INTRODUCTION

This past August my dad, brother, nephew, oldest son, youngest son and I went to our little hunting shack way up in northwest WI with the purpose of driving a sand point well. Most of you are as ignorant of what a sand point well is as all of us were when we went to put it in. My brother found some information on the internet and my dad had a clerk at Farm & Fleet give him some pointers when he bought the pipe and the sand point and the pump. He also did ask a friend that is a plumber for some advice and the friend gave him a very large and heavy pipe driver that he said we would need. My mom asked us, as we were preparing to leave her house with all our gear, "Don’t you think you should call a plumber when you get to Minong and have him come out and at least show you what to do?" We said, "Nah, we can do this. We’ll have it in the ground and water running in a day and then we’ll go fishing."

I won’t bore you with the details but suffice it to say that we now know all the mistakes that you can make when installing a sand point well. I had to leave for home after 2 ½ days of working on the well. When I left, while we had driven the pipe to 28 feet and had three feet of water in the bottom of the pipe we had not been able to get the pump to pull it to our faucet. As I speak the water is still where it was when I left. We are seriously considering calling a plumber to come and look at what we’ve done to see if he can help us.

Most of us don’t like asking for help unless we absolutely have to. This is especially true in our relationship to God. One of the main barriers keeping us from seeing the greatness of Christ is that we are impressed with our own abilities and resources. All of us naturally assume that we are able to get our needs met without God’s help. Self-reliance is at the center of what the Bible calls sin. Over and over again the Bible declares that God does not help those who can help themselves, he only helps those who cannot help themselves. Jesus himself, in Matthew 5 says that the people who receive God’s favor are poor in spirit and meek. In other words God only cares for those who have no resources of their own and know they have no right to ask God for anything.

In the passage we are going to consider today Jesus shows off his power and authority by helping weak and helpless people. In this passage we discover why it is that he uses his power and exercises his authority on behalf of the weak. I don’t want you to open your Bibles, rather I am going to tell you the story.

NARRATIVE BLOCK ONE (vv. 1-4)

Jesus’ final words echoed off the hills opposite the one he was sitting on. He turned to his disciples and motioned for them to proceed him down the hill and back to the road that led to Capernaum. The crowd, which numbered in the thousands, slowly began to get to their feet and gather up their belongings. Like theatre goers critiquing the play as they file out of the theater, they began to talk with one another about their impressions of Jesus and what he had just taught them. The consensus was one of amazement. No one had ever heard a man teach with the kind of authority and certainty with which Jesus taught. He certainly did not teach like the religious teachers they listened to each Sabbath in their synagogues. He did not quote any experts. He did not even quote the OT. He simply declared truth and spoke as if he were speaking the very words of God. And what he said! Never had they heard anyone describe God and his way of life like Jesus!

The crowd, buzzing with excitement, followed Jesus and his disciples down out of the hills and onto the seaside road that led to Capernaum. The plodding feet of adults mixed with the scampering feet of the children who were free to move around after having sat for so long. Dust rose up and formed a cloud that marked the progress of the caravan of people along the road by the glistening sea. Some distance ahead of the crowd, a small group of men, seated in the few scraps of shadow cast by the makeshift shacks that passed as their homes, noted to one another the dust cloud that was gradually moving in their direction. These men were lepers. Through their tattered clothes and under their unkempt hair could be seen various kinds of rashes and lesions and infected sores. They all wore a veil over the bottom half of their faces. Whenever they were around other people they cried out as they moved along, "Unclean! Unclean!", so that no one would inadvertently touch them. You see, anyone who touched them became unclean and would also have to live outside of town, away from their family for a week. Then he would have to go to the temple and offer a special offering to be cleansed from the defilement of touching one of the lepers.

One of the men said that he had overheard some people say that the prophet Jesus was back in the area. He supposed that the dust was caused by the crowd that followed him everywhere he went. All the men slid back into disinterested silence, except for one. Joseph started when he heard the name of Jesus mentioned. They all had heard the stories of his healing people of all kinds of diseases. But these men were too hardened by the harsh realties of their lives to pay much attention to the crazy stories of religious zealots. After all, it was the religious people that made their lives more unbearable than the diseases that afflicted them. But Joseph didn’t share the cynical outlook of these men.

Three years ago he first noticed the rash and open sores on the back of his left hand. He showed them to his wife and they both agreed that he needed to obey God’s word and go show the rash to the priests. So, leaving his wife and children at home in Capernaum, he made the two day journey into Jerusalem to the temple. The priest who examined his hand also discovered another sore under his hair. He could only give him the bad news that he was unclean and would need to live alone, outside of all the towns of Israel. He could not even return home and tell his family. The priest made arrangements to inform them. He also told him that if the rash changed in any way that he should return and be examined again to see if the skin disease was cleansed and he could return to his home and into the fellowship of the temple again.

