A certain scribe came to Jesus and said: "Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest" Prior to that time, few men belonging to the titled or ruling class had offered to openly ally themselves with Jesus. Had the Master been mindful of policy and desirous of securing official recognition, this opportunity to attach to Himself as influential a person as a scribe would have received careful consideration if not immediate acceptance. But He, who could read the minds and know the hearts of men, chose rather than accepted.
He had called men who were to be thenceforth His own, from their fishing boats and nets, and had numbered one of the ostracized publicans among the Twelve. The gospel was offered freely to all; but authority to officiate as a minister thereof was not to be had for the asking; for that sacred labor, one must be called of God. In this instance, Christ knew the character of the man, and, without wounding his feelings by curt rejection, pointed out the sacrifice required of one who would follow whithersoever the Lord went.
We do not read that the aspiring scribe pressed his offer. Another man indicated his willingness to follow the Lord, but asked first for time to go and bury his father. To him Jesus said: "Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead" Some readers have felt that this injunction was harsh, though such an inference is scarcely justified.
The duties of ministry in the kingdom pertained to spiritual life. One dedicated thereto might well allow those who were negligent of spiritual things, and figuratively speaking, spiritually dead, to bury their dead. A man who wanted to be a disciple of the Lord asked that, before entering upon his duties, he be permitted to go home and bid farewell to his family and friends. The reply of Jesus has become an aphorism in life and literature: "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God"
The three incidents may be profitably considered together, whether all occurred in the evening of that same eventful day or at different times. The instruction to launch forth and cross to the opposite side of the lake was given by Jesus, who probably desired a respite after the arduous labors of the day. No time had been lost in unnecessary preparation; "they took him, even as he was, into the ship," and set out without delay. Even on the water some of the eager people tried to follow; for a number of small boats, "little ships" as Mark styles them, accompanied the vessel on which Jesus was embarked. But these lesser craft may have turned back, possibly on account of the approaching storm; anyway
The fact that after a day of strenuous effort He could calmly sleep, even amidst the turmoil of a tempest, indicates an unimpaired nervous system and a good state of health. Nowhere do we find record of Jesus having been ill. He lived according to the laws of health, yet never allowed the body to rule the spirit.
Meanwhile the storm increased in fury; the wind rendered the boat unmanageable; waves beat over the side. The disciples were terror-stricken; yet through it all Jesus rested peacefully. Calmly He replied to their piteous call, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" Then He arose, into the roaring wind, over the storm-lashed sea, went the voice of the Lord as He "rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still"
And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." Turning to the disciples, He asked in tones of gentle yet unmistakable reproof: "Where is your faith?" and "How is it that ye have no faith?" Gratitude for rescue from what but a moment before had seemed impending death was superseded by amazement and fear. "What manner of man is this," they asked one of another, "that even the wind and the sea obey him?" Among the recorded miracles of Christ, none has elicited greater diversity in comment and in attempt at elucidation than has this marvelous instance of control over the forces of nature. Science ventures no explanation. The Lord of earth, air, and sea spoke and was ob
A small part of that dominion has been committed to man as the offspring of God, tabernacled in the very image of his divine Father. But man exercizes that delegated control through secondary agencies, and by means of complicated mechanism. Man's power over the objects of his own devizing is limited. It is according to the curse evoked by Adam's fall, which came through transgression, that by the strain of his muscles, by the sweat of his brow and by stress of his mind, shall he achieve. His word of command is but a sound-wave in air, except as it is followed by labor. Through the Spirit that emanates from the very Person of Deity, and which pervades all space,
Not man alone, but also the earth and all the elemental forces pertaining thereto came under the Adamic curse. As the soil no longer brought forth only good and useful fruits, but gave of its substance to nurture thorns and thistles, so the several forces of nature ceased to be obedient to man as agents subject to his direct control. But the earth shall yet be "renewed and receive its paradisaical glory"; then soil, water, air, and the forces acting upon them, shall directly respond to the command of glorified man, as now they obey the word of the Creator.
