Matthew 8:8-17
7:28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. [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.”
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.
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.” [2]
The last two verses of Matthew Chapter 7 and the first 17 verses of chapter 8 record what happened when Jesus finished his Sermon on the Mount and began to walk down the mountain. Matthew transitions from the Sermon on the Mount to “the sermon on the move.” These scenes, the crowd’s reaction, and Jesus’ response to desperate needs, display the authority of King Jesus.
Everyone knows the difference between a person who speaks out of vast and accurate knowledge and a person who merely repeats what he’s heard from others. The first is the voice of authority. The other is the voice of a parrot. The first is the sound of the fountain bubbling forth freshly from the ground. The second is the sound of an empty cistern.
For 500 years Israel had been without a prophet. As a result, the scribes had emerged as apparent authorities because they had learned the scriptures by rote. They were the recognized teachers of the law, and it was their duty to memorize the law, together with all the various opinions about it given by learned rabbis of the past. They were then to pass this knowledge on for the benefit of their fellow Israelites.
The Jews who heard Jesus preach the Sermon on the Mount grew up with these authorities. But when they heard Jesus for the first time, they were impressed with the infinite distance that lay between his preaching and the teaching of the scribes. Jesus spoke with authority. They spoke from authority. The scribes rested all they said on traditions of what had been said before. But Jesus spoke out of his own soul, with direct intuition of truth. Therefore, he could speak to the soul of his listeners.
In 8:1-17 Matthew shows us three scenes that immediately follow Jesus’ authoritative sermon. They are portraits of Messiah’s divine power as a healer that serve as immediate proof of his authority as the Lawgiver. Each scene is tied together with a prophecy from Isaiah – that of the Suffering Servant. What underlies Jesus’ power to heal everything from leprosy to demon possession is the prophecy of Isaiah 53:4, “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
From all the miracle stories about Jesus he could tell, Matthew tells these three. In Matthew’s ironic, upside-down world, these are three portraits of power from the one who has come to bear in his own body on the cross all the disease, sickness, and ugliness of our sin. These are scenes of power for the powerless – an unclean leper, a Gentile’s slave, and a Jewish woman.
SCENE ONE: LEPER
The first scene is that of the leper. “When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him….” Leprosy in ancient Israel was the most dreaded disease. It is a contagious skin disease that affects not only the skin (its color, texture, and odor) and throat (creating a raspy voice), but also slowly destroys the nerves that sense pain and so protect our extremities. Lepers often lost the tips of fingers and toes and broke limbs because they couldn’t feel the weight of something heavy or the heat of the fire or the cut of a knife.
For a Jew, the worst part of this disease was the necessary separation that went along with it. According to Leviticus 13:45, 46, a leper had to wear torn clothes, keep his hair unkempt, cover his mouth, and cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” In order to prevent spreading his disease to others. Additionally, lepers could not reside within the community of Israel. They were banished from God’s people and from God’s presence in the temple. They were ceremonially unclean and completely unwelcome among their own people.
This social and cultic banishment that accompanied leprosy is what makes verse 2 and following so remarkable. “2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” His condition was so deplorable, but his desperate trust so very commendable! Notice in verses 1, 2 that the leper somehow made his way through a large crowd and then jumped into the front of the line so he could speak face-to-face with Jesus – or, more accurately, face-to-foot.
Notice his reverent posture: “[He] knelt down before him” (8:2). Now notice the first word out of his mouth, “Lord.” You can call Jesus “Lord” without having saving faith in him. Jesus mentioned that at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Yet, throughout Matthew’s Gospel this title was only found on the lips of Jesus ‘s disciples or those who, like the leper, are in desperate need of him. We know the leper is not simply being polite or respectable because of what he says next. He invokes Jesus’ Lordship.
He expresses his trust, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” This is more of a statement than a question. He recognizes Jesus’ authority over disease. And there is a balance in the leper’s trust. He has confidence that Jesus can heal him mixed with humility (if only you will). That is absolute trust in Jesus and absolute poverty of spirit before him.
Notice Jesus does not argue with the title of “Lord.” Nor does he lower the man’s expectations. Jesus does not protest that he is not an expert in leprosy. In fact, Jesus doesn’t say anything at first. As we read verses 5 through 13, we know Jesus can heal simply by the power of his Word. But Jesus doesn’t respond first by speaking. Instead he does something remarkable. He touched the leper. “3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him….” What compassion! What love!
