A Helping, Healing Hand

Matthew 8:1-17

Reaching the end of a job interview, the human resources person asked a
young engineer fresh out of MIT what kind of a salary he was looking for.

"In the neighborhood of $140,000 a year, depending on the benefits package."

"Well, what would you say to a package of 5-weeks vacation, 14 paid
holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50%
of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years...say, a red Corvette?"

"Wow! Are you kidding?"

"Yeah, but you started it."

Have you ever found out you've reached well beyond your grasp? Like you're asking for something way beyond what you should expect?

That's true in the world. But do we sometimes even feel that way when we reach out to Jesus - asking for things that He couldn't possibly do. Today we're going to see that when we reach out to Jesus, He reaches back - no matter how we look, no matter our condition.

Today as we continue our study through Matthew's gospel, we see 4 sick people or groups of people, and four sets of healings - all a little bit different. In the first a man with a skin disease begs Jesus to heal him. In the second a Roman centurion asks for healing of another man - even though he is not present. And in the third Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law, even though He wasn't asked to do it and then finally the healing of some people possessed by demons.

Its really a story about reaching out to the Lord and Him reaching out to us.

8:1 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."

This particular verse has special meaning to me - as it was this text that I used in the first Bible study I ever taught - back in 1977 in my dorm room at UCLA. I don't remember what I taught - but I remember the title: "If you are willing." I also remember how many showed up - just one person. In fact, the whole time I taught that study the same guy showed up week after week.

Anyway - leprosy. Actually the word encompasses a whole range of skin diseases - some of which were contagious. The only way that the people could be protected against these diseases was quarantine. People with leprosy lived permanently away from the others.

So it was a big thing that this guy came up to Jesus, kneeling before Him. You can sense desperation in the situation - and you'd be desperate too if you had leprosy.

Leprosy is a slowly progressing bacterial infection that affects the skin, peripheral nerves in the hands and feet, and mucous membranes of the nose, throat, and eyes. Destruction of the nerve endings causes the affected areas to lose sensation. Occasionally, because of the loss of feeling, the fingers and toes become mutilated and fall off, causing the deformities that are typically associated with the disease.

Leprosy is also known as Hansen's disease after G. A. Hansen who in 1878 identified the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae that caused the disease.


Because of the disabling deformities associated with it, leprosy has been considered one of the most dreaded diseases since biblical times, though much of what was called leprosy in the Old Testament most likely was not the same disease. Its victims were often shunned by the community, kept at arm's length, or sent to a leper colony. Many people still have misconceptions about the disease. Contrary to popular belief, it is not highly communicable and is extremely slow to develop. Household contacts of most cases and the medical personnel caring for Hansen's disease patients are not at particular risk. It is very curable, although the treatment is long-term, requiring multiple medications.

The World Health Organization (WHO) puts the number of identified leprosy cases in the world, at the beginning of 1997, at about 890,000. Seventy percent of all cases are found in just three countries: India, Indonesia, and Burma. The infection can be acquired, however, in the Western Hemisphere as well. Cases also occur in some areas of the Caribbean and even in southern Texas and Louisiana.

So now you know more than you ever wanted to know about leprosy - the point here is that to be a leper meant to be an outcast.

o Priests could not eat of the sacred offerings set aside for them if they had what Leviticus calls an "infectious skin disease.

o Life was pretty horrible
Lev 13:45-46

45 "The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, 'Unclean! Unclean!' 46 As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.

So touching a leper was out of the question - it would make you unclean. But look at what Jesus does:

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

Was Jesus made unclean by the leper? No, of course, He made the leper clean. Leprosy is a good picture of sin. It is degenerative, it is contagious, and it separates us. What we need to know is that Jesus will touch our sin and cleanse us, if we bow before Him.

But further - if you feel dirty, if you feel outcast, if you feel "unclean" and unworthy - then just bow before Jesus - confess, invite Him - and He will be willing to draw near to you, and touch and heal your hurt.

A couple of things to take away from this:

o When Jesus touches something dead He makes it new and whole

So when we invite Him to touch our lives, we should expect things to change - we don't get to continue on in what we were doing.

o This guy was at the bottom of life - and its Jesus that gives him real hope

Do you feel that way sometimes? Like everything's gone against you - like you're looking up from the bottom of the pool with 1,000 pounds of weight on you - you're drowning. Did this guy wallow in self pity? No - he threw himself at the only source of help. We need to do the same thing when life throws us a curve.

Jesus heals the guy - then says something very interesting:

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."

Now, why would Jesus say this? Wouldn't He want everyone to know of the miracle of God wrought there that day? Certainly if you channel surf around the religious broadcasts of our day, miracle working is a big big draw.

No - Jesus commands the guy to keep it quiet - and go to the priest. So what's going on here?

1. Jesus wanted the focus to be on saving souls, not healing bodies.

Jesus said "I have come to seek and to save those that are lost." That's His mission. But as a compassionate father, He saw the disease and bondage around Him and healed - but trusting in miracles doesn't lead to faith in Jesus, it leads to a thirst for more miracles.

