Power over Paralysis: More Divine Deeds by the Savior
Matthew 8: 5-13, Luke 7:1-10
Jesus spoke with unearthly authority to the multitudes in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, and the crowds were struck out of their minds. Now it is one thing to be able to “speak” with Godly, Divine authority, but it is another thing all together to be able to ACT and DEMONSTRATE Godly, supernatural authority. Jesus demonstrates that there is no inconsistency in His character and PERSON: His WORDS are authoritative and His DEEDS speak with the same authority: Authority that can only belong to God, not to a good man.
We see another Divine Deed by Jesus in Matthew 8:5-6: “And when Jesus entered Capernaum (means village of comfort), a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented."
The Roman centurion’s personal servant was struck with palsy and so he couldn’t move. The word for “Tormented” means: “a touchstone, which is a hard black stone used to test the purity of gold or silver by the color of the streak produced on it by rubbing it with either metal, it was also the rack or instrument of torture by which one is forced to divulge the truth, the torture of the pains of a disease and metaphorically of those in hell after death.”
Luke 7:1-5: “When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. 2 And a centurion's slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, "He is worthy for You to grant this to him; 5 for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue."
Matthew 8:7: Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 "For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go !' and he goes, and to another, 'Come !' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this !' and he does it." 10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.
Luke 7: 6-9: Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof ; 7 for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 "For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go !' and he goes, and to another, 'Come !' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this !' and he does it." 9 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith."
Matthew 7:11-13: "I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven ; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness ; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very moment.”
Luke 7:10: “When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.”
The Kingdom of God Comes to the World
We have to keep our focus on the main themes of Matthew in this story: The first theme is that God’s Kingdom comes to ALL the world and not just to Israelites. The Roman Centurion exemplifies that the Kingdom does not only come to those who are religious. The Centurion was considered to be “unclean” by the religious establishment of Israel, and if you read this account in Luke 7:3-6, you find that the Centurion considered himself to be UNWORTHY of Jesus’ consideration.
It says: “The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.” The Centurion was certainly aware that neither his own righteousness nor his authority warranted Jesus’ consideration; he realized that he needed intermediaries to approach Jesus. His attitude was very UNLIKE centurions of the day. Once again we see the Kingdom of God comes only to those who are humble, and realize that THEY ARE UNWORTHY of God’s Kingdom and serving its King. (Not to the proud and self-sufficient!)
The benefits of God’s Kingdom come to those outside Israel- “from the east and west”. For all the good and great things that the Centurion may have done in his life, he was not qualified to benefit from the Power of Jesus. How was an “outsider”, one who was ceremonially “unclean” able to perceive the greatness and the “secret” of Jesus’ authority and that Jesus came from God? How could Jesus have “not found such great faith with anyone in Israel” like the Centurion?
Was this giving credit to the Centurion? Absolutely not! The Centurion only “HEARD” about Jesus (Luke 7:3) and he BELIEVED Jesus could heal. We looked at that verse in Romans 10:17 on Sunday: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” The centurion did not have any heritage that would have caused him to believe, but he HEARD of Jesus and believed IN Jesus BEFORE JESUS did anything! Divine faith as a gift from God, PRECEDES believing.
The Kingdom of God comes to those who BELIEVE, not to those who are trusting in their own “DOING”. A “faith greater than any found in Israel” (Luke 7:9 and Matt. 8:10) means that it takes a faith greater than your works; faith comes to those who are born of the Spirit of God, CAUSING them to believe. The Kingdom comes to those who first of all BELIEVE. TO “BELIEVE” is to be entrusted and endowed with the FAITH of God. Faith has been given by God through His Spirit, IN ORDER for a person TO BELIEVE. In John 3:5, Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water (a physical birth) and the Spirit.” (a spiritual birth from above which gives saving faith in God on account of Christ’s righteousness).
Jesus is the King of God’s Kingdom
In Jesus’ Ministry, Jesus continues to persuade the world of His Authority and Deity as He unveils the Coming of the Kingdom of God, and that The King of God’s Kingdom is Jesus. The Centurion recognized his own authority, in Matthew 8:9: “For I ALSO am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go !' and he goes, and to another, 'Come !' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this !' and he does it.” But the Centurion also recognized that his authority was limited in comparison to Jesus’ authority; he was powerless to do anything for his servant, and moreover, he was powerless and UNWORTHY to even SUMMON Jesus for His help.
