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Sermon
The Gospel of Matthew

Three Portraits of Jesus

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April 20, 2025
Matthew 8:1-17
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Person of Christ

Faith

Transcript

0:14Well good morning and welcome what a morning we've had already in singing God's praises. If you're new among us, we're so glad you're here. We're glad that you've joined us for Easter and we're eager to look at God's word with you. My name is Steven, I'm one of the pastors here and we've been in the gospel of Matthew for some time now for the large part of this year. And if you're just joining us, we've come now to Matthew chapter eight, which you just heard read. So I invite you to keep your Bibles open there and we're gonna preach through that and I invite you to follow along. So would you join me as I pray and ask the Lord for help?

0:57Father in heaven, we need your help. In this moment we have sung of your resurrection and now we want to see with the eyes of faith, your majesty and power this morning. So give us eyes to see, and ears to hear and take away the blinders from our hearts so that we would behold more of you work by the power of your spirit so that our hearts would be enlivened to rejoice in Christ. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

1:37Most Sundays there's a very sweet young girl that gives me a drawing after the service and I love seeing these pictures. So last week I got this image of Jesus riding in on a donkey on Poem Sunday. She's actually sitting here this morning. I won't point her out or embarrass her, but most weeks I get drawings of me in the pulpit. And so here are a few of those drawings. She always gets the backdrop just right. Sometimes she'll include some of the flowers up front, some of the quotes from the sermon or portray the Bible story. And I know she has great attention to detail 'cause she always gets my hair just right and sometimes she throws in my mole as well.

2:30These drawings are like portraits. They, they capture me in the pulpit with the same backdrop opening God's work week after week. And in a way that is precisely what Matthew does for us this morning in our passage, he paints for us three portraits of Jesus in action. And what he shows us is that Jesus is the great physician, but what Matthew wants to show us is much more than the fact that Jesus can heal. But he wants us to see that Jesus is the one who possesses authority over illness, even the demonic realm, and then ultimately pointing forward to his authority over death itself.

3:23He wants us to see the glory of Christ that bursts force in resurrection power. So Matthew, it's a biography about Jesus. We just finished studying chapters five through seven, which is the Sermon on the Mount, many like in this to the greatest sermon ever preached. And what we see when Jesus concludes that sermon is at the end of chapter seven, the crowds stand in awe. It says that they're astonished that Jesus taught with such stunning authority. They heard a difference in his words and in his teaching. But what Matthew now transitions to show us is that Jesus doesn't just have authority in his teaching, but he has authority over illness and sickness and he has authority to heal.

4:16So our plan this morning is to examine each of these three portraits. Jesus' interaction with the leper, his interaction with the centurion and his healing of Peter's mother-in-law. And what we'll discover is that Jesus uses his authority for the lowly to reveal his true identity. Jesus uses his authority for the lowly in order to reveal his true identity. Or pastors can't help but use alliterations. And so I did come up with one that this is where we'll discover that these portraits of power poured out for the poor to reveal Jesus preeminence. So let's look at this first portrait verses one to four.

5:05Look at Matthew eight, chapter one, and it says, when Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And if you've been with us in this series, you'll remember that in chapter five verse one, Jesus went up the mountain. So it's the same day. It's the same day probably as when the sermon was preached. And there's this picture that Matthew was painting for us, that there's echoes of Jesus being the new and better. Moses, if you'll remember, if you're familiar with your Bible in the Exodus, Moses goes up a mountain Mount Sinai. And on that mountain he receives God's law, the 10 commandments.

5:44And then he descends from that mountain and goes to the people. But here, Jesus ascends a mountain, teaches his authoritative words. And these are the words, whether you do them or whether you don't will determine whether you get into the the kingdom or not. And then he descends from this mountain in fulfillment of the mosaic law. And so this story is transitioning from Jesus', authoritative teachings to his authoritative healing and power. Now the leper comes to Jesus kneels before him. I think this is a great show of humility and if you look at verse two, he says, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.

6:28This is not so much a question as is is a statement of faith. And he comes right into Jesus' presence. And this is audacious. He's not supposed to be around anyone, but he's heard about Jesus. And so he displays boldness and faith, humility and courage to come before Jesus to understand how shocking this would've been. We have to understand how leprosy was viewed in the first century. So leprosy in the Bible, it refers to a variety of skin diseases. It's not the same as what we think of today. It could have been things like psoriasis or wing ringworm, excuse me, or anything with swelling or infection.

7:11But very often it was serious. People's fingers would start to rot away or their toes. And so this is not a minor case of dandruff that like head and shoulders could figure out, right? This is very serious. And the book of Leviticus verse chapters 13 and 14 give all of these instructions, two little chapters dedicated to how you're to treat those with leprosy. Lepers were ceremonially unclean, they were isolated that it came with significant social stigma. It would've been like if you walked in here this morning as a homeless individual, disheveled uh, wreaking of your own filth. People would sort of back away a little bit hear how Leviticus 1345 and 46 describes the life of a leper.

