The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

Jesus as Healer, Sin as Disease – The Savior:  Mt.8:16 – 17

^8:16 When evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.  ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ‘He himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.’

Solomon Ginsburg was a thirteen year old boy when he was invited in to listen to the wisdom of the rabbis sitting around his father in a circle.  He was delighted to do this.  The rabbis had come to assist his father, also a rabbi, in celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles on this day in Poland.  They were orthodox Jews, dressed very formally in black.  The boy was still new to this inner circle, so he listened very attentively.  During a momentary lull in the discussion, his eyes fell to a well-worn copy of the Prophets, so young Solomon Ginsburg opened to the book of Isaiah.  He happened to open to Isaiah 53, and he started reading.  As he read, he noticed a question penned in rough handwriting in the margin beside Isaiah 53:  ‘Of whom does the Prophet speak?’  Solomon didn’t know the answer himself, so he innocently read the question in the margin to his father.  A silence fell over the room, as Solomon’s father did not reply.  Solomon repeated his question, thinking his father had not heard him the first time.  Without a word, his father slapped his face and angrily closed the book.

Two years later, Solomon was living in London with his uncle, having run away from his family when he was promised to a young girl of 12 who he did not want to marry.  Walking on Whitechapel Street one day, he was met by another Jewish man who asked if he was Jewish.  Solomon proudly affirmed that he was, to which the older man said, ‘Good!  Then you will be interested in my message tonight.  I will speak from Isaiah 53.  Will you come?’  Solomon went, and heard the Jewish man carefully explain how Isaiah 53 was fulfilled in history by Jesus of Nazareth.  At the end, the man came up to Solomon and asked, ‘Do you believe this?’  Solomon replied, ‘I don’t know…my father is a rabbi.’  The man then said, ‘Read the New Testament, and ask yourself if Jesus is the Messiah predicted in Isaiah 53.’  Solomon did so.  That Scripture burned its way into his heart, and he was filled with struggle and anguish.  After three months, Solomon told his uncle, ‘I have accepted Jesus as my Messiah.’  At that point, the family turned him out on the street.  But Solomon was undaunted.  He was too in love with Jesus.  He had found the Messiah, his Savior.  He then enrolled in a missions college, graduated, and in 1890, he went to Brazil as a missionary.  Over the next 31 years, Solomon Ginsburg was persecuted, stoned, and imprisoned for teaching the Scriptures.  But he saw the movement he was involved with grow from under 1,000 Christians to over 21,000 Christians during his years on the field. 

Jesus is the Savior which Isaiah – and all the Hebrew prophets whose writings serve as the historical foundation for our faith – longed to see.  Let us not let fear, rejection, or hardship keep us from loving this Savior, and proclaiming him!