Unclean

Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: And this same Jesus will come in like manner with a lift up of the trumpets. I took notice that it was people younger than I up here. I'm getting old and slow, but you guys are young and fast. You're gonna spread the gospel quickly. I put it to you. We're leaving you in charge of that. We'll help. It was a common announcement after coming in from a safari in Kenya. Somebody in the car would say, the first one in the house turns on the water heater. You had to turn your water heater off there. Electricity was exorbitant. You turned it on a little bit before you were going to use it. First one out of bed in the morning turned the water heater on. First one in the house, get that water heater going. The need for a shower was a priority. The word safari originally meant trip or expedition. Later it gained the connotation of hunting or watching East African wildlife. Either way, such trips were often made with the windows of the vehicle down. In dry season, we would be covered in dirt. In rainy season, we'd be covered in wet dirt. Not so much because of the open windows, but from getting out to push the vehicle out of the mud. Either way our desire was to be clean again. That sounded so nice. Even if it was just a trip into Nairobi, we felt the need for a shower. You see all the vehicles nearly ran on diesel. And that's what you're inhaling in the city. And whatever would come out of thy nose was always black. ⁓ To be clean again. One safari was to Amboseli National Park where the goal of every tourist is to get a picture of a bull elephant with Mount Kilimanjaro looming in the background. This trip was in the dry season, so we had all the windows open as well as the safari roof for photography and air conditioning. The weather conditions were beautiful, but they were just right. for causing a phenomenon called dust devils. Have you seen those? I'm not talking about the one I saw in the parking lot of a store the other day, this wind just swirling around, picking up dust and litter and depositing in the next parking lot. No. These dust devils were about as big around as this sanctuary. And they would spiral way into the sky, a thousand, even up to 2,000 feet. At one point, as we looked out across the plains of Amboseli, we counted 12 of them. Like, whoa, 12 of these monster, not tornadoes, dirt-nadoes. These things were massive, and we needed to go that way. And so I said, ah, looks like this dust road. It goes between that one and that one. And sure enough it did. And I was feeling pretty happy about weaving our way between these tornadoes or whatever they are. And then I looked in the rear view mirror and realized there was one I hadn't counted and it was following us. ⁓ And it was following us rather quickly, and I knew that we couldn't outrun it. So I stopped the car and yelled, shut your eyes and hold your breath. And for the next eternal seconds, this pile of swirling wind and dirt lovingly embraced our Land Cruiser, shaking it from side to side and filling it with what a few minutes before had been part of the African plains. When it moved on, we looked up, inhaled, and laughed. All four of us looked like piles of dirt with big eyes. What a mess. We not only wanted to be the first in the showers when we got home, we had to wash out everything that had been in the vehicle. The camping gear, the boxes of food, all of our luggage. And then I pulled the Land Cruiser up onto ramps, opened all the doors and just hosed it out. Letting the dirt become part of our gravel driveway. What a mess. But the mess was bearable because we knew there was a solution. We just had to get home and take care of it. But what if there was not a shower waiting at the end of the day? What if there was no way to wash out everything? What if it was impossible to ever be clean again? Would that be tolerable? That very situation is described in Matthew chapter 8. Look at Matthew chapter 8 with me. Matthew chapter eight verse one. When he had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. What was Jesus doing on the mountain? If you've been following along with this sermon series on the book of Matthew, you know that the sermon on the mount has just ended. I'm glad I do not preach like Jesus. I love y'all, but I'd get tired of you following me home after every sermon. That's what they were doing. He quit preaching. He's trying, he's ready to go home, get Sabbath dinner. Take a nap, I don't know. But everybody's following him. Verse two, and behold, a leper came and did what? Worshiped him, saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Leprosy. Now where I lived in Atlanta before moving here near Atlanta, I may have chased leprosy out of my yard more than once. leprosy would come to my house. Did you know that? would come in the form of an armadillo. Armadillos are carriers of Hansen's disease, which is another name for leprosy. Now, this guy had burrowed up right next to our foundation. I'd go out at night and chase him away with a stick and he'd be back. But I wasn't too worried about getting Hansen's disease or leprosy from this armadillo because that's usually transferred by eating them. And I've not yet developed a taste for possum on the half shell, as we called it in