Jesus and the disciples with Him landed on the eastern or Perean side of the lake, in a region known as the country of the Gadarenes or Gergesenes. The precise spot has not been identified, but it was evidently a country district apart from the towns. As the party left the boat, two maniacs, who were sorely tormented by evil spirits, approached. The demoniac was in a pitiful plight. His frenzy had become so violent and the physical strength incident to his mania so great that all attempts to hold him in captivity had failed.
He had been bound in chains and fetters, but these he had broken asunder by the aid of demon power. He had fled to the mountains, to the caverns that served as tombs, and there he had lived more like a wild beast than a man. Night and day his weird, terrifying shrieks had been heard, and through dread of meeting him people traveled by other ways rather than pass near his haunts. He wandered about naked, and in his madness often gashed his flesh with sharp stones. Seeing Jesus, the poor creature ran toward Him, and, impelled by the power of his demon control, prostrated himself before Christ, the while crying out with a loud voice: "What have I
Matthew records the further question addressed to Jesus: "Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" The demons, by whom the man was possessed and controlled, recognized the Master, whom they knew they had to obey. But they pleaded to be left alone until the decreed time of their final punishment would come. Jesus asked, "What is thy name?" and the demons within the man answered, "My name is Legion, for we are many"
In their wretched plight, and out of diabolical eagerness to find abode in bodies of flesh even though of beasts, they begged that, being compelled to leave the man they be allowed to enter a herd of hogs feeding nearby. Jesus gave permission; the unclean demons entered the swine; and the whole herd, numbering about two thousand, went wild, stampeded in terror, ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and were drowned. The swineherds were frightened, and, hastening to the town, told what had happened to the hogs. People came out in crowds to see for themselves; and all were astounded to behold the once wild man of whom they had all been afraid
The man who had been rid of the demons feared not; in his heart love and gratitude superseded all other feelings. Jesus forbade, saying: "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee" The man became a missionary, not alone in his home town but throughout Decapolis, the region of the ten cities. The testimony of wicked and unclean spirits to the divinity of Christ as the Son of God is not confined to this instance. We have already considered the case of the demoniac in the synagog at Capernaum.
from Perea), and inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, amongst whom He had healed many of divers diseases. Those who were in bondage to unclean spirits had fallen down and worshiped Him; while the demons cried out: "Thou art the Son of God." In the course of the short journey considered in this chapter, the power of Jesus as Master of earth, men and devils, was manifest in miraculous works of the most impressive kind. We cannot classify the Lord's miracles as small and great, nor as easy and difficult of accomplishment. The Lord's word was sufficient in every instance. To the wind and the waves, and to the demon-ridden mind of the man possessed, He had but to speak and be
Immediately after landing, Jesus was approached by Jairus, one of the rulers of the local synagog, who "besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death" The fact of this man's coming to Jesus, with the spirit of faith and supplication, is an evidence of the deep impression the ministry of Christ had made even in priestly and ecclesiastical circles. Many of the Jews, rulers and officials as well as the people in common, believed in Jesus, though few belonging to the upper classes were willing to sacrifice prestige and popularity by acknowledging their discipleship.
The father of a young girl fell at the Lord's feet, or as Matthew says, worshiped Him. Jesus went with the imploring father, and many followed. On the way to the house an incident occurred to hinder progress. A sorely afflicted woman was healed, under circumstances of peculiar interest; this occurrence we shall consider presently.
No intimation is given that Jairus showed impatience or displeasure over the delay. Jesus heard what was said, and sustained the man's sorely-taxed faith by the encouraging behest: "Be not afraid, only believe" Jesus permitted none of His followers save three of the apostles to enter the house with Himself and the bereaved but trusting father. Peter and the two brothers James and John were admitted.
The house was no place of such respectful silence or subdued quiet as we now consider appropriate to the time and place of death. Professional mourners, including singers of weird dirges, and minstrels who made great noise with flutes and other instruments, had already been summoned to the house. To all such Jesus said, on entering: "Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead but sleepeth"
Jesus ordered these people out, and restored peace to the house. He then entered the death chamber, accompanied only by the three apostles and the parents of the girl. Taking the dead maiden by the hand He "said unto her, Talitha cumi"; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. To the astonishment of all but the Lord, the girl arose, left her bed, and walked. Jesus directed that food be given her, as bodily needs, suspended by death, had returned with the girl's renewal of life.
