Please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, verse 28.
If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.
!
If it takes months to preach about Jesus' sermon, his first sermon, you could see how amazing his sermon was.
He gave all that in one sermon.
Unbelievable.
We're in Matthew chapter 7, verse 28.
Before I read, let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Heavenly Father, as we sang earlier this morning, we rely on your Word.
We cling to your Word.
As your people, Lord.
We hold on to every word you speak.
So we now come eagerly.
And we want to hear from you again.
As you always do when we are gathered in your name.
You speak to us.
You address us.
In your Word.
From your Word.
So Lord.
With your Word, glorify your name.
Reveal yourself to us in the grace, in the love, and the authority of Jesus Christ, your Son.
That we might know you rightly.
Relate to you rightly.
That we might be healed.
For you are our great healer.
The great physician.
So meet with us in all of our sins, dysfunctions, diseases here this morning.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
If you are able, please stand as we honor God before we read His Word.
I'm going to start in Matthew 7, 28 and go to chapter 8, verse 17.
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching.
For He was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.
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 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.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Please be seated.
Whenever there's a party or a networking event,
and you encounter someone making grand and impressive claims about themselves,
or about the things that they have done,
or things that they know,
there's a follow-up question that someone in the group usually asks.
So, what do you do for a living?
Right?
It's an indirect question.
But the direct question that's underlying that indirect question is,
you know,
are these grand, impressive claims that you're making for real?
Are these claims related to your line of work or your field of expertise?
In other words,
do you have the authority to speak on such matters?
Who are you to make such grand claims?
That's the same question that's burning as we read the Sermon on the Mount,
as the hearers in the first century would have heard Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
That's the same question that's burning in people's hearts.
Who are you?
Do you have the authority to say the kinds of things that you are saying, Jesus?
Because in the Beatitudes in chapter 5,
Jesus declared authoritatively,
these are the people to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs.
Who are you to say that?
How do you know?
And then Jesus set his teaching in chapter 5 of Matthew
over and against two millennia of Jewish legal teaching of the Old Testament,
all the legal precedents.
And then Jesus authoritatively declared how the Jewish leaders were wrong
and how he is right in saying,
you have heard that it was said,
but I say to you.
Setting himself in contrast over two millennia of Jewish legal tradition and teaching.
And he said, not only that,
that he has come to fulfill the entire law and the prophets in Matthew 5, 17 to 20.
Here's all the requirements of God's law.
I've come to fulfill it.
All of it.
Every jot and tittle.
Not a dot and iota will perish from the law.
Meaning he's saying even the very smallest part of the law,
he will himself fulfill it.
Not only that, he made even bolder claims.
And toward the end of his sermon in chapter 7 that we looked at,
Jesus declared himself to be the Lord
that people will call upon as judge on the final day of judgment.
People will come to Jesus and say,
Lord, Lord.
Lord.
And not only did Jesus say that only those who does the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven,
he switched that at the end of his sermon and said,
whoever does my will,
whoever obeys my words,
he is the one who enters the kingdom of heaven.
These are grand claims.
What kind of man dares to speak in such a manner?
Who are you, Jesus?
That's what we see here in chapter 7, verse 28 to 29.
And this is the crowd's conclusion.
When Jesus had finished these sayings,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching.
Why were they astonished?
It says,
For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.
When Jesus first began to preach his sermon,
after climbing up into the mountain, chapter 5, verse 1 to 2,
he was speaking directly to his disciples, his inner circle of followers.
But we can see here that in the course of the sermon,
the crowds have assembled around him
to kind of observe and to eavesdrop on what he was teaching his disciples.
So this is the crowds that were observing the kind of things he was saying.
And they conclude that he taught as someone who had authority,
not like their scribes.
This is a fascinating and revealing observation.
Because who are these scribes?
These scribes are the Jewish legal scholars.
They're the ones who have the authority to teach the Jews what God's word says.
They're the ones who are sanctioned by the governing bodies.
They are the so-called experts, the establishment.
And yet here is Jesus.
From the perspective of the Jewish leaders,
Jesus is this upstart, itinerant preacher,
a carpenter's son.
