be greater.

The world needs us to live explicitly Christian lives—to live Christian lives in the world, not to live worldly lives as Christians. Why?

3. The church is in the world, to prevent godlessness and to promote godliness.

God is using us as the salt he sprinkles on a perishable earth, and as the light he shines in a dark world.

Salt was (and is) a common preservative. Adding salt to meat, for instance, will serve to keep that meat, so that it will last longer. Likewise, Christians are the world’s preservative. We keep the world from rotting. Imagine how disgusting this place would be without any Christian influence. Imagine no churches, no godly homes, no prayer, no Bible reading. Imagine no Christian charity or compassion. You think the world is already greedy and filthy? Imagine how bad it could be, if not for Christians. You know what it is like to have someone refrain from foul language on your account, right? There are still some unbelievers whose consciences are tender enough to be considerate of a Christian testimony. Imagine if the entire presence of Christ were removed from this world.

Christians make the world a better place. Even if our witness doesn’t lead to conversions, it is useful for restraining godlessness. But this influence is only felt when Christians are living as Christians, that is, when we are salty. [Example of Dead Sea salt which looked like salt but wasn't.]

There is no point in bearing the name “Christian” and not living as a Christian. At that point, you are useless, “no longer good for anything”. There is no point in trying to accommodate the Christian message to the world’s corrupt ears—no point in trying to soften God’s moral demands, no point in trying to make the gospel inclusive of all religions, no point in trying to make worship services more palatable to unbelievers. (We ought to commend the Christians in Portersville who decided this week that their church had lost its saltiness.)

On the positive side, Jesus’ disciples are also “light”. That is, we are the ones who hold forth the powerful and transforming light of the gospel in a dark world of sin. The gospel of Christ is, in the final analysis, this world’s only hope. We bear witness to the truth, “confessing the truth in love”, proclaiming it and defending it. And the light of the gospel will penetrate and overcome even the darkest iniquity.

Here is what Jesus is telling us: If you are going to bear my name, if you are going to be my church, then just be a church—uncompromisingly, unapologetically. Do churchly things—preach, teach, catechize, pray, sing psalms, administer sacraments, love and care for one another, live in peace and harmony with fellow members of the body, etc. These are our “good deeds” which the watching world must witness us doing. This is what the world needs, for the church to be the church. If we don’t do these things, no one else will.

As Jesus suggested in verse 12, ours is a position like unto that of the OT prophets. They were salt and light in their days. They were largely unpopular, and their testimony met with mixed results. Yet, imagine an OT without them! At times, it may appear that our witness is garnering negligible fruit. In such times, it may simply be our calling to keep the truth alive for a better and brighter day.

Remember in closing that our light is a reflected light. On another occasion, Jesus proclaimed, “I am the light of the world.” Our goal is to bring glory to the Father, not to ourselves.

The question before us is not whether we will be salt and light. Don’t miss Jesus’ obvious point here: You already are salt and light. The only question is, “Will we try to obscure the fact that we are salt and light?”

Matthew 5:1-12, “Blessed Are You”

What is a blessing, and what does it mean to be “blessed”? Forms of the word “bless” are common in Christian parlance, but do we ever pause to think about what we are saying when we use those words. What about when we pray for the Lord to bless us, or what about when we say to someone, “God bless you”?

Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount with nine statements about blessedness. Who is the blessed man? Here he is. The blessed man is the man favored by God. In Jesus’ day, this word commonly meant, “fortunate”. But the Christian understands that all good fortune comes from God-that God himself is “the Blessed One”, and that all blessedness flows down from him. To be “blessed” of God is to be the recipient of a heavenly gift. Or, as Jesus puts it here in the last verse of our passage, the blessed man is the man whose “heavenly reward” is great.

The Beatitudes are all about heaven. Indeed, the whole Sermon on the Mount is all about heaven. In these chapters, we are given a description of our heavenly King and his heavenly kingdom. Jesus has been preaching that the kingdom of heaven is near. Now, he proceeds to portray those who belong to that heavenly kingdom. Since Jesus is the leader of this kingdom, the Beatitudes describe him, first of all. His life perfectly embodied these words. But by his grace, these words come also to describe his followers.