We have no idea how long this miserable man had been a leper. How long had it been since someone had touched him? One year, two years, 10 years? Could you imagine no one touching you for a month — no handshake, no hug, no holding your hand, no playful rub of the head, no hand on your shoulder? But Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. This touch is the gospel! On the one hand it’s the tangible demonstration of God’s love for us in Christ. On the other hand it’s Jesus taking on all our infirmities, all our sickness, and all our sin. It’s Isaiah 53 in action.
According to Levitical law, Jesus becomes unclean the moment he touches this leper. Yet, as we will see repeatedly, Jesus transcends the law without abolishing it. Jesus’ touch doesn’t make him unclean; it cleans the unclean. By touching this leper Jesus shows he is willing to take on the man’s impurities. Jesus foreshadows his taking all of ours as well. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” [3] His miracles point to his mission, the cross.
Jesus touches the leper tenderly as a mother would touch the forehead of her sick child. Then, like a foreman barking orders to his work crew, he gives a command to that leprous body: “Be clean!” (8:3). Immediately the dividing walls of sin and sickness and separation came tumbling down. “And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (8:3b). We cannot say exactly how that worked, whether scales fell from his skin, whether bruises and wounds were instantly healed, whether the tips of toes and fingers grew back, whether his face, hair, and breath were suddenly fresh and clean. But whatever it looked like it was certainly enough to show the priests that he no longer had leprosy.
If you or I were there to witness and write about this miracle, we would have written about those details. Instead Matthew ends this miracle story in an unspectacular way. “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.’” There is a proper timing to Jesus’ ministry. At this stage, he doesn’t want the word about him getting out too soon or in a way that misinforms about his purposes.
What Jesus demands of the trusting leper, is to be obeyed. Jesus is to be obeyed and God’s Word is to be obeyed. Jesus has come to establish his new Kingdom. But not to establish a novel Kingdom. He is going to play by the Book and he expects all those who trust into him to do likewise. So, the leper must do what the Old Testament says (Leviticus 14). Following the cross and the resurrection, Mosaic cleansing rights will go away. But in that moment of redemptive history before the cross, those rituals which testify of Christ must be obeyed.
Jesus’ miraculous authority testifies that someone greater than Moses is here. It witnesses that the Kingdom of Heaven is breaking into the world. It witnesses that the Christ has come. Yet Jesus will not storm Israel with his messianic claim. Instead he will knock quietly at its door, leper by leper, miracle by miracle, teaching by teaching, parable by parable.[4]
SCENE TWO: CENTURION
The second scene in Matthew’s triptych is found in verses 5 through 13. This scene is full of surprises. The first surprise is that a centurion approached Jesus (8:5). Being a centurion meant two off-putting things for Jews. First, he was a Gentile. He was not a member of the people of God. Second, he was part of the Roman military. He was considered an oppressor of God’s people. According to Jewish thinking, he was the wrong race, and he wore the wrong uniform.
The second surprise is that this centurion, who is under the lordship of Caesar, twice calls Jesus “Lord.” “Lord” is the first word of his request in verse 6, and “Lord,” is the first word of his reply in verse 8. The word “Lord” in Matthew is symbolically significant. Believers called Jesus “Lord,” while non-believers tend to call him “teacher,” or “rabbi.”
The third surprise is that this centurion makes an appeal on behalf of his slave. Matthew uses a word in verse 6 indicating this was a “young slave,” or “young man,” likely a boy born to one of his household slaves. That was a big deal in the ancient Greco-Roman world where the average slave owner had no more regard for his slave than for an animal. Roman philosophical ideals dictated there should be no friendship and no justice towards inanimate objects, service animals, or slaves.
Roman philosophers taught that the only difference between a slave, a beast, and a cart was that the slave talked. So, can you see the surprise? Why does this high-ranking soldier’s soldier care for this slave? Let the boy die and let the mother crank out another one. Instead, he humiliates himself by begging before this Jewish beggar, Jesus.
The fourth surprise is that Jesus agrees to his request saying, “I will come and heal him” (8:7). And here is a surprise within the surprise: Jesus agrees to enter the home of a Gentile, a Roman soldier no less! That was something Jewish culture prohibited them from doing. And he does it without the slightest hesitation. He does not equivocate. Jesus was perfectly willing to cross cultural barriers to save those who needed him. Note also that Jesus does not say he will come and try to heal the boy.
The fifth surprise is that the centurion will not let him. He does not wish to bring unnecessary scandal upon Jesus. In fact, he says, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof” (8:8). In our next passage Jesus will say that he “has no place to lay his head” (8:20). Jesus has nowhere to call home. What is so worthy, then, about this homeless Jew?
