Matthew Chapter 8 Verses 1 – 2

• Now this is a scene of scenes! A leper comes to Jesus in the midst of the crowd of people. Entirely unacceptable! You’ve got to understand that a Leper was literally the walking dead in this culture. You see, it was feared! Why, because it spread and the way that it was spread was not entirely known so assumptions were made that it could be spread even by a look!
• I remember in Ice Age: Continental Drift, Manny said of Diego, “I know what you’ve got…the “L” word,”…and Sid the sloth said, “yeah, Leprosy!” “No no no! The other “L” word…” “Yeah, lice!” HA! But man, this was a BIG DEAL in this culture. Lepers were outcasts and could not even enter the cities. If you saw a leper then you were to stay up to 150 feet away, just to be safe!
• Leprosy is a chronic bacterial infection that attacks nerve endings and ultimately causes the infected not to feel pain and so gross deformities would occur and it’s even said that you could smell a leper coming because they would begin to stink from open wounds and bacteria infected decaying flesh! Gross!
• So you have to understand, this leper is making a scene to get to Jesus and he doesn’t care. Folks are probably bolting in every direction…screaming “unclean, unclean!” Not Jesus. And I love this parallel. In the Bible, leprosy is a type, a picture, a parallel to sin…the chronic infection of mankind.
• Sin begins small and progresses until it fully claims its host…sin spreads all around us…sin defiles and isolates…it stinks…it causes numbness and ultimately….deformity…and just as leprous garments and dead bodies are fit only for the fire, so those who die clothed in sin will be cast into Gahanna for all of eternity…
• This man was untouchable by men…and yet watch what Jesus does…

Matthew Chapter 8 Verse 3

• Scandalous! Jesus could have spoken a word and this man would have been made well but He breaks every expectation of man, busting through the walls of fear and of shame and does something unthinkable! He touches this leper! Leprosy was as unclean as death itself according to the Talmud (the Jewish book of instruction or learning that contains the Mishnah – its 6000 pages long! The OT is only approximately 800 pages and the Pentateuch is only approximately 150 pages…)! What Jesus does, much more scandalous than you think!
• Even the word here for touch…it wasn’t like a tag on the shoulder, the word his is literally, “He clung to him…He joined Himself to Him,” and what He says is eternally awesome when you look at it in the Greek. Literally Jesus says, “I will….cleanse.” I just love that!
• The crowd gasped. Many shrieked! Folks fainted! An old man dropped out his false teeth…(that may or may not have happened)…but Jesus healed! I love this. And the leper worshipped. Check this out. He didn’t sing Him a song…that’s not worship…that’s just the expression of worship. This man worshipped Jesus. First, he came to Him. Counter-culturally, he came to Jesus. He counted Jesus able to meet his impossible, horrible, completely grave need.

• He didn’t say, “If You’re able…” He said, “If it is Your will.” He called Him, “Lord.” Not Teacher, not Master…He made no demand upon Jesus but worshipped Him by leaving it up to His sovereign will…He called Him powerful by only requesting Jesus’ will to make him clean, and nothing else. And finally he came to Jesus confidently…not caring that even the religious would take up stones to kill him but confident that Jesus could make him clean.

• And Jesus touched him, man…and immediately his leprosy was cleansed! Scandalous! Not only because He touched him but because in reality, leprosy was a death-sentence unless God intervened. What do I mean? Well Leviticus 14 laid out how it was that a leper was to be ritually cleansed…but…it had never happened! And the only time we have leprosy dealt with successfully in scripture is found in 2 Kings 5. Turn over with me and look at 2 Kings 5:7…so this was scandalous physically for the crowd but also mentally and spiritually…they were in wonder! And I love what Jesus does next…

Matthew Chapter 8 Verse 4

• Moses is not a, “them.” I love this! Jesus is reaching out to the temple priests and the religious elite! Go and make them look up Leviticus 14! HA! They wouldn’t know it! It’s crazy long and they NEVER did it! Go and let your life, your cleanness be a testimony even to them!

Matthew Chapter 8 Verses 5 – 7

• The scandal continues. This Centurion is obviously a gentile because a Centurion was an officer in the Roman Army. Hated by the Jews! Rejected by the crowd…and yet, not Jesus! Isn’t it awesome that Jesus doesn’t care what you have or where you came from?

Matthew Chapter 8 Verses 8 – 9

• That is the natural response of a servant. Do you serve Jesus? If you say yes then does that not make you His servant? If you say yes then let me ask you…are you under His authority? Are you sure you are His servant? Back to the scandalous scene…

Matthew Chapter 8 Verses 10 – 13

• This Centurion ultra-affected Jesus…, “When Jesus heard it, He marveled,” and then He expresses His joy with this awesome little sermonette…He says, “This is the heart! This is faith like I haven’t seen, but like I want to see…” What was so amazing? Easy to miss…wasn’t just what this Centurion said…
• First, this Centurion had an unexpected loving heart towards his servant…in those times, it was expected that if a servant of a Centurion fell ill they would get rid of them and many times that meant death…but this Centurion pleads for his servant…sound familiar to you? Who else intercedes constantly for His servants?
• This Centurion came on a selfless task…and notice what happened, he did not make a casual request, Matthew tells us he pleaded…And even what’s better, he didn’t ask Jesus to do anything really, He simply cast his burden upon the Lord…do you see that?
• Spurgeon said this, “He seeks a cure, but does not prescribe to the Lord how or where he shall work it; in fact, he does not put his request into words, but plead the case, and the lets the sorrow speak.” And to top it off, he has intense, experienced justified trust in Jesus’ ability and authority…See the amazing now don’t you…?
• And Jesus is filled with Joy and, as Matthew puts it, marvel. I love that…scandalous scene after scandalous scene…but the other constant…you come into contact with Jesus, you trust Him and Him alone, and you walk away cleansed and you walk away healed!