The setting for these sayings is crucially important. Jesus spoke these words to “his disciples” (v. 1-first occurrence in the Gospel). As we witnessed in the previous chapter, these disciples are the ones whom Jesus has effectually called-”Follow me!”-and those whom he has healed. In other words, Jesus has taken the initiative to gather these disciples who assembled around him on this mountain to receive this teaching. These instructions are for the covenant community, the household of faith. The point of this sermon isn’t to say, “Here is how you can enter the kingdom of heaven”, but rather, “Here is what you can expect now that you belong to this heavenly kingdom.”

The Sermon on the Mount has been misinterpreted by too many unbelievers and skeptics, who think that this is all that Jesus was about-that Jesus was just a teacher who came to establish a new school of ethics. Too many people think that this is the essence of Christianity, as if all you ever really needed to read in the Bible were these three chapters. True, this teaching is a vital component of the Christian faith, but it is not the whole Christian faith. Jesus wasn’t a teacher who came to found a school of ethics. Jesus was a Savior, who came to establish a kingdom of redemption. God sent Christ to deliver us from the domain of darkness and to transfer us into his kingdom, the kingdom of the Beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:13-14).

Here in this Sermon, Jesus delivers authoritative instructions to his new covenant people. The setting, on a mountain, is surely significant. It recalls the instructions which God delivered to his old covenant people from atop Mount Sinai. Now, Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, reinstructs the people of God, to guide us for life in these last days, which have commenced with Christ’s advent. Thus, Jesus “opened his mouth and taught” (v. 2).

The new covenant will be a far better covenant. While grace was surely manifest in the old covenant, it will be exceedingly abundant in the new covenant. God came to Mount Sinai in a thick cloud, such that the people were afraid to draw near. In fact, the people were warned not to come near, lest they die. But with Jesus Christ, Immanuel, the people come close to hear his voice, with no fear of a lightning strike from heaven. And Jesus came with inviting words of blessing and comfort and hope. Here is what Isaiah foretold, “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children” (54:13). The Lord teaches us directly, and he does so with all gentleness.

The Beatitudes provide us with a poetic summary of the Christian life. We will consider these three aspects–

1. Character before God: humble;

2. Conduct toward others: helpful;

3. Condition of the church: harassed.

1. Character before God: humble (vv. 3-6)

The first eight beatitudes divide neatly into two groups of four. The first eight are marked off by the references to the “kingdom of heaven” in verses 3 and 10. The fourth and eighth both speak of “righteousness” (vv. 6 and 10). Furthermore, the first four describe groups of people which begin with a “p” sound (in the original language). So, literarily speaking, it seems like a legitimate maneuver for us to divide these eight beatitudes into two groups of four.

Theologically speaking, we notice that these first four are also united by a common theme. Each describes a person’s inward disposition toward God. The tone is set in the first one. We are not just talking about physical poverty here, but spiritual poverty. These are the folks who acknowledge that they are bankrupt before God, having nothing good to offer him. To be poor is to be needy, of course. (Cf. Psalm 37:14, “The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright.”) By the time of the NT, the term “poor” could be used as a theological synonym for “godly”. (E.g. James 2:5, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?”) The only hope of the poor is the Lord, who “raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes” (Ps 113:7). The kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Likewise, “those who mourn” are not any mourners. Tragically, not all mourners are comforted. Some mourners never find comfort. The key to the second beatitude is that the mourners are mourning for the right reason. The reason the godly mourn is because God’s ways have been violated. We lament chiefly over sin, as well as all of the ugly things sin spawns. We grieve both sin in our personal lives and sin in the world around us. We mourn, leading us to cry out to God to set things right. The hope of the beatitudes is that he will do just that.

The meek are the powerless, those who have no worldly status. The meek confess that the Lord is the Almighty King, the Sovereign One, the Only Potentate. He has all power, and men have none. The meek do not pretend to be self-sufficient, but readily admit their complete dependence upon God. The meek have no interest in worldly kingdoms/power. They belong to a heavenly kingdom, and their heavenly King grants to them a far superior power. In the end, the meek shall rule the world-not by violent conquest, but as a free gift from the King.

Finally, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are those who are keenly aware of their personal lack of inherent righteousness. These are the people who long for God’s own perfect righteousness, believing it to be something they cannot live without-just like bread and water. These are the souls that desire to see God’s will accomplished in their lives. For such souls, the flesh of Christ himself is true food and his blood true drink (John 6:55). Those who crave other things will never be satisfied, but God will satisfy those whose deepest longings are for him.