And these people who hear him teach say,
oh, he has authority,
not the scribes.
It's an amazing statement.
When you go into a doctor's office or a professor's office,
you usually find on their walls the certifications and the diplomas.
This is a way of establishing your credentials.
I have the training.
I have the authority to speak on the things that I'm about to speak about.
That's how, in a sinful world, that is necessary.
Because people lie and there are fakes.
And so people need credentials.
And we need credentialing bodies.
And that's what these doctors and professors have.
And I think that's especially important in the age of YouTube and TikTok
when everybody can have a platform
and everybody can be a self-proclaimed authority on all kinds of things.
Right?
So this is important.
So I'm not poo-pooing such credentials.
Sorry, is that funny?
Yeah, funny word, yeah.
However, it's notable that Jesus did not have such credentials.
No human governing board gave Jesus any certification or authorization.
Jesus, in fact, it says in John 2.25,
needed no man to bear witness about him.
Why?
Because it says in John 5.37,
The Father who sent him has himself borne witness about him.
At Jesus' baptism, God the Father said,
This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.
That's Jesus' certification.
That's Jesus' authorization.
It did not come from man.
It came from God himself.
This is not human authority.
It's divine spiritual authority.
And when you look at someone with divine spiritual authority like Jesus,
all human authorities pale in comparison,
like a firefly that is buzzing in front of the sun.
And so they marveled that Jesus taught them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.
So that's the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount.
And in the following passages of chapters 8 and 9,
Matthew recounts nine miracle stories.
And they're intended to demonstrate Jesus' comprehensive authority over diseases
and natural disasters and demons and even over death itself.
These nine miracle stories are arranged in groups of three.
And today we're looking at the first group of three,
which highlight in particular Jesus' authority over diseases.
Jesus' authority as our healer.
And the main point of this passage is that Jesus is the Lord who has authority to heal us.
So first we're going to look at the leper.
Second, the Gentile centurion.
And third, we're going to look at the elderly and the infirm,
Peter's mother-in-law, that Jesus heals.
When Jesus comes down from the mountain,
the great crowds, it says, are following him.
At that very moment, there's a leper who takes an extraordinary risk
and makes a bold move in stopping Jesus in his tracks.
He approaches Jesus as he's walking with the crowds.
And then he kneels before Jesus and then he pleads,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
The word leprosy can refer to a range of disfiguring, debilitating, contagious skin diseases.
Because it was contagious, Leviticus 13 to 14,
which gives very detailed rules and stipulations about people with leprosy,
it said that lepers were to be regarded as ceremonially, ritually unclean.
They were required to wear torn clothes.
And they were required to let their hairs hang loose
so that it would be obvious to all passersby,
oh, there's a leper.
Oh, there's a leper.
Stay away.
Torn clothes, loose hair.
When being approached by people or when approaching people,
lepers were required to call out,
unclean, unclean,
to warn people that they were lepers that are approaching.
They couldn't just call out on their own,
just as loud as it would.
They had to actually cover their upper lip as they called out,
unclean, unclean.
It doesn't say why they had to cover their upper lip.
I imagine it's because you don't even want spittle coming out
that can potentially defile someone.
So imagine just how humiliating this disease is
and how socially isolating it is.
There were other things in the Old Testament
that made people ritually and ceremonially unclean,
like touching a corpse or bodily discharge
or touching something.
You know, these things caused uncleanness too,
but only temporarily.
And you could do the ritual cleansing
and wait a couple days or weeks,
depending on what it was,
and you'll be clean again.
With lepers, there's no such hope of an expiration date
of their uncleanness
because leprosy was permanent
and you were permanently unclean,
permanently cut off from society.
They were deemed dirty,
unfit for society.
And for this reason,
even though the New Testament
normally uses the language of healing for diseases,
when it comes to lepers,
it consistently uses language,
not of healing, but of cleansing.
So when Jesus instructs his 12 apostles
in Matthew 10, 8,
to go and proclaim the gospel,
proclaim the kingdom of God,
he adds this.
