Miracles of Jesus

1 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.”

For the past 3 chapters (5-7), we have heard the words of Jesus, now we see His action. Notice the crowds (plural and great in number) were still with Jesus. What was their interest? Were they wanting to see miracles? Were they impressed with what they heard? Was it just something new? We don’t know exactly why these great crowds were following Jesus, but we know He had their attention. They had not seen or heard anyone like Him, and they continued to follow Him to see what would happen next. They were simply amazed.

Now, as Jesus is leaving one of the most unclean humans approached Jesus. A leper. Leprosy is a physical disease, affecting the nerve system, sometimes to the point they cannot feel pain. As a result, people with leprosy (Hansen’s disease, today) may experience severe infections leading to the point where limbs become deformed and may even fall off.

It is contagious, and the lepers were required to separate from others. They were seen as unclean and cursed by God. So, not only affected with a physical disease, but a spiritual one as well.

Numbers 12:10 ESV

10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

In approaching another person, they were to call out “Unclean, unclean!” Even to touch a leper would make that person unclean, so they were required to keep a certain distance away from other people.

Now, we see a leper coming to Jesus. Not calling out unclean, but humbly asking to be made clean. Isn’t it amazing that this leper ignored OT law requiring him to separate, but instead coming into the crowd seeking Jesus boldly. Now get this picture, the most vile, disgusting, defiled and unclean person boldly approached God. No person is too unclean, polluted, dirty, or sinful to come to Jesus Christ.

He came respectfully asking Jesus (If it were in His will) to make him clean. Not only did the leper come boldly, but he came with a worshipful attitude and expecting/trusting Jesus for cleansing. He reverently came to Jesus and knelt before him. A sign of worship. He was desperate. He knew his defiled state. He knew he could not come within 6 feet of anyone. Yet he ran to Jesus and fell at His feet, simply asking to be made clean. He trusted Jesus could do what he asked…if it were His will. He didn’t want to just be healed, he asked to be made clean. He wanted full restoration - to be made wholly and completely. He wanted to be seen as clean in front of man and God. He had faith Jesus could heal him. He knew Jesus held that power. He knew he could be restored and made clean again. The leper did two things that all of us must do when we ask Jesus to cleanse us: He genuinely trusted Jesus, and he offered himself reverently to Him.

Notice not every leper was made clean, just the one who asked. Why? If Jesus had the authority to cleanse one, could he not cleanse them all? Maybe it’s because they didn’t believe or trust Jesus, or maybe it was their unwillingness to humble themselves before Him.

Whatever the case, Jesus responded to this one leper. Not only did He respond, He touched him. When everyone else was backing away, Jesus reached out and touched the most wretched person of the time.

-So many will not touch the most defiled. They will have nothing to do with them. They shun and avoid them. Too often, even when the defiled wander into church, the church gets rid of them as soon as possible. So many in the church have little time for the defiled. They neglect and leave them where they are. Too many believers and too many churches have lost the sense of mission to reach the most defiled.

Jesus said, “I will.” These words say several significant things about Jesus.

1) Jesus was not willing even for the most defiled to perish (2 Pe. 3:9).

2) Jesus did not have to be urged to help the most defiled. The most defiled simply had to approach Jesus with a sincere heart.

3) Jesus did not have to be paid to help the most defiled. The leper did nothing but come to Jesus, believing that Jesus would cleanse him.

“I will.” The mission of Jesus Christ is to seek and to save that which is lost, no matter how defiled. The church is called to the very same mission. Jesus Christ said go—go to every creature, to every human being.

As a result of his faith, the leper was cleansed by Jesus. He was physically and ceremonially restored (religious and spiritually). Notice Jesus cleansed the man immediately, there was no waiting. The man did not hesitate in asking, and the Lord did not hesitate in providing. You see, when we realize we must be cleansed and washed from our sins, we must not hesitate in coming to Jesus, and Jesus won’t hesitate in restoring us, either.

