Life Project Blog

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

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. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”

Matthew 8:14-17

In our last post from Matthew, we saw that the Kingdom would extend not only to Jews but to Gentiles as well; here we see that where the Kingdom goes, healing follows.

Jesus is a visitor in Peter’s house in this scene, which gives us an interesting little bit of insight into Peter’s life. I’m sure that you recall that Peter, who was a commercial fisherman, dropped everything to follow Jesus as soon as Jesus called him.  The disciples of Jesus were very young men, and we often pick up on that and almost discount the fact that they left their lives and careers to become His disciples, but here, almost in passing we see that Peter also had a house, a wife… were there children?… and his mother-in-law was in residence there. Peter had family depending on him for support, and yet he dropped everything to follow Jesus.

I’ll just pause a moment to let that sink in…

It seems that Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with some kind of fever, but Jesus touched her and she was healed, and then she got up and began to wait on Him.

Maybe I should pause again while that one sinks in…

That evening, people began to come around; they brought many who were demon possessed, and Jesus drove out the demons. They brought the sick, and Jesus healed the sick; yes sir, the Kingdom of Heaven was in town. As is Matthew’s way, he ties this in with the prophetic past of Israel, citing the prophecy of Isaiah who looked forward to that very day (Isa. 53:4).

When the Kingdom comes along, nothing is ever the same again.

Matthew 8:5-13

As Jesus moved about proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven, many amazing things took place; Kingdom things. In the last section we saw the significance of Jesus’ healing of the leper, and here we will see something just as amazing.

Jesus was walking along one day when a Roman Centurion approaches Him with a request. Jews didn’t care much for Gentiles, as you know, and Roman military officers were certainly no exception. The Centurion asks Jesus to heal his (gentile) servant. An appropriate Jewish response would be something like “buzz off jerk”, but Jesus didn’t respond that way…

Jesus’ response to the news that the servant was paralyzed and suffering was to ask the man if He should proceed directly to his house!

Jews did not enter the homes of Gentiles.

The Centurion’s reply amazed even Jesus: in essence it was no, that won’t be necessary, just give the command and all will be well. The Centurion was a military officer who knew all about giving orders and having them obeyed, after all. Jesus’ response this comment is classic:

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 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. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 8:10-12

This unclean, dirty, nasty dog of a Gentile displayed more faith than any Jew Jesus had met up to that time, and such was the requirement to enter the Kingdom. Jesus goes on to tell the people that there would be many Gentiles (many will come from the east and the west) in the Kingdom, and that many “Jews” will be left out of it (the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth) This verse references the “subjects” of the (earthly) kingdom (of Israel) who will reject Jesus in the future and be left outside of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Obviously, this would blow the minds of most Jews of the time, but as we know, the Kingdom is a place of healing for Jew and Gentile alike, should they choose to place their faith in Jesus, and by doing so, place their faith in God who sent Him.

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said.“Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 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.”

Matthew 8:1-4

With this passage, we enter into the next section of Matthew’s Gospel (8:1-9:35). Before we jump in, let’s take stock of what we have seen so far. Back in chapter 4 our author told us that Jesus had gone forth proclaiming the Kingdom after His baptism by John and testing in the Wilderness. Where Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom, certain amazing things would take place, but as of yet, Matthew hasn’t told us in detail about them. In chapters 5-7, we read exactly what Jesus was teaching in these sessions proclaiming the Kingdom, and we discovered a revolutionary new kind of life for citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. In chapters 8 and 9 we are going to see exactly the kinds of things that were going on when Jesus proclaimed Kingdom and taught His new way of life. We will see ten miracles in this section, miracles that demonstrate the power, authority and divinity of Jesus, along with the healing power of the Kingdom that He embodied.

In the passage above, Jesus heals a leper. The healing of a leper was a big deal for several reasons. First, there was no cure for the disease, second, it made a person “unclean” in the ceremonial sense of the Law which meant that they were not permitted to touch anyone or participate in the religious life of the community, and in that sense, they were also cut off from the worship of God. In an apocalyptic sense, to be a leper is like being a sinner; to be healed of leprosy is symbolic of being redeemed from sin and restored to fellowship with both Man and God. Thus, when Jesus healed a leper, we have a “type” of His cleansing us from our sin.

In this story, we would do well to keep special note of two things: First, the man came to Jesus in faith: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” The only question in the man’s mind was whether or not Jesus was willing to save him, not whether or not Jesus could save him; oh that we should have such faith!

Second, after Jesus had healed the man, notice that Jesus admonished him not to run around telling everyone about it. Jesus wasn’t doing this sort of thing to make a name for Himself as our world would understand such things, for He already had the Name that is above all names. Then, Jesus instructs the man to go to Jerusalem and offer the prescribed sacrifice at the Temple, as a testimony of his healing and redemption. In doing this, Jesus demonstrated that He was among men to do the work of His Father, and that in due course, He Himself would be the sacrifice that would redeem all Mankind from their sin, restoring humanity to fellowship with God.

Next time, we will see if only Jews can place their faith in Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven…

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

I find that I am often confused when I listen to or read modern day attitudes and notions, and maybe the reason for this is that they are… well, confusing.

During my secular education and training, there was the appearance of great academic freedom; all the teachers preached it, all the professors demanded it. Listening to the popular media, freedom of expression and freedom of thought are touted as the right paths. I was always taught that to be broad-minded was good, and that to be narrow-minded was bad; free-thinkers were to be lauded, if not always copied…

Yet I was a curious child and an observant youth; as a child I suspected they really didn’t mean it, and as a youth I came to recognize that it was all a complete and total lie. As an adult, I shrug my shoulders; there is nothing more hilarious than a politician talking about free and open discussion while following the “party line”.

You see, as a child, I quickly came to see that freedom of expression didn’t apply to my views, only those of the teacher. As a youth I came to see that “academic freedom” meant that we must all conform to one view, and now?

My wife’s views on controversial social issues (say, gay marriage for example) are contained in a policy directive. Even in church I have been criticized for saying things that aren’t “politically correct”! “Tone it down Don or you’ll offend someone.”

Seriously?

Can you think of anything that is more politically incorrect that openly being a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ?

Maybe you can, but I can’t.

Yet how many times have I been told that being a Christian is “narrow-minded”?

I never really kept a tally, but I sure would like to have a dollar for each one…

That broad road that Jesus mentioned in verse 13…?

It’s a damnable lie.

The narrow gate? That dear reader is the only way to the Father.

So, all I can say is go ahead and call me a narrow-minded… or close-minded fool if you like, Mr. Politically Correct; I’ll take that as a sign that I’m on the right track… as you check your latest policy memo to be sure you are pulling the latest party line.

You know dear reader; there are days when blogging is really too much fun!

If you would like a more conventional approach to this, try this post, The Narrow Door .