Come Follow Me LDS- Matthew 8-9, Mark 2-5 Part 1
Feb 27, 2019
- Jesus Established as The Healer in Galilee
- How the Atonement means 'to cover', as in garments
- Masses Follow Him
- He is Rejected in Capernaum
Raw Transcript
in this episode we're going to cover why
Jesus is the healer how I talk mint
means to cover and why Jesus is rejected
so let's set the stage for Matthew
chapters 8 & 9 Jesus has just performed
the Sermon on the Mount to the ritual on
top of the mountain and this is how
Matthew 8 starts off in verse 1 it says
when he was come down from the mountain
great multitudes followed him so he's
got this following you can imagine
there's probably a type of excitement
over what is being launched here where
previously Jesus announced in the
synagogue that he was the Messiah he is
now through ritual through a performance
through an ordinance probably announced
the beginning of his church and his his
overall doctrine and teachings that are
that he's going to be preaching
throughout the gospel throughout the
rest of his life and so there's this
excitement all these people are
following him and here the authors
Matthew and Mark now want to take from
these teachings that's beginning and
want to show who he is and what they
focus on is that he is the healer and so
throughout chapters 8 & 9 we get several
examples of Jesus healing different
individuals and this is important it's
not just a matter of look at the power
that Jesus has and he can go out and
physically heal somebody there's a
reason why he is called the healer first
the prophets in the Old Testament have
all prophesied that Jesus was the healer
that the Messiah would come that he
would heal lepers that he would heal the
lame he would heal the blind the deaf
and cast out devils and so this is in a
sense making sure as a testimony in the
Gospels that people understand that this
is who this is that the prophets have
prophesied of the most
by doing these things and here is Jesus
doing these things so this is a
testimony that Jesus is the Christ
that's the first reason the second
reason is that this is who he is he is
the healer and we've mentioned before in
a previous lesson that as an example in
the earliest English translations they
did not give Jesus the name Jesus they
didn't use his name Jesus
they simply gave him the name of the
healer Highland because that was the
understanding of who he is
more anciently that was a bigger part of
understanding that he was the healer
this is almost like a title that he
would have had and I'd like to go over
this a little bit more so that we have
an understanding of how healing is
intertwined with the atonement and with
covering alright so let's cover
atonement here atonement comes from it's
an English word that came from William
Tyndale or tinsdale in the 14 1500s and
basically what he did is he took the
term Kippur which is to cover in the Old
Testament and gave the word atonement
and atonement comes from a couple of
different words that he put together so
you have at and one so atonement is at
one mint it's the same idea as covenant
it's taking two sides and having a
reconciliation or or bringing them
together together
that's what covenant means right Cova
near would be to come together
that's a covenant and so at one mint is
bringing God and man together there is
the higher law where God is coming down
to men condescending to men and paying
for man's sins sacrificing for him and
then there is the lower law where man is
reaching toward God to be at one with
him by obedience and by prayer and by
anything that's reaching upward toward
God so that's that's really what
atonement means is being at one
it has to do with covenant but there's
another meaning as well that has to do
with covering so Kippur we think of the
day yom kippur which is a jewish holiday
right that is the day of atonement
well Yom Kippur really means day of
covering and day of covering is the same
thing as atonement so in the in the
ritual of the Day of Atonement the high
priest would go into the temple would go
into the Holy of Holies and would
cleanse everything out with the blood of
an ox and the blood of a goat and etc
and it would cleanse the temple and
cleanse the land and cleanse the people
and reconcile God with man it was like
it was also called a the the covenant of
peace sometimes it's termed so it would
be a covering of this through it with
the blood that would be the payment you
would cover and we see this imagery
throughout the scriptures as well of
covering for example when Adam and Eve
lose their garments of light they lose
their covering they lose their Kippur
the atonement in a sense they lose that
and then when Jesus Christ or Jehovah
makes garments of animal skins for Adam
and Eve he is giving them a covering
right he's giving them a cap or he's
giving them atonement it's a
representation of atonement now we use
the term atonement also in the sense of
a verb to atone for someone and that is
also correct it's a payment to pay for
somebody else or to pay for a past sin
of yourself
it's payment and we can see that in a
couple of other words also attributed to
William tinsdale is the term mercy seat
so in the Holy of Holies you had the Ark
of the Covenant and what covered the Ark
of becoming the lid that had the two
cherubim with the with the the wings on
them that was called the Kippur it right
the covering
and so that would cover it but it was
also called at least by William Tyndale
it apparently the mercy-seat
