“The Restoration Of Christ”
Matthew 8:1-4
01/013/2008
by
Dcn. Chris Nerreau
“The Restoration Of Christ”
Text: Matthew 8:1-4
INTRODUCTION:
May the words of my lips and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, giving praise, glory and honor to Your name our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen!
Often times in the scriptures, we find stories of Christ’s divine healing after hard teachings, they serve as evidence that Christ has the authority to call us to a life of sacrifice. This is exactly what we find in today’s passage. After giving a very difficult sermon on the ethic of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus restores a man suffering from leprosy.
ILLUSTRATION:
Recently, as you know, our “mother” church, Emmanuel purchased a new building. I can remember walking around it for the very first time. It was dirty, and run down. You could almost sense in a tangible way a spirit of defeat. Yet, one of the great joys of my life was watching this tired old building come back to life, watching it become beautiful again. Every time I enter the building now, I am humbled by its beauty and I have a sense of satisfaction that its beauty glorifies God.
Today, like that building, God wants to restore humanity, actually He is in the process of restoring all of creation, but today I want to focus on the apex of His creation, humanity. God wants to do more than just clean us up, He wants to bring life back into us and in the process, bring glory to Himself.
PROPOSITION:
Christ is not just in the business of saving our souls, He is in the business of restoring us to our original image, which is an image of Himself. (Genesis 1:26 “let’s make man in our image…)
ORIENTATION:
Today I want to try to illustrate for you what I mean as we see:
• The Humility Of The Leper – v.2
• The Healing Of The Lord – v. 3-4
TRANSITION: So let’s begin Matthews narrative by looking at the…
I. The Humility Of The Leper – v. 2
EXPLAINATION:
Observation – (v. 2)
v.2 “A leper came to Him…”
• There is no way to understand this passage without a proper historical understanding of what it meant to be stricken with leprosy.
You were diagnosed by a priest – Lev. 13:8 “and the priest shall make an examination, and if the eruption has spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy.”
You were asked to wear ripped, shabby clothing in order to stand out (Lev. 13:45). (You needed to look the part, so others would know to avoid you.)
You were ordered to find a place away from all other people where you will dwell alone, outside the gates of the city. (Lev. 13:46)
You were to yell “unclean, unclean” to anyone who might consider approaching you, that they may be warned off. (Lev. 13:45)
• What must be seen here is the absolute poverty of this man. Like Job, He has in fact lost all things. His family, friends, relatives, God (for a Jew to be cut off from the temple was to be cut off from God) and even his own health.
• What must also be seen is this man who was ordered to be alone, to suffer and die alone YET! in his brokenness he approached Jesus! He came to the one whom held a cure for the dying.
• This was a desperate act, it was a last ditch effort, it was his only chance.
v.2 “he knelt before Him…”
• One of the most moving parts of this story is that the man had the courage to come to Jesus but not to stand in His presence.
• He had the nerve to approach but not the hope to remain on his feet. In the presence of his only hope, the man with leprosy falls to his knees and begs for mercy.
v. 2 “If you will, you can make me clean”
• And now, finally the words fall from His quivering, dry lips.
• Notice the first word he uses “if”, it is a question of the heart of God. The question is this “does the grace of God extend even to me?”
• He then makes a profession of faith “you can make me clean”, in this statement he acknowledges that the perfect healing he so desires can only come as an act of divine mercy, found in the will of Christ.
Interpretation – (v. 13, 14)
• While I believe this to be a literal event in time and space, I also believe it is symbolic of the plight of all humanity.
• Each one of us is in fact that Leper, dying from the disease of sin and wondering, can the divine mercy of God, mediated through Christ cleanse me?
• What the leper had going for him – he saw himself as he is
• What we have going against us – we cannot see who we truly are
Illustration –
Do you know what the problem with an anorexic person is, they cannot see themselves as they are, but only as they perceive themselves to be.
Well, this is true of sinners as well. The main reason the world lives in an unrepentant state is because they do not see themselves as they actually are, but rather as they wish themselves to be. It has been said – “If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in.”
Application –
• Coming to Christ for mercy is not a onetime event, it is a continuous process of recognizing who we are and allowing that recognition to drive us to our knees.
• When we come to Christ, seeking His mercy, we must do so as the Leper, never forgetting that Christ found us as lepers.
• How do you perceive yourself today? Do you perceive yourself as having it together, do you look at others and judge them because they do not pray as you do, study scripture as you do, attend mass as often as you do.
• When you pray do you time it, when you give are you showy? When you fast, do you pat yourself on the back. This is all ego and ego separates us from the intimacy that could be ours in Christ.
• The beauty of the man with leprosy is that HE KNEW HE WAS A LEPOR and it was in that knowing that He met the great physician.
