Jesus' Authority Over Sickness

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, verse 28.

Matthew 7:28

If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.

!

If it takes months to preach about Jesus' sermon, his first sermon, you could see how amazing his sermon was.

He gave all that in one sermon.

Unbelievable.

We're in Matthew chapter 7, verse 28.

Matthew 7:28

Before I read, let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, as we sang earlier this morning, we rely on your Word.

We cling to your Word.

As your people, Lord.

We hold on to every word you speak.

So we now come eagerly.

And we want to hear from you again.

As you always do when we are gathered in your name.

You speak to us.

You address us.

In your Word.

From your Word.

So Lord.

With your Word, glorify your name.

Reveal yourself to us in the grace, in the love, and the authority of Jesus Christ, your Son.

That we might know you rightly.

Relate to you rightly.

That we might be healed.

For you are our great healer.

The great physician.

So meet with us in all of our sins, dysfunctions, diseases here this morning.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

If you are able, please stand as we honor God before we read His Word.

I'm going to start in Matthew 7, 28 and go to chapter 8, verse 17.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching.

For He was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.

When He came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him.

And behold, a leper came to Him and knelt before Him, saying,

Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.

And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched Him, saying,

I will be clean.

And immediately His leprosy was cleansed.

And Jesus said to him,

See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest,

and offer the gift that Moses commanded for proof to them.

When He had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to Him,

appealing to Him,

Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.

And He said to Him,

I will come and heal Him.

But the centurion replied,

Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof,

but only say the word,

and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.

And I say to one,

Go, and he goes.

And to another,

Come, and he comes.

And to my servant,

Do this,

and he does it.

When Jesus heard this,

He marveled,

and said to those who followed Him,

Truly, I tell you,

with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

I tell you,

many will come from east and west

and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.

In that place,

there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And to the centurion,

Jesus said,

Go,

let it be done for you as you have believed.

And the servant was healed at that very moment.

And when Jesus entered Peter's house,

he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.

He touched her hand,

and the fever left her.

And she rose and began to serve Him.

That evening they brought to Him many who were oppressed by demons,

and He cast out the spirits with a word

and healed all who were sick.

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah.

He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Whenever there's a party or a networking event,

and you encounter someone making grand and impressive claims about themselves,

or about the things that they have done,

or things that they know,

there's a follow-up question that someone in the group usually asks.

So, what do you do for a living?

Right?

It's an indirect question.

But the direct question that's underlying that indirect question is,

you know,

are these grand, impressive claims that you're making for real?

Are these claims related to your line of work or your field of expertise?

In other words,

do you have the authority to speak on such matters?

Who are you to make such grand claims?

That's the same question that's burning as we read the Sermon on the Mount,

as the hearers in the first century would have heard Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

That's the same question that's burning in people's hearts.

Who are you?

Do you have the authority to say the kinds of things that you are saying, Jesus?

Because in the Beatitudes in chapter 5,

Jesus declared authoritatively,

these are the people to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs.

Who are you to say that?

How do you know?

And then Jesus set his teaching in chapter 5 of Matthew

over and against two millennia of Jewish legal teaching of the Old Testament,

all the legal precedents.

And then Jesus authoritatively declared how the Jewish leaders were wrong

and how he is right in saying,

you have heard that it was said,

but I say to you.

Setting himself in contrast over two millennia of Jewish legal tradition and teaching.

And he said, not only that,

that he has come to fulfill the entire law and the prophets in Matthew 5, 17 to 20.

Here's all the requirements of God's law.

I've come to fulfill it.

All of it.

Every jot and tittle.

Not a dot and iota will perish from the law.

Meaning he's saying even the very smallest part of the law,

he will himself fulfill it.

Not only that, he made even bolder claims.

And toward the end of his sermon in chapter 7 that we looked at,

Jesus declared himself to be the Lord

that people will call upon as judge on the final day of judgment.

People will come to Jesus and say,

Lord, Lord.

Lord.

And not only did Jesus say that only those who does the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven,

he switched that at the end of his sermon and said,

whoever does my will,

whoever obeys my words,

he is the one who enters the kingdom of heaven.

These are grand claims.

What kind of man dares to speak in such a manner?

Who are you, Jesus?

That's what we see here in chapter 7, verse 28 to 29.

And this is the crowd's conclusion.

When Jesus had finished these sayings,

the crowds were astonished at his teaching.