He left the temple that day after tearing his clothes and tying a piece of cloth across his face. He went along crying, "Unclean! Unclean!" He hung his head in shame and despair as he saw the horrified and pitiful looks of people making their way up the temple mount. So for the past three years he had lived on gifts given by faithful Jews and moved around with this ragtag collection of afflicted men. The loneliness and despair were at times overwhelming. But he had escaped the bitterness and cynicism of his companions by meditating on God’s word. In particular he meditated on the three occasions in the OT where God afflicted individuals with an infectious skin disease. God gave Miriam a skin disease for her part in rebelling against Moses’ leadership. God healed her at Moses’ request but only after making her live outside the camp for seven days. Then, hundreds of years later, God gave it to Gehazi, Elijah’s assistant, because of his greed and deception. He also gave king Uzziah leprosy for life because out of pride he did what only priests were allowed to do, offer incense in the temple.

As he meditated on the sins of these three people and God’s judgement of giving each of them leprosy, he came to see himself in each of them. He knew that like Miram, he had rebelled against the law of Moses and had not kept all of God’s laws and decrees. He knew that, like Gehazi, he had lied in order to get things he thought were important. He knew that like Uzziah, pride was his constant companion and that he often had arrogantly demanded his own way in relation to God and other people. Over the last three years he had come to marvel, not that God had given him leprosy but that was all that God had given him. He knew that he deserved much worse. He marveled at the grace of God in not giving every human being leprosy because he knew that the Scriptures were true that declared, "there is no one righteous, not even one." He had come, over time, to believe what David wrote in Psalm 62, "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." And Psalm 73 was his daily prayer, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." He could now say with David, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees." He dearly wanted to be whole again, to be with his wife and children, but he knew that if God wanted him to be leprous the rest of his life, that would not be unfair. His hope and happiness did not lie in being well and with his family, but in belonging to this great God. His hope in God now prompted him to hope that mercy might be shown him through this Jesus.

Soon the crowd of people kicking up the dust became visible as they turned a corner in the shoreline. The crowd was following the road that passed a couple of hundred feet from their collection of stick shelters. Joseph stood up while the other men watched him with puzzled expressions. He walked out to the side of the road. As the crowd came closer and closer Joseph’s heart beat faster. He could see the one he supposed to be Jesus in the middle of small knot of men at the front of the crowd. He slowly began walking towards the crowd, calling out, "Unclean! Unclean!" His cries finally were heard over the din of the crowd and those in front stopped while those behind surged around them. But as they saw him approaching people backed away and formed a corridor that led straight to Jesus. When he came to where Jesus waited for him, he fell on his knees two paces away and lifting his veiled and disfigured face he said, "Lord, if you are willing, you are able to cleanse me." Then he waited for God’s will to be made known.

Jesus took a step forward, stretched out his hand and laid it on Joseph’s head. Then he said, "I am willing, be cleansed." Joseph looked at his hands and arms and his skin was clean, like that of a young boy. He took the veil from his face which moments before was scarred by old lesions and swollen and red where new ones had appeared to find it too was as smooth as the cheeks of a newborn child. Joy flooded his heart and a smile broke across his face. Then Jesus said, "Don’t tell anyone what I have done for you. Rather, go to the priest at the temple and make the offering that Moses commanded. Let your cleansing be a warning sign to them that someone greater than Moses and the Law and the temple has come. Let your cleansing be a symbol of the greater cleansing from sin that can only be given by me, not by the performance of religious duty."

APPLICATION

The healing of this leper is the first specific miracle that Matthew records. It is no accident that he begins by telling the story of a man afflicted with leprosy who is content to continue in his leprosy if Jesus so chooses. "If you are willing you are able to cleanse me" is the way those who Jesus helps pray. Here is a man who knows four things. First, even though he has leprosy, God has not dealt with him unfairly. In fact, God has been gracious to him because he knows he deserves far worse. He knows he deserves hell. He knows God always does right. Second, he knows that God is the one who decides who will be healed and who will not be healed. God decides who will be forgiven and who will not be forgiven. God is sovereign over everything. Third, he knows that God is merciful, abounding in love, kind to those who don’t deserve kindness and hears the prayers of the afflicted. Fourth, he knows that Jesus has the authority and the power to heal. He knows that Jesus speaks for God and that Jesus speaks with the power of God.

