The Promised Healer
Text: Matthew 8:1-17
Introduction
You all know I like to check out sermoncentral.com as I prepare my sermons. Sometimes it is more revealing for what is not there than what is there. This week for instance I was fascinated to read through sermon after sermon on this passage that dealt with anything but healing, They dealt with Jesus reaching out to the outcast, about him cleansing us of our sins, about our need to reach out to others, a few mentioned healing as a side note (O yes, and Jesus can heal bodies too). Now these are not inappropriate applications of the text but they certainly are not the central message either.
Now I’ll confess that it would have been easy for me as a Pentecostal preaching in a general Protestant service to take that route too, lest I become too controversial, or lest anyone misunderstand what I’m trying to do. But I’m not doing that for two reasons--
#1 I read the passage again and trust me on this, it’s about healing (yes, there are other appropriate applications, but healing is front and center). So if you’re wondering what I’m trying to do, the answer is just to be faithful to the Word of God.
#2 I think God placed this providentially on my preaching Schedule, a schedule I put together months before I got sick myself, But God knew right where I would be at this Sunday, And if he knew where I would be, He knew where you would be too.
So here is what I see as the central Thesis of the Passage
Proposition: Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah came as promised by the prophets and He came healing.
Transition: What I’d like to look at specifically is how He did that, or maybe more precisely according to what set of rules or Guidelines, and there are four things I’d like to note in particular. The first is that Jesus heals according to His own...
1. Prerogative
vv. 2-3 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
What does the leper understand here that’s also important for us to understand? That Jesus acts on his own prerogative. The choice to heal is his, "If you are willing you can make me clean."
There are some who say that health and healing are the prerogative of the believer, that we can insist that God provide us with these benefits because they are our due.
The problem is I never see that attitude displayed among those who come to Jesus for healing, they come asking, hoping, praying, believing, sometimes even begging but never demanding.
I think this man with Leprosy displays the perfect attitude in coming to Jesus--Lord I know you’re able to do this--will you?
God’s purposes are beyond me, I don’t understand how all that troubles me works into his plan--but that never means I doubt his power, or his love for me. Yet I understand the prerogative to heal is his alone. But note with me also Jesus’ response, he says basically "You’re right, it is my choice--I choose to heal you."
The fact that we understand he is sovereign should never mean that we doubt his willingness to heal, More on that in the last point.
We understand then that the healer heals by his own prerogative, secondly we should know that he heals by his own...
2. Power
vv. 8-9 "...Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 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..."
What does the Centurion understand? He understands Jesus authority, his power over disease. He can heal at a distance as well as he healed the Leper with a touch.
But let there be no illusions on our part that we somehow hold the power of healing. In just a moment we will talk about faith and it’s necessity and how it fits into the healing picture, but understand that even though faith is an important part, it’s not faith in our faith but faith in the power of Jesus, for he heals by his own infinite power.
So as we come to Him for healing and as we contemplate Him as the Healer we should remember that He who heals by His own Prerogative, heals also by His own Power, and thirdly that it is he who establishes the...
3. Prerequisite
The prerequisite I’m thinking of here is faith
v. 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."
v. 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.
Jesus is astonished at and chooses to honor the man’s faith, and of course the same can be said of the faith of the Leper, and later in the passage faith is evident in the fact that the sick come or are brought to Jesus. In fact throughout the Four Gospels over and over in the healing stories Jesus remarks about people’s faith and says that because of their faith He chooses to heal.
Now when I say faith is a prerequisite I must note that in God’s sovereignty He doesn’t always require faith, the story in our text about Peter’s mother-in-law illustrates that. But overwhelmingly the testimony of scripture is that faith is somehow tied in with healing.
Why? I don’t know but I do know that faith is the only thing that the scriptures unequivocally reveal that God honors among men, righteous living, perhaps but The Word also says my righteousness is as filthy rags before him. Faith on the other hand is credited as righteousness. Perhaps it’s because trust serves as a foundation for any relationship and our trust in Him and his power gives him a foundation to build a bridge between us, I’m not sure but I know he asks for faith from us.
And where healing is concerned faith is repeatedly shown to be important.
ILLUSTRATION: When my older brother was young he came to my parents room to report a terrible toothache. Upon inspection my father saw there was in fact a bad cavity. My mother said "we’ll have to take him to the dentist." To which my father replied "How?" you see they were pastoring a tiny church and barely getting by. "So what will we do?" my mother asked. "We’ll have to pray." And so they prayed. Ed went back to bed and they all slept. A few days later my dad called Ed over and said "let me see your tooth." The cavity was gone. Why did God honor that prayer? I believe it was because it was a prayer of faith the faith born of desperation.
Often we hear testimonies like this. You seldom here people say, "The doctors said I had a pretty good chance of recovery but God miraculously healed me!" Is it because God waits until the last minute to save the day? Perhaps he has things he’s teaching us, but often I think it’s because we need that desperation to reach out in faith.
The biblical word for faith means to "rest upon." Often we’re resting on doctors until they offer no hope. And there is nothing wrong with seeking medical care. I believe that medicine and taking care of ourselves along with our bodies’ natural defenses are part of God’s plan for healing and wholeness. But often we see God’s miraculous intervention when we rest upon him in faith borne of our desperation.
So then the Healer’s prerequisite from us is Faith. Finally, let’s get to my favorite here and that is that God heals according to his...
4. Plan
v. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."
This is just one of many passages that Matthew could have quoted to show that God’s plan for Messiah included physical healing. This particular passage in it’s context makes it clear that healing is a part not only of his earthly ministry but a part of what he accomplished for us at the cross.
But the prophets make clear that healing is a central part of what Messiah would accomplish. Why is that important? Well for two reasons I can think of. The first being that sickness is a part of the curse of the fall, and Messiah, the promised One came to undo the curse of the fall so that applies to us spiritually undoubtedly, but physically as well.
Secondly, I think understanding this point helps us along as we reach out to Jesus to have that faith that he is looking for. We need to understand that God has a plan for healing and wholeness, yes He heals by his prerogative but His plan is for wholeness.
Yes we live in a fallen world, yes the curse affects our bodies, yes the last enemy, death is yet to be fully defeated, BUT God has a plan for healing and wholeness.
Healing is a part of the kingdom that Christ established by His work on the cross. Is it universally applied in this present age, No and somehow God works even that into His perfect plan, but while it may not be universal I believe that God intends to work healing regularly and systematically giving us a glimpse of the future complete fulfillment of His kingdom.
God has a plan to heal and until he helps me to understand otherwise in a given situation, I assume His plan is for health and wholeness so I come with great faith. I come as the Leper saying "Lord if you are willing you can"
By your own Prerogative, You are the Healer
By Your own Power, You are the Healer
By Your Prerequisite, I come in Faith, to You the Healer
Because I believe it is Your plan to be the Healer.