Why were they astonished?

It says,

For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.

When Jesus first began to preach his sermon,

after climbing up into the mountain, chapter 5, verse 1 to 2,

he was speaking directly to his disciples, his inner circle of followers.

But we can see here that in the course of the sermon,

the crowds have assembled around him

to kind of observe and to eavesdrop on what he was teaching his disciples.

So this is the crowds that were observing the kind of things he was saying.

And they conclude that he taught as someone who had authority,

not like their scribes.

This is a fascinating and revealing observation.

Because who are these scribes?

These scribes are the Jewish legal scholars.

They're the ones who have the authority to teach the Jews what God's word says.

They're the ones who are sanctioned by the governing bodies.

They are the so-called experts, the establishment.

And yet here is Jesus.

From the perspective of the Jewish leaders,

Jesus is this upstart, itinerant preacher,

a carpenter's son.

And these people who hear him teach say,

oh, he has authority,

not the scribes.

It's an amazing statement.

When you go into a doctor's office or a professor's office,

you usually find on their walls the certifications and the diplomas.

This is a way of establishing your credentials.

I have the training.

I have the authority to speak on the things that I'm about to speak about.

That's how, in a sinful world, that is necessary.

Because people lie and there are fakes.

And so people need credentials.

And we need credentialing bodies.

And that's what these doctors and professors have.

And I think that's especially important in the age of YouTube and TikTok

when everybody can have a platform

and everybody can be a self-proclaimed authority on all kinds of things.

Right?

So this is important.

So I'm not poo-pooing such credentials.

Sorry, is that funny?

Yeah, funny word, yeah.

However, it's notable that Jesus did not have such credentials.

No human governing board gave Jesus any certification or authorization.

Jesus, in fact, it says in John 2.25,

needed no man to bear witness about him.

Why?

Because it says in John 5.37,

The Father who sent him has himself borne witness about him.

At Jesus' baptism, God the Father said,

This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

That's Jesus' certification.

That's Jesus' authorization.

It did not come from man.

It came from God himself.

This is not human authority.

It's divine spiritual authority.

And when you look at someone with divine spiritual authority like Jesus,

all human authorities pale in comparison,

like a firefly that is buzzing in front of the sun.

And so they marveled that Jesus taught them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.

So that's the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount.

And in the following passages of chapters 8 and 9,

Matthew recounts nine miracle stories.

And they're intended to demonstrate Jesus' comprehensive authority over diseases

and natural disasters and demons and even over death itself.

These nine miracle stories are arranged in groups of three.

And today we're looking at the first group of three,

which highlight in particular Jesus' authority over diseases.

Jesus' authority as our healer.

And the main point of this passage is that Jesus is the Lord who has authority to heal us.

So first we're going to look at the leper.

Second, the Gentile centurion.

And third, we're going to look at the elderly and the infirm,

Peter's mother-in-law, that Jesus heals.

When Jesus comes down from the mountain,

the great crowds, it says, are following him.

At that very moment, there's a leper who takes an extraordinary risk

and makes a bold move in stopping Jesus in his tracks.

He approaches Jesus as he's walking with the crowds.

And then he kneels before Jesus and then he pleads,

Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.

The word leprosy can refer to a range of disfiguring, debilitating, contagious skin diseases.

Because it was contagious, Leviticus 13 to 14,

which gives very detailed rules and stipulations about people with leprosy,

it said that lepers were to be regarded as ceremonially, ritually unclean.

They were required to wear torn clothes.

And they were required to let their hairs hang loose

so that it would be obvious to all passersby,

oh, there's a leper.

Oh, there's a leper.

Stay away.

Torn clothes, loose hair.

When being approached by people or when approaching people,

lepers were required to call out,

unclean, unclean,

to warn people that they were lepers that are approaching.

They couldn't just call out on their own,

just as loud as it would.

They had to actually cover their upper lip as they called out,

unclean, unclean.

It doesn't say why they had to cover their upper lip.

I imagine it's because you don't even want spittle coming out

that can potentially defile someone.

So imagine just how humiliating this disease is

and how socially isolating it is.

There were other things in the Old Testament

that made people ritually and ceremonially unclean,

like touching a corpse or bodily discharge

or touching something.

You know, these things caused uncleanness too,

but only temporarily.

And you could do the ritual cleansing

and wait a couple days or weeks,

depending on what it was,

and you'll be clean again.