In each of the first four beatitudes, the human heart is laid bare and its inmost thoughts are considered. For those who follow Christ, what characterizes their attitude before God? Humility is their hallmark. It has been said that humility is the first letter of Christianity. How true! “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The gospel of the kingdom works this grace in us who believe. The humble, when standing alone before God, are fully cognizant of their personal deficiencies. But God is all-sufficient, and he promises to supply all their needs.

Where is your heart? Some may give an outward display of humility, but inwardly they may take pride in themselves-perhaps pride in their humility! God knows whether or not your heart is humble before him.

2. Conduct toward others: helpful (vv. 7-10)

The second set of four beatitudes deals with our relationship toward others. These are areas where our inward relationship to God manifests itself outwardly. The merciful are those who actively show mercy to others. Just as God has shown mercy to us in our great need, so we in turn show mercy to those in need of it. If a man does not show mercy, it’s a good indicator that he has not received mercy. Later, in Matthew 18, Jesus will tell the parable of the unforgiving servant to illustrate this relationship between receiving mercy and showing mercy.

Next comes “the pure in heart”. The condition of the heart determines the actions of the hands and feet and tongue. To be pure is to be unmixed (e.g. “pure gold”). The pure in heart are honest and sincere in their dealings with others-looking out for the best interests of others, and not secretly motivated by selfish gain.

Peacemakers bring an end to strife. They love peace, not hostility. They seek peace and pursue it (Ps 34:14). Peacemakers bring reconciliation and reduce friction. Peacemakers love their enemies and pray for them (5:43-44).

Last are those who are persecuted because of righteousness-that is, because they do the right thing. God’s law directs these people. Such people stand up for justice and truth, before a world of injustice and deceit, regardless of the price to be paid for doing so. This eighth beatitude is developed further in the next one.

But notice how, in this second set of beatitudes, we encounter a helpful demeanor toward our neighbors-approaching others with compassion and integrity, looking out for what is truly in their best interests.

Of course, these characteristics cannot be isolated from the first set. The heart humble before God knows that it must be the Lord who shows mercy and brings peace, etc.

3. Condition of the church: harassed (vv. 11-12)

Finally, Jesus gives his church a preview of what should be expected during the new covenant era. Jesus’ followers may expect to receive the same abuse at the world’s hands which the prophets of the old covenant received. The Lord calls us to carry on this task of prophetic witness-bearing. We must stand for the truth before a watching and unbelieving world. Could you imagine what the OT would be like without the prophets? Well, imagine how much worse today’s world would be without Christians!

We have a vitally important role to serve in this dark world, which Jesus discusses further in the next passage. But as we see in today’s passage, the way in which we accomplish God’s purpose for us is simple-we just follow Jesus. That’s how the Christian life starts, and that’s how it ends.

Notice in verses 11-12 that the Christian faces insult and injury not because he/she follows a certain ethical teaching, but because he/she follows a person, the Savior. “Because of me,” Jesus said, you will be persecuted. It’s personal, once again, just as we heard last week-”Follow me.” Jesus demands this personal and living relationship with his disciples. It’s not about conformity to a written code of conduct; it’s ultimately about becoming conformed to the image of God.

Consider how the “righteousness” of verse 10 is replaced with the “Me” of verse 11. Jesus embodied this righteousness; it is his. This is the righteousness reckoned to us in our justification, the righteousness we seek after in our sanctification.

Follow me, even into persecution-says Jesus. And you will be blessed even in persecution because Christ will be there with you in it. Jesus will reward those who follow him down this path, scorned by the world, reproached among men.

The kingdom is coming, but these blessings have not yet arrived for us. Are you interested in them, anyway? Do you really want a heavenly reward? Here is a great trial for our faith. Will we wait for the lasting and eternal rewards-to see God, and to be like him?

Matthew 4:12-25, “A Light Has Dawned”

Having triumphed over the devil during his wilderness temptation, Jesus now moves forward to start his public ministry. The light of the world arises. The King goes forth to his people.

