Unexpectedly Great: Matthew 8:18-34 (Ep. 114)

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G'day, and welcome to stories of a faithful god for kids. Dave here. How do you feel when people don't do what you expect? You think they're gonna do something, but they don't do it. Maybe they do nothing.

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Maybe they do something completely different. Whatever it is, it's not what you expect. Sometimes that can be a really bad thing. Like, you expected the people you were going to were gonna give you lunch, so you don't bring any food, but they don't give you anything, and you go hungry. Sometimes it's really great when people don't do what you expect.

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Like, you might wake up on a Saturday morning expecting to be told which part of the house you have to clean. Instead, you're told, we're going to the water park today or to the zoo or to watch a new movie about two monkeys who eat a magic chair and turn into superheroes who fly into space to save the peace loving planet of Zargon from the evil boogers of doom. If that happened, you might be pretty happy that you're not doing what you expected. People expect all sorts of things of Jesus. Sometimes their expectations are right.

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Often, their expectations are wrong. Often, Jesus doesn't do what people expect. Often, that can seem it can seem like it's bad. But is it bad? It's time to find out.

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Get ready for our next episode of stories of a faithful god for kids. At the end of our last episode, huge crowds had been coming to Jesus. They wanted him to make them better. Jesus had been super busy. He's decided that he and his disciples need some time away from the crowds.

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He tells his disciples to get ready to go to the other side of the lake. Just then, a man, a teacher of God's Old Testament law, comes up to Jesus and says something wonderful, something you'd want everyone to say. In Matthew chapter eight verse 19, he says, teacher, I will follow you any place you go. Isn't that great? Jesus is the king of the world.

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Of course, people should follow him wherever he goes. So what do you expect Jesus would say to this man? Good on you, mate. Jump in the boat. We're crossing the lake.

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You might expect Jesus to say something like that, but he doesn't. Instead, it's like he tries to make the man not want to follow him. He tells the man how hard it's gonna be. He explains that he, Jesus, never gets to rest in a normal home. He's always busy.

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He's always on the move. In fact, even animals have it better than him. In verse 20, he says, the foxes have holes to live in. The birds have nests to live in, but the son of man has no place where he can rest his head. Why would Jesus say that to this man who wants to follow him?

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It's not what you'd expect. The man might change his mind and decide, oh, following Jesus is gonna be too hard. But you know what? Sometimes following Jesus is hard. It's always best.

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It's always good. It's always worth it. In this world, though, sometimes it can be really hard. Jesus doesn't want to trick people into following him. He wants them to know the truth even if it's not what they expect.

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Another man comes up to Jesus, one of his disciples. Disciple is a fancy word that just means follower, and the man asks Jesus something that sounds completely understandable. As they're getting ready to get in the boats, the man says to Jesus in verse 21, Lord, let me go and bury my father first. Oh, that sounds like a really sad situation. It sounds like this man really wants to follow Jesus, but his father's just died.

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He wants to have the funeral for his father before coming and following Jesus. That sounds completely fine, doesn't it? In response, Jesus says something that no one expects. In fact, what he says sounds a little mean. He says in verse 22, follow me, and let the people who are dead bury their own dead.

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Woah. That is not what you expect from super kind Jesus, is it? And yet Jesus knows and understands everything. He knows there's something going on here that we might not understand straight away. You see, if this man's father had really just died, he wouldn't be standing there with Jesus.

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In those days, you'd stay with the dead body and then bury it within twenty four hours. It would all happen very quickly, and he certainly wouldn't be out and about listening to a preacher like Jesus. The man isn't saying his father's just died and he needs to go and have the funeral. He's saying, at some stage, sometime in the future, my father will die, and then I can spend some time following Jesus. Until then, I wanna help out around the house.

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That could be years away. But if this man truly wants to have life forever, if his father wants to have life forever, they should both be following Jesus. Without Jesus, it's like they're both already dead. This man's treating Jesus like he's someone you can follow in your spare time if you really have any. Really, though, Jesus is the one you desperately need so that you can have life.

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Nothing should get in the way of following him. Jesus says what the man doesn't expect, to shock him into realizing just how important it is to follow Jesus. Matthew doesn't tell us if either of these men go with Jesus. He wants us to think about whether we will trust and live for Jesus. There's no point in saying, oh, yeah.

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I'll live for Jesus, and then just give up when things get hard. We also shouldn't say, yeah. I'll think about it later. Jesus is the only way to have life. We should trust and obey him right now and even when it's hard.

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Well, Jesus and the disciples get into the boat and start crossing Lake Galilee. As they're crossing, a really bad storm strikes, and the waves get higher and higher. So high, in fact, they're washing over the boat. Imagine how terrifying that must be. The boat could sink.

