Who's Invited

Intro

Imagine you walk up to a McDonald’s in a busy city and you’re met at the door with this sign, “No one under the age of 20 is allowed in this restaurant without a parent and proper identification.” Then a security guard opens the door for you and checks your drivers license to ensure your of the appropriate age.

Ian Haworth with Not The Bee wrote, “This particular location, on Nostrand and Flatbush [in Brooklyn, NY], has good reason to make this call. Back in 2011, an 18-year-old was shot in the head in broad daylight. A year later, a manager assaulted a woman over an argument about food. And in 2025 alone, there have been 29 emergency calls at this single location. Add to that 111 calls last year, 103 calls in 2023, and 121 calls in 2022!”

Apparently, a group of teenage thugs were coming into the restaurant, throwing ice at other customers, stealing mobile orders, and smoking pot.

Certainly, there are some legitimate reasons why these policies had to be set; however, it would still be unfortunate for the young person innocent of such buffoonery attempting to get a Big Mac. Imagine, the 19 year old college student without any parents around just trying to get a quick, cheap meal, and yet prevented by the security guard from coming in.

None of us would want to be kept from any table. We like to know that we are on the inside tract. If something kept us from being seated at the heavenly table, wouldn’t we want to know that?

In today’s text, Matthew 8, we are going to discover who’s invited to the heavenly banquet.

Turn with me if you will, to Matthew 8 and verse 1.

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, we saw that Jesus was authoritative in his teaching. So much so, that the people recognized it in contrast to the scribes.

Matthew 7:28–29 ESV

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.

Not only are we going to see Jesus’s authority in his teaching, but also in his person.

This authority is established around three miracles that show Christ’s power. Each one of these miraculous accounts not only show us something about Christ’s authority, but they are purposefully crafted to show us what sort of people are welcome at Christ’s table.

I want to give a general reminder that when Matthew recounts these stories, he is not writing stream-of-conscious like an old person spinning tales. Nor his he being a historiographer, writing every memory he has of Jesus in any particular order. Rather Matthew is intending to accomplish something with these stories. It is that very thrust of the text in which we are after. Let’s see if we can discover the details that link these three stories and capture Matthew’s ideal world.

In Matthew 8, Matthew will bring us through three major movements to bring us to his point. First we will see Jesus interact with the unclean, then the unelected, then the unnoticed.

Movement 1: The Unclean

Matthew 8:1–4 ESV

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.”

Each of these three miracle stories take place rapid fire in a different location. Each of these stories begins with a word that indicates his location. Most translations say “when” at the beginning to indicate this word. This story takes place outside of a city. Another character we see in this story is “great crowds” or a multitude. And when a crowd is operating together, know that it can be fickle. For know, this crowd is interested in the authority of Christ.

Then, a single leper approaches. Notice some things about this leper: he approaches Jesus with respect. He kneels and addresses him as “Lord.” Then the leper believes whether he can be cleansed or not is totally dependent upon Jesus’s willingness to do so. In other words, this leper has complete confidence in Jesus’s ability to heal.

The Leper has faith without being presumptuous. Presuming upon God means believing we know what’s best for us in any given circumstance and God will do what we believe to be best. If the leper was presumptuous he would have said, “Lord, you can make me clean and you are willing.” Faith knows God, knows his will, and knows his goals for our life. But faith also knows how God will work out those goals for us is mysterious.

Presumption knows what’s best for me right now in this moment and knows God will give me that no matter what. Presumption is the name it and claim it theology. See if you can point out the presumption in this quote:

“You will produce what you’re continually seeing in your mind… If you develop an image of victory, success, health, abundance, joy, peace, and happiness, nothing on earth will be able to hold those things from you… Start anticipating promotions and supernatural increase. You must conceive it in your heart and mind before you can receive it… You must make room for increase in your own thinking, and then God will bring those things to pass”

Notice the theology of this quote is not one that would come up to Jesus and say, Lord, if you are willing you can. . .” This theology would say, “Lord, you are willing, now do this and that.” The object of this faith is the image one develops in his mind and not the Jesus of the Bible. I find it most ironic that this author commands his listeners to “develop and image” because this is exactly what is forbidden in the 10 commandments. The book is Your Best Life Now. The presumptuous theologian (and false teacher) is Joel Osteen.

Our faith is in our savior not in success. And oftentimes our savior can use worldly failure to help us succeed in the Kingdom.

In this story, Jesus was willing to cleanse this leper. What Jesus says is short an to the point, “I will, be clean.” Yet what Jesus does is shocking. He reaches out his hand and touches him. Everyone knows how disease spreads. The infected person infects the clean. The sick infect the well. Yet, here, the reverse occurs. Healing goes out from the great healer and makes this person whole.

Jesus forbids him from telling anyone. The point of the Messianic secrecy will be explained later on in this gospel, but to summarize it quickly: Jesus is not doing these wonders just to get people’s attention. People on social media do crazy and wild things just to get more viewers. But as we learned throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not after our eyes, but our hearts. The point of these miraculous stories is not for us to sit back and think, “well that’s cool,” like you might scroll through reels or other short videos. Rather, Matthew intends for us to get something out of this.

Instead, he is to go show himself to the priest. This leper, who was once barred from his people and barred from God’s presence in the temple will now be fully restored because of Jesus. The next man cannot go into the temple, even if he is cleaned.

Movement 2: The Unelected

Matthew 8:5–13 ESV

5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 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. 9 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.” 10 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. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 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.