But this King did not come onto the scene with pomp and circumstance. Rather, he chose a humble beginning. He chose Galilee, a backward district of this region. (The land of Zebulun and Naphtali-but who remembers those two tribes of Israel?) Jesus’ choice of Galilee for the location of his ministry would be something like if the President of the United States were to choose New Galilee as the location for his office. If you’ve ever been to New Galilee, you know that there’s nothing there, nothing of significance. It makes little sense for Jesus to choose Galilee, except for this: the people of Galilee needed him. Jesus came not just for the rich and the mighty, but for all men and women, especially those whom the world overlooks.

Here is the great love of our God for the lost; he comes for those who need him most. And here is the Lord’s great faithfulness to his word; he comes just as he said he would.

Christ came to reclaim the lost tribes of Israel (Zebulun and Naphtali) and to reconstitute a new Israel. Jesus is beginning here to build his church. The cornerstone of God’s spiritual house is being set in place. At the foundation of the church is this three-fold ministry of Christ. Notice Matthew’s summary in verse 23: teaching, preaching, and healing. And those are the three activities of Jesus in this passage.

Preaching (4:17)

Jesus came preaching the good news of the kingdom. The kingdom is near. The kingdom of heaven is near. Jesus brings a bit of heaven to earth…and more is on the way! The great and sovereign Lord of heaven is coming to set things right on earth. For a world in dire need of righteousness, that’s good news.

But if God is drawing near, coming down from heaven, to make all things right on the earth, then we better make sure that we are on the right side, the side of righteousness, the Lord’s side. We must turn, repent, and join with the Lord. That is Christ’s admonishment to all sinners. The first word of his sermon is “repent”. On the public stage for the first time, Jesus delivers this direct appeal, “change your ways”.

You see, heaven and earth don’t mix. Heaven is the place of light and life. Earth is the domain of darkness and death. When heaven and earth collide, as happens when the kingdom of God comes near, something’s got to give. And we all know what happens when light meets darkness-the light prevails. The light penetrates the darkness and dispels the darkness. The darkness must not and cannot last. Sin and death must be eradicated from this world. This (and nothing less) is what Christ is coming to accomplish. Get ready.

Those “living in the shadow of death” must be compelled to agree with Matthew that they are living in darkness and that the great light of the world is Jesus Christ and that real life is found in him, and that they must turn to Christ-that’s repentance.

Here is Jesus’ preaching. It is good news, fundamentally; it is gospel preaching. But it is also preaching which demands a response. It demands that you believe it with all your heart. Do you believe that the kingdom of heaven is coming closer to its full arrival with every passing day? What if you knew that God was coming to visit the earth this afternoon? What would you do to prepare yourself? Well, start doing those things right now! Put your house in order. Change your ways. Repent.

If you really believe the good news of the kingdom, then you will repent. That’s the only sensible response-unless you think you are already prepared to stand before God in all his overwhelming holiness. God is light, pure light. In him, there is no darkness at all. Hence, those living in darkness, in the shadow of death, must repent as the light dawns upon them.

The message is plain (the kingdom of heaven is near), and the response is simple (repent). Yet, some further explanation of these things would be quite helpful. And that’s what Matthew will give us in the following verses. In the Sermon on the Mount (Chapters 5-7), we behold the light of God’s holiness, and it exposes our sins, leading us to repentance. Even here in Chapter 4, though, Matthew offers us a visible glimpse into what repentance looks like.

Teaching (4:18-22)

The calling of Jesus’ first disciples is a powerful picture of true repentance. Repentance isn’t simply remorse over your past sins and a desire to turn over a new leaf. Repentance is a full-scale and immediate turn to Christ, heeding his voice and following him.

Elsewhere in the Gospels (Jn 1), we are told that a couple of Jesus’ first disciples were previously disciples of John. Thus, they would have known John’s testimony about Jesus (”behold, the lamb of God”). But Matthew gives us no background information. Thus, he presents Jesus’ command and the disciples’ response in their starkest terms. “Come, follow me.” When we read that the disciples left their nets at once to follow Christ, it almost sounds like they are acting as robots. But the rhetorical effect of relating the story to us in these terms is to drive home for us our duty to respond to Christ quickly and completely.

Christ is looking for an unreserved commitment on the part of his disciples. His disciples must reorder their priorities. The call is certainly costly. The disciples leave behind their work (”nets”, “boat”) and their family (”father”). They make a dramatic turn from their old lives, leaving the past behind them, to find a new life/identity in Jesus Christ.

