St Matthew, Chapter 9, verses:1-3, The Paralytic and the Scribes.

Our paragraph topic is:  (A paralytic at Capharnaum) Part 1.  

After dealing with the villagers in Gerasa, Christ boards the boat and goes to the other side of the sea.  He ends up in his town where the townspeople brought to him a paralytic lying on a pallet.  The news of Christ has traveled by word of mouth and by now everyone in Judea has heard of him.  So the villagers, knowing of his miracles, brought to him someone that they wanted to be cured.  This must have been a small village, a small town where everyone knows everyone,  where everyone knows everyone's business.  But above all of this there must have been some compassion for the person that was brought to Christ.  Either he was a person of some well known family or he was a person that brought compassion from those who knew him.  The villagers brought him to Christ.  The villagers knew of his illness.  The villagers wanted him to be cured.  The villagers loved him.  The villagers believed that Christ was the one to restore him to health.

And so it was that Christ saw their faith.  Christ saw their love for the paralytic.  Christ saw their belief in the desire that he be cured.  And Christ said to the paralytic:  " Take courage son; thy sins are forgiven thee."   For it was not courage that he saw in the paralytic.  It was not courage that he faced.  It was not courage that filled the heart of the paralytic. 

Often times when one is faced with the prognosis of an injury with the expectation of good news, the news that comes destroys.  The news that comes is not expected.  The news that comes lets down.  The news that comes often times brings sadness and depression.  These may have been the emotions that the paralytic faced as he was brought before Christ, wondering what his outcome would be.  He knew that he wanted to be whole.  He knew that he wanted to be well.  He knew that he wanted to walk again.  He knew that he wanted to be filled with joy, and hope, and happiness.  He just did not know which of these to take.  And Christ said, "Take Courage", instead of any of the other emotions he faced. 

Christ knew of the struggles that he faced within.  He knew of the trials that he had faced before coming to him, having gone to all of the local healers in an attempt to restore his health.  Christ knew of the thoughts that were going through the paralytic's mind.  Thought of frustration, thoughts of doubt, thoughts of fear, thoughts of anger, must have all been there in his mind whispering to him.  Yet the villagers brought him to Christ.  The news had come to the villagers of the miracles that Christ performed.  The news had come to the village that Christ had arrived in their town.  The news had come to the village that Christ was the one that performed extraordinary things that no one else had done before.  And the village was a buzz with talk.  The village was alive with the news.  Everyone was talking.  Hope flowed like a fresh stream through the village.  And the belief in miracles was present like the mist on an early morning.  And the villagers brought him, the paralytic.

Oh, what a wonderful day that must have been.  Christ was amongst them.  Christ was in their village.  Christ was with them.  Oh, what a treacherous day it must have been for the demons.  Oh, what a fearful day it must have been for the devils to run.  The demons were leaving this town.  The demons were hiding in dark corners for fear of being cast out.  They were hiding for fear of being expelled from their homes in men.  And Christ was in their midst.  Take courage Christ told the paralytic.  Take courage Christ tells us today.  Be not afraid.  Be not fearful.  Be not depressed.  For the kingdom of God is in our midst.  Do you take courage today?
 

St Matthew, Chapter 8, verses: 33-34, The Possessed Men.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Expulsion of the devils in Gerasa)Part 3.  

St Matthew continues to tell this story about the possessed men.  Now there were men tending the swine and they witnessed the entire exorcism of the possessed men.  And when their swines were possessed by the demons they were seized with fear.  They fled.  They went back into the village and reported everything to the people concerning what had transpired with the possessed men and the swine.  Matthew tells us that all of a sudden, the whole town came out to meet Jesus.  And behold, he says.  One can imagine the anger of the crowd and the assumptions that the crowd had made in its anger and frustration.  The owners of the swine had just lost their source of income and livelihood.  So the crowd came out to meet Jesus.

