Healings and Discipleship (Matthew 8:14-22)

[Stephan Choe]

March 18, 2026

Key Verse 22: “But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’”

Jesus healed sick people and taught the path of discipleship. To better imitate Christ, we want to learn about his healings and his way of following him. It is good for us to learn about both his healings and his teaching on discipleship. In this way, we can become good Christians. May God bless us as such good Christians.

1. Jesus' Healings (14-17)

In Capernaum, Jesus healed the servant of the Roman centurion. Peter's house was also in Capernaum. His brother Andrew lived there (Mark 1:29), and probably Peter's mother-in-law as well. Perhaps his mother-in-law initially disagreed with Peter following Jesus. She felt that Peter, because of his devotion to Jesus, was neglecting her daughter. She became ill and had a fever. Jesus visited Peter's house. James and John, who also lived in Capernaum, went with him (Mark 1:29).

Jesus' visit to Peter's house shows us that he also cared for his disciples and their families. Our Lord is not like an employer who only thinks about profit. He loves each of his disciples, makes time for them, and addresses their problems.

When Jesus entered Simon's house, he found Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. According to Dr. Luke's medical report, she had a high fever (Luke 4:38). Peter and his wife asked Jesus to heal his mother-in-law (Luke 4:38). Jesus went to her bedside and took her hand warmly. She felt the warmth of Christ and his power. Her fever disappeared immediately, and she was completely well. What joy for her! She got up right away and cooked with her daughter for Jesus and other guests. She had now practically become a follower of Christ. So, of course, did Peter's wife. The two women followed Jesus by cooking for him and his disciples. In this way, Peter's entire family became followers of Christ. Peter made his house available as a house church for the work of Jesus (cf. Mark 3:20ff). Jesus often ate there, stayed overnight, and taught. The Bible further tells us that Peter often took his wife with him on his journeys (1 Corinthians 9:5).

This example teaches us that, ideally, all family members can serve the Lord together. It is wonderful when an entire family serves and follows Christ with one heart. Of course, someone in the family must be the first to begin following the Lord. There may be a time of conflict with family members. But eventually, all family members should follow the Lord with one heart.

May God bless all your family members so that they may experience the grace of Christ and his power and follow him. This is an important prayer request for us.

It was a Sabbath when Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law. But the people believed that one should not heal the sick on the Sabbath. Therefore, they waited patiently until sunset. As soon as the sun went down, they brought many sick people to Jesus. And he cast out the evil spirits and healed all the sick.

The healings show us the great mercy of Jesus. He has deep compassion for our sadness and sorrow. Therefore, he has great compassion for all people who suffer from illness or the power of evil spirits. Out of divine mercy, he freed all the possessed and healed all the sick.

Verse 17 says: “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”

The prophet Isaiah lived around 700 BC. In his book Isaiah 53:4-5, he said: “Surely he took up our infirmities and bore our sorrows; yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Isaiah is right. Jesus Christ has great compassion for us and gladly helps us. Out of his great mercy, he took all our sins upon himself and died on the cross.

But he is not only merciful, he is also almighty. That is why he can heal us. Every time he spoke a word of healing, this happened. When he said, “Let the evil spirits leave the person!” or “Let the sickness leave the person!” the evil spirits left the person, and the sick person was healed. Jesus’ word has divine power. We remember God’s creation. When God said, “Let there be light!” there was light (Genesis 1:3). And when God said, “Let there be sun, moon, and stars in the sky!” the sun, moon, and stars came into being out of nothing.

The word of Jesus is God’s word. And he is God. He has the power of God. He rose from the dead through the omnipotence of God. He can free us from the power of Satan and give us true freedom. He can give us eternal life and the kingdom of heaven. We should trust this Jesus and believe in him. Then we have victory over sin, the devil, and death. Praise God, who sent Jesus Christ to help us.

2. Following Jesus (18-22)

Source: https://ascon-ma.de/familieninterne-nachfolge-was-ist-bei-der-nachfolgeregelung-zu-beachten/

Jesus had healed many sick people that day. His healings were a great success for his Messianic mission. His popularity was sky-high, and his following was growing ever larger. People wanted to experience more miracles. They hoped that Jesus would soon establish a utopian kingdom of the Messiah.

So what did Jesus do?

Verse 18 says, “When Jesus saw that the crowd around him was growing larger and larger, he had his disciples row him across the lake to the other side.”