With lepers, there's no such hope of an expiration date

of their uncleanness

because leprosy was permanent

and you were permanently unclean,

permanently cut off from society.

They were deemed dirty,

unfit for society.

And for this reason,

even though the New Testament

normally uses the language of healing for diseases,

when it comes to lepers,

it consistently uses language,

not of healing, but of cleansing.

So when Jesus instructs his 12 apostles

in Matthew 10, 8,

to go and proclaim the gospel,

proclaim the kingdom of God,

he adds this.

He says,

heal the sick,

raise the dead,

cleanse lepers.

Leprosy was medically incurable.

In 2 Kings 5, verse 7,

2 Kings 5:7

the king of Syria

sends his military commander, Naaman,

who had heard rumors

of an amazing,

wonder-working prophet in Israel,

to go to the land of Israel

so that he could receive healing for his leprosy.

And being an important person,

he goes straight to the king of Israel,

thinking that, of course,

he's the one who's going to know

where I can receive healing in Israel.

And when Naaman sends the letter over to him

from his own king, king of Syria,

the king reads it,

Israelite king,

and then he tears his clothes in indignation

and says,

am I God to kill and to make alive?

that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?

Only consider and see how he's seeking a quarrel with me.

The king,

who has all the authority and power of his kingdom,

thinks that curing a leper is impossible,

on par with raising the dead.

So much so that he says,

am I God?

Only God can do that.

When we consider all this background,

then we can really appreciate the faith of this leper

and the risk that he took in approaching Jesus.

Perhaps it's also indicative of his desperation.

In other parts of the gospel,

in Matthew 20,

when, for example,

blind men are calling out to Jesus on the streets,

the crowds that follow him are annoyed by these blind men.

It's like,

hey,

stop shouting.

Move out of the way.

But these blind men were just a nuisance.

This leper is not just a nuisance.

He's a contagion.

He's a public health threat.

And they're in Jesus' way.

So imagine the gasping and crowds

and backing up as this leper is approaching Jesus.

And this leper falls on his knees before Jesus

and says in verse two,

Lord, if you will,

you can make me clean.

This is an amazing confession on a number of levels.

First, he addresses Jesus as Lord.

This is a Greek word that can be used conventionally

to mean sir,

as just a polite way of referring to your social superior.

But in the context of Matthew's gospel,

I want to argue that it's a more theologically loaded term.

It's a heavyweight term.

Because remember,

Jesus appropriates this title,

Lord,

for himself for the very first time

in the gospel of Matthew,

in the Sermon on the Mount,

in Matthew 7,

when he declares himself to be the judge and ruler

over all

on the final day of judgment.

He's Lord.

That's when he's first called Lord.

So that's in the background of our minds

when we come to this passage right on the heels of that.

And then this leper calls Jesus Lord.

Moreover,

the fact that this leper

believes that Jesus has the authority,

the power to heal him,

to cleanse him,

when all of Old Testament says,

leprosy,

no one cures but God,

also shows that he sees something more

than just a polite sir

when he calls him Lord.

He's acknowledging the lordship of Christ,

which is why he kneels before him,

which is the appropriate posture of subjection

and humility before your master.

And then this leper says,

if you will,

not if you can.

If you will,

you can make me clean.

It's such an amazing, commendable faith.

How many times do we ask God for things

and then we just lose track of it altogether?

We don't follow up about it

because we're not really expecting anything to happen.

That's not a prayer of if you will.

That's a prayer of if you can, God.

But this leper says,

if you can,

not if you can,

if you will,

then you can make me clean.

He submits himself to the authority of Jesus

and the willingness of Jesus to heal.

And Jesus' response is shocking.

He says in verse 3 that Jesus stretched out his hand

and touched him,

saying,

I will be clean.

Remember, this is no ordinary sick person.

This is a leper

with a contagious skin disease.

To touch a leper was to contract ceremonial defilement.

Not only ceremonial defilement,

it was to expose yourself to actual contagious disease.

So you can imagine the horror of the crowds

as Jesus is stretching out his hand to do that.

And Jesus is not like,

you know,

he's not pulling out these latex gloves

and putting it on before he touches him.

He just stretches out his hand

and touches the leper.

This leper probably has not had anyone,

anyone healthy,

anyone besides other lepers,

touch him in a long time.

