Matthew 8:1-4 I Am Willing, Be Clean WC McCarter
Introduction
My favorite hymn, Victory
in Jesus, has a second verse which states, “I heard about His healing, of
His cleansing pow'r revealing; how He made the lame to walk again and caused
the blind to see; and then I cried, ‘Dear Jesus, Come and heal my broken
spirit,’ and somehow Jesus came and bro't to me the victory.” This is the subject of today’s sermon and
many of the passages we will encounter next as we enter a new section in the
Gospel of Matthew. I have entitled this
series, “The Dominion and Demands of the King,” Matthew 8-9.
Today, we encounter a story that is recorded in all three
synoptic Gospels, i.e. Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
They are called synoptic because they cover much of the same material. They each tell this story in their own way,
which gives us different perspectives.
Apparently this was a famous incident between the Lord and a leper. In these four verses, Matthew points our
attention to Christ.
READ Scripture-
This is the Word of God
Multitudes
Followed (1)
The Scripture says, “When He had come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed Him.”
The mountain that He came down from must have been the one that he went
up on in 5:1 and the multitudes that followed Him must have been the ones that
prompted the occasion for the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ fame had spread over the entire region
and great crowds followed Him everywhere He went. Instead of giving the people what they wanted
(i.e. a miracle), Jesus sat down and began to teach them. He gave them what they needed. Do you see the pattern that Jesus has set for
us? From time to time He will heal
individuals and perform miracles, but His main objective is to teach all of His
followers. For the most part, the
Christian life is one of slow and quiet progress in Christ which provides great
joy.
Now, why were they following Him? There may have been many in the crowds that
followed Him because they wanted to see a miracle, but for a direct answer we
can go back to 7:28-29. Many are
probably caught up in the excitement surrounding Jesus’ ministry, and there are
certainly some folks who are intrigued by His teaching ministry. What a lesson for us to consider. Two questions may be asked: first, are you
following Jesus, and second, why are you following Jesus? I hope that you answer “yes” to the first, and
“I trust Him” to the second. What is so
special about Jesus’ teaching? He speaks
like no one else! His words are spirit,
and they are life! To whom else shall we
go? Jesus Christ has the words of
eternal life, and He offers true atonement.
There is a difference in being intrigued by the message
and actually submitting to the demands of Jesus’ teaching. The response to Jesus' teaching was
amazement, but the proper response is obedience. Now we see in verse one that the crowds
followed Him, but we are about to learn in chapters 8-9 what it really means to follow Jesus. Jesus will complement His terrific teaching
with marvelous miracles as signs of His all-encompassing dominion. He
will show His power over disease, demons, and death (to keep my D’s, we can
include “da earth”) and also declare the demands of true discipleship. Matthew shares some of these wonders with us
beginning with three acts of healing.
The first of these healing miracles is what we are considering today,
and it is actually couched in terms of ceremonial cleansing.
Leper: If You Are
Willing (2)
The word "behold" (ἰδοὺ)
is used often in narrative sections in the Bible, especially in the Gospels. It is meant to grab the reader’s attention and
to add interest and emphasis. Also, the
word is used to mark a scene change. Apparently,
the crowds are not present for the cleansing of the leper (based on the command
to not tell anyone).
We cannot be sure what kind of “leprosy” this was. The ancient term for leprosy covers a wider
array of conditions than what we call leprosy today. It certainly was an itchy or powdery
thickening of the skin most prevalent in the spring and likely refers to a
disease that causes the outer layer of skin to die and flake off, especially
when scratched. A leper was totally
ostracized from society until he was declared cured (Lev 13:45-46). So, the word is used of all sorts of skin
diseases, but it most certainly was something that was considered incurable and
horrific to the people. In any case, it
made this man ceremonially unclean in the eyes of all Jews. He would not have been able to worship in the
Temple or really have any kind of social interaction with others. He was an outcast. He came and knelt down before the Lord to
seek mercy. He knew that Christ had the
authority and power to do a great miracle for him. He only feared that he would be passed
by. Have you ever felt that way? You knew that Christ could forgive you of
your sins, but for some reason you felt like you may be passed by? If so, listen closely to the rest of the
story. For this man to come to Jesus
would have been bold and the normal response for a Jewish man like Jesus would
have been to steer clear of him.
Anything but that reaction would have been extraordinary.
The leper shows great respect for Jesus, he first kneels
and then calls Him Lord, and Matthew only uses "Lord" of those who believe
in Jesus; cf. 15:22; 17:15; 20:30–31). He
asserts Jesus’ power in the first place with “you can,” and then, in the second
place, he asserts Jesus’ sovereignty “if you are willing.”
Application:
All of us suffer with a variety of ailments; some worse than others; some
earlier in life; some later in life. If
you live long enough on this earth, you will suffer at the hands of a fallen
world. God, according to His sovereign
purposes, permits us to suffer these things for a time. We may not know the reason, after all, we are
not God, but we will experience the end results of His reasoning. He will ultimately work through everything
for our good. And, it is precious to
know the one who does have the power to cleanse the leper’s spots. We may not experience relief now, but we will
after a little while. We must pray the
words of the leper, “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.” These are words of bold faith and great confidence. There is not a shadow of doubt in that
statement as to the power of Christ for healing. The only question was the willingness of
Christ. Christ may have withheld
healing, not because He is stingy and hateful, but because, in His divine
purposes, He may have had need to allow the suffering to continue for a while
to bring about a greater good. On this
occasion, the man is “cleansed” of his leprosy.