In His own wisdom Christ knew when to prudently forbid and when to permit publication of His doings. Though the grateful parents, the girl herself, and the three apostles who had been witnesses of the restoration, may all have been loyal to the Lord's injunction of silence, the fact that the maiden had been raised to life could not be kept secret. The means by which so great a wonder had been wrought would certainly be inquired into. It is not surprizing, therefore, to read in Matthew's short version of the history, that the fame of the miracle "went abroad into all that land"
The vital distinction between a restoration of the dead to a resumption of mortal life, and the resurrection of the body from death to a state of immortality, must be thoughtfully heeded. In each of the instances thus far considered, the miracle consisted in reuniting the spirit and the body in a continuation of the interrupted course of mortal existence. That the subject of each of these miracles had to subsequently die is certain. Jesus Christ was the first of all men who have lived on earth to come forth from the tomb an immortalized Being; He is therefore properly designated as "the first fruits of them that slept"
Elijah and Elisha, many centuries prior to the time of Christ, were instrumental in restoring life to the dead. In these earlier miracles the restoration was to mortal existence, not to immortality. Jehovah, embodied in flesh as Jesus Christ, did nothing outwardly but command, and the bonds of death were immediately broken. He spoke in His own name and by inherent authority, for by the power with which He was invested He held control of both life and death.
A woman who had suffered a serious ailment for 12 years touched Jesus' clothes. The effect was more than magical; immediately she felt the thrill of health throughout her body. She tried to escape notice, by hastily dropping back into the crowd. But her touch was not unheeded by the Lord. He turned to look over the throng and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" or as Luke puts it, "who touched me?"
The woman's faith was sincere and free from guile, but it was in a sense defective. Jesus, addressing her by a term of respect and kindness, said: "Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole;" and as Mark adds, "be whole of thy plague"
She believed that the influence of Christ's person, and even that attaching to His raiment, was a remedial agency, ample to cure her malady. But she did not realize that the power to heal was an inherent attribute to be exercized at His will. To correct her misapprehension and to confirm her faith, Jesus gently subjected her to the necessary ordeal of confession, which must have been made easier through her consciousness of the great relief already experienced. He confirmed the healing and let her depart with the comforting assurance that her recovery was permanent.
In contrast with the many cases of healing in connection with which the Lord charged the beneficiaries that they should tell none how or by whom they had been relieved, we see here that publicity was made sure by His own action. The purposes and motives of Jesus may be but poorly understood by man; but in this woman's case we see the possibility of stories strange and untrue getting afloat. It appears to have been the wiser course to make plain the truth then and there. Moreover the spiritual worth of the miracle was greatly enhanced by the woman's confession and by the Lord's gracious assurance. Observe the significant assertion, "Thy faith hath made thee whole."
Faith is of itself a principle of power, says Pope Francis. The Lord was and is influenced, and in great measure controlled, in the bestowal or withholding of blessings, he says. He ministers according to law, and not with caprice or uncertainty, Francis says.
a deeper significance than could inhere in a simple inquiry as to the identity of an individual. The usual external act by which His miracles were wrought was a word or a command, sometimes accompanied by the laying on of hands, or by some other physical ministration as in anointing the eyes of a blind man. That there was an actual giving of His own strength to the afflicted whom He healed is evident from the present instance. Passive belief on the part of a would-be recipient of blessing is insufficient; only when it is vitalized into active faith is it a power.
Two blind men followed Jesus, crying out: "Thou son of David, have mercy on us" Their persistency in following the Lord was evidence of their belief that in some way, though to them unknown and mysterious, He could help them. Jesus touched their eyes, saying: "According to your faith be it unto you" The effect was immediate; their eyes were opened.
They were explicitly instructed to say nothing of the matter to others; but, rejoicing in the inestimable blessing of sight, they "spread abroad his fame in all that country" So far as we can unravel the uncertain threads of sequence in the works of Christ, this is the earliest instance, recorded with attendant details, of His giving sight to the blind. Many remarkable cases follow. It is worthy of note that in blessing the sightless by the exercize of His healing power, Jesus usually ministered by some physical contact in addition to uttering the authoritative words of command or assurance.
