Bring Me, Your Sick, Your Tired!!

Matthew 8:1-17-When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.

And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”

And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.

For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this 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 it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!

And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever.

So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them.

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”

For leprosy there was no cure, to quarantine someone was the only treatment.

But with this disease, it brought with it ceremonial defilement and it caused people to be cut off from others.

We will look at some at 3 groups of people who have become a outcast and how Jesus reaches out to them, and in doing so, is trying to teach others to reach out to them and others who have become outcast of society.

When Jesus had reached out and touched him, (Now Jesus could have said, “Go, and show yourself to the priest.“ Like he did the 10 lepers) but He didn’t, He reached out and touched him, and I wonder how long had it been since someone touched him?

I often think about that man in the nursing home, who was crippled and could not turn over on his own, and every 2 hours we would have to turn him, and we would rub lotion on him, so that he wouldn’t get sores, and he was silent all the time except then and you would hear him make noises, I thought it was because he didn’t like being disturbed but maybe it was because this was the only time he was touched my another human.

Now we have another, this man was a outcast not because of a disease but

because of his race, because he was a Gentile.

The centurion knew if he had the power and authority to make things happen just by his words, then Jesus having a great power and authority could just speak and healing would come!!

But with this healing comes a rebuke and prophecy…..That generation of Israel will be

rejected for its unbelief but the Gentiles will enter the kingdom of God in great numbers.

The ones who receive into the kingdom of God is those who believe on Jesus Christ, and not upon their connection to Abraham.

The 3rd one who was a outcast, was a woman.

A woman was just property, something that you owned, and so by the world’s standard they were looked down upon, cast out, shunned.

Jesus was showing thru these healings, that each person was valuable, each person God cared about, each person had a different need, and God was able to met that need!

He also showed that people are more important than laws:

1-Jewish person could touch someone with leprosy or they would be ceremonial unclean. (Which Jesus did)

2-Jewish person couldn’t enter into a Gentile’s home. (Which Jesus was willing to do).

Matthew’s great interest is to make sure that Jewish reader understood that Jesus was the Messiah, so he quotes Isaiah 53:4-5-Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.