now think about the word mercy we think
of mercy as in the bowels of mercy and
having compassion but what does that
really mean what that means is you are
paying for someone right you're paying
the price of having empathy and
suffering in behalf of somebody else
think of the word mercenary mercenary
would be a soldier who is paid by a
different nation usually to come in and
battle for them to go to war for them
it's a payment they're accepting payment
as a soldier mercy same thing where we
the same term or word from where we get
mercenary so mercy is actually a payment
and so we have the law of justice which
is the lower law very important but what
supersedes that it's the law of at one
mint from God it's the law of covering
from God it's the law of mercy from God
His mercy His grace is a covering and we
think of his glory as something that
covers us garments of glory the temple
garment is a covering and so when we are
naked or ashamed so to speak it's
because we've been separated from God
and as we are covered in holy raiment or
of glory then we are reconciled in a
sense with God we have there is a
payment there it is a covering and that
is atonement at one mint so then Jesus
enters Capernaum and there a Roman
centurion approaches him and tells him
that his servant is sick with the palsy
palsy would be something of paralysis
and maybe tremors maybe much worse and
that he believes that Jesus the healer
can heal his servant
so here we
the second simple we just had the leper
to begin with at the beginning of the
chapter now the second example of
healing is a Roman I think that's on
purpose because we're showing that okay
first Jesus's mission here is to the
Jews and then it is also later to the
Gentiles in other words it goes first to
the house of Abraham the house of
Abraham Isaac and Jacob to their
descendants and then it comes out to the
Gentiles and so this is a foreshadowing
of where the gospel will go their
preaching first in Jerusalem and
throughout Judah and it's going to go
throughout the world with the Gentiles
and so this is an announcement again of
his Messiahship of his Melchizedek
Priesthood and of the fullness of the
gospel that it will fill the earth
including all of the Gentiles and not
just the Jews there so this would have
been something kind of important as an
announcement to the Jews there locally
into his disciples I am healing a
Gentile I am and this is an important
thing and this is a foreshadowing of the
atonement which heals all people and
this is not just for the house of David
this is not just for the house of
Abraham this is for all people all
Gentiles and this Centurion tells Jesus
look I have a lot of authority and I can
tell people where to go and they go tell
him to go left to go left to go to let
me go right to go right something to
that effect and but he says but I'm not
worthy to even enter this house with you
as you go in to heal the servant I know
that you will be able to do this you can
just speak the words and this will
happen and this is similar to what we
saw with a leper and this is a principle
we get throughout these two chapters
here about those there being healed and
let's follow through on that as we go
through some of these examples and in
the next episode we'll cover a little
bit more about the other half of the
healing that Jesus performs here and
after the words of the Centurion to him
showing this faith then Jesus says and I
say unto you that many shall come from
the east and the West
that means outside of Judah right
outside of of the Covenant people so to
speak
and shall sit down with Abraham it's a
big part of for example what President
Nelson talks about right now about the
Abrahamic covenant and how we are all to
be working toward this and that the
Gentiles are very very much included in
this he says and shall sit down with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven but the children of
the kingdom and I believe he's talking
about the kingdom of Judah here so the
Covenant people here shall be cast out
into outer darkness III you know he's
talking about some of them would
probably be cast out because just
because of your lineage that doesn't
guarantee you anything right it is about
whether you were following the
principles that he is going to be
teaching here for the next few years and
then we get an example here of the
casting out of devils and i don't want
to go a lot into this but this to me is
a sign that showing that it's what we're
gonna see here in in the next chapter
and that is that Jesus is not here just
to heal you physically that's not the
focus here it is important and it's a
sign to show that he is the healer but
the focus really is that he will heal
your spirit and then it says after he
has cast out the Devils that he heals
all that are sick in Capernaum so
everybody is bringing people here to the
healer so think about that again the
healer this is a major part of what he
is doing throughout his ministry and
people are coming from all sides all
corners of being able to travel there
and they're bringing their people there
think of the hope that would be there
they hear about Jesus and what he has
been doing think of the hope if you had
a child for example that was struck with
a disease and or a mother
or a relative or a best friend or
whatever or yourself and this hope like
what this is how this has happened I've
heard about this and there's this I
would think this this surgeons of just
this hope for these people that somebody