This is a problem for us today - we think the latest spiritual manifestation means we are close to God - but Jesus told us the Holy Spirit would come in power in order for us to spread the gospel, not spread the miracles.


In fact, the many of the miracles performed by the apostles were meant to validate their ministry of evangelism, not as an end unto themselves.

Jesus saw what happened when people relied on miracles and not Him later when they demanded sign after sign. The only sign, He said, was that of Jonah - a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Himself.

So what is our focus? Do we want what we can get from God or do we want God Himself?

2. Jesus commanded the man to go to the priest

There are several reasons why He could have done this.

1. One is to show that He was not anti law.

In Leviticus 14 there is a long narrative of things a person who was healed of an infectious skin disease was to do - sacrifices of lambs or doves, it's a great picture of cleansing - especially when the priest kills one bird, and the other he sets free.

Jesus didn't come to do away with the law but to fulfill it in Himself.

2. Jesus was modest

Jesus didn't want to blow His own horn. He really was humble - it was the work that was paramount, not becoming famous. How do we react when God does something great through us?

3. Jesus didn't want or need the publicity.

We read about what happened after this incident in Mark:

Mark 1:43-45
43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Quietly going about God's business means you can focus on the work, and not the effect of the work on those who surround. Good advice for us too.


Now - trusting in Jesus isn't just for the down and out. The next person Jesus encounters is at the top of his game - and yet the issues are the same.

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.

This is truly an amazing story - not just because of what happened - someone getting healed by long distance - but by the faith of the centurion.

Now centurions were Roman soldiers who were in charge of a hundred soldiers. Centurions were powerful and respected. Interestingly enough, there are plenty of stories of centurions coming to know Jesus and actually protecting the church in its infancy.

Notice that the centurion had compassion on his servant. Do we as bosses have compassion on those that serve us?

The centurion was humble - he said "I do not deserve to have you come under my roof." Do we exhibit humbleness or do we demand that God take action for us because we deserve it? The man had a high position and could have called on any number of sources for help - but he knew the real source of help was Jesus.

This man must have had an understanding of spiritual things and of Jesus to say "Just say the word". Sometimes we don't know how close someone is to accepting Jesus even though they might seem far far away.

This man was a gentile - but Jesus said he had greater faith than anyone He had come into contact with so far. Jesus used it as a way to say - faith in me goes beyond bounds of tradition, religion, or even race. This guy apparently hadn't studied enough religion to know better. He just took Jesus at face value - hmm, is there a lesson for us? Do we get blinded by our traditions about what God will and will not do?

Jesus said: "it will be done as you have believed." Wow - what if the guy had said "heal the man and make him materialize right here." Perhaps that would have happened too.

The point is - what do you ask for? Do you hold back because you think God won't or can't do something - it seems outlandish?

Ephesians 3:20
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Now we come to the next situation:

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.

Now, I don't think Jesus did this because he wanted a waitress. The waiting on was more of a response to the healing, not an expectation.

In fact, the fact that this woman was able to get up and serve food showed how instant and complete her healing was.

It is interesting because it was against the Pharisaical teaching for a man to touch a woman who was not his spouse - and against Jewish law to touch a person with a fever. Jesus does both in order to heal her.

It's likely that the fever was severe - Luke calls it a "high fever," and the word used here can also mean "fire." A malarial type sickness was fairly common in that area of Israel - the area of Capernaum, because of marshes near the Jordan river.

I find it heartening that Jesus even cares about what might have been thought of as just a normal part of living. "Its not a big deal - people get this all the time - why should Jesus bother with it." But Jesus cares about the little inconveniences that shape our everyday lives even as He cares about the big events that at times envelope us.

Do you bring to Jesus the small things as well as the large?

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."

Isaiah 53:4.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,

Matthew quotes from a verse that talks about the suffering Savior - Isaiah goes on:

Isaiah 53:4-5
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

The idea is that Jesus came to heal sin - which is also the root of all sickness - not that sin causes all sickness - but as a result of living in a world infected with sin, sickness is a sometimes random byproduct. Jesus heals the symptoms, but really to point to His real mission - to heal the cause.

Conclusion

I want you to notice again something about the incidents that Matthew chooses to write down.

We have four very different approaches to Jesus - one man comes begging to him for himself, another asks for help for another long distance, yet another doesn't even have to ask and in the fourth others bring the sick to Jesus.

Notice a pattern here? The point is: Jesus is available and it doesn't really matter how you come - its that He is the source.

o Sometimes we need to come in person even though we feel unworthy. But we come anyway.
o Maybe you know someone is hurting and you go to the Lord and beg for His touch.
o Even when you are completely down and unable Jesus can come to you and touch your life.
o Or maybe you're the one who encourages a friend, neighbor, or co-worker to come to the source.

The point is Jesus IS willing if we will come to Him and not rely on ourselves or wallow in our own self pity.