The Reach of Jesus

Text: Matthew 8:1-17

Pastor Phil Hughes, American Fork Presbyterian Church, Utah,

November 5, 2023

(I am highly indebted to Dale Bruner and his Commentary on Matthew Vol. 1 for this sermon. It is just this side of plagiarism. Thank you, Dale!)

This morning I am going to preach on “The Reach of Jesus.” How far does the reach of our Lord extend to people?

We have just read of three people, told to us by Matthew in his Gospel, who were reached by Jesus: A leper.  A Roman centurion.  A woman, specifically Peter’s mother-in-law. The first two reached out to Jesus first. The third person simply received Jesus’ reach.

Lepers were considered unclean and cursed in ancient Israel.  Perhaps no people were more cast off than lepers. They had to cry out loud “unclean, unclean” when they were near people so that others didn’t come into contact with them and thus be considered unclean themselves. They were not allowed within city walls. Thus, they could not go anywhere near the Temple let alone worship in the Temple.

We know much more about leprosy today. It is often categorized as Hansen’s Disease.  It is not highly contagious as was once thought.  It does not hold the social stigma that it did in ancient times. Also, what is called leprosy in the Bible can refer to a number of diseases that involved the skin.

It is astounding that a leper would approach Jesus.  It is risky. It would be considered inappropriate. And it would have shocked all those around.

The man with so much need bows before Jesus and says, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”  The faith of this leper is seen first in his humble approach.  This faith does not ask for cleansing as a right, but as something that totally depends on the Lords will.  “If you will…” The leper submits to whatever the Lord wills.  There is modesty, you might say, in the leper’s asking.

But this faith also has confidence: “you can.”  This leper truly believes the One he bows before has the power and authority to heal him.

And Jesus reached out his hand and touched this man telling him he did want to heal him.  And when he did so he cleansed him.  Jesus affirms this man by touching him, by speaking his desire to reach him, and with actual healing. It would have possibly been expected for Jesus to keep his distance and speak healing on this leper.  But Jesus doesn’t minister from six feet away. He touches him.  Matthew seems to be emphasizing the action of reaching out and touching.

The gospel is encapsulated in that touch. First of all, God through Jesus Christ touches us.  I believe Jesus touches not just our spirits, but our minds and bodies.  And Jesus’ touch of this man teaches we who are his church that this is how we walk in God’s love.  We don’t love when we keep distance.  We love when we show the compassion of Christ and are willing to touch others, whether it’s a handshake, touch on the shoulder, or embrace.

And it says that leper was immediately cleansed. This leper’s modest faith was met by Jesus’ touch and he was healed.

The second person who Jesus reaches is a centurion. All he does is share his problem with Jesus.  He has a servant who is paralyzed and in tremendous pain.  We don’t know the cause or details. The centurion technically doesn’t even ask Jesus to do anything.

Now the Bible in our pews, which is the Today’s New International Version, has Jesus asking, “Shall I come and heal him?”  But other Bibles have Jesus not asking but just saying that he is coming. Why the difference?  Because it can be translated both ways.  Interpreters have debated how best to translate this. Maybe Jesus asked.  Maybe Jesus just said what he was going to do.  The language can go either way.

Whatever the case, the centurion struggles with Jesus coming at all.  He struggles because he does not feel he is worthy of Jesus putting himself out by coming to his home to do this.  Do we ever feel unfit for the Lord to reach us?  We have needs but we don’t want to ask.  We have longings but we don’t feel we have measured up to God’s ways, as if relationship with God is a matter of measuring up.

We don’t know why the centurion feels this way.  Maybe he knows he is a Gentile and not Jewish and doesn’t want to have a devout Jewish teacher have to come to his home.  It would be religiously and socially improper.  Gentiles were very much considered inferior. It would put Jesus in a precarious place. Maybe, as a soldier, he knows his world often asks things of him that don’t align with God and he senses he might not be high on God’s list.

The centurion says this, “You don’t need to come. Only say the word.” “Jesus, if you only say the word that my servant will be healed, then I believe that will happen.”

Two things here.  First, the centurion shows his complete confidence in Jesus’ ability to merely say the word of healing.  This centurion understands authority.  If he says something to one of his soldiers they do it.  He believes Jesus has the same authority over sickness.

Second, the servant is healed not based on the servant’s faith but on the centurion’s faith. Jesus doesn’t ask the centurion if his servant has faith in him. Jesus heals the servant on the basis of the faith of the centurion.

This speaks to prayer on behalf of others, what we sometimes call intercessory prayer.  We can have faith for others.  Because of the faith of one person, another can be healed. Isn’t that what we do every Sunday when we pray for all kinds of people whose names and needs are mentioned?  Aren’t we holding faith for them?  Every person still has to have their own personal faith in Christ to be right with God, but another person can be deeply helped by the faith of someone else praying for them.

Jesus is blown away by the faith of this centurion who believes all Jesus has to do is speak a word. This from a pagan, a man with little religious background.  And Jesus says he hasn’t even seen this faith in all of Israel.  By that he means those who have the worship, teachings, and spiritual history of the God of Israel. Those who should have such faith don’t have the faith of this outsider.

Jesus makes this a teaching moment when he predicts that many people will come from east and west, north and south, and all over the world beyond Israel and sit at the table in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus presents the vision of what God has in store: people of every tribe, tongue and race eating together in heaven, along with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of Israel’s faith.  The centurion asked for healing and he got heaven.  But Jesus also adds that those for whom God intended his kingdom will not be at that table. Those who think they are going to be in will find themselves out, and those who imagine they are going to be out will be in.

