Matthew 8:1-17
When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”
7 Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“He took up our infirmities
and carried our diseases.”
Listen to this carefully now ….
When evening came (the darkness was present)
Many who were demon-possessed were brought to Him He drove out the spirits with a word
He healed ALL the sick.
This is the stuff of the Kingdom. This is the healing which comes from God in Jesus Christ. And it is a healing which is vastly more than simply dealing with our physical ailments, our infirmities and our sorrows.
This is healing our separation from God.
This is salvation. This is the entry into Kingdom life.
And Matthew confirms this when he quotes the redemptive and prophetic words of Isaiah – “SURELY (without doubt), He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows”. Surely He has done this….
Our infirmity, our sorrow is in our separation from God. We know no peace, we have no hope, our future is uncertain. We struggle with life.
But God came in Christ. He has redeemed us from uncertainty, He has given us peace. He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. His punishment brought us peace and by His wounds we are healed.
This is amazing stuff from a prophet who spoke 650 years before Christ. In Him, in Christ, our past is changed, our present is made new and our future is filled with hope.
We are made new citizens of the Kingdom of God.
This is our faith. This is the faith which these young people come to profess today.
- God is our Father,
- Because of His love He sent His Son to redeem us and Christ’s death upon the Cross had only that purpose.
- Jesus came to declare, restore and usher in the Kingdom of God.
In Matthew’s Gospel, he begins to tell of Jesus’ ministry with these words, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Now repentance is more than the confession of sins and the admission that we are sinners.
It is a declaration of a new choice for life. It is saying, “I am done with this old life, I am seeking the new …”
It is a turning around to go in a new direction.
From this bold challenge to repent and to accept the Kingdom, Jesus went up a mountainside and sat down to teach the disciples. He told them, as I did a few weeks ago, of the New Law of the Kingdom.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was not so much giving a new set of rules, as He was declaring the implementation of the principles of the Kingdom …
You have heard it said that you must not murder; I say, do not even be angry with your brother.
You have heard it said that you must not commit adultery; I say, do not even look lustfully at a woman.
What Jesus was doing was reaching down to the core truth of the Law – it is from anger that murder springs forth; it is from lust that adultery emerges, and so on.
He calls us to the root, to the principle.
The Kingdom is not complicated.
It is not filled with a whole new set of rules.
No! It is about redemption and new beginning.
And it’s about new life in Jesus.
And when Jesus came down from the mountainside after this stirring new detail about life in the Kingdom, He begins to dramatically initiate the Kingdom life.
- A man with leprosy, an outcast of society, comes to Him, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean.”
“I am willing,” says Jesus, and the man is healed.
- A centurion, a representative of the oppressive Roman regime, comes … “My servant is paralysed, and suffering terribly … you don’t need to come under my roof, just say the word and he will be healed.”
“Go,” says Jesus, “It will be done as you have believed.”
- Peter’s mother-in-law is in bed with fever. He touches her and she begins to wait on Him.
- The sick and the demon-possessed come to Him and they are healed and set free.
Jesus is helping them to be done with the old life so that they can begin with the new.
This is repentance …
because the kingdom of heaven is near.
And He is helping us to begin the new life, by declaring in this word we have read this morning, the basic characteristics of this new life in the Kingdom.
We are still the same people, but we have a new life to lead because we are now citizens of this Kingdom. Our lives need to take on a new character, a new outlook and a new mission.
And it is particularly appropriate as these four young people come to make profession of their faith this morning. But not only for them – also for us.
Our lives must reflect the expectation for God to act.
The first thing we notice about the man with leprosy is that he is expectant – “Lord, if you are willing….”
He does not speak with negativity … he knows that Jesus CAN heal Him. But He also knows that the healing is the prerogative of Jesus.
His expectation is not for healing but for the willingness of God to act in his life.
And Jesus makes it clear – “I am willing!”
That is God’s character – a willingness to act in our lives to make us clean and well.
This is confirmed in 2 Peter 3:9 where he defines God’s will for us, in this regard – He does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
God’s desire is that we do not perish. His desire is that we come to repentance. His desire is that we have a new life. His desire is that we find ourselves in the newness of His Kingdom.
Same people but transformed by His grace.
Our lives MUST be lived within this expectation.
To live with a new character in this Kingdom which Jesus proclaims we must have the certainty that God acts, and that He acts to redeem and to restore – to make us worthy citizens of His Kingdom … because it is quite impossible for us to get there on our own recognisances.
It is by grace that you are saved, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of our willing God …..
Second, and connected with the expectant heart of the first point, is that we must live humbly in the certainty of our faith.
The centurion comes on behalf of his servant. That, in itself, is a bizarre act for a Roman soldier.
But his servant is paralysed and in terrible suffering. He comes, the master, on behalf of the servant, to ask Jesus to heal. He humbles himself to the point that he does not even feel that Jesus could come to his house.
However, he understands authority, for he is a man under authority and who has authority over others.
His faith is that if Jesus issues the command his servant will be healed.
This is an understanding of the authority of God which Jesus has not yet found in Israel – amongst the people of God, even amongst His own called-out ones.
And our Lord commends his faith saying that those with such faith will even replace the previous guests in the kingdom of heaven.
It is faith like this which makes us worthy citizens of the Kingdom of God.
This is a challenge to live our lives in expectation and with faith in Him who has won the place for us in His Kingdom by His own blood.
Justin, Francois, Jenna, Aggie – your lives are just beginning – live in the expectation of God’s acts, live in faith, trusting God to act. Live as citizens of the Kingdom, for you are made worthy – by the blood of the Lamb.
And for the rest of you, who feel more advanced in years – do the same. Faithful expectation is for all God’s people. Not to live like that is to live a half life, feeble and unfulfilled. Be strong, you are a citizen of the Kingdom of the Most High God.
And finally, we see that life in this Kingdom calls us to service.
When Jesus went into Peter’s house, he saw that his mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. With the deep service of compassion, Jesus takes her by the hand, and she is healed. No words, no commands – just the compassion of God’s heart.
And this woman rises from her bed to serve the One who served her first. The text tells us that she began to wait upon him.
A friend once defined for me the attitude and promise of waiting. It was, he said, the attitude of servant who stands by the Master’s table ready, not only to do his bidding, but to be prepared to act even before his master should call upon him. And when one does this, we will find ourselves unbelievably blessed.
“Those who wait upon the Lord …. Not waiting FOR the Lord …. But serving Him as a ‘waiter’, will renew their strength, they will rise up on wings like eagles, they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
As new citizens of this Kingdom, we are the same people we always were, but we have a new attitude – one of expectation. We have a new drive – built of faith. And we have a new calling – to be the servants of God, to His people; humbly acting according to His will to declare the Kingdom of God in our midst.
Take this word, and let it be grace to you. Amen