the south here. I claimed to have leprosy when I was in elementary school. In the early years, some reason there were little white spots on my skin. I don't know what they were. The doctor didn't know what they were. It wasn't leprosy, but I claimed it was. Kept the bullies away. Unclean. Stay back. I've always been a loner. Two thousand years ago, in the time of Christ, leprosy was about the worst thing that could happen to you. It was incurable. There were Levitical procedures one had to go through to be pronounced cured, but I could only find two healings that are recorded in the whole Old Testament. One was Miriam, the sister of Moses, when Moses prayed for her to be healed. The other one was Naaman. when Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan River seven times. Both obviously miracles from God. ⁓ and there's also that one time at the burning bush. You remember, hey Moses, stick your hand in. ⁓ leprosy on my hand. And okay, it's gone. Quick cure. Leprosy was contagious. Not only were you unclean, you had to announce that fact everywhere you went to warn others to practice their social distancing. It was considered a punishment for sin, and sometimes it was. Again, we think of Miriam and Naaman's servant Gehazi, as well as Hazariah, or Uzziah, as it's mentioned in other places, the king of Judah. So it was a symbol for sin. If you had it, it was said that you had been touched by the finger of God and not in a good way, in a way of judgment. You have leprosy. You are shut out. You were ostracized from your home, your family, every city or town or village, from your friends, from the market, and worst of all, the synagogue. You couldn't go to church, and that was a big deal. I hope it's a big deal with you. Unclean did not just mean that you had rotting physical features that were contagious. It meant spiritually unclean with the connotation of being lost. You, if you have leprosy, you are no longer as a Jew considered a child of Abraham. You're a sinner. You're basically part of the walking dead. Everything you touched became unclean. Walmart employees could not just wipe off the shopping cart handle you had touched. It had to be burned. The air you had breathed was now considered polluted. No one was exempt. King, priest, commoner. You could only associate with others with the same disease. Even Jews and Samaritans with leprosy. live together. The Desire of Ages says that this leper had been listening to the Sermon on the Mount at a distance and had heard some of the words and had seen Jesus laying his hands on the sick. He had seen the healings happen. And now he's approaching the crowd to see Jesus. He's breaking the law. He wasn't supposed to do this. It's against the law for you to do that. Well, stop me. I can't stop you. I can't breathe the air you're breathing. I can't touch you. You can't stop this guy. So you can hear the screams from the crowd. Because this horrible monstrosity of a leprous man coming towards Jesus, people are fleeing. I'm not finding that in the Bible. It's just what happened when somebody with leprosy arrived. The only feet that don't flee are the feet of Jesus. And that's where he bows and worships him and calls him Lord. While others were following Jesus, we don't see them worshiping him as the Messiah, yet this curing of leprosy was a sign of the Messiah. Remember when John the Baptist was in prison and having doubts? He sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he truly was the one. Go ask him, are you the Messiah? Remember what Jesus said, in Matthew 11, 14. Jesus answered and said to them, go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed. And the deaf hear and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. This man with leprosy had some serious faith. We don't know anything about his background, but we know that he had faith. He also had serious respect for one he believes to be the Messiah. Lord, I know that you have the power to make me what? make me clean as it literally says. Please do so if it is your will. You notice he didn't ask to be healed. He asked to be cleaned up. Make me so I'm no longer unclean. As significant as we shall see, you remember what Jesus said to John the Baptist through his disciples? The lepers are not healed, they're cleansed. So what does Jesus do? Verse three. Then Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed. Immediately the leprosy was cleansed. So Jesus didn't say, be healed. He said, be clean. Remember last week when we spoke of the authority or the smika that Jesus had? Jesus had said things that made a difference in scriptural interpretation. If you didn't hear that, going back online and listening to the last part of that sermon will help this one to mean more. Basically, Jesus spoke as one who had real authority. He taught of his own authority. Well, the question of authority is going to carry into our passage today, but we're going to look at different aspects, different parts of what it means for Jesus to have authority. And we're going to see that Jesus is, for the moment, pausing from teaching to then focus on the authority not just of his word, but the authority of his deeds. And his deeds are going to reinforce the authority that is displayed in his word, in his teachings. So the first