New Testament 38-40

New Testament 38-40 January 16, 2015

 

Tissot in Capernaum: Two blind men with Jesus
“The Blind of Capernaum”/”Les aveugles de Capharnum”
(James Tissot)

 

Matthew 8:16-17; Matthew 4:23

Mark 1:32-39

Luke 4:40-44

 

Notice, in the records of the sick people who are healed in the evening at Capernaum, that, of the three synoptic accounts — John doesn’t mention the incident — only Matthew says “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.'”  Such observations (“This was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the mouth of the prophet X”) are characteristic of Matthew’s approach, which is plainly intended to persuade a Jewish audience that Jesus was the messiah.  Mark and Luke (and, for that matter, John) are far less concerned with that.

 

Mark and Luke describe Jesus as trying — more or less in vain, on this occasion at least — to get some peace and quiet from the continual press of the crowds, for prayer and meditation.  It’s a very human glimpse.  The mortal Jesus, like us, needed time to think, to recharge his batteries.  And, as with us, it was difficult for him to find time for that basic need.

 

 


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