Matthew 8:23-34--Jesus As Lord Over Both Nature and Demons

​Matthew 8:23-34 English Standard Version (ESV)
Listen:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.8.23-Matt.8.34

​Jesus Calms a Storm
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals Two Men with Demons
28 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. 31 And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” 32 And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. 33 The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

---

The disciples were a bunch of fishermen and understood the sea, even though that sea was unpredictable and storms could whip up in a hurry, but Jesus was tired enough and at peace enough to be at sleep in the middle of the storm.  The disciples may have been a bit dramatic, but they were seriously in fear of their lives and were upset that Jesus was asleep and not doing anything about their situation.  Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith (which we've just seen two great examples of faith proceeding this).  The disciples then asked a VERY good question....""What kind of man is this that the wind and the waves obey him?"

As soon as they get to the other side of the lake (an area that is inhabited by the Gentiles that would be looked at much like the dark place in The Lion King....only bad things and bad people live there.  Why in the world would Jesus say that they NEEDED to go there?  And immediately they are confronted with a couple of demonized men that lived among the tombs and were dangerous and could not be held by any kind of chains.  It's kind of funny that the demons answer the question that the disciples just asked.....they immediately recognized Jesus as The Son of God and that He had authority over them and was their judge and that they were deserving of torment and punishment.

The demons asked to be cast into the herd of pigs that was nearby and this drove the pigs insane and they rushed into the sea and drowned.  This was a major economic blow as this area was big on pig farming and this probably set them back in a huge way.  Even though the townspeople heard about what Jesus had done for the demon-possessed man they they feared and they could do nothing for, they were even more afraid of the Son of God that had the power to command the demons and destroyed their economy in the process and pleaded with Jesus to leave.  We see in another gospel that the demonized man that had been set free wanted to leave with Jesus, but Jesus told him that he needed to stay behind and be a witness to his people.

This is all of us.  Jesus came over to our side of the lake because He knew we needed Him...we never would have had contact with us.  We were out of our minds and controlled by the forces of evil and part of the kingdom of darkness--even though we may have thought we were making a great living raising pigs.  Jesus shows up and those of us that He chooses have a radical transformation and it's going to upset the status quo so much that most people will be afraid of Him and beg Him to go away so as to not upset their lives anymore because they are content with their life with the pigs and would rather have the out-of-his mind demonized man.  We long to immediately go back to the other side of the lake (to the Promised Land of heaven), but Jesus commands us to stay and share with our friends, family, and neighbors.  Praise God that Jesus came to us in our time and place of need when we couldn't do anything to help ourselves and none of our friends and family members or neighbors could either.