In chapter 8 by healing the leper, the Centurion’s servant, and Peter’s mother-in-law – Jesus shows his power over sickness. When Jesus calms the storm that He and some of his disciples are in at sea – He is showing His power over the natural or created world. Then in the last part of the chapter we see Jesus cast out demons from the 2 men in the country of the Gadarenes – which shows His power over the supernatural. Only God has power over sickness, the natural and the supernatural, therefore Jesus was proving that He was God in the flesh. After Jesus healed the leper, the Centurion’s servant and Peter’s mother-in-law, He challenged the commitment to follow Him of those who were around Him. He did so, by testing whether their commitment to follow Him was greater than their own personal comfort (v. 20) or their ties to their own families and their earthly inheritance (v. 22). If a person truly believes that Jesus is God in the flesh and has power over everything, then following Him above all else is the natural response. Lord, thank You for showing me that Jesus is God the Son and has power over everything, therefore Jesus alone is to be followed. By Your grace enable me to follow Jesus in such a way that you alone will be glorified.
– Bryan McKenzie
Jesus is all-powerful and He has all authority. His authority in speaking the Word to the synagogue in the last chapter is now demonstrated in His authority elsewhere. The centurion realizes this when he illustrates Jesus’ authority using his own work experience as a platoon commander. Then in the next verse, Jesus is “commanding them to go to the other side.” But there is resistance, because following Jesus as the Commander is costly.
The reactions in this chapter to Jesus’ verbal commands are interesting. The demons absolutely know who Jesus is, and beg Him not to cast them into the swine. Their owners also beg Him to leave their country because they’ve just seen Him mess up their business. It looks to me like the scribe coming to Jesus still doesn’t really know who He is…
The application for me is to follow my Lord who is my loving Commander. When He says Go, I need to be ready to Go. Being a disciple is not easy.