Matthew 8:1-17
Sermon Notes
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So Great
Faith
August 21,
2016
Lynchburg,
Virginia
EXHORDIUM
When he was come down
from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
The
sermon on the mount was a hit. It brought Jesus many followers. They responded
to His teaching and to His authority.
In
this next section, Jesus heals three people, and a group of people, a leper, a
Centurion’s slave, Peter’s mother-in-law, and people who are demon possessed
and sick.
We
continue in our study to look at the character of Jesus. We are not interested
simply in what He does but also why He does so. What kind of man is He?
Jesus
heals the leper because the leper asks with faith. Jesus was willing to go the
Centurion’s house as soon as He was asked to heal his slave. In both instances,
Jesus was willing to heal at the smallest request. He wanted to heal people. It
was not a burden for Him to do so. He was willing to do so when He was tired at
the end of the day, as in the case with Peter’s mother-in-law.
Jesus
heals Peter’s mother-in-law because she was sick and He was near. In that
instance, we are not told if she asked. He just touches her and she is healed.
Then she gets right back to work.
Then
in the evening after the meal, many sick and demon possessed people are brought
to Him. So much for quiet repose. He casts out the demons and heals the sick.
Why? Because He wanted people to be healthy of body, mind and soul.
Jesus
is tireless worker, particularly when it comes to meeting the needs of needy
people.
EXEGESIS
2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and
touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed.
Lepers
were not allowed to approach. They were unclean and considered contagious. But
Jesus not only lets the leper approach. He touches Him. When an unclean person
touches a clean person, the clean person becomes unclean, then they are both
unclean. Not so with Jesus. When clean Jesus touches the unclean, they both
become clean. This is a significant difference between the Old and New
Covenants.
The
man was certainly a leper. Lepers not only were unclean with sores. Their flesh
was eaten away. Jesus didn’t simply stop the spread of this disease. He
restored that which was lost. Jesus was able to create.
4 And Jesus saith unto
him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and
offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
We
see in the after story why Jesus told the man not to tell about the miracle.
The crowds press on Him and He has to depart. Furthermore, He was not simply
telling the man to keep this miracle a secret. Jesus wanted the man to be
obedient to the law. The law required a leper to be declared clean by a priest
and to make a thank offering to God.
Matt.
8:5 And when Jesus was entered
into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home
sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
This
man’s occupation is important. He is a centurion, a commander of 100 men.
Centurions were highly regarded in the Roman army and well paid. This was an
important man.
Luke
gives us a few more details to the story. The man first sent a Jewish
delegation to Jesus. He then sends one of his servants to tell Jesus not to bother
to come to his home. This might look like he was not interested in Jesus coming
to his house. But his motives were pure and of the highest order. He had such
great respect for Jesus that he didn’t even want to bother Jesus to come to his
house. He knew that Jesus was the supreme authority of the land and was
humbling himself before Jesus.
In
Matthew, the word here for servant is pais, which mean child, boy, youth and
can mean servant. In Luke, the word is doulos which refers to a slave. It makes
sense that this person is an important and trusted slave in the household of
the centurion.
This
speaks well of the Centurion’s character. Slaves did not have much status. They
were often mistreated but the Centurion is personally invested in the welfare
of his servant.
The
man is sick of the palsy. He is paralyzed and grievously tormented. He is in
much pain.
7 And Jesus saith unto
him, I will come and heal him.
Jesus
has no problem going to the home of a Gentile, even to the home of a leader of
the occupying forces. He holds no grudge against Rome, her soldiers or her
servants.
8 The centurion
answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my
roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having
soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to
another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
This
man knows what it means to yield authority. When his superiors give him
commands, he responds, “Yes sir!” Now, he is making it clear that Jesus has the
ability to command even sickness. He knows that whatever Jesus says will come
to pass. This is tremendous.
He
might have heard that Jesus was a great healer. In the immediately preceding
miracle, Jesus touched the leper. At other times He spit and made a clay, or
took the hand of the person that was healed. It would have been easy to think
that His ability to heal was in some power that physically passed from His body
into the body of another. But the Centurion knows better. This is very nearly
recognition that Jesus is God in the flesh. Only God can control the details of
a man at a distance.
