Last week we learned that discipleship begins not with us and our gifts and dedication but with knowing the hhelaing touch of Jesus.
Matthew 8 v14-22 - 'Healed to Serve'
First there was the leper, the man who was unclean, the man
whom people fled from; to the horror of the crowd Jesus does not simply heal
him He touches Him Jesus not only cures his leprosy He restores him as a human
being. Then there is the non-Jew the Gentile centurion, to the horror of the
crowds Jesus offers to go to the man’s home to heal his son. Now there is
Peter’s mother-in-law. An older lady, past child bearing years, no doubt she is
just a burden on the family, just another mouth to feed with nothing much to
give who would bother with her. More than that she is suffering from a fever
she too should not be touched, to touch her means becoming unclean but Jesus ministers
to her.
All the time Matthew is teaching us that there is no one Jesus
considers worthless; it His touch that brings wholeness. He is willing to
become unclean; He is willing to take upon Himself the filth and the stench of
our guilt that makes us obnoxious to God in order to restore us to fellowship
with God.
When you look in the mirror who do you see? Do you see the
leper someone whom no one wants to know, a pariah, someone decent people turn
away from. Do you the centurion someone who is an outsider, you have no
religious background, in your won world people admire you and you have your
friends; but amongst those who really matter, those who know what goodness is;
you are an outsider you do not belong. Do you see the old woman? Someone who
was never worth much anyway, but now way past your best with nothing left to
give. It is funny but here in Matthew 8 Jesus restores the leper, befriends the
centurion, heals Peter’s mother in law but he turns way the bright you teacher
of the law who wants Jesus to be his teacher; He turns away the zealous religious
man who wants to follow but must do his duty first.
What Matthew is telling us is that discipleship begins not with
us coming to Jesus and laying at His feet our devotion, our gifts and zeal.
Discipleship begins with Jesus simply touching us and making us whole.
Fascinatingly Matthew connects Jesus healing of the leper, the
centurion’s son and Peter’s mother-in-law to Isaiah’s prophecy about the
suffering servant whom he saw as being pierced for iniquities. Matthew sees the
leper finding his withered limb restored and going home to his family, the
centurion going home and finding his son, or his servant, fit and well and
pater’s mother-in-law rising from her sick bed and serving Jesus as being
pictures of knowing the healing of forgiveness that flows from cross.
For us guilt is a big thing. We find the past condemning us, so
many, many painful memories. We find the great commandments, ‘thou shalt have
no God’s before me’ ‘thou shalt not steal, lie, covet’ condemning us. We find
Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Mount condemning us ‘You have heard it said
anyone who murders will be subject to judgement … but I say ‘you fool’ will be
subject to hell fire.’ There are so many people who make us feel small and
inadequate. Guilt is a big, big thing for us. Guilt cripples us in so many
ways. I spoke to a lady once who told me that she refused to believe in god
because she knew that she would be in hell for all that she had done. Guilt
made her turn away from God and the whole possibility that he might just be
bigger than our failure. That is what guilt does it. She could not open her
eyes to behold the beauty of Jesus for she feared condemnation.
But for Jesus dealing with guilt is easy; all it takes is a
word. To the woman caught in adultery, just a word, ‘Neither do I condemn you,
go and sin no more.’ To the murderer and thief on the cross next to Him, just a
word ‘you will be with me in paradise.’ To Thomas who poured scorn on His
resurrection ‘Behold my wounds.’ Those words cost Jesus His life, but He uttered
them nonetheless.
