Matthew 8:14-17

The 3rd person who is healed by Jesus in this narrative is Peter's mother-in-law.  In this case we see the great compassion and grace of Jesus:
He saw her.
He knew her need.
He touched her hand.
She was healed immediately.

I wonder what Peter's wife was like and why she is never revealed. She traveled with Peter later according to Paul ( I Corinthians 9:5).  This indicates that she was also a believer in Jesus.  Perhaps this incident, witnessing the healing of her mother by the touch of His hand, brought her to a lasting faith.  Was she one of the women at His crucifixion ?  Was she at the tomb?  Was she in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came?  I would love to hear her story!

All evening the people came to Peter's house.  They brought those who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.  Jesus healed many.  There came a point when the crowd was so overwhelming that Jesus commanded His disciples to  ready a boat that they might leave.  Matthew tells us that some who wanted to come were not allowed.  A scribe vowed to follow Jesus "wherever" He went, but was told that there was not an easy destination ahead.  Another wanted to bury his father first, but Jesus told him that He must be the first priority.

They finally get on the boat and head across the lake. Jesus lays down and falls asleep. A terrible storm comes up and the boat "was covered with the waves".  Even so, the disciples had to wake Jesus up !  He rebukes the wind and waves and all is calm.  "What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him ?"   

Without the storm they would not have known Him as the One who rules over all the earth, the skies and the sea.  They needed to see Him this way.  We need to see Him this way.  In all of His glory and power and majesty!

The final story in this chapter is about the demon-possessed men on the other side of the Galilee.  Jesus seems to come to that area just for them.  So violent that no one could even come near to them, these men were at the mercy of the demons who filled them.  Until Jesus came and sent the demons into the pigs and drowned them in the sea.  Oh what freedom these men experienced!  Perhaps for the first time in their lives.

In Warren Wiersbe's study on the book of Exodus, he writes in the Afterword 6 summary statements.
Basically they say this:
God wants us to be free - from self, from sin, and from the world.
God's purpose for us in that freedom is for us to serve in responsibly and obediently.
As we go through struggles and learn to trust Him more and more we mature and become more responsible in our freedom.
God wants us to go deeper with Him.  As we learn to confess our sins and find forgiveness in Christ, we draw closer to Him.
We are His priests - our job is to worship and please Him and to minister to one another as well as to tell others about Him.
Our most important goal is " to be able to stand before God one day and say sincerely, 'I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given me to do.' "

We are as helpless as Peter's mother-in-law, as hopeless as the disciples in the storm, and as bound as the men in Gadarenes... without Jesus.  Oh thanks be to God Who gave His only begotten Son to die in our place, to set us free, to draw us near the throne of Grace, and to make us His own!

Thank You Father for the grace You have "freely bestowed on us in the Beloved" ( Eph. 1:6).  We praise the glory of Your grace!  You chose us, You adopted us, You redeemed us, and You lavished  upon us the riches of Your grace and love.  You have made known Your will to us.  You have sealed us by Your Holy Spirit.  Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Amen.