Jesus: I Am
Willing (3)
Jesus did something extraordinary! He reached out! He actually touched this man, who apparently
did not come too close to Jesus. This
touch would have normally rendered Jesus ceremonially unclean (Lev 14:46; also
Mishnah, m. Nega'im 3.1; 11.1; 12.1; 13.6-12), yet the man became clean when
Jesus touched him. "According to rabbinical
practices, it was illegal even to greet a leper in an open place. Priests often ran and hid themselves upon
seeing a leper in the distance" (Mounce).
We know that He did not have to touch the man to heal
him. So, He must have intentionally done
this to make a point. Calvin said, “By
His word alone He might have healed the leper; but He applied, at the same
time, the touch of His hand, to express the feeling of compassion.” Jesus reaches, and He speaks. He says, “I am willing; be cleansed.” The love of Christ extended to even the most
outcast of society. The mission of Jesus
and the demands of love clearly took precedence, as one commentator put it
(France).
I like this word that is used next: “immediately.” Immediately the man was cleansed. The word “immediately” (εὐθέως) is used
frequently throughout Matthew to show the instantaneous and complete results of
Jesus’ actions.
Go, Show, Offer (4)
Jesus wants the man to tell no one, most likely because
it was not “His time.” I have said many
times before, Jesus was always aware of time during His life and ministry. The man was not to tell anyone, but of course
it would be made known to the priests who he presented himself before at the
Temple. This idea of keeping Jesus’
identity at bay is often referred to in biblical studies as the “Messianic
Secret” (see also 9:30, 12:16, 16:20, and 17:9). Part of this may also be Jesus’ precaution
against the rapid rise of a movement that did not understand the nature of His
Messiahship (Mounce).
To obey the command involved no small undertaking for the
cleansed leper. He would need to make
the journey from near the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem (something like 70 miles),
and there offer the sacrifice required by Moses (see Lev 14:4–32). Of course, another part of the reason for the
command to tell no one may have been so that the healed person would first obey
the Law before he became preoccupied with telling others about his healing (NKJVSB).
The last of verse four shows us that the Law points to
Christ. How does it demonstrate
this? What Jesus had just done would be
confirmed by the priests who operated under the Law of Moses. This act will give public proof that the
leper is cured and may return into society.
Even those corrupt priests would not be able to deny or discount what
Jesus had done for this man. So, Jesus
does what the religious leaders cannot.
He preaches and teaches with authority, and He heals those who are
considered to be forever unclean.
Conclusion and
Christian Application
One author has said that Matthew's account of Jesus'
healing is so pruned of all auxiliary narrative details that the focus falls on
the person's confidence in the power of Jesus and the words of Jesus in
response. This economy of detail is not
because the Evangelist eschewed vividness but because He has a "distaste
for technical details of miracles as such" and does not want the reader to
be distracted by the technique and miss the significance of the person of
Jesus (Hull in Garland). Our focus
is directed to Jesus.
The Lord is willing to cleanse you this morning. Not every person receives a miracle of
physical relief, but all are invited to come to him for spiritual cleansing,
and none will be passed by. He is more
than willing to provide spiritual relief to those who are poor in spirit, those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Calvin said that Christ did not only stretch out His arm to us, but He
descended from heaven. His willingness
took Him all the way to the cross of Calvary.
We may need physical healing (after all, if we live long enough, we will
suffer), but, first and foremost, we need spiritual healing.
As we conclude, let me remind you again of that second
verse of Victory in Jesus. The hymn says, “I heard about His healing, of
His cleansing pow'r revealing; how He made the lame to walk again and caused
the blind to see; and then I cried, ‘Dear Jesus, Come and heal my broken
spirit,’ and somehow Jesus came and bro't to me the victory.” Notice that the hymn writer says that it was reading about Jesus' healing ministry in the Gospels that caused him to cry out for salvation. The chorus goes on to say, “O victory in
Jesus, my Savior, forever. He sought me
and bought me with His redeeming blood.
He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory, beneath the
cleansing flood.” You see, the same
Jesus who had the authority and power to cleanse the leper is the one who went
to the cross to suffer the penalty for sin in your place. God the Father raised Him from the dead to
show His approval of that atoning sacrifice.
Through faith in Him, you can be plunged to victory, beneath the
cleansing flood. You can be wrapped in
His righteousness and saved from yourself, this present wicked age, and the
wrath to come. You can “hear about His
healing and His cleansing pow'r revealing,” and you can, like the leper, bow
down and cry out to Him, “Lord, make me clean.”
If you have already done this, then rejoice in this Good News, and remember that His cleansing work is both definite and ongoing. He is changing you from the inside-out. If you have never done this, then do so
today. Call out to Him. The Scripture says in multiple places,
“Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”