Matthew 08: Jesus Authority in Action

What happens when words become action? After delivering the groundbreaking Sermon on the Mount, Jesus steps off the mountainside and into a series of extraordinary demonstrations that prove His teachings aren't just theoretical—they're backed by divine authority.

Matthew 8 marks a pivotal shift in Christ's ministry. Having explained what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like, Jesus now shows it through powerful works that leave crowds and disciples alike in awe. We witness Jesus touch what no one would touch (a leper), praise what no one would praise (a Roman soldier's faith), and calm what no one could calm (a raging storm). Each miracle reveals a different facet of His authority—over disease, societal barriers, natural elements, and supernatural forces.

The healing of the leper particularly showcases Jesus' compassion beyond the physical. By directing the healed man to follow Mosaic protocols, Jesus ensures complete restoration—the return of family, property, and community standing. When confronted with the Roman centurion's remarkable faith, Jesus appears genuinely amazed, highlighting that what impresses God isn't religious pedigree but simple trust in His power. Perhaps most telling is the demons' recognition of Jesus' identity and authority before many humans recognized it.

Ready to explore how Jesus' authority applies to your impossible situations? This episode unpacks what it means that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Christ—and how that changes everything about our response to life's storms. Listen now and discover why even the winds and waves obey Him.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Jesus' Authority and Action Introduction
• 3:59 Healing the Leper: Restoring Wholeness
• 6:09 Roman Officer's Amazing Faith
• 7:44 Healing Peter's Mother-in-Law
• 9:02 The Cost of Following Jesus
• 10:20 Calming the Storm: Authority Over Nature
• 11:24 Confronting Demons in Gadarenes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Matthew, chapter 8, and today's title is Jesus, authority and Action Jesus, authority and Action. And what we are going to see today is Jesus has been talking about what the kingdom of heaven looks like. Now he's going to show us what the kingdom of heaven looks like in chapter 8. And we're also going to get to see a pattern as it begins to develop over the course of the rest of the book of Matthew. So we're getting all that in just a moment, but, as always, while you're opening your Bible, getting it ready, getting your coffee cup ready, all the good stuff. If you're new around here, take just a moment and like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure to leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job and, as always, the more we dig the more we find, and it is worth telling you from time to time, if you don't do the Facebook thing, you can go to thebiblebreakdowncom, and that's also where we are doing different devotions all the time and we would love to see you there. Okay, all right. Well, if you've been with us as you're getting ready and all the things we have been going through, this idea of Jesus as the King, king Jesus is the overall big idea of the Gospel of Matthew, and that's important because Matthew is mostly writing to the Jewish Christians, or perspective Christians and Jewish people who've been looking for their Messiah and they have been looking for an earthly king. And so right out of the gate in Matthew chapter one, he says I can prove to you he's like, he's got like his receipts, he's showing him. It's like, hey, listen, I got receipts, I can prove that at the very least, jesus is the earthly king. But then he spends chapter two through 28 saying but he is so much more than just an earthly king and he's been talking about that and going through all of that. And then we just got through looking at Matthew five, six and seven, which is the most like longest sermon that Jesus preaches about. And you get to see kind of a summary of this in the book of Luke, but you get to see all of it in the book of Matthew. And what we're going to see as we get into chapter 8 today is we're going to begin to see this thing that begins to happen, or happens in the Gospel of Matthew, and that is this Many people think that when Matthew first wrote his Gospel, he actually wrote it as little pamphlets, as little pieces of the ministry of Jesus, and possibly up to five different pamphlets that eventually he put into one full Gospel.

Speaker 1: 3:07

And so what you see is is you see five sections of the gospel of Matthew, and so what you'll have is you'll have a time when Jesus will have a discourse. He will talk for a while and then he will go about, he will show the kingdom of God. So he'll tell you about the kingdom of God and then he shows you what the kingdom of God looks like, and that happens five different times. And so what we just got through seeing is we saw the origin story of Jesus and then we saw the first major discourse of Jesus, and now, in chapter 8, we're going to see how Jesus begins to show what the kingdom of heaven looks like. So first he tells and then he shows, and so that's what chapter 8 is going to be. So let's jump into this, as we look at Jesus' authority and action, and he just I mean starts off with a bang. So he had just finished talking to this crowd. It could have been up to between 5,000 and 15,000 people at that point. And then the Bible says in Matthew 8, verse 1, large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. So we just finished what he was saying.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Suddenly a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. Lord said the man, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus reached out and touched him. I am willing. He said be healed. And instantly the leprosy disappeared. And then Jesus said to him don't tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you, take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy, and this will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed. Now pause.

Speaker 1: 4:42

The reason why Jesus would have told him about this is this when you came down with leprosy, they didn't have modern medicine like they do now, and so when you came down with leprosy, it was a disease that they couldn't heal. The only thing they could do is quarantine you, and so you had to leave your family, leave everything, and you had to go and be away from everyone, basically until you die and you lost your family, you lost your property, you lost everything. And then, if you thought that the leprosy had gone away, according to the Old Testament you had to go back to the priest. They had to examine you. They'd quarantine you, examine you for 14 days and only then, once the priest had pronounced you clean, could you go back and reclaim all your stuff. And so what Jesus is telling him is I'm not just interested in healing you of your disease, I want to heal your life. So I'm going to heal you physically, and then I want you to go get your wife back, go get your property back, go get your job back, go get your family back. And so I love this story so much because Jesus wasn't just interested in a momentary healing, he was interested in the whole healing. You got to love Jesus. All right, here we go.

