A Study of Matthew: The Proof is in the Pudding

Matthew 8:1–17 ESV

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 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.” When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

How many of you are familiar with the phrase “The proof is in the pudding”? What does it mean?

It means that the value, quality, or truth of something must be judged based on direct experience with it—or on its results. It’s like a scene from the Christmas movie Elf, where the main character takes his date to a coffee shop because it has a sign saying “world’s best coffee.” Of course, when they try it, they find out the sign lied.

Over the last few weeks, we have been talking about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We have discussed how this sermon is Jesus introducing his disciples to what God’s kingdom is really about. For the longest time, the children of Israel had been misunderstanding God’s kingdom, thinking that they were part of it based on their ancestral lineage and through their adherence to laws and traditions. Jesus tells them that their righteousness has to be greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees, who are the experts in Jewish law, and then points out that God’s definition of righteousness is about what is going on in your heart rather than external actions or appearances.

Jesus tells the audience that if we really internalize God’s values, it will be evident in how we live our lives. As God’s children, we have a purpose and duty to be his representatives to the rest of the world. It is our job to point the way to Jesus through our words and deeds.

When Jesus finished his message, the people were astonished because he spoke with an authority that their religious leaders didn’t have.

But how many of you know that it takes more than talking a good talk. You have to be able to back up your words, right?

Well that is just what Jesus did.

Jesus finishes his sermon, and he heads down the hill, with the crowd following him. Almost immediately, we learn that a leper shows up and falls at Jesus’ feet.

What do we know about lepers? First of all, in Jesus’ day, leprosy was a generic term for any kind of major skin disease. People didn’t know what caused it, but they were pretty sure that prolonged contact with an infected person could pass it on. So if a person had leprosy, it was his job to keep his distance from everyone else. They had to keep a certain distance from others and yell out, “Unclean” so that nobody accidentally got too close. They were kicked out of the city, away from their family and friends. They were considered disgusting and dangerous. They were feared and rejected. They were outsiders.

Jesus and this crowd were outside the city of Capernaum when this filthy, unclean leper shows up asking for help.

Matthew 8:2–3 ESV

And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

This crowd is amazed, not just by the fact that Jesus healed the leper, but by HOW Jesus healed him. Remember that I said lepers were unclean and had to keep a distance? If you got too close to a leper, you were considered unclean. And Jesus is not only close to this guy—he touches him! Everyone watching is thinking, “

What is he doing? He’s making himself unclean!” There are a lot of people out there who think they too far gone to ever have a relationship with Jesus. We’ve talked about it before—the people who say things like, “If I ever entered the church, the ceiling would cave in.” Our God is a holy God. But his holiness is not something that can become tainted by our sin. When Jesus touched that leper, it wasn’t the leprosy that was contagious; instead, it was Jesus’ purity that was contagious!

Next came the Roman centurion. This man is another outsider. Not only is he NOT Jewish, he is an officer of the empire that is oppressing Judea! This outsider, this gentile, came to Jesus for help. The last thing the Jews would want to do is help this man. But what did Jesus do? Not only did he agree to help, Jesus offered to go to the man’s house to heal his servant. Jesus is a Jew, and more than that, a rabbi. Jews made a point of keeping themselves separate from non-Jews. They certainly never went to a non-Jew’s house! But Jesus was offering. It was the centurion who said he wasn’t worthy of Jesus’ presence in his home, but asked Jesus to just say that the servant would be healed. This outsider trusted that Jesus had the authority to simply declare the servant is healed, and that it would be done. And that is what Jesus did! Jesus went even further to declare to the audience that this man’s faith is what made the difference.

Matthew 8:11–13 ESV

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

So we’ve seen Jesus touch the unclean, heal a gentile—the servant of an officer of Judea’s oppressors. Next we see him perform yet another miracle.

Matthew 8:14–15 ESV

And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.

She is not a leper, nor is she a gentile, but she is still a woman. The religious leaders had no dealing with women—everything was done through the man of the house. But when Jesus comes into Peter’s house and finds her sick in bed, he doesn’t even wait for an invitation. He just goes over and heals her.

Jesus is breaking all the traditions, but he is in keeping with all of God’s laws. Furthermore, Jesus is living out the kingdom values he just preached about.

Remember the beatitudes?

Blessed are the meek: Jesus—this amazing teacher who teaches with such authority, humbly serves those in need. He’s not too good to touch the unclean. He’s not too Jewish to touch the gentile. He’s not too superior to touch the sick woman.

Blessed are the merciful: mercy doesn’t discriminate. These people—the leper, the Roman and his servant, the mother-in-law—they all needed help. Jesus helped them. It’s as simple as that.

Blessed are the pure in heart: none of the people Jesus helped could do anything to advance his career, if that’s what he had been looking for. Jesus did what he did simply because it was the Father’s will.

So Jesus spent the day teaching on the mountainside. On the way back to Peter’s house, he ministered to the unclean and the outsider. In the house, he ministered to the “inferior” woman. And how did he spend his evening?

Matthew 8:16–17 ESV

That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Jesus continued to serve everyone who came to him. The passage says that many were oppressed by demons. What kind of evil had these people gotten into, that demons could enter them? And yet Jesus set them free. He healed every sick person who came to him that night. And in the process, he continued to show that he was the Messiah.

So the question today for us is, what do people see when they look at us? Am I living out the faith I claim to believe? Am I demonstrating the values of the kingdom I claim to belong to?

It’s not enough to be a Christian at home or at church. If Jesus is truly alive in us, then people will see that in us wherever we go. And I am not talking about just being religious. That is what the scribes and pharisees did. I am talking about a relationship with Christ that excites us and makes want others to know how amazing Jesus is. I’m talking about a Godly love that causes us to love others around us, even if we barely know them—even if they dress weird and are nothing like us.

In the building where I work for the state, there is a young man who used to be in our youth group back when Zenetta was youth pastor 10 years ago. Today, he’s in his early 20s. His mom had informed us some time ago that he decided he’s gay. I’ve seen him from time to time, but he’s avoided me before, because he didn’t know that I knew his secret. Last week, Zenetta and I ran into him, and he realized that we did know, and that I have known the whole time he’s been working at the building. His mom told Zenetta later that he was amazed that we knew he was gay, and yet we still wanted to talk to him.

Now that that is out in the open, and he knows that we still love him, we can start the process of really witnessing to him.

If we are Christians, we have a duty to take his message to everyone. EVERYONE. And we need to remember that it is a message of hope, not of condemnation.

Jesus ministered to everyone who came into his path. I’m taking that as a challenge to do the same. My prayer for myself is this: Jesus, help me to treat every person I meet as a long-lost brother or sister. Help me to show them your love. Give me wisdom to share the whole gospel—we are ALL sinners, we are all separated from God because of our sin. But there is no sin that is too big for you to forgive, Jesus, if we will turn our lives over to you. Jesus, you never turned away anyone who came to you. Help me to be the same.

If this church is going to continue to grow, it will be because we are fulfilling our call to take the gospel everywhere, to everyone. Our church vision statement is “reassembling hearts, lives, and relationships.” That’s what Jesus was doing that day—building relationships with the ones that everyone else rejected, proving that the kingdom of God is for everyone who will come.

We can talk a good talk, but the proof is in the pudding. Let’s make sure that the way we live our lives lines up with what we claim to believe. Let’s make sure we are living out the grace and compassion that Jesus lived out.