It's a very humanizing

and compassionate gesture

from Lord Jesus

to stretch out his hand

and touch this leper.

And yes, it's true

that Jesus' usual mode of operation

when it came to healing

was to lay hands on them

and to heal them,

hands on people.

That is true

and that is somewhat what's going on here.

However,

you know,

Jesus didn't have to do that.

We know, for example,

from the immediately following passage

that Jesus can heal someone from a distance.

Jesus can heal people

without going there in person

and touching them.

So why couldn't he do the same here

with this dangerous leper?

He touches the leper

not out of necessity,

but out of compassion,

out of mercy.

He's not only cleansing this leper

of his leprosy,

he's also rehabilitating him

and healing him

from the pain of isolation,

rejection, and alienation.

And as he touches the leper,

Jesus says,

I will be clean.

The simplicity of that answer

just conveys the commanding authority

that Jesus has,

a simple indicative.

I will.

I am willing.

You asked me if you will,

I can make you clean.

You are right.

I will.

I'm willing.

And then simply a command,

be clean.

And it says in verse three,

immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

It's no gradual fading

of the skin disease.

It's no natural healing over time.

Immediately,

with Jesus's word,

the leper is cleansed.

This immediate healing

showcases Jesus's authority,

that he is the Lord

who has the authority

to heal us.

Afterward,

Jesus tells this leper

in verse four,

see that you say nothing

to anyone,

but go show yourself

to the priest

and offer the gift

that Moses commanded

for a proof to them.

In the gospels,

especially in Mark,

Jesus often tells people

that he heals

not to speak of the miracle.

We'll see this again later

in Matthew 9, 30,

and 12, 16.

And in Matthew 12, 17 to 21,

Matthew actually gives us

the reason why Jesus does this

by quoting from Isaiah 42,

verses one to four.

And there,

I'm not quoting the full thing,

but part of it,

it says that the Messiah

will not quarrel

or cry aloud,

nor will anyone hear

his voice in the streets.

In other words,

Jesus is never going

to be showboating.

He's never going

to be posting advertisements

of himself

all across towns

of this wonder worker

that is coming into town.

That's not the way

he does his miracles.

Jesus does not want

to stir up

a feverish crowd

of followers

because that will prevent him,

hamper him

from doing the mission

that he has set out to do,

which is to proclaim

the kingdom of God.

God.

So instead,

Jesus tells him,

go quietly,

go to the priest,

make the appropriate offering

as specified

in Leviticus 13 to 14

so that you can be

formally declared

clean by the priest

and reenter society.

And then,

in verses 5 to 6,

the scene moves

to Capernaum

where a centurion

comes forward to Jesus

appealing to him,

Lord,

my servant

is lying paralyzed

at home,

suffering terribly.

A centurion

is an officer

in the Roman army

and Capernaum

is Roman-occupied territory

and this,

all centurions

would have been

Gentiles

and we know this

explicitly

because verse 10

tells us,

Jesus says,

truly I tell you,

with no one in Israel

have I found such faith.

So Jesus is saying

that this Gentile centurion

has more faith

than I've seen

in all Israel,

among all the Jews.

So this is a Gentile centurion.

Apparently,

this centurion's servant

is paralyzed.

We don't know exactly

what that means.

He's suffering terribly.

Maybe he has strokes.

Maybe he has polio.

We have no idea.

But whatever the case,

it's something for which

there is no easy

medical solution

because there was

a quick or accessible

medical solution.

Then this centurion

with means

could have simply

gone to the doctors

and gotten it.

And this centurion too,

like the leper,

addresses Jesus as Lord.

And this is remarkable

because it's followed

immediately by him

referring to

my servant.

The centurion

is himself a lord.

He has a servant

under his authority.

And yet,

he calls Jesus

his lord.

This is all upside down

because in Roman society,

the Romans are

the occupying powers.

The Jews are the occupied.

Roman centurion

is an officer

in the Roman army

of the powerful occupiers

and his social standing

is higher than that

of Jesus

in the Roman Empire.

And yet,

the centurion too

humbles himself

and calls Jesus

lord.

Again,

the fact that he has faith

that Jesus has

this kind of authority

shows it's no mere

polite sir.

It's lord.

The lord of authority.

The lord

over creation.

Jesus responds

in verse 7

in the ESV.

It says,

I will come

and heal him.

