Before we move completely away from Matthew, I just wanted to talk about a few things that stuck out to me:

First, going back to the narrative in Exodus that explains the plagues in Egypt: In Exodus 7:5 the Lord says, "When I exert my power against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from there, then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." The Lord is saying that he is inflicting the Egyptians with these plagues just for the purpose of showing them his powers and that He is the one true God. This narrative came to mind when I read Matthew 8:23-27. It tells the narrative of Jesus and his disciples being in a boat on a lake when a great storm comes. Jesus is just sleeping and all the disciples are scared. They wake him up and he calls them all cowards and immediately stops the storm and calms the waters. It seems like Jesus performs this miraculous act just so the disciples will see his power and fully believe in him even more.

Also, In Matthew 9:27-31, Jesus heals a blind man just because the blind man had faith that he would be healed. But, when the healing was complete, Jesus sternly told him, "See that no one hears about this," like something shady has just taken place. Didn't Jesus come to heal the people and perform miracles and save the world? Why would He want one of His good deeds to be kept a secret? (By the way, the man went out anyway and told everybody he knew about Jesus healing him...)

Fianlly, I just wanted to point out one of the verses that has been very useful to me in the past. It is Matthew 6:1 - "Be careful not to parade your religion before others; if you do, no reward awaits you with your Father in heaven." Do people like Roy Moore just skip over this verse in the Bible? I used this verse in a persuasive speech I gave in the 11th grade against Roy Moore. That was about the time the whole "Ten Commandments" uproar was in full swing, and I thought the man was a fool for running around, actually saying that Christians rights were being trampled upon? Are you kidding me? I am a Christian and I never once have felt like my rights have been trampled on in this country. It was a political ploy. And whenever someone would say to me that what Roy Moore was doing was a noble thing, I'd throw Matthew 6:1 in there. (Sorry for the digression and mini-rant...)