Law & Grace - Matthew 8:1-13 A leper, a centurion & other outcasts

Good morning. I was sharing with Nancy last night that as I was studying for this passage, I was really touched by some of the things that came out. And we'll try to bring that out as we go through it. Beyond just being accounts of some miracles, and yes, those are certainly there, and they're important. There is something intensely personal about the way that our Lord touches, and I mean that physically, but also more deeply, touches the leper in this account. And also, I'm also touched at heart by the approach and the attitude that the centurion had.

Let's take a look here. I just want to kind of bring us up to speed. Where have we been in this Gospel of Matthew? So far, the first chapter of Matthew talks about the genealogy, it gives Christ qualifications, matter of fact it focuses on that by in fact cutting out some of the possible listings in the genealogy of Christ.

Christ had qualifications as a descendant of Abraham, so that through Judah particularly, it makes him very Jewish. Through Judah, he is of the line of the promised Messiah. And then through David, there was a promise again given to David. Jesus was very clearly anticipated and intended by God to be the king of Israel.

And Matthew chapter 1 has made that clear as we went through it. The Magi, otherwise known as the wise men, often pictured as three, but we aren't given the number, they sought the king of the Jews. That was their main reason for coming, their main reason for asking, you know, where is he? So here's the account of the Magi from earlier in Matthew that we saw.

John the Baptist in chapter 3 and Christ in chapter 4 both declared repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The exact same declaration and terms there. Jesus declared the gospel of the kingdom to the people of Israel. Chapter 4 lays that out and makes that clear. Sermon on the Mount, which is chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, is where Jesus presents to the people of Israel, in the land of Israel, the content of the gospel of the kingdom.

We've been studying that for some months with a little interlude in between. All that he said was with a view to the coming kingdom. Everything was said with that perspective. He said it for the people of Israel in the land of Israel Including and this was actually a shocker to the Jews Including that entry into that coming earthly kingdom was not guaranteed just because you're Jewish Enter into The narrow gate. He said the wide gate many people find that intentionally deliberately enter into the narrow gate.

Jesus said in this entire Sermon on the Mount nothing about believing in his death, burial, and resurrection for salvation. Why? Because he was talking about the gospel of the kingdom not the gospel where he died in our place. What's very interesting is out of all the chapters we've been studying so far The major point about Christ dying for our sins and saving comes in the message to Joseph in a dream by means of an angel.

Here it is in Matthew chapter 1, 18 through 21. You also have, I believe, a slide on your handout. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, Before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, meaning Savior, right?

For he will save his people from their sins. That's not he's going to come back and rule over the earth and all that. That's the gospel of the kingdom. This message was that he would die for their sins and be their Savior in that respect. That's the major evidence of that gospel of substitution, that Christ would die in our place. It's in the chapters we've studied so far in Matthew.

So, the passage we're looking at today that Wayne introduced for us, Matthew 8.1. It says, When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. Now, one of the things we've had to caution you about, if you're accustomed to Colorado, this is no mountain. This is hardly the foothills, right?

As a matter of fact, the place where Jesus was delivering the Sermon on the Mount was below sea level, right? Here is the Sea of Galilee, roughly 700 feet below sea level, and being a couple hundred feet above that was still below sea level, right? So, he came down from the mountain foothill, you know, lump that was next to the Sea of Galilee. So just after the Sermon on the Mount, what happens?

Jesus comes down from that place, which is just kind of heading down this gentle hill, probably towards a lakeside, because the Sea of Galilee is about two-thirds the size of Lake Tahoe, and roughly the same configuration, by the way. So here is this lakeside trail that goes along the side of the lake, and he probably headed towards that. He was headed back towards Capernaum, and we'll explain why shortly here.

Just to kind of give ourselves the big picture orientation, here is Israel between the Mediterranean and the Jordan. And at the north end is the Sea of Galilee. And at the lower end, even farther below sea level, over 2,000 feet below sea level, is the Dead Sea. Let's look at the Sea of Galilee region there. Here is a map showing some key cities.

