Matthew 8:1-4: Jesus Wills, Be Clean
Notes
Transcript
Matthew 8:1-4
Matthew 8:1-4
Introduction
Turn to Matthew chapter 8
We just finished our series in the Old Testament, talking about the various covenants of the OT and how they all point to Jesus and the need for the Messiah to come! So now that we are jumping back into Matthew I hope you can appreciate these stories of Jesus more and more and gain a new depth of knowledge and love for Christ and all that he has said and done.
A quick reminder of the book of Matthew so far.
Genealogy
John the Baptist’s ministry and Jesus’ baptism, where we see the spirit of God descend like a dove and a voice from heaven declare “this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased
Jesus begins his ministry
Goes up the mountain to proclaim the teachings of God, but instead of bringing tablets down Jesus proclaims the teachings himself
The sermon on the mount ends with this observation
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Let’s read
1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
Let’s Pray
Exposition
Exposition
Transition (8:1)
Descent from the mountain (v. 1a)
Identical wording to the Greek version of the Old Testament when Moses came down from the mountain
Large crowds following (v. 1b)
The Leper Comes to Jesus (8:2)
The leper kneels before Jesus (v. 2a)
Lepers had no business being near the rest of society in this time.
They were ostracized from society and even their family
They had to wear torn clothes and messy hair and to shout out to people, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:46);
they were considered the living dead
Leprosy in many ways was a symbol of sin’s pollution
It was UNCLEAN
Touching a leper made you unclean
Anyone who touched a leper had to go through ritual cleansing before sacrificing in the temple
and they risked contracting the disease themselves!
YOU DIDN’T TOUCH LEPERS
The healing of lepers was considered a messianic act (Matt 11:5);
Moses (Num 12) and Elisha (2 Kgs 5) were the only ones who healed lepers in the OT
The leper here is bold and breaks the law by approaching Jesus and kneeling before him—an act of submission and deep respect.
Complete trust in Jesus’ healing power (v. 2b)
The man’s humility and faith are remarkable
This is early in Jesus’ ministry!
To the leper, Jesus has the power (δύνασαι) to heal him
the only question is whether Jesus “wants” to do so
“if you will” essentially means “if you want” or “if it is your desire”
“You can make me clean!”
He doesn’t simply desiring healing, he desires, like King David in Psalm 51 after he was confronted with his sin, to be made clean!
The Healing (8:3)
Jesus touches the man (v. 3a)
Jesus’ incredible compassion is evident as he “stretches out” his hand to touch the man
NO ONE TOUCHED LEPERS
Jesus didn’t have to, he could have healed him with a word!
How wonderful it is to have such a great high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses! (Heb 4:12)
In touching the leper, we see Jesus’ conveyed empathy and sensitivity to the man’s wretched state
Did Jesus become unclean?
Certainly not!
The uncleanness of the leper was not transferred to Jesus
The cleanness of Jesus was transferred to the leper!
Jesus’ proclaims the cleanliness of the man! (v. 3b)
To the healing touch is added the powerful command, “Be clean!” The effect is immediate.
The word translated here as “cleaned” typically refers to ceremonial uncleanness, but is also often translated as healed too.
Because the disease of leprosy was so tied to cleanliness, the man recognized his need to be clean
Jesus offered him cleanliness and healing
But what should make us marvel just as much is not simply that Jesus can and does heal him, but the statement from Jesus, “I will”!
“I want”! “I desire”! to make you clean! Be clean!
Jesus’ Commands to the Healed Man (8:4)
Say nothing to anyone (v. 4a)
A strange Command
Mark opens this up further than Matthew does
But it’s generally understood that Jesus said this to avoid the misunderstanding that the Davidic King, the Messiah, would come as a conquering king (like David) and not as a suffering servant (that was detailed more in the prophets)
The healing was not conditional based on the leper’s obedience to this command because
Too often we hear those promising healing based on our faith, that if we doubt it for even a second that we will lose our healing
And this is a really convenient way to take the blame off of themselves when your supposed healing wears off
Because what they’re really doing is using manipulation tactics to convince you something is happening
This is why they always use big shows with lots of emotions and big declarations
this is why music is a vital component of these so-called healing services
Watch Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland’s services and imagine them without music
The methods used are manipulative and identical to the methods used by illusionists and hypnotists, just with a bent to trick those who claim to be Christians
And we shell out millions of dollars to these charlatans, to get an adrenaline rush that convinces us we’re healed for long enough to earn them more money, all to find out that when we get home the healing didn’t “stick” and to then question how we didn’t have enough faith or obedience for Jesus to heal us forever!
In stark contrast to these false prophets, when we see this leper in Mark’s Gospel account go and tell people freely of what happened
AND HE DIDN’T LOSE THE HEALING
He directly disobeyed the Sovereign Son and yet that healing wasn’t taken away from him.
Jesus is so much better than what the false prophets try to tell us!
Show the priests you are healed (v. 4b)
In the Sermon on the Mount from the previous chapters, Jesus said that he didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it!
In this story, Jesus is showing that he means that!
He tells the leper to follow the laws declared in Leviticus 13-14 by showing himself to the priest and being inspected and declared clean
Implication
Implication
As we read this passage together, there are implications for us as followers of Jesus today.