Do you see the centurion’s humility here? A Gentile, a military leader in the world’s greatest army, a free Roman citizen, a man with enough wealth to maintain a household of slaves thinks Jesus far too worthy to even enter his home. Do you hear that upside-down note in Matthew’s melody line? A man the world considers important on every measurable level considers himself too unimportant, too unworthy, for Messiah to step through his door. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
That brings us to our sixth surprise in verses 8-10:
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.”
Jesus himself is surprised at the depth of this Gentile’s trust into his person and work: “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” This man who did not grow up like Paul learning the Torah, or like Timothy with a Jewish mother and grandmother to teach him the scriptures, knew enough to believe in Jesus and his authoritative Word. This man expressed unlimited confidence in Jesus ‘s authority. He highlights this to his disciples, who were all Jews. Not even they had yet shown the sincerity, sensitivity, humility, love, and depth of faith that this Gentile soldier had been given as the free gift of God.
The seventh surprise follows naturally, if you consider the implications of this Gentile, a Roman military official no less, coming to Christ. It is Jesus’ sweeping statements in verses 11, 12:
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 [unbelieving Jews] will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
It may be surprising to some that Jesus compares Heaven to a feast, the greatest banquet ever thrown (Isaiah 25:6-9; 65:13, 14; Revelation 19:9). It may be surprising to others that Jesus talks about hell as a real place. It is a place of great pain and regret, a place where no one would want to be. But the greatest surprise to Jesus’ listeners at the time was his declaration of who is inside the Kingdom and who is outside.
Even the super religious, the scribes, the Pharisees, the priests, and high priests, are out if they will not bow the knee to Jesus and sincerely call him Lord. However, the Roman military man working for the bad guys, because of his childlike trust, is in the Kingdom! And the greatest surprise is that those who are in will become “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9).
Isaiah, in his song of the Suffering Servant, explained the growth of the Kingdom through the work of Jesus, the Suffering Servant, like this (Isa. 54:1-3):
Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one [the Suffering Servant] will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. 2“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. [5]
The only thing that isn’t surprising in this scene is the miracle itself in verse 13. Matthew simply tacks it on without commentary. It is a foregone conclusion that Jesus will heal the last, the lost, the least, the little, and the dead.
SCENE THREE: WOMAN
The final scene in our triptych shows Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, again with divine power and authority:
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.
Why does Matthew tell us about this seemingly minor miracle? Was it simply to show that no health issue is too small for Jesus? Was it to show that when women get healed their duty is to stay home and serve men, since that’s what this woman did? Any number of bad interpretations abound regarding these two verses. Perhaps it shows Jesus, on his own initiative, can help and likes to help whomever and whenever he wants. Now, I think we’re getting somewhere.
Perhaps it was to show despite his harsh words towards the Jews in verses 11 and 12, Jesus had not forsaken his chosen people like this Jewish mother-in-law. That also is certainly part of the picture. But the main reason Matthew includes this miracle is to show Jesus has come to gather what the Psalmist calls “the outcasts of Israel” (Psalm 147:2) and include them in the True Israel – Jesus himself!
In Israel’s first-century patriarchal society, women were seen as second-class citizens. In synagogues, they were placed behind screens to the rear, as in modern Muslim mosques. There were even strains of Jewish tradition that considered a man touching a woman would make him unclean or unholy. Jewish law forbade touching persons with many kinds of fever. One of the 18 benedictions prayed by devout Jewish men was, “Lord, I thank thee that I was not born a slave, a gentile, or a woman.”[6]
Do you see this triptych of scenes? Jesus first three recorded miracles in Matthew involved three groups of religious outcasts. Jesus is letting outsiders in. With his death the veil of the temple will be split in two. The substitutionary benefits of the Suffering Servant are foreshadowed here in these three scenes.
The temple in Jerusalem was comprised of the Holy of Holies (for the high priest) and then the Holy Place (for the priests), then the Court of Men (for the Jewish men), the Court of Women (for Jewish women), then the Court of the Gentiles (for Gentile converts to Judaism), and then the outer wall of the temple complex.
With these three miracles the walls are torn down. People who could not enter the temple, were not considered fit to be in the presence of God, could come to God himself for healing and the forgiveness of sins. Even the lepers of this world could wander in. Here is Jesus opening the gates to the Kingdom of heaven to all who believe, to all who will call him Lord and get up and serve him.
I like to picture an inscription above the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a fitting way to close our passage. It is Galatians 3:28, 29: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” [7]
That is the meaning of these three scenes in Matthew – all of them portraits of people united by faith under the cross of Christ.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:28–29.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 8:1-17.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Co 5:21.
[4] O’Donnell, Douglas Sean. Matthew (Preaching the Word) (p. 206). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 54:1–3.
[6] Id., 209.
[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ga 3:28–29.