He says,
heal the sick,
raise the dead,
cleanse lepers.
Leprosy was medically incurable.
In 2 Kings 5, verse 7,
the king of Syria
sends his military commander, Naaman,
who had heard rumors
of an amazing,
wonder-working prophet in Israel,
to go to the land of Israel
so that he could receive healing for his leprosy.
And being an important person,
he goes straight to the king of Israel,
thinking that, of course,
he's the one who's going to know
where I can receive healing in Israel.
And when Naaman sends the letter over to him
from his own king, king of Syria,
the king reads it,
Israelite king,
and then he tears his clothes in indignation
and says,
am I God to kill and to make alive?
that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?
Only consider and see how he's seeking a quarrel with me.
The king,
who has all the authority and power of his kingdom,
thinks that curing a leper is impossible,
on par with raising the dead.
So much so that he says,
am I God?
Only God can do that.
When we consider all this background,
then we can really appreciate the faith of this leper
and the risk that he took in approaching Jesus.
Perhaps it's also indicative of his desperation.
In other parts of the gospel,
in Matthew 20,
when, for example,
blind men are calling out to Jesus on the streets,
the crowds that follow him are annoyed by these blind men.
It's like,
hey,
stop shouting.
Move out of the way.
But these blind men were just a nuisance.
This leper is not just a nuisance.
He's a contagion.
He's a public health threat.
And they're in Jesus' way.
So imagine the gasping and crowds
and backing up as this leper is approaching Jesus.
And this leper falls on his knees before Jesus
and says in verse two,
Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean.
This is an amazing confession on a number of levels.
First, he addresses Jesus as Lord.
This is a Greek word that can be used conventionally
to mean sir,
as just a polite way of referring to your social superior.
But in the context of Matthew's gospel,
I want to argue that it's a more theologically loaded term.
It's a heavyweight term.
Because remember,
Jesus appropriates this title,
Lord,
for himself for the very first time
in the gospel of Matthew,
in the Sermon on the Mount,
in Matthew 7,
when he declares himself to be the judge and ruler
over all
on the final day of judgment.
He's Lord.
That's when he's first called Lord.
So that's in the background of our minds
when we come to this passage right on the heels of that.
And then this leper calls Jesus Lord.
Moreover,
the fact that this leper
believes that Jesus has the authority,
the power to heal him,
to cleanse him,
when all of Old Testament says,
leprosy,
no one cures but God,
also shows that he sees something more
than just a polite sir
when he calls him Lord.
He's acknowledging the lordship of Christ,
which is why he kneels before him,
which is the appropriate posture of subjection
and humility before your master.
And then this leper says,
if you will,
not if you can.
If you will,
you can make me clean.
It's such an amazing, commendable faith.
How many times do we ask God for things
and then we just lose track of it altogether?
We don't follow up about it
because we're not really expecting anything to happen.
That's not a prayer of if you will.
That's a prayer of if you can, God.
But this leper says,
if you can,
not if you can,
if you will,
then you can make me clean.
He submits himself to the authority of Jesus
and the willingness of Jesus to heal.
And Jesus' response is shocking.
He says in verse 3 that Jesus stretched out his hand
and touched him,
saying,
I will be clean.
Remember, this is no ordinary sick person.
This is a leper
with a contagious skin disease.
To touch a leper was to contract ceremonial defilement.
Not only ceremonial defilement,
it was to expose yourself to actual contagious disease.
So you can imagine the horror of the crowds
as Jesus is stretching out his hand to do that.
And Jesus is not like,
you know,
he's not pulling out these latex gloves
and putting it on before he touches him.
He just stretches out his hand
and touches the leper.
This leper probably has not had anyone,
anyone healthy,
anyone besides other lepers,
touch him in a long time.
It's a very humanizing
and compassionate gesture
from Lord Jesus
to stretch out his hand
and touch this leper.
And yes, it's true
that Jesus' usual mode of operation
when it came to healing
was to lay hands on them
and to heal them,
hands on people.
That is true
and that is somewhat what's going on here.
However,
you know,
Jesus didn't have to do that.