Is anybody

using the NIV

or the CSB,

New International Version,

or the,

okay,

a few of you

at the Christian Standard Bible?

So those two versions

have a question.

Is that right?

You guys have

a question

instead of a statement.

It says,

am I to come

and heal him?

Jesus asks a question

instead.

This is,

the uncertainty

about this

is because

in the original manuscript

in the Greek

there are no punctuation marks.

So you have to use

the context

to determine

whether it's a statement

or a question.

So it could be either.

It's a judgment call

and you can't be sure

but I do lean toward

the NIV

and the CSB's translation

in this instance.

Because of the way

it parallels

Jesus' interaction

with the Gentile woman,

the Canaanite woman

later in Matthew 15

Matthew 15:21–28

verse 21 to 28.

First,

these are the only

two miracle stories

in the Gospel of Matthew

where the beneficiaries

of Jesus' healing

are explicitly said

to be Gentiles.

And then second,

these are the only

two miracle stories

in Matthew

where Jesus

heals someone

from a distance.

And third,

these are the only

two miracle stories

in Matthew

where Jesus

commends

the extraordinary

faith

of the people

who came to him.

So there's a lot

of parallels.

He says to the centurion

in verse 10,

truly I tell you

with no one in Israel

have I found such faith.

To the Canaanite woman

in 1528,

Jesus says,

oh woman,

great is your faith.

I think these parallels

are deliberate

and for that reason

I expect other aspects

of Jesus' interaction

with this Gentile centurion

to match

his interaction

with this Gentile

Canaanite woman

later on

in Matthew 15.

In Matthew 15,

if you know the story,

the Canaanite woman

asks Jesus

to heal her daughter

who is oppressed,

sorely oppressed

by a demon

and Jesus does not

immediately assent

like he does here

according to the ESV transition.

I will come and heal him.

No, he says first,

no.

He says,

I was sent only

to the lost sheep

of the house of Israel.

It isn't right

to take the children's bread

and throw it to the dogs.

Jesus initially refuses.

Why?

In order to test

the Gentile woman's faith,

are you willing

to humble yourself

as a Gentile before me?

Acknowledge that

I am a Jewish Messiah,

that salvation

is from the Jews

and are we willing

to beg for mercy?

And this woman's

extraordinary faith,

her great faith

overcomes

Jesus' initial refusal.

And then Jesus

commends her faith

and heals her daughter.

I think the same sequence

is happening

in our passage.

In verse 7,

Jesus is not immediately

assenting

to the centurion's request.

If he was just saying,

I will come and heal him,

I think it's a little

presumptuous

of the centurion

to be like,

oh, no, no, no,

you don't come.

You know,

I mean, this is,

you can't come,

you're not worried,

I'm not worried to have you.

He's saying,

I'll come.

Just, you know what I mean?

He's saying,

no, no,

I don't think

that's what's going on.

I think he's saying,

shall I myself

come and heal him?

And he's pushing back,

challenging him,

asking the question.

I think this is just

translation is confirmed

by the fact that

in the Greek,

Jesus uses an emphatic

first person pronoun,

I myself.

Shall I myself

come and heal him?

Should I,

a Jewish Messiah,

come to your house,

a Gentile,

that no Jews

would enter into,

no law-abiding Jews

would enter into

in those days,

to heal your servant?

Jesus is again

testing the centurion's faith.

Does he have the humility

to acknowledge

the appropriate place

of Gentiles

in salvation history?

That salvation is first

from the Jews

before it goes out

among the Gentiles.

Is he willing

to humble himself

before Jesus?

Good for this

Gentile centurion,

he passes Jesus' test

with flying colors.

He replies in verses

eight to nine,

Lord,

I am not worthy

to have you come

under my roof,

but only say the word

and my servant

will be healed.

For I too am a man

under authority

with soldiers under me.

I say to one,

go and he goes

and to another,

come and he comes

and to my servant,

do this and he does it.

He is saying,

of course,

Jesus,

of course,

Lord,

I'm a Gentile,

I'm not worthy

to have you come

under my roof.

I wasn't presuming

that you would do that.

However,

I am a soldier

in a military hierarchy

and I understand

the nature of authority.

I know that all you need

to do is say the word

and it will be done.

The centurion,

like anyone

who has ever served

in the armed forces,

understands authority.

He knows what it's like

to be under authority.

He knows what it's like

to have authority

over others.

