Sunday Morning Service

Matthew 8:1-17 (Click title for audio access)

"A Real Healing Ministry" • 7.4.10 • Sunday Morning Service

Intro

- Matthew moves now from the wonderful Kingdom virtues explained in the sermon on the mount, to a wonderful Kingdom authority displayed in chapter 8.

- When it comes to ultimate truth, that which Jesus represents, actions are necessary to sway us toward belief. Jesus provides definitive actions that prove His words.

- Matthew intends to show this quickly and what follows is less chronological than it is topical. He orders his book like any tax collector would.

- He wants to show the Jews what the Messiah's Kingdom would be like.

Text

• Matthew 8:1,2 : "When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.'" : Jesus' audience had grown significantly after the sermon on the mount.

- A multitude was a large group of people. These "great multitudes" that followed were not dedicated disciples. This group of people were listening for something exciting to tickle their ears.

- Soon, they will follow to see great miracles and then, just to be physically fed. At the end, when sensation no longer appeases them, these same people will call for His death!

- Out of this great throng of people, a leper, no doubt splitting the audience, came and offered worship to Jesus. We don't have a significant cultural equivalent to describe this.

- Leprosy is a unique disease that signaled hopelessness and cultural stigma like nothing else in human history.

- Today, it's called "Hansen's Disease." It robs it's carrier of sensation. A leper could not discern between hot and cold, or sharp and dull, as pain was not a reality.

- This would often result in the loss of appendages, as infection would set in and remain untreated. Because leprosy began in the nose, the loss of smell, kept you from even the smell!

- Leprosy was considered a bane and the leper, considered the greatest outcast. Lepers were considered to be walking dead men!

˚ "Slowly the sufferer becomes a mass of ulcerated growths. The average course of this kind of leprosy is nine years and it ends in mental decay, coma and ultimately death." William Barclay

- This leper made his way to Jesus and stopped about 6 feet from him, which was as close as a person with leprosy could to another individual.

- The leper made a claim: "Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean."

- When coming into contact with regular humanity, any leper had to exclaim, "unclean." To him, the issue was one of being made clean.

- This leper came humbly, reverantly and confidently. Humbly in his approach. Reverantly, in that he kissed towards the Lord, bowing in utter respect. Confidently, assured of Christ's ability.

- To this leper, what he suffered was well within Christ's ability to heal. It was not His ability, but His willingness. Would He be willing?

- The leper came to Christ in faith. He believed in Christ. He believed He could heal. He affirms this when he says, "You can make me clean."

- He remains able and is willing. Some never ask. Some tire of asking. Some have asked and have given up. Jesus remains the same.

- Some will cry "foul!" because you have asked and He has not healed. That is no reflection upon you for what you suffer or Him for choosing not to heal.

- Matthew is showing us that the presence of the King, signals the possibility of healing in life and the certainty of healing when in His presence!

• Matthew 8:3,4 : "Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, 'See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.'" : Jesus did something here that was more than unusual. Jesus put out His hand and touched the leper.

- Because of the mandated distance, Jesus had to make up the distance. He had to intentionally walk toward the man to put His hand upon Him.

- Generally, people went out of their way to avoid touching lepers in any way, often moving to the other side of the street! Jesus touched him.

- Then He spoke: "I am willing, be cleansed." Talk about 5 words that can change a life!

- With that simple sentence, the man was cleansed, restored and transformed. His healing meant more than physical restoration. It meant life from the dead!

- This man was a real leper. His leprosy was real. His life had been marked by his leprosy. Now, his life would be marked by having once been a leper!

- That is the exact same work that Christ does today: He takes a man who is marked by sin and set for certain death, and He changes everything!

- He is willing to touch sinners you and say "Be cleansed!"

- Jesus commands him not to make a show of himself. This is an immediate rebuke to all other miracle healers. Jesus tells him, "Don't say a word."

- Why? Because he won't have to! When he goes to the priest and is cleared by him, it will be clear what has happened.

- Jesus refers here to Leviticus 14, which speaks to the healing of a leper. It is 57 verses long and includes what was to happen specifically in the day of his cleansing.

- God saw fit to include a chapter that would clue the priesthood into the presence of their Messiah! Notice: This was to be a testimony to them!

- The leper already knew that he was clean. The priests needed to see it for themselves.

• Matthew 8:5-7 : "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.' And Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal him.'" : The second person to come to Jesus was a centurion, a Roman soldier.

- This Italian man came to Jesus and plead with Him. This is a very unique situation.

- In the same way that a leper would not come to anyone with a request, so also was it rare for a centurion to plead for help.

- This centurion was humble and noble. He plead not on behalf of his own family, but on behalf of a servant, a slave.

- Slaves were little more than human tools in most households. If anything was ever a dime a dozen in Rome, it was a slave!

- This centurion, a man's man, came on behalf of this servant, who was living in a paralyzed, tormented state. Immediately, Jesus is willing to go with this centurion.

- Notice that the centurion did not even ask yet. Maybe he choked up and was unable to get there verbally. Jesus jumps right in, willing to come and heal."