Jesus did not follow the enthusiasm of the crowd. Rather, he wanted to have quiet time with God and receive guidance from God for his ministry. That is why he wanted to leave the crowd and go to the other side of the lake for a quiet time of prayer. He wanted to have fellowship with God and listen to God’s voice. Through this, he wanted to gain clear direction and recharge his strength.

Every evangelist needs quiet time from time to time to have fellowship with God, hear God’s voice, and recharge their strength. Without this quiet time, it's easy to become dependent on work and the demands of the crowd, and to lose your bearings. Without sufficient replenishment of energy, you can quickly burn out. Therefore, we need regular quiet time with God.

Jesus Christ showed us a good example of this. He occasionally took time for quiet reflection to have fellowship with God and listen to His voice. Through this fellowship, he received guidance for his life.

When Jesus had finished his quiet time, a scribe came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

This scribe probably wanted to follow Jesus because Jesus had healed many sick people and cast out evil spirits. Jesus' popularity was sky-high. The scribe painted a vivid picture of life as a disciple of Jesus, filled with honor, fame, and riches.

If I had been Jesus, I would have responded, "Great! Follow me!"

But Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (20).

What did Jesus mean by his answer?

He wanted to show him the reality of a follower's life. Anyone who imagines the life of a follower of Jesus as idyllic and colorful doesn't understand the reality of being his disciple. Jesus teaches us that we must abandon our rosy view of following him and be prepared, if necessary, to lead a life of poverty or suffering for Christ.

Of course, people need housing and a sufficient income. We know that it is very difficult to live without a home or income. We should strive to have a sufficient income and housing. However, we must not let our hearts become attached to a house or to money. If we attach our hearts to money, it becomes our master and we are its servants. We will not follow God's will, but rather our love of money.   We should be careful not to let our hearts become attached to money, a house, or anything worldly. Our hearts should belong to God alone. Jesus wants us to love God wholeheartedly and other people as ourselves. We should not value others because they are rich or enjoy high social standing. Rather, we should value them because they are human beings created by God. Through this correct view of values, we can enjoy true freedom and happiness. We will experience that God loves us deeply and cares for us.  

Verse 21 introduces us to a second person who wanted to follow Jesus and therefore said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” He did not belong to the group of twelve disciples, but to another group. The people in this larger group had not yet decided to follow Jesus. They wanted to get to know him first and then decide whether or not to follow him. One of them heard that his father had died. Therefore, he said to Jesus, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  

Jesus answered him, “You follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.” (22)

Jesus’ words sound very harsh to us. We should not always apply Jesus’ words literally to ourselves. If we were to simply apply these words to all Christians, we would be making a big mistake.

To understand this saying of Jesus correctly, let us consider another example, namely Jesus’ words in Matthew 19:21.

Jesus said to a rich young man who had asked him, “Lord, what must I do to have eternal life?”: “If you truly desire eternal life, sell what you have and give to the poor, so that you may have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  

Did Jesus mean that all Christians must sell their possessions to have eternal life? Of course not! Jesus wanted to teach His disciples that they should not rely on money, but on Him.

Although Jesus’ words, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead,” do not apply to all Christians in a literal sense, this teaching applies to all Christians in a spiritual sense. We should not be dependent on any person or any thing. We should depend only on God and give Him our first priority. With a divided heart, we cannot be good Christians.  

The Apostle Paul gives us a practical example of this. He was a Jew and loved his own people very much. He wanted to preach the Gospel to his own people. But God wanted him to preach the Gospel to other nations. Paul obeyed God's will and actively preached the Gospel to other nations. Because of his obedience, we can believe in Jesus Christ today. We too should give God our first priority and actively do His will.     Jesus' Invitation to His Care and to Follow Him  

It is important that we understand two of Jesus' works correctly.

His first work is His healing. He heals the sick and frees those in need. When we have problems, we should ask Jesus for His help. He is happy to help us. We should also be interested in the problems of others and pray for their solutions.  

His second work is His work of salvation and discipleship. This is His main work. He came into the world to redeem people from the power of sin and death. To this end, He proclaims the Gospel and trains disciples. We should accept the Gospel wholeheartedly and thank God for salvation. We should grow as Jesus' disciples and train other disciples.

If we want to become good disciples of Jesus, we should understand the meaning of discipleship correctly and give Jesus our first priority. God will richly bless our discipleship and expand God's kingdom. Amen!