Jesus isn’t being anti-Jewish, after all he was Jewish. What he was doing was showing that what God has in store is much wider than many people think.  And that religious people should beware of being too sure of ourselves. Beware of growing up in the faith and not having faith. The church must be careful about presuming certain people cannot be reached by Jesus, and that we are automatic.

Jesus tells the centurion that he can go home and he will find his servant well just as he believed.  “Done as you believed it would be.” Our Lord places the emphasis on the centurion’s faith.  It was Jesus who healed, but it was the centurion’s faith that was the channel.  Let’s keep faith for others.

Jesus then meets a third outsider.  A woman.  Peter’s mother-in-law.  One of the Eighteen prayers a devout Jewish man would pray each day was giving thanks to God that he was not a woman.  In strict Jewish practice a man was not allowed to even touch a woman’s hand. Women just didn’t hold much of a place in the society of Jesus’ time, as they don’t in places in our world today.

There is no indication that anyone asked Jesus to heal Peter’s mother-in-law.  She does not ask.  Nor does she pray.  Nor is she asked if she believes. As far as we are told, Jesus simply heals her because he wants to. Such is the mercy of God. It sometimes heals without being asked.  Maybe it happens, as I think it does, much more than we are even aware. We often struggle with why something doesn’t happen.  Yet, are we really aware of how many mercies God has shown us?  How many times he protected? Healed?  Provided? Delivered? Kept?

And again Matthew tells us that Jesus reached out his hand and touched her by taking her hand.

A leper, a centurion’s servant, and a woman.  All three of these healings are healings of grace to those who were viewed by the world they lived in as outsiders and less than others.

And then Matthew tells us, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” We imagine many others reached by Jesus’ touch.  Jesus’ reach is so wide.

All of these encounters are about Jesus breaking down walls that keep people from coming to God.

The Temple that stood in Jerusalem that we read about in the Old Testament was organized by a series of courts.  Lepers could not go into the Temple area at all, let alone even the city.  Women could not go in as far as men could go but had a separate court.  Centurions and other Gentiles could only go into the Court of the Gentiles.

The inside of the Temple grounds was the court for Jewish males.  And in the very center was the Holy of Holies where the High Priest would go once a year on the Day of Atonement.  This was behind a large curtain and was the most sacred place.

Lepers were total outcasts.  Gentiles had to remain on the outskirts.  Women were not fully allowed.

By touching that leper Jesus breaks the outer wall of the Temple.  By letting in the centurion Jesus breaks the wall of the Court of the Gentiles.  By letting in women Jesus breaks the wall to the Court of Women.  At the cross the veil will be torn in two and everyone will be let in.  Jesus wants everyone to be in.

This morning we have seen how he let in a leper who was physically excluded.  A centurion who was racially and socially excluded.  A woman who was excluded from the inner worship life of the community based on sex.  Matthew has Jesus healing people on the outside before Jesus heals anyone within the religious tradition of Israel.  Jesus’ mercy goes beyond the bounds of religious customs and reaches outsiders and helps them first.

Every one of the healings we see this morning are healings of grace.  The church should be a place of grace where our reach should be equally as wide as Christ’s.  Who are the outsiders who want to come to Jesus but are walled out? There are many reasons people aren’t in churches today.  There are many reasons people don’t believe in Jesus. But I suspect sometimes it is because they don’t think they are within God’s touch.  They have done something they think makes them unfit.  They see faith as a matter of morality instead of grace and they feel disqualified by their failures.

Or they have been told by those who are religious that they aren’t worthy to come.  Maybe their hair is too long, the body piercings too loud, the tattoos too prominent, their lifestyle too strange.

Or they have no faith background.  They want to go into a church.  They are curious about the Bible.  They have heard of Jesus.  But they feel like they would look foolish coming or asking.  They don’t know the drill though they would really like to see it. Maybe they think they would be made fun of.

The church moans and groans about those who aren’t here but for decades churches often gave the message that you had to be a certain way to be touched by Jesus.  And so many have gone elsewhere.

Everywhere and in every community there are people who are spurned. Jesus’ grace does not spurn but will reach through whatever barriers and touch those whom others place last.  The Lord we profess to follow cast his net deep and wide. He reached beyond religious boundaries to touch people with the truth of God’s grace and mercy.

He will reach people in various ways.  Some will come to him directly, like the leper.  Some will be reached through the faith and help of others, like the centurion’s servant.  Some will be reached by Jesus because he comes directly to them, unsolicited, like Peter’s mother-in-law.

Matthew ends all of this reaching that Jesus does by saying that Jesus did all of these things because Jesus was fulfilling something in the prophet Isaiah,

“He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

Matthew quotes this verse as kind of a wrap up to these encounters.  It is Matthew’s interpretation. Jesus took on what was ours through his cross.  On the cross Jesus took on physical disease.  He took on mental illness. On the cross Jesus took on the disease of religious legalism, of prejudice and social barriers.  Jesus took on our depressions and despairs and burdens. On the cross Jesus took on the disease of pride that see some as lesser.

The cross is the ultimate place where the grace of Jesus reaches everyone.  This table reminds us of the cross. Jesus’ reach is long and wide. So as we share the bread and the cup this morning remember that the grace of Jesus has reached even us.