Interestingly and importantly, there is a point of continuity between the disciples’ old life and the new one. Just as in the OT the Lord called shepherds like Moses and David to “shepherd” his people Israel, so now Christ calls fishermen to “fish” for his new Israel. As we know from the Gospels, these fishermen continued to go fishing on the lake for physical fish. Jesus didn’t take fishing away from them entirely, but rather he called them to use their gifts and talents in his service. “You are fishermen; fish for me.”

Whatever your calling may be, Christ can use that vocation to his glory. You testify to the gospel of Christ, and you are a witness to his grace, as you serve the Lord in your calling before a watching world. Not all were called to be apostles; only some were. But all are called to follow Christ in their vocation.

The main point here is this personal relationship with Christ. “Follow ME.” Down whatever path you are taken, follow Christ. Seek to emulate his discerning mind, his gracious heart, his gentle spirit. As long as a student is willing to receive instruction, then he ought to become increasingly like his teacher. That’s what it means to be Christ’s disciple, to be enrolled in his school. It means that you are growing up like unto the Master.

If we are to follow after Christ, then he must first call us. The disciples did not choose Jesus, but he chose them (Jn 15:16). Unlike other rabbis, Jesus took the initiative to call his disciples. The common practice of this day was for students to choose their teachers. A disciple would choose a rabbi. And the disciple was expected to be loyal to the law, not necessarily to a person. Thus, a disciple could move from one rabbi to another to continue his education.

Jesus’ followers, though, don’t choose him. We were the ones chosen-chosen to follow a man, not a book. And we don’t need another rabbi after Jesus. This one is all-sufficient. What he has taught us will meet all our needs.

So, Christ’s ministry is founded on the preaching of the gospel, which results in repentant sinners, who follow after Christ, leaving behind their former lives, to learn the ways of the Master, to learn how to love others as he loved us.

Healing (4:24-25)

The third and final aspect of Jesus’ ministry was healing. These miraculous healings demonstrated that the power of God indwelt Jesus.  These healings confirmed that Jesus’ preaching and teaching were trustworthy. (That’s how miracles functioned in the OT: Moses/Joshua, Elijah/Elisha.)

But never was there anything quite like this in the OT. These miracles symbolized Jesus’ conquest of the evil one. Those who had been oppressed by demons found relief in Christ. (Also note connection with paralysis and seizures-cases where it seems like someone else controls your body.)

Through these healings, we receive a preview of the worldwide fame of Christ which was about to take place. Large crowds from all over the region came after Jesus.

Furthermore, these healings were a sign of the kingdom’s presence, a foretaste of what will take place when Christ’s kingdom is consummated for all eternity. Jesus Christ isn’t finished with his healing ministry. He himself will heal all of us who believe, at the great resurrection of the last day. He still cares for our bodies, and he will restore them, making them eternally glorious.

Note also the important place of these verses in Matthew’s narrative. The report of these healings prepares us for the Sermon on the Mount. And note that the crowds of 4:24-25 are the same crowds of 5:1. The crowds which were just healed are the same crowds which will receive the commands in the Sermon on the Mount.

Sometimes, perhaps, we may think that Matthew’s overarching concern is to present us with Jesus’ moral teaching. He gives us more of that than any other gospel writer. But Matthew wants to make it clear to us here that, before we can obey the commands, we must be healed. Grace always comes first. Grace and healing always precede the call to obedience. Christ came, first of all, to give himself to/for us. He serves us before we serve him. “Today’s command presupposes yesterday’s gift.”

Conclusion

By the end of this fourth chapter, we see that two groups have emerged in response to Jesus’ ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing: followers and fans/admirers. On the one hand, you have the true disciples who, in spite of their weaknesses and failures, will stick with Jesus to the end. On the other hand, you have the fans, who will flock to Jesus for a season, but only for a season. Ultimately, the crowd will cry, “Crucify him!”

The true disciples were the ones who came to Jesus, first of all because of his preaching and teaching-because of the word they heard with their ears, not necessarily because of the healings they saw with their eyes.

Today, you don’t have the physical healing ministry of Jesus to seek after as these crowds/fans did. But you do have the word of Christ, his preaching and teaching. He still calls, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Are you a fan or a follower? “Come,” said Jesus, “FOLLOW me.” Amen.