• "Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all."
• James 4:6 “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
• Do you want to be intimate with God? Do you want to experience the mercy of God in a mature, deep way?
• I want to call upon you to apply the humility of the Leper to your own life (a lifetime process). I am asking you to learn to identify your ego and to revile it! Seek the mercy of God as the Leper did, in all humility. Not as one deserving, but one who without the mercy of God will perish.
• In that humility you will meet Him
Transition – When we come to Christ in all humility we experience…
II. The Healing Of The Lord – (v. 3-4)
EXPLAINATION:
Here we see Jesus response to the broken man. Often times, from a surface reading of the passage, all we see is Jesus doing a miracle. But today, as we look at this with the eyes of our hearts, what I want you to see is that the physical healing was only a small part of what Jesus actually did that day.
Observation – (v. 3-4)
v.3 “And He stretched out His hand and touched Him…”
• The fact that Jesus touched the Leper is very relevant:
o Please understand, this man was not even allowed to come near another person. This man was to ward off everyone! But Jesus Christ, the merciful healer does not avoid the man, rather He “touches” Him.
o I want you to take a moment to consider what it meant to this man to feel the touch of another human being. It may have been years since this had happened.
o Also notice this – The word translated “touch” (Gk. “hapto” - To fasten or cling to) Jesus did not simply touch the man, He grabbed Him.
o Do you see how Jesus met the need of this man emotionally? Where the world pulled away, Jesus grabbed a hold of the man.
o Jesus did not have to do this, He could have healed the man with a word.
o Jesus does the same to us in the sacraments, He touches physically. We taste Him, smell Him, feel His flesh. He physically touches us.
o Jesus restored this man’s humanity and his Physical health.
v.4 “I will, be clean…”
• Then we find Jesus speaking for the first time during the exchange, and His words are “I will, be clean”.
o The man in all humility on his knees begged Christ for mercy and received it.
o The word used for clean (Gk. Καθαρίζω – Literally cleanse for sacred use.) gives us the clue that Christ was not simply healing this man of leprosy, He was restoring the man, setting Him apart for “holy use.”
o Jesus restored this man’s worth!
v.4 “See that you say nothing to anyone…”
• Jesus feared that His mission to make known the Kingdom of Heaven we be difficult if He was perceived as a healer only. Thus the comment, say nothing.
v. 4 “go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.”
• Here is possibly the most beautiful part of the story – Jesus sends the man back to His priest, the same one who was convinced He would die.
• He sent him back to His friends and family and those who loved him. He sent him back to life and community.
• The Bible says 1 John 1:7 “if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…”
• Jesus restored this man to the Family of God and into the perfect fellowship of God in community!
Interpretation – (v. 13, 14)
• What I want us to see here is:
o Jesus is in the business of restoration, of returning you to the state God had originally intended. He is restoring you in all perfection, without sin.
o Jesus does not want to simply save your soul! He wants to make you whole and that includes emotional healing, physical healing (according to His will)
o most importantly, He wants to restore to you the love that is found in the trinity, that perfect love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is done in community, thus Christ restores us into His body, the Church.
Illustration -
It was once said by CS Lewis that one evening, he experienced a terrible tooth ache, but would not tell his mother about it even though she could help eleivate it. He went on to explain that had he asked his mother to rub asprin on it and make it better for the moment, he knew that the next day she would force him to go to the dentist and the dentist would without mercy, invade his entire mouth, fixing everything.
This is how Christ works, remember, He was a carpenter! When we fall before Him in all humility and seek His mercy, He restores not partially, but fully.
Application –
• Jesus wants to restore you today!
o This is not an event but a process –
We humble ourselves and Christ restores
• Christ is not simply out to save your soul, He seeks to restore you to absolute completeness.
Transition – So let us conclude by remembering…
Conclusion
I. The Humility of The Leper
II. The Healing Of The Lord
What is preventing you from entering into this restoration of our Lord?
• Jesus said: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened” Mt. 11:28
• Will you come to Christ today?
o Meet Him Physically In the Sacraments
o Meet Him In Your Heart As You Listen To His Gospel Message Of Love
o Meet Him In Community, Through His body the Church.
Closing Illustration:
• A few years ago in Amsterdam, a man attacked and sliced up a famous Rembrandt called “the nightwatch”. The people did not discard the painting, rather they meticulously restored it and in the end because of the ordeal, the painting is worth more now than it was prior.
• God seeks to do the same with you, to take you in all of your brokenness as He did the Leper and to restore you to the full beauty that He saw in you before the foundation of time.
• Today, will you set your ego aside, bring yourself to God as you are, leprosy and all and allow Him to begin the painful but ultimately satisfying process of restoration? AMEN!
