The 
ight House
Sunday School (Three Miraculous Healings)
Three Miraculous healings
(Matthew 8:3-17)
In this lesson, we learn about three miracles of healing by Jesus and the underlying lessons that can be ascertained from them. The first healing is of a leper.
1When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 3And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
(Matthew 8:1-4)To fully appreciate the miracles of these healings we need to take a look at the very involved ceremonial method for being healed as presented in the Old Testament. Read Leviticus chapter 13 to learn all the details of the rituals for a leper being cleansed.
Compare this very specific, complex, and detailed ritual for healing with the simplicity of Jesus touching the leper and saying, “I will; be thou clean.” The contrast between the two methods of receiving healing illustrates several things. While Jesus walked the earth prior to his crucifixion, the dispensation of “grace” had not yet begun, but here a type of foreshadowing of that approaching time is given. Just like the required ritual for healing, the ritual for a sin offering for atonement of sin was also very detailed and involved. Just as Jesus took the complexity of the healing ritual and made it simple for the believer, he took the “works” required of salvation and made it simple for the believer when he went to the cross. We see here the a paralleled contrast between salvation by works and salvation by grace.
We also see the power of God’s spoken word in this passage. God spoke this universe into existence. The mere speaking of words by Almighty God makes things happen. Someone once told me or else I read it somewhere that one reason God can not lie is that whatever God says instantly becomes truth. For example if God said, “Grass is purple, then instantly grass would be purple and not green. That is not something that I have authority to teach, but is simply something I offer for pondering. When Jesus said, “be thou clean” the man was then clean. We see an example of God’s word being both quick and powerful here as written in Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
(Hebrews 4:12)What is the purpose of Jesus performing miracles other than simply out of love and compassion? The miracles show that Jesus was and is who he says he is, therefor his words and his teachings will be believed. The miracles give authenticity and authority to his teachings. However, in time period that Jesus walked among men, many people were attracted to Jesus by the miracles in such a way that these miracles became a greater focus than his teachings. Jesus therefore told the leper not to tell any man so as to not draw attention away from his messages.
“Show thy self to the priest” is in obedience to the Mosaic law of that day.
“Offer the gift that Mosses commanded:” refers to the specific sacrifice of the healed leper in the old testament for acknowledgement and thanksgiving for his healing. The scriptures below tell us about this ritual. This process is revealed in Leviticus 14:1-32. You will notice that the process of thanksgiving and acknowledgement is also a very specific and somewhat process just as the process for seeking the cleansing itself. From this we can derive that we need to spend at least as much time in praise and thanksgiving as we do in bringing our petitions before God asking for His intervention.
The second healing…
5And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
(Matthew 8:5-13)Here the word “wervant” is taken from the Greek word, “pais” which can man either “child” or servant. Therefore in movies depicting this event we will sometimes see the Centurion refer to the sick one as being his child rather than his servant.
Here in this Centurion, we see two very important fundamental traits of a Christian. First we see humility. Humility is shown in the fact that he saw himself unworthy for Jesus to even enter his home. In fact when we read of this account in Luke chapter 7, we find that he not only saw himself unworthy for Jesus to enter his home, but also unworthy to even approach Jesus personally and therefore sent first Jewish elders to find Jesus and bring him near his home and then friends to meet him and relay his request to him. This kind of humility is even more impressive when we are reminded that this was a military man with authority over others. He was under no governing obligation to be submissive to anyone other than higher ranking officers and especially not to any Jew who was under Roman rule at that time.
We also see the trait of faith in this Centurion. He not only believed that Jesus could heal his servant, but that he could heal him without even seeing or coming into contact with him. Jesus tells him that his servant will be healed “because of” his faith. This is a very important point in this lesson. Our faith inables God to work in our lives. Thee is no limit to what God can do for us if we have the faith AND if we are living according to the principles of God’s word. Not only does lack of faith hinder our prayers from being answered, but so does sin.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
(Psalm 66:18)1Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
(Isaiah 59:1-2)Being a man of authority, the Centurion recognized the authority that Jesus had. I imagine that this was one Roman soldier who did not mock and laugh when Jesus hung on the cross.
Consider the last versus of this lesson…14And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. 16When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 17That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
(Matthew 8:14-17)
Here we see Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law by merely touching her. Later in Matthew chapter 9 we will read about a woman who had an issue of blood who was healed when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. There is power not only in Jesus’ spoken words, but also in his touch.
God is not limited nor obligated to deal with an individual’s need in any particular way. For instance, God may minister to His children and even the lost through many different methods. He may speak to us through a preacher of the gospel, through, His word, directly through the Holy Spirit, by witnesses, or by circumstances in our lives. We just need to be sensitive enough to recognize when God is communicating with us to show us things regardless of the method He chooses to use.
Having been touched by the power of the Lord, Peter’s mother-in-law immediately begin to serve and honor God. When we are saved, we need to serve our Lord as well. Some will say that doing a work for the Lord is something that you need to grow into or we need to wait to hear from God about what he wants us to do, but this woman began to serve immediately upon being delivered. It is true that we need to be guided by God in our service to Him, but God can not guide that which is not moving. At the very least we can share the gospel and our testimony with others. God may give us specific ways in which we can do this, but we can always share our faith and our testimony with others and we can begin the minute we receive the new birth and can continue in that work. Waiting on God is certainly appropriate and is a teaching of the bible, but it needs to be taken in proper context. Sometimes this instruction of “waiting on God” is used as an excuse for doing nothing.
Later the same day, Jesus healed many others and cast out devils. Jeus delt with people on an individual basis rather than simply and quickly healing and delivering the people as a mass (which he no doubt could have done). This one who came to save the entire world in one sacrificial event, still took the time and cared enough to heal and deliver people on an individual basis. He deals with us as individuals still today. He walks with us and knows us intimately as if you and he were the only two people in existence and yet he does the same for every single one who has been born again.
Demonic possession is not just something Hollywood uses to make scary movies. It is a real condition even today. This world is so out of touch with anything spiritual however than in many cases it is not accepted or recognized for what it is.
God Bless you,
Carl
I may not look like much, but I cost a bunch!
