Matthew 8

Leprosy is a horrible disease caused by massive numbers of microorganisms that destroy nerve function in their human host. It is this loss of nerve function that results in collateral damage that is associated with the disease, as the patient faces injury and infection without having the adequate sensory capabilities in the extremities to care for the body in a normal way. The result is the disfiguring effects that can be readily seen, but the underlying problem comes from the microorganisms that cannot be seen by the casual observer. As a disease, it is a powerful metaphor for the problem of sin in our lives. We have a corruption within us that often is a secret matter, but it will eventually lead to choices that often have horrible consequences.

Jesus Christ was able to heal lepers. Consider the kind of miracle-working power that overturns not only the obvious external effects of the disease, but also removes the internal trouble at the root of the problem. Even more amazing, God sent His Son into the world to heal sin, a tremendous display of not only divine love, but also of divine power. The reason Jesus healed lepers was to show to us the kind of world He would bring when He has fully taken away all of the root and fruit of sin that has caused so much trouble all over a creation that was once declared to be very good. Jesus can fix this if He wants to. He says, "I will. Be clean."

Jesus sent the Jewish leper, now healed, to the priest to fulfill the appropriate provisions of the Law of Moses in such a situation. But did Jesus come to heal Jews only, or did His plans extend to the healing of the world. We hear of His help for the servant of a centurion who was lying at home paralyzed. The centurion was conscious of His unworthiness as a Gentile to have the Jewish Messiah within his gates. Yet this Gentile soldier approached Jesus with great faith, more faith than Jesus had seen from the Jews. The Gentile man knew that Jesus had such authority over all things that His Word would make things so. And it did. If God has plans for Jews and Gentiles in the kingdom of heaven, He is surely able to bring these about. A small down-payment of this unusual mercy is shown in the healing of this paralyzed man. A bigger victory is pictured in this metaphor as well, for one day when the world is healed, many who have been bound in sin and misery will be set free from that paralysis that currently gives them so much trouble, and they will be truly and wonderfully free.

Even now, we are being freed in our spirits, as we are made alive in Christ. What do people do when they have been freed by God? When Peter's mother-in-law was relieved of a fever by the touch of Jesus, she rose and began to serve him. Another metaphor… This world so oppressed by demonic wickedness is bound in some crazed darkness. But when He takes our trouble upon Himself, then we shall be fully healed, and we will all serve the One we should rightly love, the One who has carried our sorrows.

It is our great privilege to follow the Son of God. We may be momentarily confused by our attachments to the things that are precious to us now, but there is no doubt that the joy of serving Him is worth everything that we have. When He came to win our heaven for us, He did at the cost of His comfort. He came as one who had almost nothing in earthly comforts, and who eventually would face pain, torment, and the wrath of His Father against our sin. This love tells us something about the One who created the world and sustains us. This God is a God of justice and of love. He is great in all that He does, and the glory and blessing of the victory that He won for us at the cost of His beloved Son must be so very wonderful as to rightly justify the price that He was willing to pay in order to bring it all to pass.

Nonetheless, we are infected with horrible doubts, worries, and rebellion. We find it hard to trust the One who calmed the seas with a simple command. Can't we believe Him when He assures us that faith in Him will not be misplaced? What are we like in this state of foolish frenzy? One more metaphor… We are like desperate, crazy, dangerous men living around a cemetery, men who do not even have the sense to ask for the help that we need. But one word from our Savior King, and we can be delivered.

The Messiah who can do such things is displaying the greatness of His glorious plans for His children. He has already paid the price for the glory that is waiting to be revealed at the last day. There is nothing left for us to pay, no remaining debt that we need to hang on to. Yet many who think of themselves as sensible people, people who suppose that they are in their right minds would refuse His entreaties, and would ask Him earnestly to leave their region. Such hard-hearted spiritual deadness is the worst kind of disease with which people can be afflicted. May God deliver many, even now, from the foolishness of stubborn unbelief.