An analogous circumstance is found in the healing of one who was deaf and defective of speech, in which instance the Lord put His fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue. Christ was not a physician who relied upon curative substances, nor a surgeon to perform physical operations; His healings were the natural results of the application of a power of His own. It is conceivable that confidence, which is a stepping-stone to belief, as that in turn is to faith, may have been encouraged by these physical ministrations, strengthened, and advanced to a higher and more abiding trust in Christ. There is apparent not alone an entire absence of formula and formalism in His ministration, but a lack of uniformity of procedure
As the two men, once sightless but now seeing, departed, others came, bringing a dumb friend whose affliction seems to have been primarily due to the malignant influence of an evil spirit rather than to any organic defect. Jesus rebuked the wicked spirit and cast out the demon that had obsessed the afflicted one and held him in the tyranny of speechlessness. The man's tongue was loosened, he was freed from the evil incubus, and was no longer dumb. Another incident connected with a storm on this small body of water is of scriptural record, and will be considered later in the text (Matt. 14:22-26; Mark 6:45-56; John 6:15-21).
Dr. Thompson ( The Land and the Book ii:32) gives a description founded on his personal experience on the shores of the lake. "I spent a night in that Wady Shukaiyif, some three miles up it, to the left of us. The sun had scarcely set when the wind began to rush down toward the lake, and it continued all night long with constantly increasing violence"
The wind howled down every wady from the north-east and east with such fury that no efforts of rowers could have brought a boat to shore at any point along that coast. To understand the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember that the lake lies low—six hundred feet lower than the ocean.
The earth itself fell under the curse incident to the fall of the first parents of the race, and that even as man shall be redeemed so shall the earth be regenerated, is implied in Paul's words. The present author has written elsewhere: "According to the scriptures, the earth has to undergo a change analogous to death, and to be Regenerated in a manner comparable to a resurrection"
The new earth, really the renewed or regenerated planet, which is to result, may be compared with a resurrected organism. The change has been likened unto a transfiguration (Doc. and Cov. 63:20, 21). Every created thing has been made for a purpose; and everything that fills the measure of its creation is to be advanced in the scale of progression. In speaking of the degrees of glory provided for His creations, and of the laws of regeneration and sanctification, the Lord, in a revelation dated 1832, speaks plainly of the approaching death and subsequent quickening of the earth.
The vital Spirit that emanates from God and is coextensive with space, may operate directly and with as positive effect upon inanimate things, and upon energy in its diverse manifestations known to us as the forces of nature. Thus, the Lord may speak directly to the earth, the air, the sea, and be heard and obeyed, for the divine affluence, which is the sum of all energy and power may and does operate throughout the universe.
In the course of a revelation from God to Enoch, the earth is personified, and her groans and lamentations over the wickedness of men were heard by the prophet. Enoch pleaded: "O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth?" Following further revelation as to the then future course of mankind in sin and in the rejection of the Messiah who was to be sent, the prophet wept with anguish, and asked of God "When shall the earth rest?"
It was then shown unto him that the crucified Christ shall return to earth and establish a millennial reign of peace. "And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance" (P. of G.P., Moses 7:48, 49, 58, 60, 61, 64)
A partial description of the earth in its regenerated state has been given through the prophet Joseph Smith in the present dispensation. That Jesus Christ, in the exercize of His powers of Godship, should speak directly to the wind or the sea and be obeyed is no less truly in accord with the natural law of heaven, than that He should effectively command a man or an unembodied spirit.
Gospel-historians have tried to discredit the account of Christ's healing the demoniac in "the country of the Gadarenes" (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26) They claim the ancient town of Gadara was too far inland to make possible the precipitous dash of the swine into the sea from that place. Others lay stress on the fact that Matthew differs from the two other Gospel-historian, in specifying "thecountry of the Gergesenes" (8:28) As stated in the text, a whole region or section is referred to, not a town.
The keepers of the swine ran off to the towns to report the disaster that had befallen their herd. In that district of Perea there were at the time towns named respectively Gadara, Gerasa, and Gergesa. The region in general, therefore, could properly be called the land of the Gadarenes or of the Gergesenes. The existence of this little town was apparently known both to Origen, who first introduced the reading, and to Eusebius and Jerome. A steep declivity near it, where the hills approach to within a little distance from the lake, was pointed out as the scene of the miracle.
