Jesus is Astonishing and Forgiving, Matthew 8:1-17

One of the primary themes of Matthews entire Gospel is the authority of Jesus. As you study this great work you can’t miss that Jesus taught with authority, healed with authority, died with authority, and commissions the church with authority. There was a bigger difference between Jesus and the Scribes than the way that He was teaching. But, let’s not fly past the fact that Jesus was teaching with authority.

From the statement that “he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes” you can infer that there was something missing in the teaching of the day. Jesus didn’t teach as someone who had read the Word, He taught like someone who had a complete grasp of the Word. The reason Jesus taught this way was because He wrote the Word.

John 1:1 says, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word. He is the Word who “became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) He astonished them with His grasp of the Word because He is the Word. Jesus was more than passionate or eloquent, He was clear and right. Every illustration was perfect, every application was exact, and every truth was complete. Jesus astonished them with his teaching because He was teaching as one who had authority.

Jesus finished his sermon on the mountain in chapter 7, and when he came down from the mountain large crowds continued to follow Him everywhere that He went.

The crowds who had been astonished by the teaching of Jesus, were now going to be even more astonished at the power on display through healing.

In Matthew 8:1-17, there are three accounts of Jesus healing someone who is deathly sick. Jesus heals a man with leprosy, a Roman centurion’s son, and Peter’s mother-in-law. Each one of these encounters provides us with an increasing insight into the power and plan of Jesus Christ to save the world from sin.

Incorruptible and willing

“Right away a man with leprosy came up and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Reaching out His hand, Jesus touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be made clean.’” - Matthew 8:2-3

We don’t get snow often down here in Mississippi, but recently we had a few inches of ice and snow that lasted for almost a week. Our yards, trees, rooftops, and roads were a pure white at the beginning of the week. But, as the week wore on, the pure white of the snow began to dirty. By the end of the week, parking lots were full of a gross mess of dirty gray ice and slush. It didn’t matter how white the snow was; it was stained by everything it touched. Wouldn’t it be amazing if the snow had the opposite effect? If the pure snow made everything, it touched clean?

I was thinking about that after reading through Matthew 8:1-4. In these verses, Jesus heals a leper. Leprosy is a disease that most of us in America are unfamiliar with. The disease is an infection from a bacteria that affects nerves, skin, eyes, and nose lining. Over time it results in crippling damage to your hands, feet, paralysis, blindness, and even death. Those who had leprosy were considered unclean by the Jewish law and were exiled to camps outside the cities. Anyone who came in contact with a leper was also regarded as dirty and required to go through a ritual cleansing. This is where the thought about the snow comes in. Like the dirt and grime corrupted the new-fallen snow, those who touched anyone or anything unclean were also considered corrupted.

Jesus reaches out and touches a man with leprosy to heal him. Jesus could have just spoken to the man to heal him. He does that very thing in the following verses, Matthew 8:5-13. In those verses, a man comes to Jesus and tells him that he knows Jesus can heal his servant who is back at the house dying. Because of the man’s faith and humility, Jesus simply tells him that his servant is now healed, and it happened.

When Jesus touches the leper to heal him, he reveals that He has an incorruptible purity and the power and willingness to heal. Jesus takes what is unclean and makes it clean and pure like new-fallen snow. Instead of becoming tainted by touching the leper, Jesus willingly made the leper clean.

Jesus steps into the sin stained world and remains holy and pure. This truth is astounding! Even though Jesus is wrapped in flesh like us, eats like us, sleeps like us, and was even tempted like us; He is not like us. Jesus walks through this world making an impact, not being impacted.

When the leper came, Jesus didn’t flinch or recoil. No, instead of being repulsed by the diseased man, Jesus willingly reaches out to touch him and make him whole. Who knows how long it had been since another person had touched this man? Jesus gave this man healing in more than one way. He healed His disease and ministered to his heart at the same time.

Unexpected Grace

“I tell you that many will come from east and west to share in the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” - Matthew 8:11

The healing of the Roman Centurion’s servant was a scandalous work of Jesus Christ. Just like the healing of an unclean leper, Jesus heals another unclean person in 8:5-13. From the perspective of a Jew in the first century, you cannot get anymore unclean than to be a leper or a Gentile. And yet, immediately after preaching and teaching to the crowds on the mountain, Jesus begins to demonstrate an unexpected grace to all who believe in Him.

Psalm 107:2–3 says, “2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe 3 and has gathered them from the lands—from the east and the west, from the north and the south.” Even though God declares openly that He will gather people from every nation, tongue, and tribe; the Jews seemed to have forgotten this. But how could they have forgotten something so important? You would think that the promise of God to redeem people from outside the nation of Israel would be impossible to miss. At every turn God is telling Israel that they have been blessed to be a blessing to the other nations, but Israel wanders from pridefully from this truth over and over again.

