Before I begin today, I'd like to say "Thank You" to all the readers who have joined us on our journey through the New Testament. I want to now return to the gospel of Matthew and pick up where we left off. Jesus' birth has been announced, His genealogy has been given to prove He's the rightful king, He's had visitors from far away that came to offer Him gifts and homage because they knew He was coming, and God has sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Him in the spirit of Elijah preaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." We saw that Jesus was coronated at His baptism and then His authority was immediately challenged during His temptation in the wilderness and He returned victorious after this to preach the message that we call The Sermon on the Mount where He talks about His kingdom, His kingdom citizens and how they will look and act different than the citizens of any other kingdom and the standards are high--so high that no natural man can meet the standards on His own without being born again. The people marveled at His teaching and His authority. We step back into the story at this point where Jesus seems to be winning a huge spiritual victory and then the forces of the kingdom of darkness show up to confront Him just as He's coming off the mountain. Matthew 8:1-17 English Standard Version (ESV) Listen: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.8.1-Matt.8.17 Jesus Cleanses a Leper Matthew 8:1-17 English Standard Version (ESV)Jesus Cleanses a Leper8 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 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 a proof to them.” The Faith of a Centurion 5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 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. 9 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.” 10 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. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 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. Jesus Heals Many 14 And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 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. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” Now that we've set the stage and read the passage, let's add one more thing. We're moving back into what is biblical narrative. We'll see a lot of application we can take away still, but that's not the main purpose of the text as narrative is by its nature descriptive and not prescriptive. While it's not wrong to try to find meaning and application when we read historical narrative, to always be looking for a "deeper meaning" and life application may not always be best. For the next few weeks (maybe months) we'll be in this new genre of Scripture which is going to tell us more about the life and works of Christ and ultimately the beginning of the Church as we move into the book of Acts. Therefore there will probably be more reading and less commentary on these passages because Jesus is usually pretty good at providing His own commentary as needed, though as I see need to clarify something important I will. Since these passages are usually shorter, I'm going to try to group several smaller connected passages together. Hopefully this helps everyone with some of the "big picture" that the gospel writer wants you to see and you see this as more than a collection of Bible stories but as real people in history and this being a biography, usually from a first-hand account, of Jesus and His ministry. With that said, let's jump into today's passage. Jesus has come off of the Sermon on the Mount and is immediately confronted by a leper which really symbolizes sin and its consequences in the Old Testament. These lepers were the walking (or sometimes not walking) dead. They had no feeling in their nerves, their flesh would be rotting, they may have had rodents eat appendages and they had all kinds of diseases because they could not tell when they cut themselves or when something bit them. They looked and smelled of death and were physically and ceremonially unclean. No one was even supposed to talk to them for fear of catching the disease, a disease which was incurable other than by a miracle of God. With that in mind, this man's request is astounding. He is saying that He believes that Jesus is God and is capable of dealing with this condition that is his current identity and that Jesus can take what is dead, missing, broken, sick, diseased, and rotting and simply speak and make all things new, clean and whole. What astounding faith! As amazing as this is though, it doesn't surprise Jesus as much as the next person we hear about. A Roman centurion who said that he understood that all Jesus had to do was speak the word and that not even time and space could be an issue for Him because everything was subject to His authority. Jesus commends the centurion's faith while at the same time saying that the faith of the chosen people of God was lacking and it would be their lack of faith that could one day lead to people like this Roman man resting in the eternal kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and some of the other "people of God" missing the mark and not having a seat at that table. While Jesus seemed to want to talk about the kingdom of heaven, word quickly spread that He had the power of disease and many were brought for healing and He even demonstrated power over demons, We see partially why this was important right now because Matthew tells us that this fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah in that Jesus would take our illnesses and bear our diseases-the greatest disease of all that He dealt with and has provided healing for is that of sin. As we go throughout the gospel though we will see that these miracles that Jesus did were "signs" given by God to confirm both the person of Christ and His message. Let's look at one Old Testament passage that I think frames where we've been and where we are going and the expectations that were on people's hearts at the time. We'll see this exact passage referenced by Jesus Himself a few different times in other gospels, especially when people asked Him if He was the Messiah and His fulfillment of these verses is the evidence that He cited. Isaiah 61 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Year of the Lord's Favor 61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. 4 They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. 5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; 6 but you shall be called the priests of the Lord; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. 7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. 8 For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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