Jesus reveals Himself as God by Healing

Matthew 8:1–13 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.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Introduction

Just a word of clarification about our Sunday lectionary schedule- because we have gone to the One Year series for the remainder of this Church year, next week will observe Transfiguration. I was in error last week when I said it would be on February 9; it is on the second. And then we will move into the pre-Lent “gesima” Sundays.

Today we continue to see Jesus revealed as Messiah and Lord, this time in His work of healing. First, he heals the Jewish leper, then he heals the Gentile servant of the Centurion.

Healing of body, soul, and spirit was to be the sign of the Messianic age. Isaiah tells us,

Isaiah 61:1–3 ESV

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

And

Isaiah 53:4–5 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

The Messianic age arrived with Jesus, the Messiah. And this is exactly what he does. He heals a Jewish Leper first, and then does something remarkable, He heals the servant of the Centurion, a Gentile, in a most mystifying way.

The Leper

Leprosy was a horrific, contagious disease, To get it was really a long death-sentence. Those who had it were banished from society and placed in leper colonies to protect those who were not infected. Not only was leprosy an extremely contagious disease, but to touch a leper would make one ceremonially unclean. One who even associated with Lepers would be banned from participation in the worship of Israel. By the way, there are still cases of leprosy today- 2-500 cases annually, primarily among the homeless population. The good news is that today leprosy can be treated with simple antibiotics. Such was not the case in Jesus’ day. It’s been around a long time as we see in our Old Testament Lesson where Naaman, the Syrian is cleansed of His leprosy through God using Elisha (not “Eleeeesha” as some have incorrectly read). It caused Naaman and all of his army to believe that “there is no God in all of heaven and earth but in Israel...” The miracle has its effect even as it is supposed to.

In our Gospel today Jesus has just finished preaching His sermon on the Mount and has just come away from the mountain. There, he is greeted by a leper, “right away.” This man came up to Jesus, and laid down before him prostrate, and said, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean.” By clean, he meant that Jesus could heal him from his leprosy. Jesus’ response was immediate as well: He reached out and touched him! “I am willing, be made clean.” And he was immediately healed.

Let’s take a look at this The leper has deep faith in Jesus and risks calling out to him. Jesus listens. He pleas for his healing. And then Jesus touches him. He touches him! What of that?

Remember, to come into contact with a leper would forever ban you from the community and worship. But Jesus does it. Why?

Because Jesus takes this man’s leprosy into himself. He absorbs it. And then Jesus bestows on this man healing and wholeness that he never dreamt possible. It’s not a mere touch. It’s a risky touch. And Jesus takes this man’s infirmity into himself.

Beloved, Jesus has touched you. And you’re loaded with sin and disease that should cause you to be thrown out of society, and that should ban you from ever coming into the presence of God. Jesus touches you and takes that sin, that death, that disease from you and into himself. Remember where this happened to you? At your Baptism. When Jesus is baptized into the Jordan its not water that cleanses. It’s the sewage from your life. It’s the deadly disease of sin from which all other diseases stem. He takes it all on himself.

But He then gives you something. His very righteousness. Our water was crystal clean with His forgiveness, righteousness and blessedness. You have been cleansed. You are restored to the family. You are once again freed to worship Him. I bet you never thought about this when you’ve heard this story before!

Jesus heals the Leper and by doing so opens the curtain of what is supposed to be when Messiah comes and by doing so shows us that He is Messiah and Lord. And by doing so shows us that we need to look a little deeper at what happened here, because Jesus has done the same with us.

The Centurion’s Servant

Jesus then goes to Capernaum. Upon His arrival a centurion came up to him pleading with him to save his servant. A centurion was like a captain in charge of 100 soldiers. He says, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.” This servant was young- the Greek word used for servant is pais which can mean young child. Some have attempted to imply that he was this centurion’s homosexual lover, and use this as a proof text that homosexuality is ok in the eyes of the Lord, but that is something done by reading into the text one’s opinion, called “isagesis” and is a disgusting perversion of the text. Jesus was referred to as a pais when he went to the temple. Young boy, or boy.

Jesus asks if the centurion wants Him to go to his home and heal the boy. But the centurion does not allow it.

Matthew 8:8–9 ESV

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.”

The text tells us that Jesus was amazed and said to those following him:

Matthew 8:10–13 ESV

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.

Wow. Try that one, Benny Hinn! Nothing spectacular for anyone to see. Jesus isn’t even in the Centurion’s home, nor was he with this servant. But the servant was healed.

Now this centurion and his servant were both Gentiles. And what is the other theme of Epiphany besides Jesus showing Himself to be Messiah and Lord through His works? That the Gentiles would be drawn to His light.

This centurion sure was. He was the one who initiated this situation. He was the light that came into these Gentiles’ lives. And he totally and completely heals them. This is a clear indication that Jesus comes to Jew and Gentile alike. And praise God for that because you are Gentiles. He is your Lord, too.

And then, there is this tremendous faith that is described. The Centurion does not bring Jesus home. He just tells Jesus, “say the word.”

You know what this like? Prayer. That wonderful, Jesus’blood guaranteed means of communication that you have with the Father. We can’t see Jesus today. But that doesn’t mean He is not here among us with His complete and total power of the Cross. Here He is!

This centurion can put us to shame. What are the stupid things that we say when God doesn’t seem to be answering our prayers? “What did I do to deserve this, Lord?” Or, “Lord, where are you?, I need you!” “Lord, if you would have come sooner my brother would not have died.” Our prayer life so often stinks. There is little faith to support what we are asking. We see praying to be more wishful thinking than unleashing the power of heaven and earth into our lives and situations. Stop! The Centurion shows us the way. Jesus, you don’t need to come physically to me. Just say the word and Your healing comes. Just say the word and give me the faith I need to understand Your good and gracious will.

But He comes!

Even though the Centurion begs Jesus off from coming physically to his house to heal his servant, Jesus doesn’t listen to that with us.

He comes to us very physically in the Eucharist. His body enters your body. His blood mixes with your own. Inside of you. And what does it bring? The same tradeoff He made with the Leper. The same healing that came to the servant. The same faith that He gave to the Centurion.

Lord, I am not worthy, but you have made me worthy. Just say the word.

Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

I am willing; be made clean.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.