Matthew 8-9: Jesus’ Authority (Part 1)
The kingdom of heaven, God’s rule, announced and described by Jesus, Matthew authenticates by a series of acts of power in which Jesus enacts his authority as kingdom bringer. He shows God’s rule by healing, exorcizing, calling, controverting, and proclaiming its advent throughout Galilee in chs.8-9. Ch.10 follows on this authentication by Jesus passing this power on to his followers and sending them in service of this kingdom. So we have a series of -announcement and description of the kingdom (chs.4:17-7:29), -demonstration of the authority of the kingdom (chs,8-9), and -sending followers out in service to and with the authority of this kingdom throughout Galilee (ch.10). What we see unfold in this series and, indeed, throughout the whole gospel, is what C. S. Lewis famously described in Mere Christianity , “ Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and