Jesus is willing to exercise his power on behalf of people who come to him as this man did. Jesus will not help those who come to him accusing God of dealing unfairly with them. He will not help those who act as though they are obligating him to do something by going through some ritual or using certain words or whatever. He will not help those who come to him demanding that he be kind because they deserve to be treated better. He will not help those who do not come to him confident of his ability to do whatever he wants to do. But when the weak and helpless come to him, submitting to his will, trusting in his mercy, confident of his ability to work on behalf of all who hope in him, then he exerts his power on their behalf.

Not only does Jesus use his power and authority to help those who submit to his will but also he helps those who know who they are and who he is.

NARRATIVE BLOCK TWO (vv. 5-13)

Romulus sat on his horse at the edge of the crowd and watched as one sick person after another approached Jesus and was healed by him. He saw several men half drag, half carry the old crazy man that sat by the city gate, drooling in his beard, into Jesus’ presence. After being dropped in front of Jesus the man suddenly spoke in the clearest voice, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazerath? Have you come to destroy us? We know who you are, the Holy One of God!" Then Jesus quickly and sternly said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a loud shriek. While the crowd rumbled with amazement Romulus turned his horse away and began to slowly ride back to the Roman garrison on the other edge of town immersed in thought.

This was the fourth year of his five year assignment to this Roman outpost in the town of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. As most Romans, when he first arrived, he had nothing but contempt for the backward, superstitious Jews who lived in this town. But he was a professional and his job was to enforce Roman law and bring stability to a region that was often troubled by Jewish terrorists who had hopes of driving the Romans out. In an attempt to understand the people he was to police and to show goodwill he had begun to attend the weekly Sabbath services. It was there, while hearing the Jewish Scriptures read that he first became aware of the God who created the heavens and the earth.

It was there, listening to God’s law being read and explained each week that he understood that the Jewish people were not the superstitious ones. Rather he and all his idol-worshipping countrymen were the ones who were being foolish. He was overcome with a sense of guilt and fear of this great God when he heard his law, "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them." His heart ached as he recalled the prayers and offerings he had made to the many idols in his hometown and during his travels as a Roman officer. He came to understand that God had chosen the Jewish nation in order to bless all the nations of the world. He knew and believed that God was going to send his Messiah into the world to save all of his people. He desperately wanted to be one of those people. But, he wasn’t Jewish. In fact, he was part of an army that was oppressing the Jewish people. And he knew that his sins were far greater and far more pervasive than simply being an officer in the Roman army and ruling over God’s chosen people.

This was the fourth time that he had gone to listen to Jesus and to watch him. Like everyone else he was amazed at Jesus’ teaching and his ability to heal people and drive out demons. There was growing in him a certainty that what the demonized man said just before Jesus healed him was true. Jesus was the Holy One of God. He was the Messiah. But even while acknowledging this to himself caused his heart to skip and a tingle to go up his spine he could not shake the despair of knowing that he was not part of the Messiah’s people. His horse had found its way home while its master brooded over his troubling thoughts. He slowly climbed down as one of the stable workers came out to take care of the horse.

He walked through the gate and into the courtyard of his house. He was surprised that there was no one there to greet him. He entered the cool interior of his home and found his entire household gathered around his most trusted servant, Samuel. He was lying on a mat in the middle of the dining room. He was grimacing in pain and unable to move his arms or legs. His breathing was labored. It was apparent that something was desperately wrong with him and that he was dying. Romulus didn’t wait for any explanation but ran back out of his house and into the street. He ran through the streets of Capernaum asking God to have mercy on his dear servant who had been with him since his commissioning as an officer in the Roman legion. He pushed his way through the crowd that surrounded Jesus. His desperation overcame all his hesitation. He went right up to Jesus and without catching his breath, said to him, "Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

Jesus, not in any way taken aback by this rash man’s request said, "Well, then I’ll go with you and heal him." Jesus’ matter-of-fact reply was like a splash of cold water in Romulus’ face. He pictured Jesus, the Holy One of God, walking with him back to his house and then into his house. His face reddened with shame as he felt the greatness of his sins now that he was in the presence of the Holy One. He knew that he could not ask God’s Messiah to come to his house. But with the guilt also came the realization that because Jesus was the Messiah God had promised to bless all the nations of the world through him. So, with growing confidence he said, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For 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."

