Matius 8:14-22

Healings at Peter’s House

8:14 Now ¹  when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying down, ²  sick with a fever. 8:15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then ³  she got up and began to serve them. 8:16 When it was evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to him. He drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. ⁴  8:17 In this way what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled: ⁵ 

“He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.” ⁶ 

Challenging Professed Followers

8:18 Now when Jesus saw a large crowd ⁷  around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake. ⁸  8:19 Then ⁹  an expert in the law ¹⁰  came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” ¹¹  8:20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky ¹²  have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ¹³  8:21 Another ¹⁴  of the ¹⁵  disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 8:22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” ¹⁶ 

[8:14]  ¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[8:14]  ² tn Grk “having been thrown down.” The verb βεβλημένην (beblhmenhn) is a perfect passive participle of the verb βάλλω (ballw, “to throw”). This indicates the severity of her sickness.

[8:15]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then.”

[8:16]  ⁴ sn Note how the author distinguishes healing from exorcism here, implying that the two are not identical.

[8:17]  ⁵ tn Grk “was fulfilled, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legontos) is redundant and has not been translated.

[8:17]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 53:4.

[8:18]  ⁷ tc ‡ Codex B and some Sahidic mss read simply ὄχλον (oclon, “crowd”), the reading that NA²⁷ follows; the first hand of א, as well as ˹ and a few others, has ὄχλους (oclous, “crowds”); other witnesses read πολὺν ὄχλον (polun oclon, “a large crowd”). But the reading most likely to be original seems to be πολλούς ὄχλους (pollou" oclou"). It is found in א² C L Θ 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï lat; it is judged to be superior on internal grounds (the possibility of accidental omission of πολλούς/πολύν in isolated witnesses) and, to a lesser extent, external grounds (geographically widespread, various texttypes). For reasons of English style, however, this phrase has been translated as “a large crowd.”

[8:18]  ⁸ tn The phrase “of the lake” is not in the Greek text but is clearly implied; it has been supplied here for clarity.

[8:19]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then.”

[8:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “a scribe.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[8:19]  ¹¹ sn The statement I will follow you wherever you go is an offer to follow Jesus as a disciple, no matter what the cost.

[8:20]  ¹² tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[8:20]  ¹³ sn Jesus’ reply is simply this: Does the man understand the rejection he will be facing? Jesus has no home in the world (the Son of Man has no place to lay his head).

[8:21]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:21]  ¹⁵ tc ‡ Most mss (C L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy mae bo) read αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) here, but the earliest witnesses, א and B (along with 33 and a few others), lack it. The addition may have been a motivated reading to clarify whose disciples were in view. NA²⁷ includes the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:22]  ¹⁶ sn There are several options for the meaning of Jesus’ reply Leave the dead to bury their own dead: (1) Recent research suggests that burial customs in the vicinity of Jerusalem from about 20 b.c. to a.d. 70 involved a reinterment of the bones a year after the initial burial, once the flesh had rotted away. At that point the son would have placed his father’s bones in a special box known as an ossuary to be set into the wall of the tomb. Thus Jesus could well be rebuking the man for wanting to wait around for as much as a year before making a commitment to follow him. In 1st century Jewish culture, to have followed Jesus rather than burying one’s father would have seriously dishonored one’s father (cf. Tobit 4:3-4). (2) The remark is an idiom (possibly a proverbial saying) that means, “The matter in question is not the real issue,” in which case Jesus was making a wordplay on the wording of the man’s (literal) request (see L&N 33.137). (3) This remark could be a figurative reference to various kinds of people, meaning, “Let the spiritually dead bury the dead.” (4) It could also be literal and designed to shock the hearer by the surprise of the contrast. Whichever option is preferred, it is clear that the most important priority is to follow Jesus.