Bible Study series: Matthew 15:29-31. “Then the numerous crowds came to him, having with them the crippled, blind, lame, mute, and many others, and they placed them at his feet, and he healed them.”
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 15:29-31
29 Jesus moved on from there and came to the Lake of Galilee and went up on to the mountain and was sitting there. 30 Then the numerous crowds came to him, having with them the crippled, blind, lame, mute, and many others, and they placed them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 The result was that the crowd was amazed seeing the mute speaking, the lame healthy and the crippled walking and the blind seeing. They were glorifying the God of Israel. (Matt. 15:29-31)
Comments:
29-31:
This pericope is another summary of his healing ministry.
“Lake of Galilee”: it is most often translated as “sea,” because of the Greek word, but the Shorter Lexicon offers the option of “lake.” And since the body of water in Galilee is a lake, I chose this term. The old traditional title, “The Sea of Galilee,” to modern readers, makes no sense when they see it on an online map; the term is inaccurate.
Jesus is in Gentile territory, preparing the disciples for a more global outreach (Osborne on 15:29).
This is the second recorded time that he went up “the mountain” (14:23). No specific designation or location of the mountain is needed. The point is that he secluded himself. But not for long, because the crowds brought their sick with them and “tossed” (another translation of the Greek word “placed”) at his feet. They insisted, and he obliged them. He didn’t mind. The going up reminds me of Matt. 5:1, when Jesus went up a mountainside and taught. Once again, this seems like an indirect parallel with Moses going up on Mt. Sinai (Exod. 19).
One sign of the Messianic Age was the healing of diseases and broken bodies. Is. 35 describes this age. After God comes with a vengeance to rescue his people, these things will happen:
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Is. 35:5-6).
Is. 26:19 says of the Messianic Age: “But your dead will live, LORD, their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout with joy” (Is. 26:19, NIV).
The phrase “in that day” refers to the age that the Messiah ushers in: “In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll and out of gloom and darkness the eyes will see” (Is. 29:18, NIV).
The Lord’s Chosen Servant will do many things. Here are some: “I am the LORD: I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for my people, a light for the nations, to open they eyes that are blind, to bring the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Is. 42:6-7, ESV). Is. 42:18 connects hearing and seeing with walking in God’s ways, and deafness and blindness with national judgment. As for leprosy, Jesus referred to the time when Elijah the prophet healed Namaan the Syrian of his skin disease, and the return of Elijah was a sign that the Messiah was here (Mal. 4:5-6; Luke 9:28-36).
Once again, Jesus seems to have a one hundred percent record of healing. However, sometimes Jesus did not heal everyone, like the many people gathered around the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2-9). And in his hometown he did not heal everyone because of their condescending rejection of him and their unbelief in him (Matt. 13:53-58).
But here Jesus seems to have healed everyone. Many Renewalists who emphasize healing yearn for the day when everyone gets healed. They glorified God in Jesus’s day; let’s hope people today don’t glorify the healing evangelists.
The list of miracles is people-centered. Jesus did not perform miracles in the sky. He was interested in helping people. The list is scattered in Isaiah 35:5-6; 26:19; 29:18-19; 61:1. Healing points to the Messianic Age, ushered in by the Messiah himself. Jesus was not going to reform Judaism, like the Reformers intended to reform Christianity, though they did. No, Jesus was going higher and farther. He was ushering a New Age, but this New Age was going to take time and expand gradually. It was going to be as small as the mustard seed at first, but grow big enough for birds to light in its branches (Luke 13:18-19). He was no Messiah riding on a white horse with a sword in his hand, shouting, “I defeat the Romans with the sword of God!” as he stormed Jerusalem with a large army behind him. He intended, instead, to restore people’s minds and bodies and deliver them from evil spirits and teach them what life in the kingdom looked like.
GrowApp for Matt. 15:29-31
1. How has God healed your soul or body? Tell your story.
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9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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