Notice that Jesus told him not to brag in his restoration, but to go and present himself to the priest. The cleansed man had to be aware of pride. The leper had been cleansed and delivered from the pit of defilement. There were many still in the pit where he had come from. Jesus knew this man’s heart, knew that he stood in danger of temptation, the temptation of self importance. He could have easily gone about saying what is so often heard: “Jesus has cleansed me. But for the grace of God, I would still be a sinner.” Of course, this was true. But to go about proclaiming such would have tended to separate him apart as more favored than others, and he was not a favorite of God. God has no favorites. He was just a man who had been desperately unclean and whom Christ had cleansed. The cleansed man needed to proclaim Christ and His cleansing power, not his own cleansing. He deserved nothing, especially the grace of God; therefore, he had no reason to profess, “But for the grace of God.…” Such would have been self-centered, prideful, and boastful. Jesus wanted to prevent such a profession.

The cleansed man had to obey the law. Jesus told the man to obey the law for two reasons.

1) He cared deeply for the cleansed man. He wanted him to be restored, accepted, and reunited with his family and friends. They would accept him only if he were proven to be cured.

2) He wanted the man to respect God’s law and to walk in it for the remainder of his life.

Centurions Faith

Matthew 8:5–13 ESV

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.

This is a great passage showing that Jesus is definitely the Messiah. He has the Messianic power to receive men and to reject men. He can receive any man who truly trusts Him, no matter how far away the man may be or how many barriers may seem to stand in the way. As Messiah, He also has the power to reject the unbelieving.

Note the deep emotion felt by Jesus throughout this experience. He was aroused to make the statements He made and to prove His Messianic power. Matthew’s apparent purpose in recording this miracle was to show that Jesus did possess the Messianic power to do two things.

1. Jesus possessed the power to receive any man, regardless of the barrier. He could span every conceivable barrier.

a. The ideological barrier: the centurion was a man rejected, despised, and hated by the Jews (see Deeper Study # 1—Ac. 23:23); yet Jesus could reach him and meet his need. He had the power to span and to overcome the ideas and prejudices that divided man against man, neighbor against neighbor, race against race, nation against nation, employee against employer, child against parent, wife against husband. (See Introduction, Special Feature 3—Ep.; See note—Ep. 2:14–15.)

b. The physical barriers: the centurion’s servant was desperately ill and some miles away, yet Jesus could reach the servant. His power could span all the physical barriers, no matter how far away or how severe the condition.

c. The spiritual barrier: the centurion was a Gentile, considered by the Jews to be lost spiritually, an alien and an enemy to the people of God. But Jesus had the power to reach the man, to pierce the spiritual barriers of his soul and save him. Jesus can reach the soul of any man who will believe in Him, no matter how lost or how alien or how much of an enemy to God he has been.

2. Jesus possessed the power to reject any man, even those who professed to be children of the kingdom, that is, the religious (v. 12).

The great faith of the centurion aroused Jesus to show the above. Jesus strongly demonstrated that He receives any man who truly believes, but He rejects those who do not believe, no matter who they are.

Jesus’ power was aroused by the centurion’s humility. The man’s humility is seen in two most unusual acts. He was a Gentile and a Roman officer, yet he came to a Jew for help. Approaching a Jew was socially unacceptable and unheard of for a Gentile but being an officer of Rome made it worse. Jesus knew that the centurion had great courage and humility to approach Him for help. The centurion came to Jesus as “Lord,” acknowledging His superior being and Messiahship. He approached Him as the One who could meet his need. Jesus’ response to the centurion’s cry for help was forceful: “I will.”

Jesus will meet the need of anyone who truly trusts Him: master or servant, noble or common, parent or child, rich or poor, man or woman, sinner or saint, doomed or saved, helpless or capable, hopeless or assured. Jesus has no favorites.