Capernaum is where Jesus is headed in this account. right nearby just to the west and slightly to the north is where Jesus had delivered the Sermon on the Mount and he was coming down from that area towards Capernaum which actually served as a sort of headquarters for his ministry there in Galilee. So looking a little more closely, this would be a view at an angle looking towards the northwest portion of the Sea of Galilee. And you'd have this area known as the Mount of Beatitudes, where traditionally he delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Here would be Capernaum nearby, and the place that served as headquarters. And so we'll take a little closer look at that. He basically was traveling from one place to the next when the events that we see described in this passage are taking place. Here is another aerial view. And right up here would be where he delivered the Sermon on the Mount. In here is the remains.

It's been actually excavated in the last several decades of Capernaum. And as we'll see, there is a structure there that has good evidence of being Peter's house right there. And right nearby is a synagogue that was constructed a little bit later, possibly on the foundation of the synagogue that was there during the time of Christ. The Roman garrison, which will end up being important for our account here today, the Roman garrison was located just to the east of that. OK, here are some of the Capernaum excavations.

What's interesting is the rock in that area is all dark basalt. So you can imagine when you build this house, and guess what the walls are like? Dark, right? And the streets are dark, and everything is dark. And so this would be typical. Now here is the synagogue where they imported light colored material to build the synagogue at a later time. but quite possibly built on top of the old synagogue that was there during the time of Christ. Here's the dark foundation material, possibly the foundation of the synagogue that was there during the time of Christ with the newer material, the imported white material built on top.

So Capernaum served as a sort of headquarters for the ministry. It's named 16 times in all four Gospels. All of them have that. And this is, of course, one of those instances where we see reference to it. It says, and we read this earlier in Matthew chapter 4, leaving Nazareth, he, that is Christ, came and settled at Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

Now maybe you're wondering, what's that mean? Well, let's find out. When the Israelites came out of Egypt and came out of the wilderness and came into the Promised Land, they had allotments. I don't expect you to read the writing there, so we'll get a little closer.

Towards the northern end, around the Sea of Galilee, you had Zebulun. which is just off to the west of the Sea of Galilee area and Naphtali. Those are the tribal allotments that the Jews were given. Now it turned out in later years they didn't stay in their tribal allotments which is why here's Jesus who is of the tribe of Judah settling there in Capernaum for a time. Jesus left Nazareth and came and settled there in Capernaum, deliberately by the sea as a ministry headquarters. Alright, so two things happened as Jesus was going from the Sermon on the Mount area towards Capernaum. He was met by a leper, and we'll certainly look at more of the detail there. Not a leopard, okay? A leper. Real difference here. I'm glad he wasn't met by a leopard.

Okay. As he came into Capernaum, not just towards it, but into it, entering probably on the west end of that little city. As he came into it, he was met by a Roman centurion who asked that his servant be healed. And notice that's a centurion there, and we'll talk about this word servant in a bit, not a sea urchin. There's a difference between the two. Sorry about the groaners. Each one of them will find that Christ heals and carries out just as requested. Why did Jesus do that? He did that as a validation that he was the Messiah.

But we're also going to see some amazing contrasts between these two. Let's take a look. As we look at these, I want you to take a look and think of this. This is not just a dry story. It's not just a made-up story. But these are true accounts. These are true accounts, and they are very personal and very touching accounts. And you'll see why in just a minute.

It says in Matthew chapter 8 verse 1 that large crowds followed him, and that was actually fairly common. Jesus' public ministry oftentimes included large crowds, and I mean in the thousands at times. And Matthew 8-1 is one of those verses that makes note of the large crowds. It won't be the last time we see reference to those crowds. Within a few chapters, we'll see that Jesus begins speaking in parables.

That'll be interesting. Why did he do that? Now notice it's parables, not a pair of bulls. Okay? All right. Just clarifying here. I got a little bit of response out of that one. I don't know. Okay. Taking leave. I'm not going to say anything about taking leaves. Anyway, taking leave of the crowds at times. Why does he take leave of the crowds? Is he crowd phobic? Is he just sick of it? Why does he do that?

