Matthew 8:1-17

We started the Sermon on the Mount a few weeks ago. I debated whether or not to skip it on Wednesday and preach it instead on Sunday morning. Now after preaching two sermons from it I've now decided to skip it and preach it on Sundays. So we are jumping to Matthew 8 this evening.

I've got a little test for you. It's not hard. Tell me what these road signs mean.

Stop

Yield

Bump ahead

Traffic light ahead

Curvy road ahead

Road construction/workers ahead

School crossing

Deer crossing

Bigfoot crossing

No U-turn

No Bikes

No bugle

Of course there are other sign you might see along the road.

The last car parked here is still missing (you might not want to park your car there)

Notice: We guarantee fast service no matter how long it takes

Danger: Bad road, fasten seat belts, remove dentures and hearing aids

Out secret ingredient is people. Now hiring.

?

Signs tell us what is ahead and what we might expect.

In our passage tonight Jesus is going to give us some signs, sign about the coming kingdom.

Jesus is already beginning to establish the kingdom. There is a already but not yet aspect to the kingdom. We see glimpse of it, but it had not yet come in full. One way we see it is in Jesus' miraculous healings. He makes our sickness his sickness.

Matthew 8:1-17 VIDEO

While our passage starts in chapter 8 I had the video play the end of chapter 7 which gives us the reaction of the people to the sermon Jesus preached on the side of the hill in chapters 5-7.

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (Matthew 7:28-29)

Jesus taught at one with authority. And now when he comes down from the mountain he is going to demonstrate that authority. We have three stories, three signs about who Jesus is and of what is yet to come. These signs are telling us that something better is yet to come.

The first sign we see is the healing of the leper. This man with leprosy comes to Jesus to be healed. He has obviously heard about Jesus and his powers. And notice the man’s faith. He has no doubts that Jesus can heal him; his only concern is that Jesus might not want to heal him. Leprosy was a death sentence in that day. According to the Old Testament law if you were diagnosed with leprosy life as you knew it was over. You were no longer allowed to worship at the temple. You couldn’t go to the synagogue each week. You could no longer work. You couldn’t even continue to live at home. The situation they faced is described for us in Leviticus 13.

45 Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” 46 As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp. (Leviticus 13:45-46)

Leprosy was the most feared diseases you could have.

The reaction to those with leprosy has been compared to our reaction to people diagnosed with AIDS back in the 80s. Not much was known about the disease and how it spread. There was no cure and people were afraid of catching it. Those who caught it were often ostracized and not many wanted anything to do with them. That was the picture of leprosy in the Bible.

To make sure you didn’t infect anyone else you were forced to live outside of you town in a community of other lepers. No one wanted to catch the disease from you so no one would touch you. And I have to wonder if, because of their lack of medical technology, how many people were incorrectly diagnosed with the disease. But it didn’t matter, once you were said to have it there was no hope you would ever be cured.

So this man with no hope for a better life comes to Jesus hoping for a better life, hoping to be healed. Pay attention to what the man says. He is positive that Jesus can heal, he’s just not certain Jesus will heal him.

Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. (Matthew 8:2)

This man is asking for more than just healing, he’s asking to be made clean. To be made clean is not just to be healed of the disease but to have his life restored. He wants to be able to return to the temple to worship God and to the synagogue to learn God’s word. He wants to return to his family and to work. In short, he wants his life back. That’s what the man is asking for.

And what is Jesus’ reply? Jesus first shows the man compassion by reaching out and touching him. You can almost hear the gasps in the crowd. No one would dare touch a leper; the chances of contracting the disease were too great. But Jesus touched him. Imagine the shock of the crowd watching Jesus touch the man. Imagine the man’s amazement as he is touched. Jesus didn’t have to touch the man to heal him, but we see love and compassion Jesus had for the man as he does so.

And then Jesus says,

I am willing. Be clean! (Matthew 7:3)

If that isn’t amazing enough, what happens next is just puzzling. Jesus tells the man not to tell anyone what had happened to him. Old Testament law required him to report to a priest who could declare him officially healed so he could return to his life, but Jesus tells him not to tell anyone else about the experience of his healing. You would think Jesus would want everyone to know. If they knew wouldn’t they also come to believe? But that’s not what Jesus wanted. He didn’t want a big show.

We see the power of the kingdom in the healing of this man with leprosy. This man who had been forced from society and forgotten is restored. He is healed and made clean. Jesus has come to make all things new. Jesus takes up our infirmities and bares our diseases.

The second sign we see is the healing of the servant. We’re told that when Jesus enters Capernaum that he is approached by a centurion. Remember, after his friends and neighbors in Nazareth tried to throw him over a cliff Jesus moved to Capernaum. So Capernaum is his new home. As he enters the town an officer in the Roman army comes to him with a request. It seems that the centurion’s servant is paralyzed and as a result was in terrible pain. We aren’t told what caused the paralysis or how long he’d been in this condition. We only know that the centurion believed Jesus was able to make a difference.

What is amazing is that the centurion would come to Jesus at all. For the most part the Romans despised the Jews. They didn’t like having to serve there any more than the Jews wanted them there. But it seems odd that a gentile would go to a Jewish rabbi looking for healing for his servant. Not only that, but he refers to Jesus as Lord, a title reserved Caesar. Additionally, it’s amazing that the centurion cares that much for the servant. Slaves were seen as nothing more than property. Yet he goes out of his way and humbles himself before Jesus on behalf of a servant.

How does Jesus respond to this request? Jesus offers to go with the centurion to his home to see the servant. That in itself was a big deal. Jews never entered the homes of Gentiles. It would make them ceremonially unclean. But just as Jesus touched the hand of the leper Jesus now offers to go to the home of this Roman officer. And that brings us to the most remarkable comment in this encounter. The centurion doesn’t consider himself worthy to have Jesus come to his house.