We know, for example,
from the immediately following passage
that Jesus can heal someone from a distance.
Jesus can heal people
without going there in person
and touching them.
So why couldn't he do the same here
with this dangerous leper?
He touches the leper
not out of necessity,
but out of compassion,
out of mercy.
He's not only cleansing this leper
of his leprosy,
he's also rehabilitating him
and healing him
from the pain of isolation,
rejection, and alienation.
And as he touches the leper,
Jesus says,
I will be clean.
The simplicity of that answer
just conveys the commanding authority
that Jesus has,
a simple indicative.
I will.
I am willing.
You asked me if you will,
I can make you clean.
You are right.
I will.
I'm willing.
And then simply a command,
be clean.
And it says in verse three,
immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
It's no gradual fading
of the skin disease.
It's no natural healing over time.
Immediately,
with Jesus's word,
the leper is cleansed.
This immediate healing
showcases Jesus's authority,
that he is the Lord
who has the authority
to heal us.
Afterward,
Jesus tells this leper
in verse four,
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.
In the gospels,
especially in Mark,
Jesus often tells people
that he heals
not to speak of the miracle.
We'll see this again later
in Matthew 9, 30,
and 12, 16.
And in Matthew 12, 17 to 21,
Matthew actually gives us
the reason why Jesus does this
by quoting from Isaiah 42,
verses one to four.
And there,
I'm not quoting the full thing,
but part of it,
it says that the Messiah
will not quarrel
or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear
his voice in the streets.
In other words,
Jesus is never going
to be showboating.
He's never going
to be posting advertisements
of himself
all across towns
of this wonder worker
that is coming into town.
That's not the way
he does his miracles.
Jesus does not want
to stir up
a feverish crowd
of followers
because that will prevent him,
hamper him
from doing the mission
that he has set out to do,
which is to proclaim
the kingdom of God.
God.
So instead,
Jesus tells him,
go quietly,
go to the priest,
make the appropriate offering
as specified
in Leviticus 13 to 14
so that you can be
formally declared
clean by the priest
and reenter society.
And then,
in verses 5 to 6,
the scene moves
to Capernaum
where a centurion
comes forward to Jesus
appealing to him,
Lord,
my servant
is lying paralyzed
at home,
suffering terribly.
A centurion
is an officer
in the Roman army
and Capernaum
is Roman-occupied territory
and this,
all centurions
would have been
Gentiles
and we know this
explicitly
because verse 10
tells us,
Jesus says,
truly I tell you,
with no one in Israel
have I found such faith.
So Jesus is saying
that this Gentile centurion
has more faith
than I've seen
in all Israel,
among all the Jews.
So this is a Gentile centurion.
Apparently,
this centurion's servant
is paralyzed.
We don't know exactly
what that means.
He's suffering terribly.
Maybe he has strokes.
Maybe he has polio.
We have no idea.
But whatever the case,
it's something for which
there is no easy
medical solution
because there was
a quick or accessible
medical solution.
Then this centurion
with means
could have simply
gone to the doctors
and gotten it.
And this centurion too,
like the leper,
addresses Jesus as Lord.
And this is remarkable
because it's followed
immediately by him
referring to
my servant.
The centurion
is himself a lord.
He has a servant
under his authority.
And yet,
he calls Jesus
his lord.
This is all upside down
because in Roman society,
the Romans are
the occupying powers.
The Jews are the occupied.
Roman centurion
is an officer
in the Roman army
of the powerful occupiers
and his social standing
is higher than that
of Jesus
in the Roman Empire.
And yet,
the centurion too
humbles himself
and calls Jesus
lord.
Again,
the fact that he has faith
that Jesus has
this kind of authority
shows it's no mere
polite sir.
It's lord.
The lord of authority.
The lord
over creation.
Jesus responds
in verse 7
in the ESV.
It says,
I will come
and heal him.
Is anybody
using the NIV
or the CSB,
New International Version,
or the,
okay,
a few of you
at the Christian Standard Bible?
So those two versions
have a question.
Is that right?
You guys have
a question
instead of a statement.
It says,
am I to come
and heal him?