He'll do that, and we'll see this in subsequent accounts here, to focus on his disciples, to teach them specifically and deliberately, just them. That's part one. The other part is to take time to pray. Have you been really busy? I know I have. But taking the time to pray, why? Because God says so and you're supposed to. No, it's because we need that time and relationship with the Lord, especially when we get busy. Especially when we get busy.

Now, it says in verse 2 that this leper came and bowed before him. And matter of fact, that word bowed is a word that is actually used in other contexts to mean worshipped. That the leper didn't just come and lay down because that's what you're supposed to do, but that the leper actually came and assumed a position of worship. Worship of the Lord. So, leprosy in biblical times was a name which was given to various diseases.

They were difficult, at least with the technology available at those times, to diagnose. Which one is it? Someone may have what is actually leprosy, or it may be psoriasis, or eczema, or some other condition, but they really had no way of sorting that out, and therefore not having a way of sorting out what actually is this problem, being able to deal with it medically was also very challenging. But it was unfortunately fairly common. In the Law of Moses, Leviticus 13 and 14, the lawful manner, in other words the legal, according to the Law of Moses manner, of dealing with lepers, that is those of these various conditions that seem similar was prescribed, and every bit of it was very, very sad. We have instances here where people who have had leprosy and lost portions of digits, oftentimes down to almost all the fingers. And it didn't always affect just fingers, but it's actually difficult to look at.

These days, because of the availability of medical diagnosis and treatment, these conditions are not as common, but there are parts of the world where these kind of medical skills and treatments are not as easily available, and that's where you end up with these pictures, even here in modern times. But, the Law of Moses did have a procedure for declaring someone cured.

And it involved going to the priest. I'll talk about that in a minute here. So here's the way it comes across in this what's reported as a fairly brief encounter. But I think it's important to note a very personal encounter. The leper says this, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Did he demand it? No. He said, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. Did he say it with faith and belief? Yes. He didn't demand it, but he did say it with faith and belief.

And what's the first thing Jesus does? I'll think about it, right? You know, you kind of have a problem. Why don't you keep your distance? He says, I'm not, Jesus didn't say, well, I'm not sure what you got, and I'm not sure I want it. So, you know, have a nice day. Right? Is that what happened? No. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched this untouchable man. First thing he did, he touched him. You've got to realize these guys, according to the law of Moses, were required to go about with special kind of coverings and things like this and go yelling out for everybody else's protection. Unclean! Unclean! Why?

So that you don't touch this guy. You don't get close. And if it's contagious, you don't get what he's got. So what does Jesus do? The exact opposite. First thing he does is touch him. First thing he does is touch him. Saying, I am willing. Be cleansed.

He didn't respond to a demand. What he responded to was faith. It wasn't because a leper said, if you don't heal me, I'll come and touch you. And you won't like it. He didn't do that. He bowed down and worshiped, Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me. And Jesus did the opposite of what anyone would predict or expect.

He touched him. Yes, I am willing. Be cleansed. Now, as I look at this, this is very touching. And this is a Lord who loves this guy. He loves him, and he expresses that love, and he does the opposite of what most people are doing. They're going, Ewww! Right? And keep your distance. But Jesus instead touches him. I'm willing to be cleansed.

Matthew records that the leper was immediately healed of the leprosy, and of course there are large crowds. Pictures don't always represent that. Everybody saw this man had very likely, you know been someone who yeah They've seen him around town and they'd noticed him because he goes around yelling unclean unclean But he was healed Such healing by the rabbis was rare.

So Jesus although he was called a rabbi It did not deal with this as the other rabbis did you may be familiar with the name Gamaliel and Gamaliel was the Apostle Paul's rabbi. He's mentioned a few times in the New Testament, including the Book of Acts. Gamaliel had a relative who became ill, and so Gamaliel appealed to one of the rabbis who was known for praying for people who were sick, to pray for his relative. And this other rabbi who did the praying prayed and Gamaliel's relative was healed. But this other rabbi to whom Gamaliel appealed said, you know, I don't always get the result I asked for. It's only sometimes.