test to Jesus' authority is what can he do? What deeds can he do? In comes this unclean Jewish leper. This isn't just a medical story. This is not simply a story about social outcasts in the world being touched by Jesus. Jesus did not come to challenge private prejudices against lepers as though the Old Testament had said the wrong thing. When the Old Testament prescribed that lepers should be counted as unclean, Jesus came not to challenge this. Jesus came to cleanse the lepers. It's a far deeper, greater solution. He did not indicate that they were okay in their filthy state. He didn't say, ⁓ you should just accept him in his dirty self. No, that's dangerous. That makes others polluted and unclean. What he does, he takes away the filth. Like telling the woman caught in adultery, go and sin no more. He didn't tell her, ⁓ you're okay as you are. Did he love her? ⁓ yeah, he loved her just the way she was. But love doesn't say remain as you are. I have a better plan for you. Now go and act like you're loved. stop doing what a child of the king shouldn't be doing. In Leviticus 13, we read about extensive regulations in the Jewish law, the law of Moses where priests were commanded to be the ones who would diagnose leprosy. Now they weren't considered doctors. Again, this isn't a medical question. They were to recognize that a spiritual blight had fallen on these people. They didn't pronounce them sick, they pronounced them unclean. When they found a leprous person, they diagnosed not the physical condition, but the spiritual uncleanliness because of the leprosy. So in Leviticus 13, verses 45 and six, we read, this is the commandment that God gave to his people, to separate the clean from the unclean. But then in Leviticus 14, the next chapter, there was another set of regulations also dealing with leprosy. But this time, It had to do with the way in which the priest would identify with the leprosy, with what the leprosy had done, and that person had to depart. When this was the case, no, sorry, the person that had departed could come back. The leper who had been previously pronounced unclean, the priest would then pronounce as clean. If you think about it, the gap between Leviticus 13 and 14 is a giant. How do lepers become cleansed? The priests don't have that power, they don't have that authority. The priests cannot cleanse lepers. They can only verify that there is leprosy and later that there is no longer leprosy. The priest has no authority to cleanse people. And that's why what this leper does is extraordinary. It's remarkable. This leper comes to Jesus and addresses him as Lord. Now that by itself isn't remarkable. It could be like, sir, sir, can you help me? But the way he uses this word with the requests, he's worshiping. This is my Lord. This person has the potential to save me from this filth. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. This was a confession of faith that Jesus had the power not just to heal him medically, but to clean him up. You can address this issue of pollution in my life, because of this leprosy. So look at what Jesus does in verse three. Then Jesus put out his hand and what? ⁓ touched him. Have you ever touched anybody with a leprosy? HIV or tuberculosis if you're not a doctor. we would sometimes go into Cabara slums near Nairobi. People would pay approximately $14, $15 a month to live in a 10 foot by 10 foot metal shack. And there would often be 15 or more people living in a 10 foot by 10 foot. They would take turns sleeping. And I remember we walked into one. Fifteen people lived there, not all of them were home, and we were there to help a lady. We were bringing her food. We were bringing her some rent money. And I was thinking while I was sitting there. A short time ago, I would not dare sit here. Because half the people that lived in there had HIV, the other half had tuberculosis. And I remember when I handed her a month's rent. touched my hand. And I wasn't afraid. Might have been crazy, but I wasn't afraid. And I'm thinking that maybe this is the kind of compassion that Jesus had. I'm going to touch the untouchable. And that's the way I've looked at this text before. But whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's not just a compassionate act that Jesus is touching somebody that nobody touches. Leviticus 5 adds to this and says that a person that touches that which is unclean then becomes unclean and bears guilt. So you would have to bring a sin offering if you touched somebody that was unclean or something that was unclean in order to atone for that guilt, in order to purge that pollution, that impurity from your life if you touched the unclean. So why then does Jesus touch this leper? Well, who is it that took upon himself the sins and guilt of this world? He I'm starting with you. He touches him and thus Jesus in the eyes of those watching became unclean and bore guilt and would require the sacrifice of an unblemished clean. Well, the connotations run pretty deep. But by him touching this man and taking that uncleanness, he's basically saying, I'm not just healing you physically, I'm healing you spiritually. I'm taking your sin and your guilt upon myself. And later other people are starting to catch on what he's doing. We read later in Matthew, who is this