The Healing Ministry of Jesus

Matthew 8:1-17

a. The willingness of Jesus (8:1-4)

b. The faithfulness of Jesus (8:5-17)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. The willingness of Jesus (8:1-4)

i. The next following verses help us to see who the person of Jesus Christ was. This next section really captures who He is and what type of person that He was. Remember, this is right after His sermon on the mount so we must take the things that He had taught and apply it to His person.

ii. When we think about the ethics of Matthew 5:21-47, we see Jesus talk about the Law and how they had heard, but following His quotation of the Old Testament Law, what we see Jesus do, is inject grace into the Law. Everything that Jesus speaks about in this section, on how we are to live, is intertwined with what He says in 7:1-4 and 7:12. Instead of looking at the speck within other people’s eyes, we should consider the log out of our own eye. When we do this, we can treat others the way we want to be treated. When we do this, the result of this is we give others grace. We aren’t overly critical of them, but rather, we give more grace.

iii. What we see in Jesus’s ministry is this manifest in His life. Jesus didn’t just tell those around Him and us, to give grace. He actually gave grace to people. Look at this section. Jesus comes down the mountain after preaching the Sermon on the Mount, and a large crowd followed Him. After preaching this message, He could be tired, or hungry and if a lot of people were following Him, He could possibly be annoyed.

iv. As soon as He comes down the mountain, we see that a leper comes up to Him and asks Him to heal him. We see in verse 3, that Jesus stretches out His hand and touches the man. He immediately follows by saying I am willing. Immediately, the leprosy is healed.

v. What do we learn from this? First, we see the attitude of Jesus. We see the heart of compassion Jesus has for people. Jesus could be tired, hungry or busy. I am sure He was talking to these people and they were asking Him questions as they were coming down the mountain. And yet, immediately, when a leper comes up to Him as He comes down the mountain, He listens to this leper and doesn’t tell him to get away from Him because the man has a disease. But rather, He offers the leper His presence and His time.

vi. We can imagine from this scene that some people were surprised to see how Jesus would meet and not even meet, but even be willing to heal a leper. But Jesus does even more. He stretches out His hand and touches the leper. The double expression of stretching out His hand and touching the man tells us there is a significance to this. Why? Because if we know anything about lepers, they were outcasts in society.

vii. Leprosy was a common and deadly skin condition during Jesus' time, and was considered contagious and unclean. People with leprosy were often treated as social outcasts and beggars, and were forbidden from contact with others. They were also prevented from worshipping with the community, and Jewish scriptures included strict instructions to stop the spread of the disease.

viii. When we think about how leprosy was, and Jesus’s willingness to touch this man, people were most likely appalled that He would do such a thing as He could contract leprosy by touching this man. And yet, Jesus’s simple statement, I am willing and His willingness to touch this man’s illness shows the heart and compassion of our Savior.

ix. This really highlights Jesus’s compassion and His willingness to meet people’s weaknesses and needs. It helps to remind us, that Jesus’s willingness would be highlighted in its pinnacle where He goes to the cross and dies for sinners on the cross. Jesus’s whole life and ministry shows the reality of what He preached in the Sermon on the Mount. This is why He closed His message by this statement of if you hear my words, you must act upon them.

b. The faithfulness of Jesus (8:5-17)

i. Verse 5 begins with Jesus entering Capernaum. At this point, this is the place of residence for Jesus (4:13). There a centurion, (an officer of about 100 soldiers, hence the prefix “cent”, approaches Jesus and urges Him. The scene is that of Jairus (Mark 5:22-23) who approached Jesus and fell at His feet and urged Him. He pleaded with Him. What is interesting is that, this centurion pleads with Him, and instead of asking Jesus to come, is pleading his case to Him, explaining the situation to Him.

ii. He states that he has a servant, a young boy, most likely the son of a slave, who is at home and in serious pain. He is paralyzed and this pain is so bad, that it is throwing him down to the floor and unable to move.

iii. This verb in verse 5, imploring Him, urging Him, pleading with Him, helps us to understand the request that this centurion was making, but it is not explicit in that He is pleading with Jesus to come. It could be implied but it could also be understood that he was pleading with him the severity of the situation, hoping for Jesus to respond favorably to heal this boy.

iv. Well immediately, Jesus understands what this man is speaking of and responds by simply stating, I will come and heal him. Can you see the affection Jesus has for those who are suffering? Jesus just came down the mountain, heals the leper and enters Capernaum which is probably a full day. Jesus just finished preaching and is entering into Capernaum but even with that, Jesus gives Himself to the people. It shows us Jesus’s heart and His willingness to meet the needs of people. Jesus doesn’t tell us that He’s too busy. But just as this statement says, when we are tired, He is willing. He is with us and will minister to us.

v. We saw Jesus’ willingness with the leper, and now, with the centurion’s slave. The significance with this statement is that it shows Jesus doesn’t show partiality. Rather, this is a striking situation considering that the centurion is a Gentile and Jews looked at Gentiles as unclean (John 18:28; Acts 10:28). The centurion would know that Jews regarded Gentile dwellings as ceremonially unclean, and accordingly to ask a Jewish religious teacher to come into his home would put the teacher in a difficult position.

vi. Jesus knowing all this, still says in verse 7, that He will go and heal the boy. This says a lot about who Jesus is. Verse 8, the centurion answers that he is not worthy for Jesus to enter his home. He was stating that he was not great enough to have Jesus as his guest. So he tells Jesus, if you say the word, then my servant will be healed. Verse 9 gives example of the centurion giving an illustration of what he means by his word.

