Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy - Matthew 8:1-4
Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 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.”
Reflection: After teaching several principles about how to access God's kingdom, one can see Jesus has quite a following. People were attracted to the authority he taught with, as opposed to the Pharisees who just laid down the burden of law keeping. Jesus on the other hand opened up the opportunity to live a life in the kingdom which enables one to live a life of purpose according to God's plan. As such people were attracted and wanted to learn more.
So now Jesus moves to living out those kingdom principles. When God's kingdom is reigning we have the ability to heal people of diseases. And Jesus picked the perfect malady to heal. Leprosy was seen as a disease that came from God and thus needed not only physical but also spiritual healing. Since Matthew's gospel was written to the Jews and leprosy made one ceremonially unclean, this would a particularly important healing for them. A person was banned from the faith community so there was also the emotional stigma of being ostracized. So you can see this is healing of almost every condition.
The man approaches Jesus looking for mercy, and Jesus shows God's nature as merciful and compassion when he says, "I am willing!" And Jesus is willing to heal us of many conditions today that afflict the body, mind and soul. The healing of the leper, the first of the miracles in Matthew's gospel, reminds us that Jesus came not only with words but also works. The works also show the authority He has been given by God to bring in or usher in God's kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. We will see more of this over the next couple of days.
Jesus we thank you that you not only taught us how the kingdom works, but also showed us how it worked. Help us to be agents of your kingdom in our lives in both word and deed. Amen.
8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 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.”
Reflection: After teaching several principles about how to access God's kingdom, one can see Jesus has quite a following. People were attracted to the authority he taught with, as opposed to the Pharisees who just laid down the burden of law keeping. Jesus on the other hand opened up the opportunity to live a life in the kingdom which enables one to live a life of purpose according to God's plan. As such people were attracted and wanted to learn more.
So now Jesus moves to living out those kingdom principles. When God's kingdom is reigning we have the ability to heal people of diseases. And Jesus picked the perfect malady to heal. Leprosy was seen as a disease that came from God and thus needed not only physical but also spiritual healing. Since Matthew's gospel was written to the Jews and leprosy made one ceremonially unclean, this would a particularly important healing for them. A person was banned from the faith community so there was also the emotional stigma of being ostracized. So you can see this is healing of almost every condition.
The man approaches Jesus looking for mercy, and Jesus shows God's nature as merciful and compassion when he says, "I am willing!" And Jesus is willing to heal us of many conditions today that afflict the body, mind and soul. The healing of the leper, the first of the miracles in Matthew's gospel, reminds us that Jesus came not only with words but also works. The works also show the authority He has been given by God to bring in or usher in God's kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. We will see more of this over the next couple of days.
Jesus we thank you that you not only taught us how the kingdom works, but also showed us how it worked. Help us to be agents of your kingdom in our lives in both word and deed. Amen.
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