that forgives the sins of this world? Who does he think he is? By what authority is he doing this? Now again at the end of chapter 7 we saw that Jesus taught as one who had authority not as the scribes. Here we see or seen that Jesus has authority and not that as the common priests. Jesus stands in the gap between Leviticus 13 and Leviticus 14. I have made you who are unclean to be clean. Now in verse 4 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. Okay, you're still under the law. Go fulfill the rest of the law. Go to the priest, show yourself, and he will declare what I have done for you. And they'll offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them that I have indeed cleansed you. Can you see the priests? Here comes this man, a known leper. He walks in and goes, you need to check me out. I've been cleaned. They look at him and he has a nose again. He has all of his fingers. His cheeks are no longer rotted out. ⁓ Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me go get the book of Leviticus. ⁓ We've never had to do this before. There's never been a leper come to us needing this ritual. What is it we're supposed to do for him again? Go check. We've heard about it. We learned about it in seminary, but we've never experienced it. Jesus has this greater authority than the priests. If you read more in Leviticus 14, you will see that the priest has to offer a lamb for part of the declaration of the unclean becoming clean. Wow. Because Jesus is a priest with real authority, he has the power not just to heal medical problems, but to cleanse unclean Jews. But Jesus didn't come only to save Jews, he came to bring salvation and purity to Gentiles as well. Now the Gentiles were considered to be unclean. They were also filthy, not quite the same way as a Jewish leper, but still unclean. The particular place where you saw the uncleanness of the Gentiles was in the radical separation that was made between Jews and Gentiles in the temple. You can read about in Ephesians 2, 14 that there was this division. where the Jews would meet on one side of this wall and the Gentiles were kept out of that part. You Gentiles that believe, you can meet over there. That'd be, let's see, are you guys the Gentiles over here? Don't come over here, okay? This is for God's people. Sorry, guys. That's the way it was. You couldn't cross the aisle. You couldn't come through the wall. It was just unheard of. But look again at Matthew 8, verse 5. So we have not just a Gentile, we have a centurion. This was a military leader of the oppressive Roman forces who were holding the Jews in subjugation. But when Luke tells this story, he also adds, This centurion was well respected in the Jewish community because of his unusual kindness. And this kindness is demonstrated by him caring about his servant. He could get a servant anywhere, but he cares about this guy. And so he comes and we find him using this unusual title, Lord. The centurion used to be the Lord. He's in charge of everything that happens in his region. He is the Lord, but he comes to Jesus and says, Lord. Verse seven, and Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him. Now at first glance this seems like normal response from Jesus. At second glance, it's an amazing scandal unfolding. Jesus has just announced that he is offering to come to this man's home, the home of an unclean Gentile. Jews don't do this. Why? Because of the impurity, the pollution, the defilement of the Gentiles who were separated as unclean from Israel. This was something that would defile the purity of the Jews, of Jesus. They couldn't do this. The centurion seems to know this. He's familiar with the laws of the Jews that he oversees. He knows their customs well enough to understand the required separation. And so he scrambles to stop Jesus by acknowledging Jesus' authority. Verse eight, the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only, he's not worthy? He's in charge. He's in charge of everything. He says, am not worthy. He recognizes something in Jesus. You shouldn't come under my roof, but only speak a word and my servant will be healed. I not only believe you can heal, you can heal him from here. All you have to do, speak a word. And he explains why. 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. There's that word authority from the end of chapter seven again. The Gentile seems to understand the authority of Jesus more than the Jews do. Even Jesus is amazed. Verse 10, 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. This word marvel. It shows up several times through the Gospel of Matthew, but this is the only time I found that it shows up to describe Jesus marveling at someone. It's always somebody marveling at Jesus. But he's marveling at this Roman centurion, Gentile, filthy guy. He's marveling at the faith of this man. Verse 11, 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. Ouch. He's talking about Gentiles reclining at table. with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. He's saying these Gentiles are going to come all the way in and not just be relegated to a back room like you guys are. No. They can come all the way in and sit down right next to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But then he says something even more