I used to wonder what was in Jesus’ eyes what was in his voice
as He spoke to Thomas in the Upper Room. Thomas is so brash so scornful,
‘Unless I see nail marks in His hands and put my fingers where the nails were;
I will not believe it.’ ‘You are credulous fools’ he is saying to his fellow
disciples, ‘I’ll not be taken in as you have been.’ All the time Jesus is
there; how does Jesus react? What is in His eyes what is in His voice? The one
day at the Clydebank crematorium I had put together a series of short readings
from John’s Gospel John 1 the uncreated Word, the glory of the Saviour. John 3
– why He came, not to judge but to save; John 17 – His prayer for us in the
Upper Room that we should be with Him forever. Then John 20 Jesus appears to
Thomas – Jesus greater than our unbelief. I put John 3 and John 20 together and
there was my answer. Jesus did not appear to Thomas to sneer at him, or to
crush him but that Thomas too would know resurrection life. So it would be with
the warmest of smiles and with the most tender, forgiving love in his eyes that
Jesus would have said to Thomas ‘Behold my hands!’ It gave Jesus the greatest
joy to say these words to Thomas in a way that created faith and trust in
Thomas’s heart; it took just a word to restore Thomas but that word cost Jesus
His life.
The leper could not heal himself. The Roman centurion could do
nothing to help his son. Peter’s mother in law was helpless, delirious with a
fever. Discipleship always begins with us knowing the gentle life giving touch
of the Saviour.
So the crowds flock to Jesus. We know from other stories that
Jesus found healing exhausting; energy strength, life drained out of Him as He
ministered to others and so to recover the commentators suggest He sought some
time apart on the other side of the Sea of Galilee just to recuperate. A few
weeks ago I had to make a routine visit to the doctor and there with him was a
student, he looked about 12, and so the student as part of his training had to
find out all that had happened to me in the last couple of years and he did it
very well and could answer all the questions our doctor put to him. Later
another lady I know was visiting the same doctor and the same student was
there. This lady had been through a hard time and the doctor said she needed to
take things easy and allow her strength return she needed to convalesce. He
turned to the student and asked him if he knew what ‘convalescence’ meant and
he struggled to give an answer! Whilst I was convalescing last year for three
or four months all I read was PG Wodehouse. My brain needed a rest. Sometimes
all God the Father wanted Jesus to do was rest and all He wants you to do is to
rest.
But as he makes His way to the shore at Capernaum Jesus meets
two young men who are both keen to have Jesus as their teacher, one who will
deepen their knowledge of the Torah. Both men have their qualities but Jesus
perceives that neither really understands what knowing God’s will really means.
It was the practice in Jesus’s times for a young man who was
keen to become an expert in God’s law himself to go around listen to various
teachers of the law and then choose the one whom he thought he could learn most
from. This first young man has, evidently, listened to Jesus discerned that He
has an authority the other teachers of the law do not have and that he would
learn much from Him. Bjt Jesus turns him away saying, ‘Foxes have their holes and the birds of the air their nests but the
Son of man has no place to rest his head.’
Did this young man see the law of God as something very beautiful
to be admired? Did he see it as an essential part of the Jewish culture that
had to be protected? Or was he a young man that loved an argument and wanted to
become skilled in debate?
Jesus is saying to him that knowing the will of God is none of
these things; it is a life it is something you live. It is bearing the
ignorance of the crowd, not being repulsed by the stench it is allowing life
flow out of you and reaching out and touching a leper.
To the second young man who came Jesus said, ‘Let the dead bury the dead.’ According
to Jewish custom it was a son’s duty in fulfilment of the sixth commandment ‘thou shalt honour your father and your mother…’
that he should return home and organise his father’s funeral and that he
should then remain at home for six days of mourning. For this man knowing the
law of God was doing one’s duty.
The trouble with duty is there is no life in it, it is for the
dead. Those without the imagination to see the beauty of and old lady everyone
else considers useless rising from what all assume to be her death bed to make
Jesus some scones and serve them to Him for His tea. Those without the heart to
say ‘Your son is dying, take me to him.’ Those without the eyes to see the
remarkable faith of the centurion and rejoice that God the Father could allow a
Gentile see the glory of the Saviour so clearly. This guy I am sure could have
invented a thousand reasons why it was better for the centurion’s son to die
Peter’s mother-in-law to fade away it was more than his job’s worth, he lacked
the imagination to show compassion and now the law fulfilled with love.
So the gifted and the dutiful are turned away and the leper,
the centurion and the old lady get on with loving and serving Christ.
Discipleship begins not with the gifts and the dedication we bring to Christ
but with the healing touch of the Saviour.