And I asked the Lord to do it. But Jesus here directly heals. And he doesn't say, let's see what God will do. He just said, be healed. Be healed. Absolutely be healed, not, I hope you'll be healed. And he ordering healing as the God and Lord of the universe, not just a rabbi saying, well, let's see what God can pull off here. Jesus, in contrast, directly healed. I heal you. Bang. Done. accomplished. Now this is remarkable. Jesus certainly did some remarkable things here.

Jesus began by touching the man when the law of Moses required him to go about declaring himself unclean and unclean. Why? So you could keep your distance from this guy. Jesus told the man that he was willing to heal him directly, right now. Not just, let's see what God will do. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. But you are healed right now. It's done. And Jesus told him, and this is very interesting. Jesus told him not to tell anyone. Now, there's a bunch of people watching. It's very interesting. Jesus tells him, don't tell anybody about this. But do what? Take the matter to the priest as required by the law of Moses. This is just like we talked about in Leviticus 13 and 14. As a testimony.

Jesus didn't need publicity. He didn't want publicity. He wanted testimony. What's the difference? I went through business school and my focus was marketing. Publicity is marketing. Jesus didn't want marketing. He wanted testimony as to what was true. Now there's something special about going to the priest to have the priest carry out what was required by the Law of Moses.

What is that? The priests were where? They were at the temple in Jerusalem. Who were the chief priests in charge of the Sanhedrin and the whole priesthood. They were Sadducees. What did the Sadducees believe? The Sadducees believed that only the first five books of the Bible were inspired, and even then they were skeptical of miracles, and they didn't believe in the Messiah. So when this leper comes to the priest, who is very likely a Sadducee and doesn't believe in miracles and doesn't believe in the Messiah, the priest is going to say, well, what are you here for? And the leper is going to say, I'm here because the Messiah did a miracle! Right? This will be a testimony to the Sadducee. You see? Right? and the Sadducee will have quite a lesson to learn. Oh, there is a Messiah and he does do miracles contrary to everything you've always been taught as a testimony.

Now, Jesus continued on into Capernaum. There may have been other events that took place here, but these are certainly the ones that are brought out and recorded. So as he continued into Capernaum, he most likely would come down from the mountain, having there met and healed the leper and spoken to him, and then coming into most likely the west end of Capernaum. So as he entered Capernaum, a Roman centurion pleading with him, saying that his servant, or son, and we'll talk about that in a minute, was sick with a paralyzing disease and greatly tormented.

Now, this has often been taught as servant, and that's fine. You may even have that exact translation in your Bible, and that's fine too. I would like to put in brackets here, or son, and let me explain briefly why I put that in there. As we look at this account, and I've kind of honed it down to the parts here that I think are relevant.

So when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him imploring him and saying, Lord, and that's interesting because he was a Roman, right? A Gentile Roman. Lord, and the Greek comes across with the definite article, the servant, and it's a different word for servant than is usually used.

This servant of mine is lying paralyzed at home, frequently or fearfully tormented. So the centurion, additionally in verse 8, talks and says, Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof, but just say the word and the servant of mine will be healed. The servant of mine. Verse 9, and he talks there, my slave, different word, different word. does this, because I order him around. And then finally in verse 13, the reference again to the servant of his was healed. Now why am I bringing that up?

This word that is often translated servant, here it shows up in Luke 2, 41 through 43. This is the account of where Jesus is still a boy, age 12, and he is at the temple. And when he is at the temple and his parents discover, oh no, where is he? The reference there is to the same word, the boy Jesus. Ah, so maybe this isn't a word for just servant. It seems to be a more general word for someone who is of my household, whether a servant or a son.

Here's another instance. Jesus raised the daughter of the synagogue official in Luke chapter 8. 49 through 51 and 54 and so The synagogue official is told that your daughter has died don't trouble the teacher anymore But when Jesus heard him he answered do not be afraid any longer only believe she will be made made well When he came to the house he did not allow anyone to enter with him except Peter and John and James and the girls the same word that Same Greek word as in the account we're looking at here. The girl's father and mother. And then in verse 54, he, however, Christ, took her by the hand and called, saying, Child, arise. Same word.