remarkable. The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. Who's he talking about? It's chosen people. Why didn't I say Jews? Well, God always has a chosen people, doesn't he? The chosen people cast out while believing outsiders brought in. ⁓ Are you starting to see that Jesus is preparing people for the new covenant where the temple in which God is to be met and dwell among us is transferring from the building to the heart to the heart of the believer where the law of God according to Hebrews 8 is now to be written upon our hearts Jesus is saying I'm coming in I'm bringing the temple to your house where we can dwell together. Before the Jews had to keep all of the unclean things away from the tabernacle and the temple in the old covenant. God said so. But Jesus doesn't keep his distance. He wants to come to this Gentiles house. He wants to bring Gentiles into his own house in the kingdom of God. Jesus is showing us that he is the temple that comes to those that are unclean. Verse 13, 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. You know what this does for me? I don't have to physically be in the presence of Jesus for him to clean me up. He can do so from wherever he If read the book of John, you'll find more and more miracles that happen at a distance because there was a reason for that. Because Jesus, by the time John wrote the book of John, Jesus had long been gone back to heaven. And he's telling people, yeah, you don't have to see him like I did. He can heal people at a distance. He can take care of your needs all the way from his throne. Okay, two more verses. Verse 14. Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, this is also in Capernaum, he saw his wife's mother sick with a fever. So he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and served them. Well that's good Jesus, hey nobody's here to serve us, hey get up, we want a sandwich. I don't know, he's like no, why did he heal Peter's mother-in-law? Such a special thing, right there in Peter's house. This healing miracle is not unlike the other two. The leper was unclean and able to go to the temple at all. The centurion was unclean and could only go to the temple if he remained in his place in the court of the Gentiles. Peter's Jewish mother-in-law, even when healthy, could only enter the court of the women at the temple. They're at the wall of the foundation of the temple in Jerusalem. It is still this way. Susan and I went there on a Friday night. And we went there to worship with the Jews. As they were welcoming in the Sabbath, so were we. But we couldn't do it together. She went on her side of a little wall. I went on my side. It's funny, while she was on her side, she got to talking to some people and the lady asked her, why are you here? She says, I'm here to welcome the Sabbath. What? You're not a Jew. She had to explain to him, yeah, there are Christians that worship on Sabbath too. This lady didn't know that. Pretty neat. But we had to worship separately that night. But here the Lord of the temple comes to each of them. He comes and makes them all clean so that they are not included in the group. At the end of the Bible in Revelation 22, there's a saying that says, let the filthy be filthy still. Whoa. He's telling these people, you don't have to be part of that group even though you've been an outsider before. You don't have to be declared filthy. I've come to clean you up. These three miracles show that Jesus not only has authority over disease, he has authority over who has citizenship in his kingdom. These stories show how inclusive that kingdom is by his authority, the excluded are included. And you notice not one of these people said, let me clean myself. If you say let me clean up myself and then I'll come to the Lord, you will be the one that's let the filthy be filthy still, because you don't have that ability, you don't have that authority. Only Jesus has the authority to clean you up. And I have to be willing for him to clean me up. And I have to ask Jesus to do that. He's not just gonna come in with a broom. I thought about bringing the janitor's card in here. Talking about how we like to be clean. But even the janitor uses gloves. Jesus touches us with his sweet hand and says, I want you to be clean because that's what you want. Everyone, every one of us is called to come on that safari. Every one of us. But when you go out the door, you will see cars going by. You'll see people across the street at the smoke shop. You'll even see the centers over there at Hardee's. that aren't here. He's invited them too. Every single one of them he has invited and he's using us to do some of the inviting, right? I want you to come on this trip with me. I want you to come on this safari to the promised land where everyone is welcome that lets me clean them up. And this brings me great joy. Dear Father. Thank you. that even as far as the curse is found, you put out your hand and touched us through Jesus, who willingly and lovingly took my sin, took my filth upon himself, took my guilt and my shame. Thank you. Help us to appreciate that by showing you how much we love you throughout this year. Help us to indeed bring you joy. In Jesus' name, amen.

Matthew 8 · chapter mention Matthew 8 · chapter mention Leviticus 13:45 Matthew 8:5