As I have stated previously, I am following F. LaGard Smith’s “The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order” for the outline of this series and his introductions to the topics. As usual, Scripture quotations are from the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) by David Stern. Since the CJB is not a Red-Letter edition, I double-checked the red versus green with the English Standard Version (ESV).

Performing Miracles ~ Part 1

It is one thing for a man to teach what he claims is truth; it is another thing to demonstrate one’s authority to claim the truth. [Think Moshe and Aharon before Pharoah.] That is why Yeshua’s miracles are such a vital part of His ministry. They are not being performed to entertain, show off His divine power, or even convince skeptics. The miracles are a means of confirming the message that the Kingdom of God is now being established with power!

Challenging Followers

 ^{MT 18} When Yeshua saw the crowd around him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. ¹⁹ A Torah-teacher approached and said to Him, “Rabbi, I will follow you wherever you go.” ²⁰ Yeshua said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds flying about have nests, but the Son of Man has no home of his own.”

Son of Man. One of the titles of the Messiah is based on Daniel 7:13–14, where the text has “bar-enosh” (Aramaic). “Bar-enosh,” like Hebrew ben-adam, can also mean “son of man,” “typical man,” “one schooled to be a man,” or simply “man.”. Yeshua is all of these: the Messiah, a typical (ideal) man, and one schooled both in heaven and on earth to be a man. Yeshua refers to Himself by this title frequently, stressing His complete identification with the human condition. ^[1]

^{LK 59} To another, He said, “Follow me!” but the man replied, “Sir, first let me go away and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ Yeshua said, “Let the dead bury their own dead; you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God!”

The call to discipleship takes precedence over all other duties.

⁶¹ Yet another said, “I will follow you, sir, but first let me say goodbye to the people at home.” ⁶² To him, Yeshua said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and keeps looking back is fit to serve in the Kingdom of God.”~ Mattityahu 8:18-22 (see Luke 9:59-62).

Followers of Yeshua must have a singular focus on the work of God’s Kingdom.

Yeshua Calms the Sea

 ²³ He boarded the boat, and his talmidim followed. ²⁴ Then, without warning, a furious storm arose on the lake so that waves were sweeping over the boat. But Yeshua was sleeping. ²⁵ So they came and roused him, saying, “Sir! Help! We’re about to die!” ²⁶ He said to them, “Why are you afraid? So little trust you have!”Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and there was a dead calm.

Yeshua uses this phrase at the beginning of verse 26 to respond to His talmidim doubt that God would care for them. Their weak faith contrasts with the centurion’s great faith (v. 8:10).

²⁷ The men were astounded. They asked, “What kind of man is this that even the winds and sea obey him?” ~ Mattityahu 13:44

In our next post, we continue to focus on Yeshua Performing Miracles in Mattityahu 8:28-34.

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^[1] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary.