Gospel of Matthew Chapter 8 -- John Karmelich

1. If you only remember one thing from Chapter 8 of the Gospel of Matthew, simply ask yourself, “With each miracle, why did Jesus choose to heal this person”?

a) Chapters 8 and 9 focus on Jesus, the miracle worker.

b) We have now finished the 3-chapter long Sermon on the Mount, and now Matthew spends the next two chapters describing ten miracles performed by Jesus, along with a few other instructional words of wisdom.

c) When it comes to miracles, I have never had a problem believing in miracles.

i) If you believe Jesus is God, then you should believe Jesus is capable of doing anything. If you believe Jesus is the creator of the universe (See John 1:2, or Colossians 1:16), then you should not have a problem with the miraculous events as described in these two chapters.

ii) If you don’t believe the miracles were true stories, then you don’t believe Jesus is God, and you have much bigger problems than the miracle stories. J

iii) Remember the purpose of the Gospel of Matthew: It is to present Jesus as the “Messiah”, which simply means king. All through the Old Testament there are hints and descriptions of a promised king who will rule the world from Jerusalem.

a) Christians believe in that literal fulfillment. That is the role of Jesus Second Coming. The main purpose of his first coming was as payment of our sins.

b) The necessity of such things as miracles is to validate Jesus is God. Only God himself can provide the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

d) Let’s get back to the original premise. Why did Jesus choose to heal the people he did?

i) Remember that Jesus had multitudes following him at this point.

a) They wanted to see the miraculous.

ii) When you start to study the people choose to heal, you begin to see a pattern of specific “types” of people. We’ll discuss that as we go.

iii) You get the impression that Jesus healed lots of people. Matthew specifically choose to write about these specific miracles (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit) to show Jesus non-exclusiveness of any particular group.

2. If I had to pick a personal application for today, it is as follows: No one person, or no particular pain is beyond healing.

a) God the Father loves us. A perfect God loves us perfectly.

b) The mistake we make is we are often shocked when miracles do occur.

c) We tend to assume the logical over the miraculous.

d) So why doesn’t God perform more miracles today, like we read in these stories?

i) A couple of things to consider. First of all we, as Americans live in a world with a credit card we can use for emergencies, hospital care nearby, savings accounts and incredible technology that no one could have imagined even a century ago.

ii) How can God get all the glory when we can turn elsewhere to solve our problems? This is not a put-down of any of these other things. God gives us the gifts of technology, hospital care, and financial resources so through those methods he can heal us. The point is why should God perform a special miracle when He has already provided other alternatives.

a) Again, don’t put “God in a box”. I have seen incredible modern stories that defy the imagination.

b) I have also found that some of the best miracle-stories I have heard of (from reliable sources) come from the missionary fields where other resources, we take for grant it, are not available.

c) I have also seen God do some of his “best work” when we are fully dependant upon God and have exhausted all are other resources. God doesn’t like competition. J He will often let you try every other possibility before performing the miraculous just to demonstrate how we are fully dependant upon Him for our lives.

e) When it comes to miracles God not only cares about our eternal salvation, but also our lives here on earth.

i) God wants us to seek him to heal us of our physical and mental infirmities.

ii) When I pray, I like to assume that God wants to heal and perform miracles.

iii) The answer depends on whether or not it is God’s will to do so. He’s in charge, and I’m not. To use a modern cliché, “It never hurts to ask”. J

iv) God often says “no” or “wait” to our prayer requests because he has some greater purpose than what we can see at the present moment.

v) When the “no” or “wait” answer comes, we have to trust that God has some greater purpose in giving that answer. A perfect God, who knows all things, including the future, may have some greater purpose, or some greater plan for us. God therefore, sometimes gives us a “no” or “wait” answer to a prayer request.

3. Before we start into the actual miracles, I want to show you an interesting quote Jesus gave:

a) “I (Jesus) tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He (us!) will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
(John 14:12, NIV)

b) Stop and consider that for a second:

i) Jesus made this statement (at John 14:12) within the last week prior to the cross.

ii) The disciples have seen Jesus do lots of miracles, all beyond human explanation.

iii) Now Jesus is saying in effect, “Anyone who believes in me will do greater things!”

a) Is Jesus saying that we have the power to do greater miracles than what Jesus did in those three years?

b) Is Jesus saying that He has given us the power to heal deaf, dumb, blind, cure leprosy, cancer or fill-in-the-blank?

c) The answer is Yes he does, and yes he can.

d) God works through us, including miracles to bring Him glory.

iv) God is in charge and not us. God has given us this power in order to glorify God. We can’t predict when and where it will happen, we can only pray assuming God has that power and can exercise that power through us whenever God desires.

4. Let me give you a few last thoughts, and then we’ll start Chapter 8:

a) Jesus said, “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

i) To paraphrase what Jesus is saying, “Keep miracles in perspective. Yes you should be happy that God has given you as a believer all of this power, but it is not nearly as a great a miracle as the fact you are going to spend eternity in heaven.”

a) All the people who get cured of diseases are going to die again.

b) All the blind that miraculously can see again will eventually die.

c) All the dead who have been raised by Jesus (and by miracles) die again.

ii) The point is miracles are wonderful and they give an opportunity for us to praise God and for God to demonstrate his love for us. We simply need to remember that our eternal salvation should bring us greater joy than any miracle.

b) Here’s another thing to remember about miracles:

i) “He (Jesus) said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:31, NIV)

ii) Jesus point is that miracles are not enough for Christian conversion.

iii) If people don’t want to change their ways, they will look at miracles and try to figure out a “logical explanation”. They have to do it that way, because the alternative is to accept God’s power and change their lifestyle, which many don’t want to do.

iv) The other point is people will often see a miracle, accept it is from God, and then “shrug their shoulders” and go on their way. People accept the idea of God, but don’t do anything about it. People are willing to accept that God can do miracles, but it is not enough to change their lifestyles.

v) The application is don’t pray, “God, if you just show this person a miracle, I know they will change their life”. It doesn’t work that way. Instead pray to God that their heart will be opened to God’s truth and they be willing to change their ways.

5. Chapter 8, Verse 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."

a) The first miracle recorded by Matthew takes place right after the Sermon on the Mount.

b) “When he came down from the mountainside” is a reference to Jesus coming down off the mountain where he gave the 3-chapter long speech.

c) It is sort of amazing to think about why this is the first miracle.

i) Here was this large crowd, leaving the speech, now following Jesus to see what he would do next.

ii) For those who don’t know, leprosy is considered a contagious disease.

iii) The book of Leviticus spends 2 chapters discussing what to do about leprosy.

a) In summary, it is to be avoided it all costs.

b) If you have leprosy, you are to yell out “unclean” as you walk so others can avoid you.

c) The interesting thing is nowhere in the bible is any mention of how to cure leprosy. Leviticus focuses on how to recognize it and how to isolate it so it doesn’t spread.

d) Leprosy today is known as Hanson’s disease, named after Dr. Hanson who spent his lifetime doing research on this disease.

(1) Scholars argue over whether Hanson’s disease and ancient leprosy are one in the same, but the majority opinion says it is the same.

iv) So here is this large crowd leaving the speech. Now visualize a leper approaching.

a) You can hear the yells of “watch out, run away, it’s a leper”.

b) I can visualize this guy “splitting the crowds” as no one will touch him.

(1) Except Jesus!

(2) It is against Jewish law to touch a leper. Note that Jesus touched him in order to cure him.

d) It is no coincidence that the first recorded miracle is a disease of which the bible never speaks of how to cure.

i) There are only a few recorded instances of cured leprosy in the bible.

a) When Moses sister Miraim rebelled against Moses, she temporarily got leprosy and then after Moses prayed for her, it went away. (Numbers 12:10-15)

b) The only other instance was when a Syrian general who had leprosy was cured based on the instructions of the Hebrew prophet Elisha.
(2^nd Kings 5:10-14)

ii) Now remember the purpose of the Gospel of Matthew: Jesus is the Messiah.

a) Nowhere in the Old Testament is a cure given for leprosy.

b) Leprosy is considered a word-picture or a “type”, for sin.

(1) Because it spreads on the “flesh” and there is no cure.

(2) Further we are to avoid it at all cost.

c) The word-picture being displayed is that Jesus “touched what we cannot touch”. He took the sin upon himself so that the leper is now cured of his disease.

d) The word-picture also being displayed is that the “Law” as taught in Leviticus only teaches us how to recognize leprosy and how to stop it from spreading. It never teaches how to make it go away.

(1) One can see the comparison to leprosy and sin here.

(2) Jesus is needed to actually remove leprosy.

iii) This is also the first time in the Gospels where anyone calls Jesus “Lord”.

a) Again, we have a word-picture of the gospel message of salvation.

b) Here is a person “covered in sin” turning to Jesus as Lord for his cure.

iv) Remember my opening premise. The key to reading this section of the Gospel of Matthew is to ask yourself “why these people?” Why were these specific miracles chosen to show God’s power?

a) The first miracle, a type of incurable sin under the “law” can only be cured by the one who is willing to call Jesus “Lord” of their lives.

6. Let’s finish the story; Verse 3: Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 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."

a) Remember that the man who had leprosy asked Jesus if he was willing to cure him.

i) We approach Jesus “hat in hand”. We can’t approach Jesus saying, “I will only follow you under the following conditions”. This man approached Jesus saying in effect, “Jesus, its up to you. I have no other options but to continue living my life this way. I put my life, my disease, my ills in your hands”.

ii) Jesus said, “I am willing”. He makes that same promise to anyone who is willing to approach Jesus as if there is no other alternative nor any preconditions.

iii) At that point the man was immediately cured.

b) In Verse 4, Jesus tells the ex-leper “not tell anyone but go show yourself to the priest”.

i) You will see a pattern in the gospels where Jesus discourages people to tell others about their miracle cure. Jesus can’t teach if he is being thronged by people trying to touch him. You will see a pattern of Jesus keeping a short distance from the crowd (e.g., teach from standing in a boat off the beach) in order to preach.

ii) So given that Jesus didn’t want crowds to throng him for the wrong reason, why did Jesus tell this guy to “show yourself to the priest”?

a) Notice the last part of Verse 4: “As a testimony to them”.

b) The “them” is the religious leaders. Jesus not only cares about the salvation of the leper, the people around him, but also the religious leaders who would later condemn him.

c) Leviticus 14-15 teaches of how to spot and deal with leprosy. Part of that ritual is if you have it, or in this case “had it”, to show yourself to the priest. Notice Jesus didn’t say to the leper, “Ignore the Old Testament rules and just follow me.” Jesus interprets them, but never denies following them. In this case, because the person cured was a Jew, instructed them to follow the prescribed rituals. Not that it would help keep away the leprosy, but that the miracle cure would be a witness for others.

iii) Also notice in Verse 4 that Jesus says Moses wrote Leviticus.

a) There are those who deny Moses wrote the first five books of the bible.

b) Jesus quotes from all five books in the gospels and attributes all 5 to Moses.

c) If you believe Jesus is God, then you have to believe Moses is the author of the first five books of the bible.

7. Verse 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."

a) We now come to the second miracle.

b) Notice that there is a time gap here. The text does not say it necessarily happened right after the first miracle.

c) Again, the question to ask is, “Why did Jesus pick this person to cure?”

i) Instead of a Jew, we now have a Roman commander, a “Centurion”.

a) The Romans were hated as the oppressors over the Jews.

b) Here was a local commander.

d) The fact that Jesus even helped this man had to be a shock to the locals.

8. Verse 7: Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

a) I believe Matthew specifically picked this miracle second as to show Jesus is not only Lord of the Jews, but Lord of the Gentiles as well.

i) The God of the Universe loves all and wants to heal all.

ii) Jesus picks an “offensive” example as Jesus chooses to heal a Roman soldier.

b) If Jesus can help those who the Jews consider offensive, imagine what he can do to help those we consider offensive!

c) It is against Jewish custom to go the home of a Gentile (See Acts 10:28). One can speculate all day what would the reaction be if Jesus actually went to his home. The fact that the Roman Centurion said in effect “it’s not necessary” (in Verse 8) may have been out of respect for that custom. (Grant it, this is speculation, but it is interesting to think about.)

d) This is interesting to read this from the perspective of the Roman Centurion.

i) Roman law states that if a servant (i.e., slave) of a soldier is sick, the soldier had the right to kill him. Yet this soldier turns to a stranger, a Jew no less, who the soldier recognized had the power of healing, to save his servant’s life.

a) This Roman Centurion is a man of compassion.

9. Verse 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. ⁹For 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."

a) Notice that the centurion called Jesus “Lord” in Verse 8.

i) We don’t know what he meant by that, but he obviously thought of Jesus as superior to him. That is saying something for a Roman commander.

ii) As a soldier, he did understand chain of command. Calling Jesus “Lord” at the least meant that Jesus was superior to him.

b) Verses 8-9 are among the most powerful in the bible on the topic of obedience.

i) Imagine saying to the God of the Universe in effect, “You don’t have to come to my house, just say “it’s done” and I know it will be so”.

ii) We as Christians, tend to forget the power of God. We tend to pray harder when the sickness is more “serious” in our minds. For example, we pray harder for cancer than we do for a head cold, as if we need more effort on our part in order for God to react.

iii) One of the advantages of military training is the concept of “chain of command”.

a) Anyone who’s in the military understands that once a superior officer gives an order, you don’t question it, you act upon it. You can speculate later if it was a good order or not, but in the meantime, you just do it.

b) If God is our “superior commander” then why do we (yes we!) rebel so often and disobey what he commands us to do?