vii. What is the key of this illustration? The centurion starts with “For I also am a man under authority.” The centurion explains that the reason his soldiers follow his instruction because of the authority he is speaking. Where is his authority? His authority comes from the fact that he is also under authority. The centurion’s authority comes from the emperor who has given him imperial authority. This means, when the centurion speaks, it is as if the emperor gives orders. This is what caused his soldiers to listen to him. It was because he was speaking on behalf of the emperor.

viii. By this understanding, we can see the centurion had an understanding that Jesus’s authority also came from above. He had an unusual understanding that Jesus also spoke with the authority of God. Jesus had mentioned previously of the Father (7:21) and seems to give hints that he had listened to Jesus’s preaching or had heard of the rumors of who He was. We don’t know exactly how the centurion knew, but it seems that He had a profound understanding of Jesus.

ix. Verse 10 shows us exactly this. It tells us that when Jesus heard this, He marveled. Why was Jesus astonished? Because faith like this was not to be expected of a Gentile. This is why Jesus says, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. Jesus says this to all who were following Him. This includes the disciples.

x. This is a huge statement. Jesus was saying that He had not found a faith of this quality, high quality. It’s not simply trusting in Jesus, but knowing with full confidence that if He were to say something, it would happen. Thies goes back to 8:8-9. The centurion believed that He had been given authority by God that if He spoke, it would come to pass.

xi. Jesus continues in verse 11, which brings and interesting twist to Jesus’s statement. Jesus states that many will come from east and west, specifically addressing a large group of people. What will they come for? They will come to recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is speaking about many people, people from other nations, Gentiles, will come to saving faith and be saved. They will be reclining, they will be guests to a feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This undoubtedly shows the significance of the blessings that were given to Israel which would now be shared with Gentiles.

xii. Then verse 12, the sons of the kingdom. Who are the sons of the Kingdom? What is this kingdom? Some have said that this is speaking of believers. I don’t see that to be true. What is the context of this passage? Jesus has been talking about great faith. The great faith that Jesus spoke about regarding the centurion shows us that faith is the means in which we enter the kingdom of Heaven. Again, it is not our faith that allows us to enter, but it is Christ. It is all those who put their hope and trust in Him. Because of Him, we are allowed to enter the kingdom of Heaven.

xiii. With that in mind, if Jesus is talking about those who have faith, and these who have faith will have a banquet in Heaven, then the adverse, here means that the sons of the kingdom are those who are Jewish in ethnicity, but those who lack faith. These people, who are God’s chosen people by ethnicity, will be in some sense lower than the many who will come from the east and west who are Gentiles and not Jewish.

xiv. What will become of these people? Jesus says that they will be cast out into the outer darkness and in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I understand this by the kingdom. When we think about the outer darkness, it is understood by the kingdom. If we know a kingdom, or a castle, there are a lot of lights. If you watch movies of a king, and his castle, it is a place of luxury and elegance. It is filled with lights and darkness is not common. So when Jesus says these people will be cast out into the outer darkness, it is that they will be sent so far away from this kingdom, where the light will no longer reach and it will be pure darkness. It’s like when we leave Los Angeles and we go to the mountains, it is much darker than the city. In the same way, these people who don’t have faith, will be cast out into the darkness where they no longer receive light from the bright castle, the kingdom.

1. There in that darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Weeping here suggests misery, an expression of pain and distress. Weeping here, refers to wailing, a loud cry of pain and grief. What is causing this weeping? It is a wailing and weeping understood that they are lost and rejected. This rejection that will happen will bring about this gnashing of teeth. This phrase, the gnashing of teeth deals with the sound people will make because of despairing remorse. Those who are rejected will experience rejection which leads to deep regret that has no hope. They will be filled with regret and guilt and this guilt will eat them up.

xv. Jesus now turns His attention back to the centurion and tells him that what he has believed has happened. What you have asked for, it has been given. And immediately, his servant was healed. This shows us the power of Jesus and His word. The amazing reality of Jesus’s power and authority is on full display here. Jesus is not even present and because of His authority, heals this man.

xvi. This should really make us ask the question, do we believe in Jesus? But the better question is, do we expect change? Do we believe that God can and will do the things we ask? We must ask in faith.

xvii. Verse 14, Jesus now enters into Peter’s home and you can imagine He must be exhausted. He had a full day. Jesus preached in the morning, then comes down the mountain after a hike, and heals another 2 people, now arrives to Peter’s home to relax and see’s Peter’s mother sick.

xviii. I am amazed at Jesus. He sees Peter’s mother and He just goes to her and heals her. Nobody asks Him anything. He just sees people’s needs and He meets their need. What was her response? She got up and waited on Him. It means that she served Him as a waitress serves a table. She prepared to make Him food. What do we see from her response? Her motive was gratitude. The woman was now able to do what she could not do before.

xix. Again, the emphasis in verse 16 is now it is evening. A single day had been completed. Within this day, Jesus had preached, healed 3 people and now many more people were brought to Him and He healed all who were ill. The focal point of this section helps us understand who Jesus is. We can clearly see He is God. We can clearly see His authority. But even with this authority, He shows His heart. This is what softens us. This is what should help us to change our lives. This is who Jesus is. It teaches us how we are called to love others, just the same way, He loves us.

3. CONCLUSION