As the saying goes,

I don't know

where this originated from,

but if your commanding officer

says jump,

you don't ask,

why?

You ask,

how high, sir?

And then you jump.

This centurion

is used to that.

He says go,

they go.

He says come,

they come.

He says do this,

they do it

because he has

authority over them.

And this is especially

important in the military

hierarchy because

you have to,

and they're always

trying to during

training

to break the soldiers,

to get in the habit

of obeying authority

because people are not

used to that,

I think,

especially,

and because if you,

you have to assume

that your authority figure

knows better than you.

You have to assume

that you don't have

complete information

because if you doubt

and question

and delay

and hesitate

and you don't

follow orders

in the military,

you can mean

life or death.

So the centurion

knows and understands

authority.

So,

but what he's

implying is

staggering.

He's implying

that Jesus

has authority

over

disease.

Yeah,

sure,

human beings,

like,

they can understand

you,

so you can command

them to do things

and they'll do it,

but a disease?

Who has authority

over disease?

He's implying,

suggesting that Jesus

is the Lord

of creation,

the Lord

by whom

the world

came to be,

the Lord

of heaven and earth,

who has authority

over even sickness

and health

and life

and death

and all he needs

to do is say

the word,

leave paralysis

and it leaves.

Jesus is the Lord

who has authority

to heal us.

This leads to

Jesus' commendation

of a centurion

in verse 10.

Truly I tell you,

with no one in Israel

have I found such faith.

It's amazing

that it says

that Jesus marveled

at this man's faith.

That word marvel

or amazed

is usually used

to refer to people

being amazed

by Jesus.

This here

is the only place

where it's used

of Jesus being amazed

by someone else.

Imagine having that

in your spiritual bio.

This man

made Jesus marvel

at his faith.

Amazing.

And then that commendation

is followed by

an amazing promise

in verses 11 to 12.

I tell you,

many will come

from east and west

and recline at table

with Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob

in the kingdom of heaven

while the sons

of the kingdom

will be thrown

into the outer darkness.

In that place

there will be weeping

and gnashing of teeth.

What is in view here

is the heavenly

messianic banquet

that Isaiah 25

Isaiah 25:6

verse 6 prophesied of

and speaks of

reclining at table

like lying down

at table

which is what

how people

in the ancient Near East

dine when they're eating

especially at a feast.

So this is referring

to a feast.

It's the end time feast

of the kingdom of heaven

where Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob

will also be present.

So Jesus is echoing

the prophecies

of Isaiah 59

19 and Malachi 1

11 which speaks

of from the east

to the west

from the rising

of the sun

to the setting

of the sun

nations from all

over the world

coming to worship God.

It will no longer

be Jews only

who submit

to the kingship of God

and worship him

in the kingdom of heaven

but it will also be

the Gentile nations

who do that.

because of his

amazing faith

this centurion

becomes the harbinger

of that

in gathering

of the Gentiles

to come.

He becomes

one of the first fruits

of that Gentile harvest

that Jesus brings about.

This is why

after his death

and resurrection

Jesus commissions

his disciples

not to go to

the people of Israel

only

which was the case

during Jesus' life

before his death

but after his death

and resurrection

he commissions them

to go and make

disciples of all nations.

It's the broadening

and the extending

of this mission of God

to save

and seek

and save the lost.

In fact

Jesus prophesies here

that many of the Jews

the sons of the kingdom

will be thrown

into the outer darkness

where there is

weeping

and gnashing

of teeth.

Gnashing

probably suggests anger

just grinding teeth

and anger.

He's saying

that many of the Jews

will reject Jesus

as their Messiah

and therefore

will be cast out

which is consistent

with the parables

of the parable

of the defaulting tenants

in Matthew 21

as well as the parable

of the wedding feast

in chapter 22

where many of the sons

of the kingdom

the Jews

are invited

but they refuse

to come

to the wedding feast.

Of course

Jesus is not saying

that all Jews

are excluded

because he is a Jew

and all his apostles

are Jews

but rather he is speaking

of the radical

reconstitution

of the people

of God

that you will no longer

be Jews only

it's now both Jews

and Gentiles.

So this centurion

becomes the first

of many Gentiles

who will come

to follow Jesus

in the New Testament

and beyond

and his servant

is healed immediately

like the leper

he says in verse 13

Jesus said

go

let it be done

for you

as you have believed

and the servant

was healed

at that very moment

again highlighting

the authority

of Jesus

to heal

instantaneous

miraculous healing.