So what I'm implying to you is maybe this was not a servant, but the, and in fact, because it's singular with a definite article, possibly the only son of the centurion. Saying, the only son I've got. has got this terrible disease and it's tormenting him awfully. So perhaps that's what's being communicated here. But let's move on.

This is extraordinary that the centurion was a Gentile. You see, most instances where Jesus encounters a Gentile, he declines to interact with them. In this case, not. Jesus wasn't sent to the Gentiles, we'll see in Matthew 15, and he sends the disciples only to the Jews, not even to go on a road that goes to the Gentiles.

The centurion had, by legal rights, the ability to demand that Jesus come to his house. Why do I say that? Just a few chapters before, Jesus said, if a Roman soldier asked you to go one mile, go with him too. He could legally force you to go one mile. Go beyond that and go the two. Or another example, remember Jesus couldn't carry his cross piece, right? So what happened is the Roman soldiers demanded that a person who was there, Simon Cyrene would carry the cross piece the Roman soldiers had that authority but this centurion though he had the authority even more so as a centurion did not Employ that authority at all Jesus immediately expressed a willingness to go and heal the servant or boy but The centurion, first approach to him, you know, here's the centurion who is the Roman centurion who is over dozens of other troops and has the authority to actually demand and command that Jesus come.

What does he do? He comes to Jesus and says, Lord. He comes to Jesus and says, Lord, and then says, I'm not worthy to have you come to my house. I've got a boy that I love dearly back there, and I would love to have him healed, but I am not worthy, Lord, to have you come into my house.

There's no way I could earn that right. There's no way, I could legally do it, but in terms of, if I really understand, there's no way that I have the worthiness to ask you, even ask you, to come. I could demand it, but I know the situation here. I don't have the worthy takes to have you even come.

So you don't need to. Besides that, besides that, If Christ would but say the word from right there, the centurion's servant or son would be healed. Not only am I not worthy, but I know that you don't have to come. You can do it from right where you're at. You don't need to be so many feet away. The centurion likely knew that the law kept the Israelites from entering his home with comfort and ease anyway. You don't need to come, Lord, because I'm not worthy and you don't have to to heal this one I've got at home that I care about very much.

The centurion said that he was under the command of others And he also commanded others, and he gives examples of those under his military authority. And he says, I have a household servant, and I can give a command to my household servant, and he will do this and that and the other thing, and he may well carry out my will from a distance. He says, I know how this works. I'm under authority sometimes from people from a distance, and I give commands, and the people that I command carry things out, often at a distance. So I know how this thing works. You don't need to come to my house. Why? Because you have authority. You don't have to be five feet away before your authority is effective.

So like the centurion soldiers and the servants, who often carried out the centurion's will at a distance, the centurion was quite certain that Jesus could heal from a distance. So I remind you, here's Jesus and the centurion, probably on the west end of Capernaum at this time, and his house, and by the way, the archaeologists say that the Roman houses were nicer than the ones in town. His house over in the Roman garrison to the east, kind of the other end, some distance, but Jesus, you don't need to come here. You can heal from a distance. You don't have to be within five feet or 10 feet to have power and effectiveness.

So Jesus marveled at his faith. And I don't think it was because Jesus was surprised. Imagine surprising Jesus. I don't think so. It wasn't because of that he wanted people to take note. Do you see what kind of faith this is? All the others who were gathered around the disciples and those in the crowd, he had not found that kind of faith in, and the original Greek language has there, in all of the Israel. Definite article. in all of the Israel he had not seen that kind of faith.

And Israel was the chosen nation, the people of God. He says, here is a Gentile man who has faith beyond what I've seen. Here in the nation, the people, the Israel. Jesus then spoke about many who would come and sit down in the coming kingdom with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

But the Jews who ought to be there, the sons of the kingdom, would be in outer darkness. Why? They don't have faith like this Gentile here. That's why. Being Jewish doesn't automatically get one into the kingdom. Just having the right genetics and genealogy doesn't get you there.