In the story Jesus wants to keep his messianic office quiet from the people, but Matthew expects his readers to recognize the reality of his messianic authority. And here in this text it becomes a major theme after the Sermon when Matthew gives an account of many miracles that Jesus performs. Jesus is indeed Lord of all, and every part of creation follows his command.
1. What is True Faith?
True faith does not demand that Jesus fulfill the request but rather surrenders to the knowledge that Jesus can do so if he wishes.
The leper is an example of true faith
and it prepares for the centurion in the next story.
In the Lord’s Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount the centrality of prayer is surrender to the will of God and not just an unending series of self-centered demands.
The words from the leper “if you will, (if you want).” show his great confidence that Jesus has the ability to heal him
True faith is not never having questions
True faith is believing that Jesus is who he says he is and that he will act accordingly
But it is never demanding he act a certain way that makes sense to us
2. Jesus Filled with Compassion for the Unfortunate
Though Matthew has omitted the “compassion” of Mark 1:41, his actions clearly show his concern and care for the man.
This has often been called the “love hermeneutic”; that is, Jesus’ concern for people so outweighed legal prescriptions (such as touching a leper rendering one unclean) that he ignored them in order to meet the need.
This, as we will see, is a hallmark of Jesus’ ministry:
God will right all barriers between peoples and vindicate the downtrodden.
3. Jesus Fulfills the Law
In one sense Jesus is faithful to the Torah, having the leper fulfill its demands to go before the
At the same time, Jesus ignores the command about not touching a leper, and yet somehow Jesus is not rendered unclean.
D.A. Carson says it well: “In one sense Jesus does submit to the law. He puts himself under its ordinances. But the result is startling: the law achieves new relevance by pointing to Jesus.”
So AGAIN Matthew is showing that Jesus has authority, this time as the final interpreter of the Torah.
Exhortation
Exhortation
So brothers and sisters,
Jesus, who has all authority to proclaim the teachings of God, who has authority over all creation, reaches out to touch his creation and make them clean.
The very thought that Jesus desires for the cleanliness and healing of his people is the very heart of the Gospel!
When we come before him like a leper,
recognizing we should have no right to be in his presence
No right to ask him for anything
Understanding that we are unclean and asking the only pure human in the world to make us like him
The faith that he can do it
the faith that he will do it
That is when we find that Jesus desires to make us clean. He wants to make us whole. He wants to redeem us to God!
I get so tired of hearing people talking about the Gospel and making it all about us!
Do you know how destructive it is to tell a person since childhood over and over that Jesus came and died for them because they’re so stinking special? That the cross was a sign of how much Jesus thought of them individually because they are so beautiful to him? That they should love themselves because Jesus loves them? Do you know how many times I was told that and never heard anything more? When that is our good news for others we are cursing people to a life of pride and arrogance based on a fantasy or we are cursing them to a life of constantly working to convince themselves they are worth Jesus dying for them!
One of the most songs popular on Christian radio while I was in highschool was the song “Someone Worth Dying For” based completely around this concept that we are lovely and seen by Christ because we are someone worth dying for and trying to convince ourselves to believe it.
Am I more than flesh and bone?
Am I really something beautiful?
Yeah, I want to believe,
I want to believe that
I'm not just some wandering soul
That you don't see and you don't know
Yeah, I want to believe,
Jesus help me believe
That I am someone worth dying for
I used to love that song! It was so therapeutic for me! It helped me feel better about myself, but the gospel is completely absent!
Is it any wonder that the false gospel of our culture is one that is based on radical individualism?!
“You do you!”
“Express yourself!”
“Love yourself!”
“You’re perfect just the way you are!”
Brothers and sisters, understand that no fallen sinful human was worth dying for!
You are the leper! I am the leper, making everything we touch unclean! Constantly reminded of our wretchedness we need to be made clean!
And that doesn’t happen by embracing our filth like our nation encourages! It comes by being made clean by the healing touch of Jesus!
The sin we so freely embraced destroys the earth, destroys our relationships with other people, and destroys our relationship with our Creator!
Jesus did not die because we were so lovely he couldn’t live without us! He died in order to make us lovely.
Our God is the one who came to us, reached out His hand to our wretched and unclean state and through his healing touch, made us clean!
He made us lovely by taking our sin upon himself and giving to us his righteousness. Both parts of that are vital to understanding the gospel. Not only did Jesus die for our sins, but he gave us his righteousness so that we can be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect.
Jesus was the sacrifice that was able to make us clean.
And he didn’t do it unwillingly! Just as with the leper, Jesus tells us, “my will is for you to be made clean! So now, I make you clean!”
So may we who are Christians walk faithfully in this truth! That we are made clean by Christ! That we are made lovely by Christ! Let us reject all ideologies that tell us we can be clean by embracing our filth!
If you are not a Christian this morning, what is holding you back? What keeps you from freely kneeling before Christ, recognizing his Lordship over your life, and crying out, “if you are willing, you can make me clean!” brother or sister, Christ is willing to make you clean! Be made clean by the power of Christ!
If anyone wishes to speak further about this come and speak to me after the service. Pull me aside and tell me you want to speak with me. If you need prayer then pull me aside and let’s pray together! I want to do these things with you, I am here for you. Please be bold to come and tell me how I can shepherd you better.
Let’s pray.