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They could all drown. Imagine them all rushing around desperately trying to get the water out of the boat, desperately trying to pull on the oars to get back to land. That's what you'd expect. Jesus, though, is doing something you wouldn't expect. Jesus is sleeping.

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Sleeping? When they're all in terrible danger and could all drown. I mean, I know he's been busy, but is this really the time to be having a bit of a nap? The disciples wake Jesus up and say, Lord, save us. We will drown.

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Now I'm not sure what they expect him to do. Even though they've asked him to save them, they're also really scared. And if they think Jesus can fix the problem really easily, then they wouldn't be scared. They'd be like, no worries, mate. Jesus will fix everything.

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But they're not like that. They're terrified. They think they're going to die. They don't really think Jesus can fix it. Jesus knows they don't really trust him or have faith in him.

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Faith and trust mean the same thing. He can tell that they don't trust him by how scared they are. He says in verse 26, why are you afraid? You don't have enough faith. Then Jesus does something unexpected.

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He speaks to the wind and the waves. In fact, he gives them a command like an army leader commands his soldiers, and immediately immediately the wind stops and the sea becomes very calm. The disciples had not expected that at all. They hadn't expected it because they don't trust that Jesus has that much power. They are amazed.

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They say to each other in verse 27, what kind of man is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him. That question shows why their expectations are all wrong. Jesus is a man, but he's also God. He's the God man, the son of God.

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Only God can command the wind and the waves and expect them to obey him. The disciples need to change what they expect from Jesus. They need to expect much bigger and better things than they've ever dreamed. Finally, the boat arrives safely on the other side of the lake in the area where the Gadarene people live. After having just been saved from danger on the water, they now face danger on the land.

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There are two men there who have evil spirits called demons inside them. The demons make them do terrible things. They have to live around caves where dead people are buried, and they hurt anyone who comes their way. Matthew tells us that they're so dangerous, people can't use the road that passes near those caves. As these men come towards Jesus, you might expect him to be afraid.

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Something happens, though, that you might not expect. It isn't Jesus who's afraid. It's the demons. They know who Jesus is straight away. They know he's the one who God's chosen to be king of the world.

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They know that one day, Jesus will come to punish them for all their evil and throw them into hell forever. That time hasn't come yet, though, and so they cry out to Jesus in verse 29. What do you want with us, son of David? Did you come here to punish us before the right time? Jesus doesn't answer straight away.

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The demons get desperate. They know Jesus is gonna help the men they're living in. He's just that kind and powerful. If they're gonna be sent away, though, they really don't wanna be sent to hell. Off in the distance, they see a large herd of pigs, and so they beg Jesus, if you make us leave these men, please send us into that herd of pigs.

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In this whole story, Jesus only says one word, one simple word filled with authority and power. In verse 32, Jesus says, go. The demons flee into the pigs, but it doesn't seem to help them much. Matthew tells us then the whole herd of pigs ran down the hill into the lake and were drowned. The men are saved.

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The demons are gone, and the whole area is safe again. What wonderful news. How exciting that Jesus has come. The men who'd been looking after the pigs run into the local town to tell people what's happened. The whole town comes out to see Jesus.

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And what do you expect them to do? I expect them to cheer and wave and praise God. I expect them to say thank you to Jesus for saving the men and saving their whole town from these demons. I expect them to be so happy to have Jesus there. Sadly, they don't do what I expect.

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For some reason, maybe they're scared of his power. Maybe they're angry about the pigs. Whatever the reason, they beg Jesus to leave their area. How terribly sad. They're saying they don't want the one who can save them.

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Jesus doesn't always do what we expect, usually because our expectations are too small or not good enough. Jesus always does things so much better and more wonderfully than what people around him expect him to do. When he breaks our expectations, we shouldn't be sad or angry or worried. We can be happy and thankful and excited to see what he'll do next. Because whatever it is, even when it's not what we expect, we can be sure it will always be what's best.

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For now, Jesus gets back into the boat and heads back to Capernaum. There, he's gonna make lots of people angry by being really, really kind. But that's a story for next time. Hi again, everyone. Thanks so much for listening.

[00:15:09] - [Speaker 0]
Don't forget that if you wanna hear every episode of stories of a faithful god for kids, sign up to the club. You just have to go to faithfulgod.net/membership. That's faithfulgod.net/membership, or you can follow the link in the show notes. Also, don't forget to give a review. It can be a really quick review in your listening app, like, thanks, Dave, or really helpful Dave, or quack quack Dave.

[00:15:36] - [Speaker 0]
Maybe not that one. That doesn't really help anyone. But, anyway, leave a quick review, and don't forget to join the club. Thanks, everyone. Keep trusting Jesus.

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Bye for now.