One can imagine the report that was taken back to the village.  In the words of the swineherds, there must have been some interpretation of the incident.  They may have said that they saw this man come from the boat with his people.  Then the devils from the caves came out to destroy them.  And they watched to see what would happen, since they know to keep away from that area.  The whole town know not to go to the place of the devil men.  But these men they came and the devils rushed out to rip them apart.  We wanted to see this because we knew what would happen.  We had a good seat to see it all.  Well when the devils approached, they stopped before the one man.  Instead of attacking them they stopped and talked with the one man.  We heard them talking to the one man and they shouted with a loud voice as though they were being tortured.  This was amazing since the devils did not attack.  The devils kept talking telling him to let them go into the swines.  We wondered what that meant.  Then the one said go and the next thing we knew the swines started to act crazy.  They started to jump and make strange noises.  Then all of a sudden they started to run towards the cliff.  We tried to stop them but before we could catch up with them they all had jumped off the cliff into the sea.  This has never happened before.  We  graze them near this spot all the time and they have never gone near the cliff.   We have not seen anything like this before in our lives for all of the years that we have herded swine.  Swines never do anything like this.  We think that the one put evil spirits in them that caused them to jump off the cliff.  So we came back to tell all about what happened.  So go and see for yourself what happened.  This may have been the story that was told by the herders that kept the swine.  And the whole town came out to meet Jesus.

It must have been an angry mob that came out.  It must have been a mob with intent to do harm that came out.  It must have been a mob with murder on their minds.  It must have been a mob stirred up by the imaginations of the leaders and the mindless frenzy of crowd appeal.  But they met Jesus. 

And the disciples witnessed this all first hand.  What did the disciples think when the crowd approached?  What did they imagine when they heard the frenzy of the crowd?  What was their emotions when the crowd arrived.?  And they met Jesus.  Matthew tells us that they asked Christ to leave their village.  Matthew does not tell about any violence that took place.  Matthew tells us that nothing transpired.  Matthew tells us only that the crowd met Jesus and entreated him to depart from their district.  What was the lesson to be learned here?  The disciples witnessed the transition of the crowd from anger to a simple request.  They witnessed the effect that Christ had upon the crowd.  They had first hand knowledge of what transpired and how it happened.  They knew within themselves the power of Christ, who had calmed the sea and made the wind obey.  And all of this under the instructions of having faith.  Will our faith give us the power to calm angry crowds?  Will our faith give us the power to cast out demons?  Will our faith give us the power to calm angry seas?  Will our faith give us the power to not fear death even in the face of death itself?  Christ asked, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" 
  

St Matthew, Chapter 8, verses: 29 - 32, The Possessed Men.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Expulsion of the devils in Gerasa) Part 2. 

We continue our discussion of the possessed men with Christ speaking to the demons of the possessed men.  The demons have cried out to Christ with a plea.  They beg Christ not to torment them.  It is interesting to note that they say to Christ,  "Hast thou come here to torment us before the time?"   This simple questions infers that there is to be a time of torment for demons.  There will come a time for them to suffer.  There will be a time of persecution for them.  Now is not that time and they are free to roam and damage.  They are free to roam and cause destruction.  They are free to roam and possess men to do their bidding.

Christ has arrived on the scene and they now know that they must leave the possessed men.  They therefore plead with him to not just cast them out but to send them into the swines nearby.  Christ hears their plea and sends them into the swines.  The demons now having taken possession of the swines cause them to plunge themselves into the sea off of a nearby cliff drowning all.  The demons thereby reaching their intended purpose of causing death and destruction.

The disciples are now seeing first hand how Christ deals with demons.  They are there at his side learning what to do and how to do it.  Their faith is increasing and their belief in Christ is improving.  They have witnessed him cast out demons with a single word when he was at Peter's house,.  They now have the opportunity to listen to a conversation with Christ and the demons. 

Matthew has given us these passages to help us learn also.  We see how the disciples were faced with certain death on the sea and how Christ calmed the waters.  We see how they were faced with harm from the possessed men and how Christ cast out the demons from the men and into the swine. 

This casting out must have been an eye opener for them.  I would imagine that they had no understanding of what demons were and how they operated.  However, seeing the demons leave the men and go into the swines gave them a reference point for understanding.  They now knew that these spirits were real, traveling from one person to another.  They could enter a person or an animal.  They could take control of a person and could bring about the death of both man and animal. 

Christ gives us examples of threats to our lives.  People are possessed today and would do bodily harm to us.  A murderer, possessed of evil spirits and thoughts, will kill.  A rapist possessed of evil desires will rape and murder.  A robber possessed of desires for wealth will kill to get what he wants.  And we fear for our lives from those who are possessed of these passions and desires.  Do we have the authority to cast out those evil desires?  Do we have the power to stop those possessed of evil thoughts from killing?  Do we believe in the power of Christ?  If Christ were faced with a robber, a rapist, or a murderer what would he do?