The centurion did not say, “My servant is not worthy to have you come”; but he said, “I am not worthy.” A sense of personal unworthiness gripped him. Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Lord. He is the One who alone has the power to meet our need. Therefore, we have to confess our inadequacy and unworthiness to have the Lord help us. Society considered the centurion greater than the poor preacher from Nazareth. But the centurion humbly confessed a deep unworthiness before Christ. He saw something of God in Christ, something that caused him to humble himself before Christ. The centurion was pouring out his heart for another person (intercessory prayer). In the eyes of society the person should have been meaningless to him, yet the man meant much to him. He loved this meaningless person, this slave. The centurion believed in the great power of Jesus to span and to overcome all barriers—even the barrier of space and time.

What a lesson for us! The great need is for intercessory prayer and love for all, no matter who they are and what others may think. The believer is to love. He is not only to love those close to him, but he is to love all. The centurion loved a slave. Our love can be measured by the centurion’s love.

Jesus opened His heart and arms and embraced the centurion. This He did despite the fact that the man was despised and rejected as a Gentile. (Imagine. He was not just a Gentile, but a Roman and a soldier, a citizen and soldier of the nation that enslaved the Jews.) Jesus not only received the centurion, He commended him for his faith. Note: He did not commend him for who he was nor for what he had done as a soldier.

True belief is a rare thing. Not many believe, yet belief in Jesus Christ is one of the greatest qualities of human life—a quality ignored, neglected, and in some cases denied. There are times when recognition and commendation are to be given. But again, note for what: it is for spiritual strength. However, caution should always be exercised lest the temptation of pride and self-importance set in. What Jesus is after is faith. Note His emotion over faith: He marvelled. He was aroused to blurt out that He shall embrace all who come by faith, no matter who they are or from where they come.

Who are to be saved? The centurion’s faith stirred deep emotion within Christ, emotion so strong that He claimed several things. Jesus used the centurion’s great faith to predict a great revival among Gentiles in the future. We, of course, are in the midst of this great Gentile conversion, the Gentile conversion so clearly predicted by our Lord on the memorable day of the centurion’s conversion. The centurion had something unusual. He had whatever had given Abraham and Isaac and Jacob their entrance into heaven. He had faith. He was a Gentile, not a son of Abraham by birth, but he had just become a son of Abraham by faith. The centurion was to do something unusual. He was to “sit down” with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in heaven. Jesus was saying that salvation shall come to the Gentiles. The centurion was an illustration, a foreshadowing of the coming conversion of the Gentiles.

The judgment of unbelievers is to be terrible.Note: Jesus predicted that the Jews who persist in unbelief shall perish. They are rejected by God, despite the fact they had been chosen to be the children of God and had been given so many privileges.

There will be outer darkness: a region, a place, a habitation, a home of pitch black that forbids any sight whatsoever. A place without light, without gleam or hope of any light whatsoever. It is a place of utter darkness in which one lives completely incapacitated, helpless, and hopeless. It is far away from the splendor and glory and brightness of God’s presence. It is being cast into the gloom and blackness of the outer world. It is misery, the misery of a lost soul.

There will be weeping: grief, loud grief, mourning, groaning, wailing, floods and floods of tears.

There will be gnashing of teeth (brugmos): grinding; biting in hostility and bitterness and indignation; spitefully snapping the teeth. It is rage, fury, and despair because nothing can be done. A person’s state is permanently determined.

Entrance into heaven is based upon one thing and one thing only: faith in Christ. Heritage, godly parents and children, religious profession, baptism, and church membership—all are useless without faith. Without faith, man has only the judgment of God to look forward to.

Jesus’ great power proves His Messiahship. His great power to meet the centurion’s request proved His unlimited power as Messiah.

And the servant was healed at that very moment. Oh, how many times has Jesus wanted to provide for us, but we were unwilling to ask? We thought we knew better. We thought we could handle it on our own. We tried to tough it out. But Jesus just wanted us to humbly ask so He could answer.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide. The Gospel according to Matthew: Chapters 1:1–16:12. Vol. 1. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2004. Print. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible.

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