The people were frightened over the power possessed by Jesus, as demonstrated in the cure of the demoniac, and in the destruction of the swine. They were in part heathen, and had but superstitious conceptions of Deity. Their prayer that Jesus leave them brings to mind the ejaculation of Simon Peter in his witnessing one of Christ's miracles: "Depart from me: for I am a sinful man, O Lord"
Matthew (9:18) represents the father as saying: "My daughter is even now dead" The maid was seemingly breathing her last, she was in the very throes of death, when the father hurried away. Before he met Jesus he felt that the end had probably come; nevertheless his faith endured. His words attest his trust, that even had his daughter actually died since he left her side, the Master could recall her to life. He was in a state of frenzied grief, and still his faith held true. 6. Mourning Customs Among Orientals. —Observances that to us seem strange, weird, and out of place, prevailed from very early times among oriental peoples.
Noise and tumult, including screeching lamentations by members of the bereaved family and by professional mourners, were usual accompaniments of mourning. Geikie, citing Buxtorf's quotation from the Talmud, gives place to the following: "Even a poor Israelite was required to have not fewer than two flute players and one mourning woman at the death of his wife" In Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, we read: "The number of words (about eleven Hebrew and as many Greek) employed in scripture to express the various actions characteristic of mourning, shows in a great degree the nature of Jewish customs in this respect"
"The damsel is not dead but sleepeth" told that her sleep was to be of short duration. It was a rabbinical and common custom of the time to speak of death as a sleep. It is noticeable that the Lord used a strictly equivalent expression with respect to the death of Lazarus. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth," said He, "but I go that I may awake him out of sleep."
The literal construction placed upon these words by the apostles evoked the plain declaration "Lazarus is dead" (John 11:11, 14). In the Talmud death is repeatedly designated as sleep—hundreds of times says Lightfoot, a recognized authority on Hebrew literature. We should realize that even complete knowledge may not preclude the propriety of making inquiries. Even omniscience does not imply ever-present consciousness of all that is.
Undoubtedly through his paternal heritage of divine attributes, Jesus had the power of ascertaining for himself, by means not possessed by others, any facts He might have desired to know. Trench ( Notes on the Miracles , pp. 148-9), thus instructively points the lesson as illustrated by our Lord's question concerning the woman who was healed of her issue of blood. With little force "can it be urged that it would have been inconsistent with absolute truth for the Lord to profess ignorance, and to ask the question which He did ask?"
A father among his children, and demanding Who committed this fault? himself conscious, even while he asks, but at the same time willing to bring the culprit to a full confession, can he be said, in any way to violate the law of the highest truth? The same offense might be found in Elisha's 'Whence comest thou, Gehazi?' (2 Kings 5:25) when his heart went with his servant all the way that he had gone. In every case there is a moral purpose in the question, an opportunity given even at the latest moment for making good at least a part of the error by its unreserved confession.
Each of these miracles is a literal fulfilment of that prophetic word of Isaiah concerning the days of Messiah: 'Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened' (35:5) Frequent as these miracles are, they yet will none of them be found without distinguishing features of their own. That they should be so numerous is nothing wonderful, whether we regard the fact from a natural or spiritual point of view. Regarded naturally they need not surprize us if we keep in mind how far commoner a calamity is blindness in the East than with us.
"He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils" (Matt. 9:32-34) For further treatment of this inconsistent and, strictly speaking blasphemous charge, see pages 265-269. "Articles of Faith," x:1-20—"Men called of God." Page 87 . Luke 9:57-62; see also Matt. 8:19-22; Matt 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25.
Gen. 1:28; P. of G.P., Moses 2:26; 5:1. Gen. 3:17-19. Mark 5:22-24, 35-43; Luke 8:41, 42, 49-56; Matt. 9:18, 19, 23-26. John 11:45; compare 8:30; 10:42. John 9:6; compare Mark 6:5; 7:33; 8:23.
Matt. 15:22; 20:30, 31; Mark 10:47, 48; Luke 18:38, 39. John 9:6; Mark 8:23. Mark 7:32-37. Matt. 9:32, 33. John 10:6.