That brings us

to the final healing

miracle of this section

verse 14 to 17.

The first story

was about

the outcast leper

the second story

is about this alien

the foreign Gentile

and this third story

is also about

someone who is

usually overlooked

in society

and this third category

is the elderly

and the infirm.

Jesus is at

Peter's house

in Capernaum

and notice that

Peter is not the one

who asks Jesus

to heal

his mother-in-law.

I don't know why

when a young person

is sick

usually people ask

pray for healing

when a really

really old person

is sick

people sometimes

ask for prayer

that they would

die well

maybe quick

quickly and painlessly

the expectations

change as people

age

and maybe

that's the case

here

it's normal

and expected

for an elderly

person to be infirm

but Jesus

does not overlook

this elderly

woman either

he is the one

who first sees her

he is the one

who first initiates

and approaches her

and touches her

hand

and Jesus

commanding authority

is evident again

in verse 15

when it says

that fever

left her

it's an incredible

use of personification

the personifying

of fever

fever

fevers don't have

feet

they're not people

they don't leave

right

and yet

that language

kind of highlights

it dramatizes

what the story

of the centurion

just said

if you have

authority

you say go

and they go

and you say

come

and they come

and when Jesus

touched Peter's

mother-in-law's

hand

this fever

suddenly grew

feet

and then he

fled

that's the kind

of authority

that Jesus

wields

this woman

who was

formerly

useless

unable to help

with anything

now

rises up

to serve

and it leads

to a full

evening of

busy ministry

where many

are exercised

and healed

and again

Jesus'

authority

is highlighted

it says

in verse 16

he cast

out demons

with a word

say the word

Jesus

with a word

he casts

out demons

there's no need

for elaborate

rituals

and bells

and incenses

just a simple

word

and then Matthew

gives us a summary

of what has taken

place so far

with a quotation

from Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53:4

verse 4

he took

our illnesses

and bore

!