Jesus asks a question
instead.
This is,
the uncertainty
about this
is because
in the original manuscript
in the Greek
there are no punctuation marks.
So you have to use
the context
to determine
whether it's a statement
or a question.
So it could be either.
It's a judgment call
and you can't be sure
but I do lean toward
the NIV
and the CSB's translation
in this instance.
Because of the way
it parallels
Jesus' interaction
with the Gentile woman,
the Canaanite woman
later in Matthew 15
verse 21 to 28.
First,
these are the only
two miracle stories
in the Gospel of Matthew
where the beneficiaries
of Jesus' healing
are explicitly said
to be Gentiles.
And then second,
these are the only
two miracle stories
in Matthew
where Jesus
heals someone
from a distance.
And third,
these are the only
two miracle stories
in Matthew
where Jesus
commends
the extraordinary
faith
of the people
who came to him.
So there's a lot
of parallels.
He says to the centurion
in verse 10,
truly I tell you
with no one in Israel
have I found such faith.
To the Canaanite woman
in 1528,
Jesus says,
oh woman,
great is your faith.
I think these parallels
are deliberate
and for that reason
I expect other aspects
of Jesus' interaction
with this Gentile centurion
to match
his interaction
with this Gentile
Canaanite woman
later on
in Matthew 15.
In Matthew 15,
if you know the story,
the Canaanite woman
asks Jesus
to heal her daughter
who is oppressed,
sorely oppressed
by a demon
and Jesus does not
immediately assent
like he does here
according to the ESV transition.
I will come and heal him.
No, he says first,
no.
He says,
I was sent only
to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel.
It isn't right
to take the children's bread
and throw it to the dogs.
Jesus initially refuses.
Why?
In order to test
the Gentile woman's faith,
are you willing
to humble yourself
as a Gentile before me?
Acknowledge that
I am a Jewish Messiah,
that salvation
is from the Jews
and are we willing
to beg for mercy?
And this woman's
extraordinary faith,
her great faith
overcomes
Jesus' initial refusal.
And then Jesus
commends her faith
and heals her daughter.
I think the same sequence
is happening
in our passage.
In verse 7,
Jesus is not immediately
assenting
to the centurion's request.
If he was just saying,
I will come and heal him,
I think it's a little
presumptuous
of the centurion
to be like,
oh, no, no, no,
you don't come.
You know,
I mean, this is,
you can't come,
you're not worried,
I'm not worried to have you.
He's saying,
I'll come.
Just, you know what I mean?
He's saying,
no, no,
I don't think
that's what's going on.
I think he's saying,
shall I myself
come and heal him?
And he's pushing back,
challenging him,
asking the question.
I think this is just
translation is confirmed
by the fact that
in the Greek,
Jesus uses an emphatic
first person pronoun,
I myself.
Shall I myself
come and heal him?
Should I,
a Jewish Messiah,
come to your house,
a Gentile,
that no Jews
would enter into,
no law-abiding Jews
would enter into
in those days,
to heal your servant?
Jesus is again
testing the centurion's faith.
Does he have the humility
to acknowledge
the appropriate place
of Gentiles
in salvation history?
That salvation is first
from the Jews
before it goes out
among the Gentiles.
Is he willing
to humble himself
before Jesus?
Good for this
Gentile centurion,
he passes Jesus' test
with flying colors.
He replies in verses
eight to nine,
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.
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.
He is saying,
of course,
Jesus,
of course,
Lord,
I'm a Gentile,
I'm not worthy
to have you come
under my roof.
I wasn't presuming
that you would do that.
However,
I am a soldier
in a military hierarchy
and I understand
the nature of authority.
I know that all you need
to do is say the word
and it will be done.
The centurion,
like anyone
who has ever served
in the armed forces,
understands authority.
He knows what it's like
to be under authority.
He knows what it's like
to have authority
over others.
As the saying goes,
I don't know
where this originated from,
but if your commanding officer
says jump,
you don't ask,
why?
You ask,
how high, sir?
And then you jump.
This centurion
is used to that.
He says go,
they go.
He says come,
they come.
