The Faith it Takes

Matthew 8:1-17

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.”

The Leper

Jesus had just left the mountain where He delivered the sermon on the mount, and as He is heading into the nearby city He is confronted by a leper. A leper is someone who has the disease of leprosy, and this disease was highly contagious and gross. They made everyone who contracted it live outside in a colony together, cut off from society on pain of death. The majority of people die from this disease, but in some cases a person would be healed. If they were healed they were to send word to the priest, the priest would examine them, and if they were truly healed then they would be admitted back into society after a ritualistic cleaning took place.

There was no cure for the disease. We can cure it now fairly easily if detected early on, but back then they did not have treatment. This man had heard of Jesus through the whispers in conversations. Jesus, to our knowledge, did not go into the leper colony and evangelize, but as shown in Matthew 4:23-25

Matthew 4:23–25 ESV

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

we see that Christ had become quite famous in the world of Galilee. This man knew that his one shot at being rid of this terminal illness was to beg mercy from the man they call Jesus.

Jesus saw the faith of the man, the hopeless man who has now put all of his hope in Christ, and because of his faith Jesus touched him and healed him of his disease. Jesus also demonstrated His love and kindness in the fact that He touched the man. He could have spoken the words, as we will talk about in a minute, and the man would have been healed, but Jesus took it a step further and made it sincere and personal.

The Faith of the Centurion

Rome had control of this area, and most of the known world at the time, and in order to keep peace in their empire Caesar would deploy groups of soldiers throughout the land to keep peace. Especially in Israel as they were a proud people and often sought to rise up and take back their homeland.

The centurion, being of Roman decent and not a Jew, heard of Jesus’s fame. Not only did he hear the stories, but this man who his family back home worshiped many gods, this man believed. This man had faith in Jesus. Whether it was a saving, life changing faith, or it was a situational faith where the man believed in Christ for His abilities I do not know, but the fact of the matter is the man had true faith in Christ. Christ was astounded.

The Jewish law was that if a Jew went into the house of a Gentile then that Jew was ceremonially unclean. The Centurion knew this law, and that is why he respectfully told Jesus that he was unworthy to have Him come into his house, and if He would only speak the words from where He is at that moment then the servant would be healed.

Jesus explained to those around Him that there was more faith in this Gentile than many of His own people, the Hebrews.

For the mans faith, the servant was healed.

Miscellaneous Faith

The rest of the story is Christ healing random people. One was Peter’s mother in law. He saw were sick, probably with Malaria. He took compassion, and He healed her. That’s who Jesus was. He saw a need, He took care of a need.

The other accounts are people having faith in Christ, to some degree, and bringing those who were sick or demon possessed to Christ. In faith they brought their friends and loved one. They had some degree of faith that Christ would take care of them if they would bring the sick to Him, and He did.

The importance of these accounts of miracles is not that Jesus can perform them, but that He will. Doctors can do many things, if they will. If you let them. Jesus can do anything, if He will, and if you let Him. He may not step down from heaven and fix your broken leg, or heal a cancer, or solve any other problem that we face. He very well can, and He very well may because of our faith, but Jesus is not bound to anything but His will. But we know that there is one thing that He always will do when it comes to your faith. John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

You hear of Jesus, just like these characters in the stories did. You believe in Jesus, just as these men did. You believe that God has given YOU eternal life through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and you place your faith in that. Nothing else, and you have yourself salvation.

If you have the faith in Christ, Christ’s salvation and everlasting life will be in you. Your faith is the key.