• Matthew 8:8,9 : "The centurion answered and said, 'Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.'" : The centurion understood something about Jesus through the lens of his own profession.

- If Roman soldiers understood nothing else about life, they understood authority!

- This centurion may have been a captain of a unit of soldiers, ranging from 70 to 100. When he received an order, all he had to do was speak, and it was done.

- All he had to do was say "go" and that underling went, either to life or death! It was a simple operation: His very word brought action to life!

- To him, Jesus possessed the same authority in the realm of sickness. With just a word, it would be gone. He requires no special effort.

• Matthew 8:10-13 : "When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Then Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.' And his servant was healed that same hour." : Jesus marveled. I wish I could have seen what that looked like! The God of the Universe, in human flesh, blown away by this statement which revealed faith! I can't back it up, but I bet Jesus smiled!

- He wondered at him with admiration. He was astounded! This is an opportunity for us to seize as well. Lord, would you increase our faith, that it might bring a smile to your heart?

- To this time on earth, Jesus had not seen faith like this, even in a place that faith was meant to stand out, not even in Israel!

- This continues to be a great indictment. Where faith should be the strongest, it is often lacking the most! Where faith should be succeeding, it is often failing!

- What would He find in our hearts? Would He be surprised by great faith or disappointed by how little our faith has grown? This is not a guilt trip, but an exhortation to ask for increase!

- Faith was what distinguished His people. It was not their race, as many had assumed, but their faith. It was not that the people of God were racially of Abraham, but spiritually from him.

- These people, which include you and I by the way, will sit down at the same table as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

- Three things about this: Jesus is signaling that Gentiles will have the same seat as the progenitors of the Israeli people. You and I are not second class citizens! We are in!

- Jesus refers here to a banquet situation, which the Jews believed would be bountiful enough to include the cooked carcass of the behemoth and the leviathan.

- Most would never believe that they would share this with Gentiles!

- Second, Jesus talks about these guys as being very alive! We will sit with the actual men who we have been reading about! They didn't stop living when they died.

- In fact, that's when they really STARTED to live.

- The third striking fact comes when Jesus says that these proported "sons of the Kingdom" will learn that their status as a specific racial group, did not automatically earn them a seat.

- Many Rabbis taught that Abraham stood at the gates of hell, making sure every Jew that happened by, would be turned back!

- For those with reliance upon heritage, they will be outside in outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! This speaks of rejection and loss in a most picturesque way.

- In those days, a walled city like Jerusalem, would close it's doors at night. If you were outside of the city, you were out in the pitch black of night, surrounded by untold dangers.

- That is not where anyone wanted to be. In the case of this allusion, there is an ultimate rejection upon those who believe that they are owed entrance, but will not!

- Those people will weep with regret and gnash their teeth in utter agony for eternity! Matthew has made it plain that Jesus never minced words about heaven or hell!

- This man's faith blew Jesus away and Jesus answered him in that same hour. It happened immediately. No matter how long this slave had suffered, Jesus was able to undo it in a single hour!

- Perhaps you have suffered for years. It might just feel like years. Who knows what God might do in a single hour of time!

• Matthew 8:14,15 : "Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them." : This home in Capernaum will be a bit of a base of operations.

- Peter had a home, as well as a mother in law, which means he had a wife at some point in time. People seem to debate whether or not she was alive or not. Regardless, her mother was!

- His mother-in-law was sick with a fever. You might say "big deal, get a tylenol!" This was likely a malaric type fever that had settled and become chronic.

- There is no request made. There is no touching faith. He simply sees her and touches her hand. Maybe she was too sick to talk. Maybe she did not want to presume upon him.

- Whatever the case, Jesus with a simple touch healed her as well. It is not without significance that the first three miracles that the King performed, were done to these three people.

- Women were not highly valued in these days. In fact, when a birth was announced, a party was thrown. If it was a boy, the party continued. If a girl was born, everyone left!

- Jesus has touched a leper, a Gentile and a woman!

- When she got up, she did what most mothers do: She served them!

• Matthew 8:16,17 : "When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.'" : Jesus, still in Peter's house began to take appointments. The appointed ones were demon-possessed.

- Jesus did not produce any fanfare. He did not put on a show. He simply spoke a word and the spirits were cast out.

- Those who were sick found a healer in Jesus. All who were sick, with whatever ailment, found healing in the hands of Jesus Christ.

- All these ailments were the result of our fallen nature. It was not personal sin that brought this into their experience, but sin that brought it into the world.

- In Christ's presence, He restored and brought these people back to what He designed them to enjoy: a life without pain and illness.

- These things that Jesus did were not just random acts of Kingdom kindness. They were signs and wonders that were meant to show the people that He was their Messiah!

- Matthew quotes here from Isaiah 53, one of the most powerful Messianic prophecies.

• Isaiah 53:3-5 : "He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. "

Conclusion

- What a fitting way to end. Jesus is still our healer, even if we must wait until heaven for it! His death and resurrection promises that!