He says do this,
they do it
because he has
authority over them.
And this is especially
important in the military
hierarchy because
you have to,
and they're always
trying to during
training
to break the soldiers,
to get in the habit
of obeying authority
because people are not
used to that,
I think,
especially,
and because if you,
you have to assume
that your authority figure
knows better than you.
You have to assume
that you don't have
complete information
because if you doubt
and question
and delay
and hesitate
and you don't
follow orders
in the military,
you can mean
life or death.
So the centurion
knows and understands
authority.
So,
but what he's
implying is
staggering.
He's implying
that Jesus
has authority
over
disease.
Yeah,
sure,
human beings,
like,
they can understand
you,
so you can command
them to do things
and they'll do it,
but a disease?
Who has authority
over disease?
He's implying,
suggesting that Jesus
is the Lord
of creation,
the Lord
by whom
the world
came to be,
the Lord
of heaven and earth,
who has authority
over even sickness
and health
and life
and death
and all he needs
to do is say
the word,
leave paralysis
and it leaves.
Jesus is the Lord
who has authority
to heal us.
This leads to
Jesus' commendation
of a centurion
in verse 10.
Truly I tell you,
with no one in Israel
have I found such faith.
It's amazing
that it says
that Jesus marveled
at this man's faith.
That word marvel
or amazed
is usually used
to refer to people
being amazed
by Jesus.
This here
is the only place
where it's used
of Jesus being amazed
by someone else.
Imagine having that
in your spiritual bio.
This man
made Jesus marvel
at his faith.
Amazing.
And then that commendation
is followed by
an amazing promise
in verses 11 to 12.
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.
What is in view here
is the heavenly
messianic banquet
that Isaiah 25
verse 6 prophesied of
and speaks of
reclining at table
like lying down
at table
which is what
how people
in the ancient Near East
dine when they're eating
especially at a feast.
So this is referring
to a feast.
It's the end time feast
of the kingdom of heaven
where Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob
will also be present.
So Jesus is echoing
the prophecies
of Isaiah 59
19 and Malachi 1
11 which speaks
of from the east
to the west
from the rising
of the sun
to the setting
of the sun
nations from all
over the world
coming to worship God.
It will no longer
be Jews only
who submit
to the kingship of God
and worship him
in the kingdom of heaven
but it will also be
the Gentile nations
who do that.
because of his
amazing faith
this centurion
becomes the harbinger
of that
in gathering
of the Gentiles
to come.
He becomes
one of the first fruits
of that Gentile harvest
that Jesus brings about.
This is why
after his death
and resurrection
Jesus commissions
his disciples
not to go to
the people of Israel
only
which was the case
during Jesus' life
before his death
but after his death
and resurrection
he commissions them
to go and make
disciples of all nations.
It's the broadening
and the extending
of this mission of God
to save
and seek
and save the lost.
In fact
Jesus prophesies here
that many of the Jews
the sons of the kingdom
will be thrown
into the outer darkness
where there is
weeping
and gnashing
of teeth.
Gnashing
probably suggests anger
just grinding teeth
and anger.
He's saying
that many of the Jews
will reject Jesus
as their Messiah
and therefore
will be cast out
which is consistent
with the parables
of the parable
of the defaulting tenants
in Matthew 21
as well as the parable
of the wedding feast
in chapter 22
where many of the sons
of the kingdom
the Jews
are invited
but they refuse
to come
to the wedding feast.
Of course
Jesus is not saying
that all Jews
are excluded
because he is a Jew
and all his apostles
are Jews
but rather he is speaking
of the radical
reconstitution
of the people
of God
that you will no longer
be Jews only
it's now both Jews
and Gentiles.
So this centurion
becomes the first
of many Gentiles
who will come
to follow Jesus
in the New Testament
and beyond
and his servant
is healed immediately
like the leper
he says in verse 13
Jesus said
go
let it be done
for you
as you have believed
and the servant
was healed
at that very moment
again highlighting
the authority
of Jesus
to heal
instantaneous
miraculous healing.
That brings us
to the final healing
miracle of this section
verse 14 to 17.