10 When Jesus heard
it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I
have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Jesus
marvels. He is amazed at the man’s response. He is amazed because of the level
of faith exhibited. Furthermore, the faith of this Gentile puts to shame the
response of Israel to Jesus. He has much greater faith than those who were
supposedly waiting for the Messiah.
11 And I say unto you,
That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast
out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
As
mentioned above, the Sermon on the Mount was a great hit, as were Jesus’s
various miracles. As a result, great crowds followed him. But Jesus was a
controversialist. He could not go many statements withtout saying things that
really upset people, especially those in power.
Jesus
takes another poke at them here but the stroke is broad enough that it catches
some of his disciples, too.
Jesus
has just healed a Roman soldier’s slave. He did so because the soldier asked
and Jesus marveled at the soldier’s great faith. Jesus says that this is
exactly the sort of thing that He is looking for, not the feigned faith of the
children of the kingdom. He is contrasting two kingdoms that exist side by
side, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of men. This point is made elsewhere
in Scripture, not all Israel are Israel. Israel is the chosen son but not all
those descended from him are chosen sons. Rather, those who have faith like
Abraham are the true sons.
Jesus
is pointing out that the false sons do not have faith in God. This is revealed
by their bad fruit, their wicked deeds and even more particularly as they
reject the Messiah, Jesus, Himself. Such unbelief will be thrown into the outer
darkness.
13 And Jesus said unto
the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto
thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
The
Centurion is a true son.
Matt. 8:14
And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s
mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15 And he touched her hand,
and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
Jesus touched Peter’s mother-in-law to heal her.
After she was healed, she served dinner.
16 When the even was
come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast
out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our
sicknesses.
Many were possessed with devils. The demons
seemed to have a heyday in Israel. They were not afraid of the religious rulers
or the scribes. But Jesus had authority and He bid them be gone and they were.
Jesus healed all that were sick.
He bore our iniquities and sicknesses by taking
them away. The chief way He does this for us is by taking away our sins. We
still struggle with sickness, health issues and all must pass through the trial
of death. But the Christian life is also one of general health. There are
exceptions to this rule based upon God’s own choices. But we should understand
that Jesus wants us to healthy of soul, mind and body.
When I say that He wants us to be healthy of
body, I do not mean we are to follow every food fad or exercise fad. We can be
generally health by receiving His gifts of food and drink with thankfulness and
working hard as He has called us to do.
EXHORTATION
Who is Jesus? How do you
respond to Him?
You have to know who you are. You are
sons of the kingdom, like many in Israel were. But you are now sons of God in
the church of Jesus Christ. That is a good and glorious thing but by itself
does not guarantee your seat in heaven.
The crowds who came to follow Jesus
were sick and needy. As a result, they asked Him to help them and He did so.
But the scribes and Pharisees thought of themselves as above the crowd. They
did not think they needed healing and so they got none.
On many occasions, Jesus forgave sins
immediately before or after healing someone. His point was that the forgiveness
of sins is our big need. The forgiveness of sins also heals the body. But in
order to be forgiven sins, one must realize the need for forgiveness. But to
all that come to Jesus as a humble suppliant, He grants them His grace and mercy.
So, we must identify with the sick, the needy, the foreigner, the demon
possessed. In these stories, those people are the true faithful.
If you see this, your true need for
Jesus, then you will be healed of soul, of mind and of body. But if you refuse
to see this, confess to Him and repent of your sins, then you will be like the
unbelieving Pharisees, chief priests and scribes whose place is the outer
darkness.
Now, I also want to say that the Lord
makes us strong through forgiveness. We do grow. We do become stalwart sons of
God who stand fast. But we never stand fast on our own. We always stand fast by
standing on the rock that is Christ. That is part of understanding your
neediness. Your strength, health, vigor, growth in grace, comes from Jesus. You
may grow strong but you will always need Jesus, need forgiveness. You will
always be needy in that sense.
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