Faith does. Based on his faith, Jesus told the centurion that his servant or son would be healed and Matthew wrote that the healing took place that very hour. I can imagine the circumstances. where they run back to the house. You know, is he okay? Yeah! Go back and tell him! So they run back to the other side, going from the west end of Capernaum, off to the east end where the Roman garrison was, and then sending somebody back. Yep! It happened! Yahoo! And them celebrating this healing. It took place that very hour, right then.

While Jesus was at the entrance, probably the west end, somewhere around here and the Roman centurion's house was at the east end of the city somewhere over here with the rest of the Roman garrison so Jesus certainly did these miracles touching miracles both touching miracles both in fulfillment of what the old prophets the Old Testament prophets said about the Messiah and his times, that those would come with miracles and healing. We have several references in Isaiah, and et al is not some guy named Al, right? Okay, that's Latin for and others, because we're running out of room. When John the Baptist, and we're going to see the account of John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 11, He inquired from prisoners, he sent messengers from prison because he was imprisoned, couldn't go there himself, to ask if Jesus was really the Christ. You can imagine John, he's saying, man I've been laying in this prison and these rocks are hard.

And if I go and grab hold of the bars, they're cold. And if it's hot, it's hot in here. If it's cold, it's cold in here. And this place stinks. And I'm not getting the best of care. And I'm just wondering, is this all really for real? It's been a while since I've had a good meal and slept decently and all that. Is Jesus really the Christ? It's all just getting a little foggy to me.

So Jesus told John's disciples, report back to John. This is Matthew 11, 5. The blind receive sight. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. Seen one of those here in this morning's account. And the deaf here. That's the evidences of the Messiah. Am I really the one? Yep. Tell them. Tell them these things are happening. Testify to John. Yep. You did the right thing. It's going to be okay. You did exactly what God wanted you to. And yes, I am the one that is sent by God.

For us now, we were and are, though we are in the body of Christ and not those of the people and in the land of Israel. Each of us, spiritually speaking, was a whole lot like this leper whom Jesus touched and healed. How could I say such a thing? Here's Romans chapter 5, verses 6, 8, and 10. While we were still helpless, what? Christ died. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies, God sent His Son.

Did we deserve? Well, that's a marketing term today. You ever see that? You deserve this. Now notice they don't give it to you, right? They want you to buy it. But that's the marketing lingo is, you deserve this, right? Did we deserve the kind of treatment we got from the Lord? No. While we were still helpless, yet sinners, enemies, Christ died for us. Isn't that great? That's wonderful good news.

We were like the leper. There's no reason Jesus should have touched him. He could well have said, you know, ew, get away, you're not yelling unclean for nothing. Besides, that looked really ugly underneath those sheets. Right? This is not a pretty picture. Instead, touched him, loved him, healed him.

The Lord has done that with us while we were still helpless, yet sinners, enemies. Christ died for us. We were also like the centurion who was unworthy to have the Lord of Glory to come into his home. And yet Christ both made his home in our hearts and placed us in him and said, I've got a home for you.

I'm preparing a place for you in the heavenlies. And meanwhile, you're seated there with me. You see, we were intended for intimacy with Christ. Should we have gone around yelling unclean? Probably so. Were we worthy to have Christ come into our homes and into our hearts? Into our hearts' home, so to speak? No. No, not at all. But He did one more than that. He came into our hearts. and also placed us in him. We were intended for intimacy. I'm talking spiritual intimacy. The very deepest intimacy.

You see, we don't have to go and shoot one up to the man upstairs. We're seated with him. You don't have to just kind of look up to heaven and wait for blessings to fall out of the clouds. Why? Because you're already in Him. It's you in Christ, and Christ in you. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for, as we look at these examples of miracles, and we see touching points and moments, moments when you did and accomplished exactly the opposite of what the world might expect. Those are touching moments for us, too, when we see that when we were yet enemies, when we were yet sinners, when we were helpless, you reached out and touched us and made us to be in you and you in us. When we were unworthy, Lord, you said, I love to fellowship with you. And that is amazing. We thank you for your most marvelous, amazing grace. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.