The first story
was about
the outcast leper
the second story
is about this alien
the foreign Gentile
and this third story
is also about
someone who is
usually overlooked
in society
and this third category
is the elderly
and the infirm.
Jesus is at
Peter's house
in Capernaum
and notice that
Peter is not the one
who asks Jesus
to heal
his mother-in-law.
I don't know why
when a young person
is sick
usually people ask
pray for healing
when a really
really old person
is sick
people sometimes
ask for prayer
that they would
die well
maybe quick
quickly and painlessly
the expectations
change as people
age
and maybe
that's the case
here
it's normal
and expected
for an elderly
person to be infirm
but Jesus
does not overlook
this elderly
woman either
he is the one
who first sees her
he is the one
who first initiates
and approaches her
and touches her
hand
and Jesus
commanding authority
is evident again
in verse 15
when it says
that fever
left her
it's an incredible
use of personification
the personifying
of fever
fever
fevers don't have
feet
they're not people
they don't leave
right
and yet
that language
kind of highlights
it dramatizes
what the story
of the centurion
just said
if you have
authority
you say go
and they go
and you say
come
and they come
and when Jesus
touched Peter's
mother-in-law's
hand
this fever
suddenly grew
feet
and then he
fled
that's the kind
of authority
that Jesus
wields
this woman
who was
formerly
useless
unable to help
with anything
now
rises up
to serve
and it leads
to a full
evening of
busy ministry
where many
are exercised
and healed
and again
Jesus'
authority
is highlighted
it says
in verse 16
he cast
out demons
with a word
say the word
Jesus
with a word
he casts
out demons
there's no need
for elaborate
rituals
and bells
and incenses
just a simple
word
and then Matthew
gives us a summary
of what has taken
place so far
with a quotation
from Isaiah 53
verse 4
he took
our illnesses
and bore
!
our diseases
this verse
is part of
the most famous
servant song
of Isaiah
in Isaiah 52
and 53
and it prophesies
of the Messiah
the coming Messiah
and we read this
for assurance of pardon
it says in Isaiah 53
verses 3 to 5
he was despised
and rejected
by men
a man of sorrows
and acquainted
with grief
and as one
from whom
men hide their faces
he was despised
and we esteemed
him not
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
Jesus is the fulfillment
of this prophecy
that's what
that's what Matthew
is telling us
Jesus is the man
of sorrows
who has borne
our griefs
and carried
our sorrows
or as Matthew
puts it
he took our illnesses
and bore
our diseases
when Jesus
the son of God
took on human flesh
and lived as a man
here on earth
he embraced
the full range
of human suffering
and sorrows
he wept
at the sight
of death
at his friend
Lazarus' tomb
he saw many
who were sick
and sorely oppressed
by demons
and Jesus
did not stay aloof
quarantined from
our sorrows
and sufferings
he came into
our world
to take up
our sufferings
and he dealt
with us
compassionately
as we see
in this
morning's passage
but Jesus
did not come
merely to deal
with our sicknesses
because if
that were the case
he would be
dealing with
the symptoms
only
and not
with the root
disease
and the cost
because the
leper
who was healed
by Jesus
and the
centurion
servant
and Peter's
mother-in-law
they all
eventually
died again
because the
wages of sin
is death
in fact
all diseases
and all
suffering
in this world
is a symptom
is an effect
of sin
which has come
into our world
if Jesus
does not save
us from sin
then he is not
a complete savior
but thanks be to God
Jesus came to deal
with our sins
once and for all
and that's
really the main
main point
of Isaiah 53
it uses the metaphor
of sickness
and diseases
and how Jesus
takes those things
away from us
and to speak also
of how he takes
our sins away
from us
and that's exactly
how 1 Peter
chapter 2
verse 24
cites Isaiah 53
he says
he himself
bore our sins
in his body
on the tree
that we might
die to sin
and live to
righteousness
by his wounds
you have been
healed
from our sins
we are saved
by his wounds
on the cross
because Jesus
on the cross
was bearing