Now it was Jesus’ turn to be amazed. He turned to the crowd and said, "Listen to me carefully. I’ve yet to come across this kind of insight into who I am and this kind of confidence in my authority among anybody in Israel. The people who have God’s word and his promises and who should know who I am and should trust me completely are not even close to the faith this outsider already has. This is amazing. This man is the first of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the fathers of Israel who believed God’s promises. But be warned all of you who have grown up as religious people, who are trusting in your religious performance but never trusting in God’s promised Messiah, you will be left outside. Everyone who does not trust in me like this Roman soldier will find themselves thrown out of the bright and glorious party God is going to throw into the dark where people will moan in pain and grind their teeth in despair for all of eternity." Then Jesus turned back to the Roman officer and in front of everyone said, "Go, what you believed could happen, has happened." And as Romulus was soon to discover, at that moment, his servant became well and he knew that salvation had come to him as well. He now knew that God’s salvation was not given on the basis of race or of religious performance but on the basis of trust in this Jesus who spoke with God’s authority.

APPLICATION

There are dozens and dozens of times that we are told in the four biographies of Jesus’ life that people were amazed at Jesus, both by his teaching and his miracles. However there are only two times that Jesus is amazed. This is one of those times. He is amazed at the faith of this non-Jewish, Roman officer. The other time he is amazed is at the lack of faith of the disciples. But that’s another story. His amazement here is compounded not only by the faith of the centurion but by its contrast with the lack of faith among the people of Israel who ought to have known and believed better. I want you to think about what was so amazing about this man’s faith. I think there are four things to see. First, notice his humility. He knows, as did the leper, that there is no reason in himself as to why Jesus should help him. He knows that he is not worthy of God’s help. He knows he is a sinner and has no right to demand that God be kind to him. He has never given anything to God so that God must repay him.

Second, he has insight into the nature of who Jesus is that no one else, not even his disciples, have until after Jesus has died and risen again. Notice what he said. He compares Jesus to himself. He is a Roman officer. That means that he is under the authority of the Roman emperor. He can only do what the emperor authorizes him to do. But when he commands his soldiers to do anything they obey him, not because of who he is, but because of who he represents. Soldiers know that to disobey their commanding officer is to disobey the Roman emperor and that to obey the centurion is to obey the emperor. His commands are the emperor’s commands. The centurion says the same thing is true of Jesus. He can only do what God commands but when Jesus commands it is as though God himself was commanding it. Therefore, if Jesus commands the sickness to leave his servant it will because Jesus’ command is God’s command. Now, the centurion does not understand that Jesus is God or that the one and only God who exists is a Trinity. But he understands something about Jesus’ relationship to his Father that no one else understood.

Third the centurion’s faith was amazing because of his unflinching confidence that whatever Jesus said would happen. "Just say the word and my servant will be well." He knows that Jesus has the final say on what happens to his servant and like the leper before him submits to his will. But he knows that Jesus’ power and authority is more than able to do what he commands. Finally, like the leper, though he knows that he does not deserve to have Jesus help him he knows that Jesus and his Father are a God of compassion and mercy, who delights to be kind to the weak and helpless.

We cannot end our look at this portrait of Jesus without seeing that there is another group of people mentioned here. The leper and the centurion are pictures of the kinds of people who are going to end up at God’s banquet table. But those who are not like the leper and the centurion are going to be thrown outside that party into the darkness where there is only suffering and despair. I do not want anyone who is listening to my voice to end up in the outer darkness where there is only the weeping of suffering and the gnashing of teeth in despair. So I want you to pay close attention to what I’m going to say. Jesus is saying that those who end up in the outer darkness are the opposite of those at the banquet table.

Everyone who ends up in heaven knows they don’t deserve to be there. Like the leper and the centurion, they know that if God were just and fair he would send them to hell because that’s what there sins deserve. The leper and centurion do not demand that God treat them well because of the good things they have done. Rather they cast themselves upon God’s mercy. So those who end up in the outer darkness either believe they deserve to be in heaven or they don’t think heaven and hell are anything to be concerned with. Most of the people who end up in hell are going to be surprised to be there. Second, all those in heaven will know that the only reason they are there is because of who Jesus is and what Jesus did for them. They will know that it’s is only because of Jesus’ death on the cross and his willingness to save them that gained them the right to sit at God’s banquet table. All those who are cast into the outer darkness will be there because they did not believe in Jesus, submit to his will or trust in his work on their behalf. They may have believed in him as a real person but they will not have loved him above all else and trusted him for all. They will have presumed that their beliefs about God and their goodness were adequate. They will not have known or believed that only Jesus could save them. My dear friends, do not ignore Jesus. Submit to his will. Acknowledge your sin. Trust in him alone as the only one who can say the word and heal you.

© Copyright 2000 John Swanson.
You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that:
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