Sermon Tone Analysis

Most of us in this room have completed whatever formal education we are going to receive, whether that is high-school, college, etc.

And the age-old question that is always asked, probably particularly in middle-school math or science, is “when am I ever going to use this?”

Did you ever ask that question?

Did you ever study a subject and wonder “when is this rubber ever going to meet the road?”

Now, for many, learning is all the fun, and the more information and new concepts that can be discovered or mastered really excites them.

But if you’re more practical in nature, learning things like Newton’s laws and Pythagoras’ theorem really don’t get your gears turning.

Great teachers always find a way for those things to enter in.

Now, I’m not a math person.

It was my least proficient subject, and Lizzy will tell you that when it comes to numbers I’m still out of my league sometimes even with basic addition.

I’m only partially kidding there.

I often joke that I’ve focused my studies in scripture and theology because I can usually stay pretty far from mathematics.

In fact, my one math class that I was required to take in college was my worst grade - it haunts me to this day.

But sometimes even math comes to life.

Like that Pythagoras Theorem - anyone remember that?

A2 plus b2 equals c2?

Well, wouldn’t you know that as a carpenter I use that calculation all the time to square up lines, and walls, and cabinets, etc?

And I have to admit that I use a calculator to do it for me most often, but I still remember the first time I didn’t have my calculator and I had to do the math with a pencil on a piece of scrap wood.

Sometimes the light clicks and ideas come to life, show themselves in reality, and make a big difference.

Well, having just come off our series on the sermon on the Mount, we’ve received a lot of teaching, haven’t we?

And particularly at the end of the sermon, that teaching showed us a lot about who Jesus is - His Lordship, His authority, His eternal power.

And as we saw at the very end, people were amazed - they were awe-stricken at Jesus’ authority - the authority behind his words.

Now, if it had stopped there, then Jesus’ may have been what many truly believe he is - just a good teacher, just a significant, if not controversial, Jewish Rabbi.

The sermon on the mount may be seen as just a pinnacle of ethical instruction, but nothing more than that.

And the teaching is marvelous and truly life-giving, as we’ve already seen - but we haven’t seen all of Jesus, who he is and what he does, yet - we’ve only gotten a taste so far in Matthew.

That teaching is a pinnacle, at this point, in Israel’s history - for the first time, perhaps, God Himself has come to instruct on the true meaning of His law, the true depth of blessing available, and the true scope and source of righteousness.

But it doesn’t end with the teaching - the authority doesn’t stop there.

As Jesus came down off the mountain, he is immediately met by people in need.

Now, one thing to know about Matthew is that he doesn’t necessarily arrange everything in chronological order.

So we can’t say for sure that these accounts all happened the same day, but they are confirmed in Mark and Luke as well, so we know that they happened - and as we will see, they happened and Matthew records them for a purpose.

In these miracles, Jesus’ authority and care really enter in to the darkness, the sin, the curse, the effects of the fall, in a major sense.

He enters in to human brokenness and uncleanness in a way that would have shocked and even repulsed many of the Jews of that day.

Jesus’ ministry is affirmed, broadened, and attested to by these miracles.

But they not only tell us about his authority and power, but they tell us what He is like.

In these accounts, we see the power and authority of God Himself walking around on two legs.

For years, the little phrase became popular - W.W.J.D. What would Jesus do?

It was on bracelets and shirts and ballcaps.

Maybe you or your children wore some of those.

That’s an intriguing question, and its a question meant to provoke a positive action in the one who asks it.

Be like Jesus, is the big idea - and that is good.

We should be Christ like.

But what do we see when we see Jesus?

For Him, we don’t have to ask “What would Jesus do?”

Because he is Jesus.

But in stead we ask, “what would God do?’

What would God do if a leprous man approached him on the street?

What would God do if a Roman Military official begged him to help his servant?

What would God do if a woman was sick on her bed, unable to rise?

What would God do with the brokenness, the sin, the curse, the uncleanness, the impurity of human life?

Well, Jesus is God - and in these accounts we see what he would do - enter in to it, touch it, look it square in the face, deliver it, heal it.

Regardless of condition, background, or status, Jesus’ authority and care can enter in and heal what is broken and unclean.