The second healing in this passage of Scripture provides us a glimpse into the grace that God gives to all who believe in Jesus Christ. The grace of God toward any sinner should be unexpected. The response of the Centurion before Jesus should be the response of every one person regardless of heritage and family backgrounds.

The soldier knows what authority looks like. And, he bases his request for healing on the authority that He believes Jesus has. The Centurion humbles himself before Jesus and says “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Matthew 8:8) His recognition of the authority of Jesus results in a humility and faith that exceeds that of all those in Israel.

Not only did Jesus heal the paralyzed servant because of the Centurion’s faith; He sets the Centurion up as the example of faithfulness for all to follow. Faith is believing that Jesus is who He says He is and that He can and will do everything that He has promised. The Roman soldier knew that Jesus could heal his servant, but He submitted himself to the authority or Lordship of Christ in his request. He did not come to Jesus as if his action deserved a response. In fact, it seems like he understands that he is an unclean Gentile who is not worthy to have a righteous man of God enter into his home.

The attitude of the Centurion is the attitude for each one of us to follow. Each one of us should humble himself to receive the unexpected grace of Jesus Christ.

Healed by the Wounded

“He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.” - Matthew 8:17

Matthew continues to demonstrate the authority of Christ through His power over sickness, and disease, and even demons. Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, He cast out demons, and heals everyone who was sick with a Word.

But Jesus came to do more than heal. He came to do more than prove His authority and power over sickness and spiritual enemies. Jesus came to fulfill everything that was prophesied and promised by God. All of His teaching, healings, signs, and wonders were to reveal that He alone has the power to overcome sin and the grave.

Isaiah 53 is a passage that prophesies about the suffering the Messiah would endure as He saved the world from its sin. The prophecies of Scripture claim that the Savior of the world would take on the weakness, shame, and pain of sin. Scripture says that He would be pierced, crushed, and punished in our place so that we could receive forgiveness and healing from sin and its effects.

Isaiah 53:1–5 says that we will find our healing in the wounds of our Savior.

“Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.” - Isaiah 53:1-5.

“In each of these stories, sickness is used as an illustration of sin—we might call the disease “sin-sickness”—and Jesus’ healing of those who are physically sick becomes an outward demonstration of the Lord’s more important authority over sin and his ability to forgive it.”

- James Montgomery Boice

Faith & Forgiveness

“4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.” - Revelation 21:1–4 (CSB)

The healings in this passage focus our attention on the day when Christ returns. The healings of Christ are meant to stir in our hearts a desire for the day when there is no more pain, sickness, or death.

The leper was dying and separated from everyone else. Jesus healed him and restored him to life and to his family and friends. In Christ you are forgiven and brought into the family of God, and will live and reign with Him for all eternity.

The Roman Centurion’s servant was paralyzed and in excruciating pain. Jesus healed the servant taking away his pain and restoring his body to the way God designed it. In Christ you look forward to the day when He returns and there is no more pain and you receive resurrected bodies that live for all eternity.

Peter’s mother-in-law was bedridden with a fever. Jesus healed her and she went about serving her Lord and Savior. In Christ you are saved to serve Him with all that you are and all that you have as your Lord and Savior.

Matthew points us to the reality that through our faith in Christ we receive healing for our souls. The Jesus who can heal the physical, is also the Jesus who can forgive, and He can do both of these because of who He is- the authority over all.

Questions to consider:

Will you surrender to Jesus today and trust Him by faith and receive forgiveness for your sins?

Healing from sin through forgiveness comes to all who believe. John 3:16 (CSB) says, “16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

There is no forgiveness for sin without faith in the Savior. You cannot earn it through your good deeds or even your intentions. Salvation is an undeserved and unexpected grace to sinners. Jesus has taken on your sin and your shame so that you can receive His righteousness and eternal life.

Do you live like one who is under authority?

The Roman Centurion understood what it meant to have authority and live under authority. His faith is the example that Jesus said to follow. What do you need to change to live under the authority of Jesus Christ?

Who do you need to forgive?

As people who have been forgiven, we are to be people who are forgiving.

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” - C.S. Lewis

Jesus is the only one who has the authority and power over sin to save us; and He willingly and unexpectedly forgives those who believe in Him!

Closing- Responses to the truth of Christ:

Come to Jesus to be forgiven and saved.

Repent, believe, and confess Christ as Savior and Lord.

Submit to Jesus and live by faith in the one who loves you and gave Himself up for you.

Let the astonishing authority of Christ and the unexpected forgiveness of God fuel your life.

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