our sins
and so it is
not inappropriate
then to see
in these healing
miracles
a picture
of the healing
that Jesus
accomplishes
in our lives
as sinners
because we are
all in one sense
lepers
sin is contagious
if you doubt that
read the newspaper
sin is contagious
it's the greatest
contagion that has
ever existed
in the history
of humanity
we are all
lepers
we all
deserve
to stay
far away
from Jesus
far away
from God
and at a distance
cry out
with covering
our upper lips
unclean
stay away
from me
that's the faith
that we deserve
but in Jesus
God
reached out
his hand
and he
touched us
an amazing
thing about that
is that
you know
in the Old Testament
it was taken
for granted
when
holy things
things that have
been consecrated
for holiness
are touched
by unclean
things
or people
people
will touch
who are unclean
and unconsecrated
non-priests
if they were
to touch
consecrated
holy things
they would
defile them
make those
things unclean
right
but if the
if the person
if a person
you know
touches something
they didn't
become holy
by those things
they instead
spread the
unholiness
the uncleanness
by their act
Haggai chapter 2
verse 11 to 13
makes this explicit
that the person
unconsecrated
person
does not
become holy
by coming into
contact with
holy things
but he does
become unclean
when he comes
into touch
with unclean
things
uncleanness
is contagious
holiness
is not
generally
speaking
this is the
but remarkably
in the case
of the leper
this works
exactly in
reverse
instead of
Jesus becoming
leprous
and uncleanness
and unholiness
spreading to him
this leper
is made
clean
how does that
happen
how does it
work
because that's
not how it
worked in the
Old Testament
uncleanness
here
cleanness of
Jesus spreads
because it's a
picture of what
Jesus accomplishes
on the cross
he bears
our sins
he absorbs
the father's
just wrath
so that
instead of
us
our unholy
sinners
lepers
coming into
contact with
Jesus
spreading our
uncleanness
to him
his cleanness
is brought
to us
we are
declared
righteous
maybe some
of you feel
this morning
you're
weighing
you're weighed
down by your
own sin
and guilt
as we were
praying this
morning
this passage
came to mind
for Lauren
and we'll share
with you
from Psalm
34 verse
18
the Lord
is near
to the
broken hearted
and saves
the crushed
in spirit
if you are
feeling that
guilt and shame
and thinking
that God
would not
want anything
to do
with me
see the
picture of
Jesus
who stretches
out his
hand and
touches the
leper
and be
clean
maybe you're
an unbeliever
here this
morning
you feel
like an
outsider
looking in
maybe you
feel like
that Gentile
centurion
I'm not
worthy to
have you
come into
my house
but Jesus
again here
teaches us
in this picture
when he heals
the centurion's
servant
if you have
the faith
to say
just say
the word
Jesus
just say
the word
I will
cling to
your word
if you
say
saved
if you
say
cleansed
and I
will
believe
it
if you
have that
faith
you will
be
clean
do you
believe
that Jesus
is the
savior
who died
for your
sins
and was
raised
from the
dead
for you
do you
cling
to his
word
Romans 8
33
34
says
who
shall
bring
any
charge
against
God's
elect
it
is
God
who
justifies
who
is
to
condemn
Christ
Jesus
is the
one
who died
more than
that
who was
raised
who is
at the
right
hand
of God
who indeed
is
interceding
for us
God
the
father
has
appointed
Jesus
as
the
Lord
and
judge
over
all
if
he
has
said
over
you
clean
if
he
has
said
over
you
justified
then
who
are
you
to say
oh
no
I
cannot
be
I
cannot
be
cleansed
I
cannot
be
forgiven
I
cannot
be
I'm
under
condemnation
cling
to
the
word
of
Jesus
Christ
this
morning
I
will
be
clean
let's
pray
together
yes
father
we
are
sinful
we
are
lepers
gentiles
kers
this
to seek and save the lost.
We thank you that now because of him,
we who were once aliens and foreigners and strangers
have been brought near,
that you are near us, that you indwell us.
God, please reassure all your saints here this morning
of the word you have declared over them in Jesus.
And Lord, grant all unbelievers here now,
non-Christians here,
the faith to cling to your word.
Be clean.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.