our diseases

this verse

is part of

the most famous

servant song

of Isaiah

in Isaiah 52

and 53

and it prophesies

of the Messiah

the coming Messiah

and we read this

for assurance of pardon

it says in Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53:3–5

verses 3 to 5

he was despised

and rejected

by men

a man of sorrows

and acquainted

with grief

and as one

from whom

men hide their faces

he was despised

and we esteemed

him not

surely

he has borne

our griefs

and carried

our sorrows

yet we esteemed

him stricken

smitten by God

and afflicted

but he was

pierced

for our transgressions

he was crushed

for our iniquities

upon him

was the chastisement

that brought

us peace

and with his wounds

we are healed

Jesus is the fulfillment

of this prophecy

that's what

that's what Matthew

is telling us

Jesus is the man

of sorrows

who has borne

our griefs

and carried

our sorrows

or as Matthew

puts it

he took our illnesses

and bore

our diseases

when Jesus

the son of God

took on human flesh

and lived as a man

here on earth

he embraced

the full range

of human suffering

and sorrows

he wept

at the sight

of death

at his friend

Lazarus' tomb

he saw many

who were sick

and sorely oppressed

by demons

and Jesus

did not stay aloof

quarantined from

our sorrows

and sufferings

he came into

our world

to take up

our sufferings

and he dealt

with us

compassionately

as we see

in this

morning's passage

but Jesus

did not come

merely to deal

with our sicknesses

because if

that were the case

he would be

dealing with

the symptoms

only

and not

with the root

disease

and the cost

because the

leper

who was healed

by Jesus

and the

centurion

servant

and Peter's

mother-in-law

they all

eventually

died again

because the

wages of sin

is death

in fact

all diseases

and all

suffering

in this world

is a symptom

is an effect

of sin

which has come

into our world

if Jesus

does not save

us from sin

then he is not

a complete savior

but thanks be to God

Jesus came to deal

with our sins

once and for all

and that's

really the main

main point

of Isaiah 53

it uses the metaphor

of sickness

and diseases

and how Jesus

takes those things

away from us

and to speak also

of how he takes

our sins away

from us

and that's exactly

how 1 Peter

1 Peter 2:24

chapter 2

verse 24

cites Isaiah 53

he says

he himself

bore our sins

in his body

on the tree

that we might

die to sin

and live to

righteousness

by his wounds

you have been

healed

from our sins

we are saved

by his wounds

on the cross

because Jesus

on the cross

was bearing

our sins

and so it is

not inappropriate

then to see

in these healing

miracles

a picture

of the healing

that Jesus

accomplishes

in our lives

as sinners

because we are

all in one sense

lepers

sin is contagious

if you doubt that

read the newspaper

sin is contagious

it's the greatest

contagion that has

ever existed

in the history

of humanity

we are all

lepers

we all

deserve

to stay

far away

from Jesus

far away

from God

and at a distance

cry out

with covering

our upper lips

unclean

unclean

stay away

from me

that's the faith

that we deserve

but in Jesus

God

reached out

his hand

and he

touched us

an amazing

thing about that

is that

you know

in the Old Testament

it was taken

for granted

when

holy things

things that have

been consecrated

for holiness

are touched

by unclean

things

or people

people

will touch

who are unclean

and unconsecrated

non-priests

if they were

to touch

consecrated

holy things

they would

defile them

make those

things unclean

right

but if the

if the person

if a person

you know

touches something

they didn't

become holy

by those things

they instead

spread the

unholiness

the uncleanness

by their act

Haggai chapter 2

Haggai 2:11–13

verse 11 to 13

makes this explicit

that the person

unconsecrated

person

does not

become holy

by coming into

contact with

holy things

but he does

become unclean

when he comes

into touch

with unclean

things

uncleanness

is contagious

holiness

is not

generally

speaking

this is the

but remarkably

in the case

of the leper

this works

exactly in

reverse

instead of

Jesus becoming

leprous

and uncleanness

and unholiness

spreading to him

this leper

is made

clean

how does that

happen

how does it

work

because that's

not how it

worked in the

Old Testament

uncleanness

here

cleanness of

Jesus spreads

because it's a

picture of what

Jesus accomplishes

on the cross

on the cross

he bears

our sins

he absorbs

the father's

just wrath

so that

instead of

us

our unholy

sinners

lepers

coming into

contact with

Jesus

spreading our

uncleanness

to him

his cleanness

is brought

to us

we are

declared

righteous

maybe some

of you feel

this morning

you're

weighing

you're weighed

down by your

own sin

and guilt

as we were

praying this

morning

this passage

came to mind

for Lauren

and we'll share

with you

from Psalm

Psalms 34:18

34 verse

18

the Lord

is near

to the

broken hearted

and saves

the crushed

in spirit

if you are

feeling that

guilt and shame

and thinking

that God

would not

want anything

to do

with me

see the

picture of

Jesus

who stretches

out his

hand and

touches the

leper

and be

clean

maybe you're

an unbeliever

here this

morning

you feel

like an

outsider

looking in

maybe you

feel like

that Gentile

centurion

I'm not

worthy to

have you

come into

my house

but Jesus

again here

teaches us

in this picture

when he heals

the centurion's

servant

if you have

the faith

to say

just say

the word

Jesus

just say

the word

I will

cling to

your word

if you

say

saved

if you

say

cleansed

and I

will

believe

it

if you

have that

faith

you will

be

clean

do you

believe

that Jesus

is the

savior

who died

for your

sins

and was

raised

from the

dead

for you

do you

cling

to his

word

Romans 8

33

34

says

who

shall

bring

any

charge

against

God's

elect

it

is

God

who

justifies

who

is

to

condemn

Christ

Jesus

is the

one

who died

more than

that

who was

raised

who is

at the

right

hand

of God

who indeed

is

interceding

for us

God

the

father

has

appointed

Jesus

as

the

Lord

and

judge

over

all

if

he

has

said

over

you

clean

if

he

has

said

over

you

justified

then

who

are

you

to say

oh

no

I

cannot

be

I

cannot

be

cleansed

I

cannot

be

forgiven

I

cannot

be

I'm

under

condemnation

cling

cling

to

the

word

of

Jesus

Christ

this

morning

I

will

be

clean

let's

pray

together

yes

father

we

are

sinful

we

are

lepers

gentiles

kers

this

to seek and save the lost.

We thank you that now because of him,

we who were once aliens and foreigners and strangers

have been brought near,

that you are near us, that you indwell us.

God, please reassure all your saints here this morning

of the word you have declared over them in Jesus.

And Lord, grant all unbelievers here now,

non-Christians here,

the faith to cling to your word.

Be clean.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.