He recognized that Jesus IS the Ultimate and ABSOLUTE Authority: It is only by Jesus’ absolute authority by which people enter into His Kingdom. People come into the Kingdom of God by the Will and the Word of God, NOT as a result of their words or works, “so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:9) The WORD of God is the LORD JESUS CHRIST…”in the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was WITH God and the WORD WAS God.” (John 1:1)
So, what does it take for an unbeliever to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? All it takes is for THE WORD to SPEAK. Jesus only has to say the Word because He IS the WORD. When you read the Luke 7 account of this miracle, you find that Jesus never entered the house (OIKOS) of the man: “Before the messengers even returned to the house WITH word from Jesus, the man was healed.” (verse 10)
There is a very curious aspect to this miracle, and that is, the servant who is healed is never spoken about except to say that he was healed. Jesus did not even see the man, and the man was healed. The man never saw Jesus, and still he was healed. He never spoke to Jesus. You don’t hear anything about the servant except for these two things:
Luke 7:10: “When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.” (to be whole)
In Matthew 8: 13 , “And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go ; it shall be done FOR YOU as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very moment. (to be to make whole or to be free sin)
MANY PEOPLE MIS-UNDERSTAND this healing to mean that it was on account of the centurion’s faith that the servant was healed. NOT SO! It was NOT BECAUSE OF , NOT on ACCOUNT of, or NOT in proportion to the Centurion’s faith. Jesus is the DOER and the Centurion and the slave are the RECEIVERs. It is Jesus who is “IN CHARGE”; HE has the total authority and the Centurion KNOWS THIS; In the text, Jesus is actually making the command: “LET IT BE DONE FOR YOU (a command by JESUS!) as you have believed (or hoped for) and expected in your heart.”
When Jesus speaks, He is able heal those who are TOTALLY HELPLESS to come to Him, and who are totally helpless to heal themselves. God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, gives strength and power to those who are powerless, not only the physically paralyzed, but new life to those who have Spiritual Paralysis, and can do nothing to move in the direction of Jesus. Jesus knows all things just like God does. He sees all things, just like God sees. He provides in a way, that ONLY God COULD. WE TRUST HIM to save; we don’t trust our faith, but His faith.
Lastly, in verses 11-12, King Jesus foretells the eternal judgment for the sin unbelief: “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven ; 12 but the sons of the kingdom (the Hebrew nation) will be cast out into the outer darkness ; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." National Israel, as well as ALL those who reject the Savior by faith, are promised a punishment in the outer darkness, since they rejected the Light of the World, the Lord Jesus. The words “weeping and gnashing of teeth” demonstrate, not a NON-existence, but an existence of agony and evil. (We will shortly be studying on Sunday mornings, how a “remnant” a part of the garment of Israel will be saved, just as a PART of the world population will be saved.)
Still, anyone who HEARS the WORD of Christ and responds in faith to Him will be saved. In the same way that the leper had no hope at all to be clean, but Jesus cleansed him, and the way that the Centurion’s servant had no hope for life, Jesus GAVE LIFE. Both were in a situation in which they could DO NOTHING to save themselves or improve their condition, but both were saved by the Grace of God through Christ…This is how God exercises His Word of Faith and Salvation by way of the Lord Jesus Christ.
OUTLINE
I. The Kingdom of God comes:
A. To those who are humble and unworthy.
B. Even to those outside Israel- “from the east and west”.
C. To those who believe: Faith has been given by God through His Spirit, IN ORDER for a person TO BELIEVE.
II. The King of God’s Kingdom is Jesus.
A. Jesus IS the ABSOLUTE Authority: It is only by His authority by which people will COME into His Kingdom.
B. Jesus only has to say the Word because He IS the WORD.
C. When Jesus speaks, He is able heal those who are TOTALLY HELPLESS to come to Him, and who are totally helpless to heal themselves.
D. King Jesus foretells the eternal judgment for unbelief and rejection of Christ as Savior and Lord.