Three Stories

Verse one tells us that when Jesus came down from the mountain, after his sermon, great crowds began to follow him.

We will see later that these great crowds were not necessarily following him in the sense of a disciple, as many of them would walk away - but nevertheless, he had garnered the interest of many, and that is really nos surprise.

Before we started into the sermon on the mount, we got just a glimpse into Jesus’ healing ministry.

So in one sense, we’re picking up where we left off.

We see in those verses that Jesus had “great fame” as a teacher and a healer, and no doubt the sermon on the mount only bolstered that.

Remember what the people’s response was after he finished teaching?

They were astonished - they were amazed - baffled by the authority that Jesus taught with.

And so now the audience is watching, and again, we’re not sure if all three of these healings happened on the same day, but the idea is that the crowds are watching, the people are taking notice of what Jesus would do.

And as Matthew records it, the first “test” he gets, so to speak, after coming down the mountain would have been one for the history books.

1.

The Leprous Man

Now, we could stop reading after the first phrase in that verse, because that is where the crowds would have stepped back.

“And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him...”

Leprosy is still around today, at least in name - and the one that is around today may not be the exact disease that was being spread around in Jesus’ time, but it would have been very similar.

Leprosy was any number of contagious skin diseases, most notably a disease that essentially killed the body from the outside in.

In the commonly known disease, the infected would start with sores, rashes, or boils, and in the infected areas all feeling would often be lost, and the skin would die, waste away, and even be rubbed off over time.

There were other less deadly forms of skin disease which were also called by this one word “leprosy,” but their physical symptoms were not the only ramification.

In Israel, there were some very important laws in place concerning the spread of skin disease.

Leviticus 13-14 are almost entirely filled with laws and procedures about leprosy and skin disease.

I would encourage you to read those chapters at a later time, and it will help you to get a truer sense of what this man was facing.

The highlight of those chapters, or perhaps the low-light if you were the infected one, is in chapter 13:45-46

And there is the picture - a dwelling outside the camp, alone, marked by his unkempt hair and tattered clothing, and whenever near another individual, crying out “unclean, unclean” with his hand over his upper lip.

It is thought now that leprosy was spread mostly through saliva and respiratory droplets, so the hand over the mouth was to prevent that spread while the person was yelling out their condition.

Now, as usual, what started as a measure to protect from the spread of infection turned in to hatred and despising of the infected.

Now we can be a little lighthearted this morning, but over the last couple of years we could probably all agree that there has been some animosity around the whole Covid-19 pandemic?

Differing opinions, opposing parties calling the other side unreasonable and irresponsible for opposing reasons.

And that is only after two years.

Imagine the man in our story.

These laws concerning leprosy had been in place for 1500 years at this point!

And leprosy was a continual disease.

Remember the story of the cleansing of Namaan by Elishah?

The scriptures tell us that there were many lepers in the land at that time.

And what about in Jesus day?

Well in Luke 17, we read the account of Jesus healing 10 lepers who were all together, and the idea was that all these lepers and more lived together in “camps” so to speak.

To add to this, in the Talmud, one Jewish Rabbi is recorded as recommending throwing stones at lepers to keep them at a safe distance.

When I got covid, I remember thinking, “well, people are going to think this or that about me… I’m going to have to walk around with a mask that says “unclean, unclean...” Folks, we have no idea what this situation was like.

No idea the fear for life on the part of the healthy, and no idea the separation and agony and sadness on the part of the infected.

Let alone families that were torn apart when a spouse was infected and was good as dead.

Well, in contrast to the Rabbi who threw stones when a leper approached, what does Jesus do?

In stead of stepping back, in stead of being angry, Jesus reaches out, and touches the man.

He touches him!

Nobody touched a leper.

Nobody got close enough to be at arms length.

But Jesus touches him.

Notice what the leprous man says -

“Lord” - which was at the very least a title of respect, but seeing the request that he was about to make, it more than likely was admitting that Jesus was more than a mere teacher.”

“If you will...” Do you see that?

From whatever the leper had heard, whatever he had seen, he believed that with Jesus it wasn’t a matter of ability or authority - Jesus had both of those in full supply.

It wasn’t a matter of ability or authority, but of will.

Do you approach the Lord like that?