Remember the animosity of the Jews towards the Romans and of the Romans towards the Jews and then think of the humility it took for the centurion to say he wasn’t worthy to have Jesus come to his house. Additionally, he didn’t think it was even necessary for Jesus to take the time to do so. This officer understood that all Jesus really needed to do was say the word and it would happen. Jesus didn’t need to touch the servant or even see him in order to heal him; all Jesus needed to do was say the word and it would happen. Even Jesus was amazed at that statement.

So what was so amazing? It wasn’t only that the centurion understood his unworthiness. We don’t always understand that today. We know who Jesus is. We know that he is the Son of God. The centurion didn’t know that. All he knew what that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi about whom stories had been told of his ability to heal. Even with his little bit of knowledge of Jesus he understood his unworthiness. We should learn a lesson. But more than that was his faith. The centurion had that much faith in the ability of Jesus to heal the servant. And Jesus noticed.

Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. (Matthew 8:10)

If that didn’t upset the Jews who were listening, maybe what Jesus said next would.

11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:11-12)

Jesus is warning the Jews that Gentiles will be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven before they will. It’s not just going to be only Jews that are invited to the party, Gentiles will be there too. All those who receive Jesus will be allowed in. Those who reject Jesus will be kicked out.

Then Jesus instructed the centurion to go home because the servant had been healed. Jesus takes up our infirmities and bares our diseases.

The third sign we see is the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. Some believe that when Jesus moved to Capernaum that he went to live with Peter. That would explain why he was at Peter’s house. When they arrived at the house, Peter’s mother-in-law was lying in bed sick. Jesus walks over to her and heals her. In the previous stories Jesus was asked to heal someone, but in this story Jesus takes the initiative. Jesus sees a need and takes care of it. She was unable to come to Jesus so Jesus came to her.

What we need to know is medical knowledge at that time didn’t relate a fever as a sign of an illness. We know that a fever is caused by an illness. They didn’t know that. They believed the fever was the illness. Second, they didn’t have time to stop and get better. If there was any way to continue working they did. Think of the stories you’ve heard about women giving birth in the fields and continuing to work. They didn’t have the time to stop. Their very survival depended on them continuing to work. So for Peter’s mother-in-law to lay there in bed in the middle of the day tells you the severity of her illness. It would have been life threatening.

Notice that her healing is immediate and complete. She immediately gets up and begins to serve a meal. We know that it’s the Sabbath, so she wouldn’t have been cooking, but she would have served what had been prepared the previous day.

How often has that happened to you? You’re sick one moment and completely well the next. What happens is we gradually get better. But that wasn’t true Peter’s mother-in-law. It wasn’t like taking an aspirin and she slowly began to feel it take effect. She was healed immediately. It was as if she’d never been sick to begin with.

Then, when evening came, and the Sabbath was over, others began bringing their sick and Jesus healed them as well. He drove out evil spirits and healed the sick.

Matthew tells us these signs took place to fulfill prophecy about Jesus. Quoting Isaiah, Matthew writes:

He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases. (Matthew 8:17b)

Turn with me to Isaiah 53. As Matthew said, this quote is from Isaiah. I want to read a few of the verses from that passage. I’m sure they will sound familiar. The quote is from verse 4, but we’ll begin reading with verse 1.

1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:1-5)

There is not one of us that have not been touched by the heartache of sickness and disease. No one is immune. Disease spoils the world which we know. But God is telling us through Isaiah that the Messiah will reverse that. He will take our sickness and disease.

Turn back a few chapters to Isaiah 35.

3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. (Isaiah 35:3-6)

Has anyone ever been sick? Of course you have. Has anyone ever recovered from a sickness? Again the answer is yes or else you wouldn’t be here. Were you healed by God? Absolutely. Any of us who gets sick (and that’s all of us) and gets better (and again that’s all of us) has God to thank for their recovery. When we pray for someone to get better we’re asking God to directly intervene in that person’s life and make them well. Whether that includes time, medicine, or even surgery we are asking for an act of God. Right? Every time someone recovers from an illness or disease they have God to thank. God says in Deuteronomy 32:

See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. (Deuteronomy 32:39)

When you get sick and you recover you have God to thank. Many doctors will tell you that even with the best medicines and technologies available today they are still powerless to heal. It is God that heals. Doctors can prescribe medicines perform surgeries and for one person it makes all the difference and for another it doesn’t seem to make any difference for the next person. The same medicine and the same technology works two different ways for two different people because it is God and God alone who heals. That’s what David says.

2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. (Psalm 103:2-3)

David isn’t promising health and prosperity, he’s simply saying that whenever you are sick and get better it’s because of God working in your life. Whether you get better over time or because or something a doctor has given you it is still God at work in your life. Therefore, it is God and God alone that is to be glorified.

Now turn to the next to the last chapter in the Bible – Revelation 21. God doesn’t heal every sickness like Jesus did with the leper, the paralyzed servant, or Peter’s mother-in-law. Not every illness we bring before God in prayer is immediately healed, but every healing is from God. But one day he will.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:3-5)

We long for that day and wish it were here now. But this is the promise we have. Until then, while we live in this broken world, we have this hope. We look forward to that day knowing that our best days are yet to come.

I heard someone read Matthew 8:17 and pronounced it this way:

He took up our infirmaries and bore our diseases.

That’s not quite what the passage says. An infirmary is a hospital or doctor’s office. The verse says the Jesus took up our infirmities – our diseases and sicknesses.

In these miracles we are getting a sign of what the kingdom of God is going to look like. One day we won’t have any disease, sickness, or infirmities so we won’t need any infirmaries. One day sin will be permanently removed and so will its effects.