Restoration
As I’m reading through Matthew 8, I find there three miracles of Christ grouped together—the healing of a leper (vv.1-4), the healing of a centurion’s servant (vv.5-13), and the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and the exorcism of multitudes (vv. 14-17). These passages represent the goodness and restoration associated with the ministry of Israel’s long awaited Messiah, featuring the Lord’s concern for the least, lost, and lowly people of the world. Whereas lepers, slaves and women were not considered high on the social strata of the ancient world, Christ found compassion on them, and demonstrated they had intrinsic worth and value in his world through healing them of their infirmities.
The first miracle is the healing of a leper. Christ touches a leper, and doing so breaks a social taboo. Here the Lord does not become defiled by touching an unclean leper; instead, the unclean leper is made clean by the Lord’s touch. The one who has been healed is then able to enter back into corporate worship with the people of Yahweh beginning with performing the prescribed rituals taught by Moses in Leviticus 14.
In the second miracle, Christ heals non-Jewish slave of a Roman centurion. The Lord does not really come into contact with the sick person, but miraculously heals from a distance, because just as a commander of troops does not have to be present on every mission he commands, Jesus who has divine authority does not have to be physically present to heal someone. Christ was impressed by the faith of that Gentile, which surpassed the faith of many of those in His own Jewish community. “Truly I say to you,” says Christ, “I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (vv. 11-12). Being able to trace one’s pedigree back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not really the basis of eternal life; rather, it was faith in Christ that allows one to enter into God’s kingdom.
The third miracle is Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (vv. 14-17). The woman had taken ill with a fever, but the Lord healed her so that she might be well enough to bless others.
Matthew explains that these healings fulfilled the words of Isaiah, “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” The prophet Isaiah prophesied of a suffering servant who would bring healing to Yahweh’s people, anticipating the Lord’s own work upon the cross. The prophet declared, “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:5, NASB). Here the prophet is speaking of a spiritual healing or the restoration of a right relationship between God and man. Physical healing is certainly provided for in the atonement of Jesus Christ; however, such does not guarantee believers live out their earthly lives in perfect health. We all get sick, and we all die—this is certain. But we can enter into a right relationship with God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and with an eternal perspective in mind, those who believe have the hope of ultimate physical restoration in the resurrection into glory at the final consummation of all things.
The first miracle is the healing of a leper. Christ touches a leper, and doing so breaks a social taboo. Here the Lord does not become defiled by touching an unclean leper; instead, the unclean leper is made clean by the Lord’s touch. The one who has been healed is then able to enter back into corporate worship with the people of Yahweh beginning with performing the prescribed rituals taught by Moses in Leviticus 14.
In the second miracle, Christ heals non-Jewish slave of a Roman centurion. The Lord does not really come into contact with the sick person, but miraculously heals from a distance, because just as a commander of troops does not have to be present on every mission he commands, Jesus who has divine authority does not have to be physically present to heal someone. Christ was impressed by the faith of that Gentile, which surpassed the faith of many of those in His own Jewish community. “Truly I say to you,” says Christ, “I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (vv. 11-12). Being able to trace one’s pedigree back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not really the basis of eternal life; rather, it was faith in Christ that allows one to enter into God’s kingdom.
The third miracle is Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (vv. 14-17). The woman had taken ill with a fever, but the Lord healed her so that she might be well enough to bless others.
Matthew explains that these healings fulfilled the words of Isaiah, “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” The prophet Isaiah prophesied of a suffering servant who would bring healing to Yahweh’s people, anticipating the Lord’s own work upon the cross. The prophet declared, “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:5, NASB). Here the prophet is speaking of a spiritual healing or the restoration of a right relationship between God and man. Physical healing is certainly provided for in the atonement of Jesus Christ; however, such does not guarantee believers live out their earthly lives in perfect health. We all get sick, and we all die—this is certain. But we can enter into a right relationship with God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and with an eternal perspective in mind, those who believe have the hope of ultimate physical restoration in the resurrection into glory at the final consummation of all things.
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