can heal them and we can of course
translate that into a spiritual idea as
well which is more important we'll get
to that later and while he's in
Capernaum him a scribe comes to him and
says master I want to follow you and
Jesus says well the problem is is that I
don't have anywhere to lay my head I
have nowhere to be that I have no home
I've got to go about and do my business
and this is the first point here of the
next few points where he's saying that
there are a lot of things that are
important out there but this is the most
important thing so these other things
again and that values hierarchy they're
not as important don't worry as much
about those as aiming for the top aiming
for the most important thing the
greatest truth and the greatest purpose
and after the scribe then there comes a
disciple to him who says I want to
follow you but first I need to go bury
my father
well that's a pretty important thing
right he loves his father he wants to
make sure he's there at his burial but
here there's a point being made by the
author right it's a the point is and by
Jesus the point is that is really
important good for you but he says to
the disciple follow me and let the dead
bury the dead in other words you need
life you need eternal life and this is
the most important thing that's pretty
important to bury your father that's a
really important thing good for you for
for holding a high principle but here is
something even more important and then
lastly they go into the ship and they go
out and there's a great storm
a tempest and the disciples are like all
worried that they're about to perish and
Jesus is asleep and I think this is a
poignant moment here because again this
is emphasizing that Jesus is not
concerned about these physical things
he's not concerned about these lower
things not that that wouldn't be
important but again I think the message
here is that of all these important
things disasters your family even a home
all of these things that might be really
important they're not as important as
what I am bringing here and you need to
see that I think that's his message to
them and it's interesting isn't it that
we can hold on to some of very important
things and they can be our main purpose
in life and then if something comes
along that is even more important it
might be really hard for us to let go of
whatever it is that we have already
grabbed on to and say okay this is now
more important right this becomes more
important we see this as we grow into
adulthood and become a parent and a
spouse some things that would have been
really important to us and good things
probably aren't as important anymore we
need to move beyond that and graduate to
a higher value where now our spouse and
our children become more important and
we bring this additional value that
comes in and actually sits now at the
top and our purpose now is aimed up at
that new higher value and that's what
Jesus is bringing in that's a focus of
again the higher and the lower laws
where this focus has been the law of
Moses the law of sacrifice looking
forward to something else he is that
something else and so the principle is
there can be new and better and more
important things that come on in our
lives and we need to learn to be able to
lower important things for other things
that are even more important I think we
have a hard time sometimes
I know I've experienced that and then at
the end of the chapter very interesting
what happens he's gone out and he has
healed all of these people and yet at
the end of the chapter verse 34 it says
and behold the whole city came out to
meet Jesus and when they saw him they
besought him that he would depart out of
their coasts
so basically thank you very much but get
out of Dodge very interesting isn't it
that this happens the disruption that
Jesus is causing here maybe all these
people are coming in maybe it's
bothering people
maybe the leaders of the Jewish
community they're in Capernaum are not
very happy about what's happening but
regardless here we have another
principal so he has a little bit of this
element right from the get-go of being a
stranger in a strange land and going
back to the beginning of his life he's
born in a cave problem probably a cave
in Bethlehem in very humble
circumstances and and then Herod tries
to kill him and has all the the young
boy babies killed and he has to run off
to to Egypt and then come back and here
he is in his own area his own region of
Galilee and he's being kicked out again
he's being rejected even though he's
doing something that is phenomenal
obviously because it's a threat to
people it's a threat to their status quo
it's a threat to power structures and
maybe it's just a threat to
understanding for some people of what is
happening and so this disruption as good
as it is is being thrown out and I
wonder sometimes if we do that in our
lives where again we're looking for a
goodness kind of like Christ with a ship
and with the scribe and the disciple
where we're hanging on to something that
might be
important to us and here comes something
better and a higher value to shoot for
and to follow into and to hang on to and
yet we don't want to let go with what we
already have in place the status quo is
maybe sometimes too comfortable for us
so Jesus as the promised Messiah as the
healer as the king of the Jews the new
milk acidic is also rejected as all of
those things among the masses we'll talk
to you next time
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