Speaker 1: 5:46

Verse five when Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed, in terrible pain. And Jesus said I will come and heal him. But the officer said Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under authority of my superior officers. I have authority over my soldiers and I only need to say go, and they go, or come and they come. And if I say to my slaves do this, they do it. Now pause. What he's saying is is your word has such authority that you don't have to be there. Just say the word and it's as good as done. That's what he's trying to say.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Verse 10,. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said I tell you the truth, I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel. And I tell you this that many Gentiles will come from all over the world, from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven, but many Israelites, those whom the kingdom was prepared, will be thrown into outer darkness where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then Jesus said to the Roman officers Go on back home, because you have believed. It has happened. And the young man was healed that same hour. Wow, do you know what causes God to be amazed? Faith. When we trust in him, it amazes God.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Verse 14. When Jesus arrived in Peter's home, peter's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever, but when Jesus touched her hand the fever left her and she got up and prepared a meal for him. And that evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus and he cast out evil spirits with a simple command and he healed all the sick. This fulfilled the word through the prophet who said he took our sicknesses and removed our diseases. Now pause Two things there. First of all, did you know Peter was married? There were actually probably a few of the different people in Jesus' life that were probably married, and so Peter had a mother-in-law.

Speaker 1: 8:01

And then also notice how it says that he would heal people of evil spirits and how they made sure and put that in there. The reason why was because one of the hallmarks that they said you know when the Messiah will come, because he will have power over evil spirits. So every time Matthew says he healed someone of an evil spirit, he is waving a flag saying see, I told you he was the Messiah, so make sure, every time we see that you go. Oh, that's what he's saying. See, I told you he was the Messiah, so make sure every time we see that you go. Oh, that's what he's doing. It's not just that he is proclaiming that he has power over evil spirits, and he does. It is a sign to point to him being the Messiah. Okay, verse 18,.

Speaker 1: 8:39

When Jesus saw the crowds around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake. Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus replied foxes have dens to live in and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place even to lay his head. Another of his disciples said Lord, let me return home and bury my father. But Jesus told him follow me and let the spiritually dead bury their own dead. Then Jesus got into the boat and he started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake and the waves were breaking into the boat, but Jesus was sleeping. Then the disciples went and woke him, shouting Lord, save us, we're going to drown. But Jesus responded why are you afraid? You have so little faith. Then he got up and he rebuked the wind and waves and suddenly there was a great calm and the disciples were amazed. Who is this man? They asked that even the winds and the waves obey him.

Speaker 1: 9:48

When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him and they came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area. They began screaming at him, saying why are you interfering with us, son of God? Have you come to torture us before God's appointed time? There happened to be large herds of pigs feeding in the distance. So the demons begged If you cast us out, send. Happened to be large herds of pigs feeding in the distance, so the demons begged if you cast us out, send us to that herd of pigs. All right, go. Jesus, commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water. And the herdsmen fled to the nearby town telling everyone what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Wow, so, as we can see, jesus is doing all kinds of things and there at the end. What I think is amazing about that is, first of all, jesus has complete authority over these demonic spirits. And they're begging and they're saying why are you here? It's not yet time for us to be destroyed? So that lets you know that the devil knows he's fighting a losing battle. And so, just as a reminder that the devil's no longer trying to win, he's trying to keep the game going. He already knows he's lost, but if he can keep the church from doing the business of the Great Commission and continuing to reach, then he can just continue for a long time. At least he thinks so. But God has an appointed time for all things.

Speaker 1: 11:29

But then he also says you know, they were saying well, let us go into the pigs. Well, here's the reason most likely. Why is because if they were raising pigs in the area and this would have been an area where Jewish people lived, and Jewish people are kosher, they don't eat pork this most likely would have been people who were raising pigs for idol worship, to worship the God Zeus. One of the main things that they would do to worship Zeus is they would sacrifice a pig. And so what they were hoping for is they were going to go into these pigs and they were going to be part of idol worship. But what was amazing is Jesus knowing this. He ended up letting them go into the pigs, but then the pigs ran off of a cliff. It's like your first example of deviled eggs ever or deviled ham ever. It's a really bad dad joke. But the goal was actually Jesus was killing two birds with one stone, because not only was he getting rid of the demons, he was getting rid of the idol worship as well.

Speaker 1: 12:16

But the main idea that's going on here is that Jesus is going everywhere, and everywhere he goes, he is showing the authority that he has and the authority of the kingdom of God in action. And what that means is is that Jesus has authority over every situation in our life. No matter what we're going through, no matter what's going on in our life, jesus has authority. And so in your life right now, whatever's going on in your life, jesus has authority. So I want to encourage you today that it's important that we talk to other people. It's important that we get advice from other people, we get help from other people.

Speaker 1: 12:54

I'm not saying we shouldn't do any of those things. What I am saying is we should always be careful to make sure that we're always going to Jesus, taking him all of our worries, all of our cares, all of our things. Because, as he showed in this chapter, jesus has got more power and more authority than we're ever going to need, but we got to trust him with it. Imagine that leper at the beginning of the chapter what if he said, well, jesus is too busy, or Jesus can't handle this, or whatever's going on, jesus can. Your job is to come to him. Jesus' job is the miracle.

Speaker 1: 13:30

So my question for you today is what situation are you going through that you need to turn over to Jesus today? Can we pray right now and talk to God about that? Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you that you are more than enough for everything that we need. I pray that today, god, we will learn to trust you more, we will learn to give you more and we'll learn to bring to you all of our pain, all of our weaknesses, all of our weariness, and to know that we can trust you in all things. Lord, I pray you'll give us the courage to do what we can do and to trust you to do the rest, because you have all authority and you put it in action for your people today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, amen. Well, god's word says in Matthew 28, verse 19,. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Matthew, chapter 9.