Introductory Words (8:1).
These words set the scene for what follows, and together with Matthew 9:35 form an inclusio for the passage. In them His ministry is seen to be a public ministry, and His mission is to the people.
‘And when he was come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.'
Having finished His teaching to His disciples, and those who had joined them, Jesus came down from the mountain back into the world. And the consequence was that great crowds gathered and followed Him around. We are intended to distinguish between the ‘disciples' who followed Him and the ‘great crowds'. The disciples followed as those who had submitted to His Kingly Rule, the others followed in order to see His wonders and to listen to His parables. The specific purpose that Matthew has in this passage comes out in that throughout the whole passage until verse 35 there is no mention of Jesus preaching. It is of course assumed. But Matthew wants our concentration to be on what Jesus is revealed to be in what happens. And He will again re-emphasise that Jesus is here as the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecies (Matthew 3:3; Matthew 4:14 and now in Matthew 8:17; compare also Matthew 12:17; Matthew 20:28) This connection with Isaiah also comes out in the whole picture of His role as proclaimer of the Good News, teacher and healer, and deliverer from demons, for which compare Isaiah 61:1-3 (specifically cited in Luke 4:18-19) and Isaiah 35:5-6.
Note also how in Matthew 8:18 the great crowds cause Him to leave Galilee and ‘go to the other side', thus confirming that Matthew 8:1-18 form a subsection in themselves as He ministers in Galilee. We may analyse it as follows:
a And when He was come down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him (Matthew 8:1).
b And behold, there came to Him a leper and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2).
c And He stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will, be you made clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus says to him, “See you tell no man, but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them (Matthew 8:3-4).
d And when He was entered into Capernaum, there came to Him a centurion, beseeching Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented” (Matthew 8:5-6).
e And He says to him, “I will come and heal him” (Matthew 8:7).
f And the centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8).
g For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it” (Matthew 8:9).
h And when Jesus heard it, He marvelled, and said to them that followed, “Truly I say to you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Matthew 8:10).
g “And I say to you, that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingly Rule of heaven, but the sons of the Kingly Rule will be cast forth into the outer darkness. There will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12).
f And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; as you have believed, so be it done to you (Matthew 8:13 a).
e And the servant was healed in that hour (Matthew 8:13 b).
d And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever (Matthew 8:14).
c And He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose, and ministered to Him (Matthew 8:15).
b And when evening was come, they brought to Him many possessed with devils, and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bore our diseases (Matthew 8:16-17).
a Now when Jesus saw great crowds about Him, He gave commandment to depart to the other side (Matthew 8:18)
Note that in ‘a' great crowds followed Jesus, and in the parallel He seeks to move away from the great crowds. In ‘b' the leper says, ‘If you will you can make me clean', and in the parallel we learn that it was so, whatever condition men were in, because He Himself had come to bear our uncleannesses. In ‘c' He stretched forth his hand, and touched the leper, saying, I will, be you made clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And in the parallel He touched the woman's hand and the fever left her. In the first case the man then ministered to God by his offering. In the second case the woman ministered to Jesus by offering herself to serve Him (compare Romans 12:1-2). In ‘d' we have what happened when He ‘came to Capernaum' and heard of the servant's condition, and in the parallel what happened when He ‘came into Peter's house' and saw her condition. Notice how much closer and personal is both the woman's service, she served Him, and Jesus' regard for the woman's need (He saw), because she is connected with His own. In ‘e' Jesus said He would go and heal the man and in the parallel He does heal him. In ‘f' the centurion says that he is not worthy of Jesus' response, and in the parallel is told that what matters is that he believe. In ‘g' the centurion declares that men obey him, coming and going and doing as he pleases, and in the parallel Jesus in effect points out that men come, and do what He wants, and are also cast out, in accordance also with His will, in the heavenly kingdom. Centrally in ‘h' Jesus expresses wonder at the faith of the centurion, a faith greater than any in Israel.