10. Verse 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."

a) In order to comprehend this, you have to understand the mindset of Jews at that time.

b) The common view then was that salvation was for the Jews only.

i) God wanted Israel to be a witness to the world. Israel was located in the middle of the trade route between three continents. It was located where it is for that reason.

ii) The mistake over the centuries was that arrogancy crept in. The common view during that time era was that religious Jews thought they were superior to others. A reason may have been because of centuries of oppression under different empires. In order to keep their pride, the common view was that one can get to heaven only by converting to Judaism and that Gentiles had no chance of salvation.

a) The application to you and I is that often Christians get “smug” in their salvation views. We can think “I’m saved, too bad for you, unless you want to convert, of course”. Salvation is only by Jesus; I’m not denying that fact. I’m simply cautioning all of us against smugness in our attitude.

c) So here was Jesus first of all, agreeing to go the house of Gentile, a hated-Roman no less.

i) Further, Jesus compliments his faith, saying it is greater than any faith in God Jesus has seen in any Israelite.

ii) Now if that statement isn’t offensive enough, now Jesus is saying that many Gentiles will be in “A Jewish Heaven”, (by saying they will eat with “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”) and further, that many Jews will be condemned to hell.

a) You have to understand how radical that last statement is:

b) First of all, “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” are the patriarch’s who started the Jewish race. From Jacob’s 12 sons came the entire Jewish nation.

c) Jesus is announcing that 1) there is a heaven, 2) these three guys are (or will be) resurrected and will be there and 3) Gentiles will be part of that feast!

d) Further, Jesus announces there is a hell, and many Jews will be there.

(1) A common view in Judaism at that time is that all Jews are “automatically” admitted into heaven because they are Jewish.

(2) Jesus commonly refers to hell as a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. Weeping comes from frustration of not being able to change a situation. The “gnashing” is a description of physical pain. Personally, I think the eternal pain isn’t some sort of physical torture as much as it is eternal separation from God. One spends eternity in pure darkness. That causes the weeping and gnashing.

iii) Some of these same views are also prevalent today.

a) People assume that because they “go to church twice a year” and basically believe in Jesus (but don’t do anything about it) they are “automatically saved for eternity.

b) We look at some as “beyond help” and turn our collective backs on them.

d) Finally, we should talk about Jesus compliment of this Roman’s faith.

i) Here is a guy who doesn’t understand all the details of Judaism.

a) The Roman Centurion probably never read or studied the Hebrew bible.

b) All this Roman knows is that this “Jesus guy” is more powerful than me. I’m hurting (because my beloved servant is hurting) and this guy, by just saying so, can fix the situation. So he says in effect, “Lord, just give the command, and I take it on faith the situation is over with”.

(1) How many of us, after praying, can walk away and say, “OK, I’ve now prayed about it, it is now up to God, and I don’t have to worry about it anymore!”

(2) This example of simple trust in God is more important than detailed bible knowledge. Walking by faith is trusting that God moment by moment is working things out in our life.

11. Verse 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.

a) Jesus rewards the man’s faith and heals the servant.

b) The Roman Centurion left Jesus. He probably ran home to see what would happen.

c) My introduction to this chapter asks you to think about the people receiving the miracles. Why did Jesus choose that particular person to perform a miracle? (Another way is to ask why did Matthew mention this particular miracle?)

d) The important thing as far as the healing of the Roman soldier’s servant is to remember is to show that Gentiles were not beyond the reach of Jesus, and that faith is simply about trusting God’s will, will be done.

12. Verse 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.

a) Here we have the third miracle located in this two-chapter section of Matthew.

b) To understand this historically, one has to remember that women were considered a lower class of citizen at that time.

i) The first miracle was that Jesus choose to heal a Jewish outcast (a leper).

ii) The second miracle was that Jesus healed a Gentile (A Roman Centurion)

iii) Now the third miracle is that Jesus healed a woman.

c) One has to remember that like leprosy, a fever is a contagious disease.

i) Notice Jesus choose to touch her in order to heal her.

d) These two verses are also an inspiration for how we are to react to Jesus.

i) Peter’s mother-in-law, after being healed, immediately got up and served Jesus.

ii) First it shows that when Jesus heals, it is 100% cured. She didn’t have to wait for her strength to return in order to serve Jesus. That statement about serving Jesus validates this as a miracle as opposed to just the fever going away.

iii) Second, this is a model of how we are to react to Jesus. Out of gratitude for her healing, she began to serve Jesus. That is a great model of our salvation.

e) We learn in this verse that Peter was married. There is no other reference about Peter’s wife other than an acknowledgement by Paul that the disciples had wives (1^st Corinthians 9:5).

i) Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that Peter was the first pope. History teaches that the early church was not centralized like it was centuries later.

a) You can kid your Catholic friends that the first pope was a married Jew. J

13. Verse 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."

a) The next set of miracles lumps a group of people who were “demon possessed” and it also mentions “all the sick”. I suppose that it refers to all the sick among the crowds in that town.