Here we notice yet another setting: in Capernaum, this city has operated as sort of a home base for Jesus’s ministry. Here a new character, a centurion, comes to him. Notice again that this individual approaches Jesus with respect. His servant is not doing well. Jesus already committed one taboo by touching a man with leprosy. He is intending to commit another taboo by entering a gentile household. However, the centurion stops him.

He says, “I too am a man under authority.” The centurion's authority is derived from the emperor. His word as just like the emperors word. And so, he also recognizes Jesus as a man of God. Thus, when Jesus says something it is as if God himself has commanded it.

This is what makes the centurion’s faith so great and exceeding that which was told of the leper. The leper believed that Jesus was able to heal. The leper believed Jesus was able to heal according to his will. The centurion believes not only can Jesus heal, his authority is on the same level as God’s in that whatever Jesus wills is what God has willed. The faith is greater, not because it is accompanied with more mystical activity. People often use religious and mystical practices as a gauge of their faith. We do not see the the centurion approaching Jesus and speaking in tongues or intense prayer or whipping himself. In fact, he doesn't even bow himself like the leper does; and yet his faith is greater simply because he has greater knowledge concerning the object of his faith.

The picture of great faith is not irrational confidence in some future miracle, but a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ. Do you want a greater faith? Know God more in prayer and in his word. John 17:3 “3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Jesus commends his faith, then gives this saying that forms the center of our three stories. Matthew 8:11–12 “11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.””

Here the table is set. The Messianic banquet is pictured. The great patriarchs are at the table. Yet many Gentiles are at the table with them. And many “sons of the kingdom” (Jews) are thrown into the outer darkness.

The question then that everyone must ask is what do I need to have a place at this table?

Movement 3: The Unnoticed

Matthew 8:14–17 ESV

14 And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 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. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Here we see a final story, a series of healings, and a conclusive summary. The setting changes for the final time as they enter Peter’s house. Peter’s mother-in-law is healed, again by a taboo touch of Jesus. After the fever leaves, she immediately gets up and serves, showing that the healing was effective and instantaneous. This was no parlor trick or “gradual healing.” Then at evening, many came to be healed.

Matthew says this was to fulfill what was spoken by Isaiah. Matthew references Isaiah 53:4 “4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” All of Isaiah 53 is known as the “servant song.” The assumption here is that the Messiah bore these things by substitution to remove them. In other words, like a sacrificial lamb, he takes on the infirmities. This removal of sin and illnesses takes place at the sacrificial event of the cross.

Movement 4: Conclusion

These three stories work together to help us make certain conclusions. First, there are three different verbs for healing used, one in each story. Jesus has authority over every type of illness and malady. Jesus is Lord over the curse of sin and has the power to reverse it. Each of these stories points us to Jesus as our way out of the curse of sin because he bore that curse for us.

Second, each of the stories focuses on a person who would not be allowed to enter the holy place of the temple. The leper was excluded from society as unclean. The gentile could go so far as the court of gentiles which was an outer courtyard in the large temple complex. The court of women in the temple was a little bit closer to the temple than the court of gentiles, yet still that was as far as a woman could go. Each, the unclean, the unelected, and the unnoticed were barred from the temple.

And certainly one might conclude that if such people are barred from God’s holy presence in the temple they could never attain to the messianic banquet. However, that is not the approach that the very one and true Messiah takes.

Jesus looks for faith, not social standing.

Jesus did not say, “I’m sorry you’re a leper, I cannot approach you by law.” Nor did he say, “Sorry, your a gentile I will not heal your servant.” Nor did he discount Peter’s mother-in-law for being a woman. While we do not see Peter’s mother-in-law’s faith until after she is healed, the leper and centurion express great faith in Jesus.

What Jesus looks for, what gets one a seat at the table, is faith, not someone’s social standing.

And although there is healing in all these stories, what is ultimate evident in these healing miracles is that healing is not the ultimate thing. The future messianic banquet is what is ultimate. Jesus’s substitution is greater than our infirmity going away.

Having faith is not about getting healed, but having a seat at the table

Jesus took on our illness, our griefs, our sins. Notice, Jesus did not become sick or demon possessed when he healed. When did Jesus “bear these infirmities?” He bore them on the cross. For Matthew, these miraculous healings point forward to the cross which is what enables Christ to have just sovereignty over sin and its curse of disease and death. He was slaughtered while bearing all these things for us. And in his death, sin and the curse of sin (which includes sickness and death) has also died. Yet Christ did not stay dead. He rose from the grave. And thus, he not only bore the curse, he also conquered it for those who trust in him.

When we trust in Jesus, we have faith in this sacrificial death, we believe in the resurrection, not because we want our best physical health now. But so that one day we can enjoy eternal life with him. The object of our faith is the goal of our faith. If we believe in Jesus to get something other than Christ and fellowship with him, we are idolaters. We use Jesus to attain some higher god in our life. Having faith is not just about getting healed. Does healing come with it? Yes. Partly in this life and completely in the life to come. But we trust in Christ to have a seat at his banquet. To enjoy his fellowship for eternity.

Who’s invited to this great messianic banquet? Whoever believes. Faith is that deciding factor, not gender, appearance, intelligence, age. Our culture sets up many different qualifications for who can be in and who is out. Jesus has one: do you trust in him with all your heart?

So the question for application is:

Who are you inviting?

Are you focusing all your attention only on those who you think will make it? Or do you see the call that the Christian community is one which is upsidedown from the culture. The first will be last and the last will be first. Everyone is invited to the banquet and the only way in is simple trust in Christ.