7:56It says the lepers person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out unclean. Unclean. He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. So the leper has to go around with his clothes torn with his hair undone to show his defilement. His entire appearance is to say, stay away from me, I'm unclean. And when it says it, he's to cover his upper lip. It means to cover his mouth, to cover his defilement, his uncles from getting on other people.

8:38He's to live alone outside the camp. In a sense, these are the living dead permanently cut off from family and society. They're ritually unclean. If you touched them, you too would be unclean. You could never experience a hug from your spouse, a touch of your child or grandchild or parents. You can't go to the market. You can't go to the synagogue to worship. This was a devastating condition. You were isolated forever until you were healed. And it's in the midst of this, Jesus stretches out his hand and touches him and says, I will be clean. Jesus didn't just heal him. He touched him showing that no one is too unclean for God's love.

9:36This is perhaps the first human touch that this man has experienced in years or even decades. And yet Jesus touch doesn't make Jesus unclean, which is what normally would've happened. But this man becomes clean and he's healed of his disease. What is the authority of Jesus? Like? It's unlike anything that has ever been seen or heard. Jesus touch reveals the compassion of Christ. He doesn't recoil at this man's defilement at his ugly appearance, at his ceremonial uncleanness. He doesn't recoil at the smell at the disheveled hair of the torn clothes or what other people would've thought. And the leper came all the way up to Jesus.

10:28I think if he had accidentally bumped someone, they would become unclean. I think he would've got stoned in that moment. And yet Jesus provides the dual healing that he needs. Yes, he fixes his skin condition. We don't know if his fingers grew back or his toes, but what he does is he reunites him with his family and with his community and that he can be among the living. Once again, Jesus says to the man, verse four, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them. There's two things going on here. First, I think Jesus is not wanting word to get out too fast, too quickly, too far so that he wouldn't be prematurely coronated as the king, as the Messiah.

11:18But I think it's also that he wouldn't be prematurely executed. Jesus is on a mission and he set his face like Flint for the cross. The second thing that's taking place is that he refers to the instructions in Leviticus 14 where a priest is to certify that the man's now clean and so that the man can now rejoin his community. The priest is to kind prove that. And I think again, this points to Jesus' fulfillment of the law. He said that back all the way in chapter five, verse 17. I've not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. And so here's my first healing here. Go show yourself to the priest.

11:58But I think he's also doing something else. He's putting the priest on notice. There has been an authority that has stepped on the scene and he can heal lepers. And you've seen the proof and you've certified the people who are healed and it's gonna stand as a condemnation against them when they crucify Jesus. So this first portrait of Jesus reveals his power to heal, but it reveals so much more than just raw power. It reveals his compassion for the outcast among us that he reaches out to touch a man whom no one would touch even with a six foot stick. Just as Jesus brought physical healing to the leper this morning, he brings his healing touch to all those who are spiritually unclean this morning.

12:55I imagine in a group this size, there are some who feel a spiritual kinship with this leper. It's not necessarily that you have a skin condition, but you feel like a social outcast. You don't go around covering your mouth yelling, unclean, unclean, but deep down you know that there's deep defilement that you can't wash away. Your life is in ruins and you come on a Sunday like this 'cause family coaxes you and you feel a little embarrassed that I don't belong in a place like this. If people knew what I've done, they wouldn't want me here. I won't be accepted. I don't belong. God wouldn't want someone like me.

13:42I've got to clean myself up first. There's many people that I've shared the gospel with before that they'll say, but my life is just too messy. Let me see if I can kind of fix things first. Get off the drugs or slop sleeping around. If the leper waited until he could cleanse himself of his leprosy before he came to Jesus, he would never come. And this is the marvel of the good news of the gospel this morning in all of your uncles, your spiritual rags, your depravity and sins, Jesus beckons you to come. He reaches out his hand to touch you so that he might provide you the healing that you desperately need this morning.

14:33And so we're supposed to see the powerful and compassionate portrait of Jesus this morning. He is willing and able, not just willing, not just able, but together he has the power to heal. But he has the compassion for broken people to meet them where they're at in order to extend his hand to heal, to bring his cleansing power and to display the immeasurable riches of his grace to sinners. Jesus himself said, I've not not come to call the righteous but sinners. And so if you're a sinner this morning, if you've done things that you regret, you are in the right place. This is a gathering of people who have fallen short but who fall at the foot of the cross.

15:29This leads us to our next portrait, the centurion's, the centurion and his servant. So Jesus arrives at Capernaum. This is verses five to 13. This is a major city on the trade route, would've been, you know, fishing and commercial trade. And there's a Roman battalion that's stationed there and the centurion approaches Jesus. So there are several things wrong with this picture. First, this man is a gentile. He doesn't associate with Jews. Jews don't associate with gentiles. The the custom. In those days, Jews would not eat with a Gentile and they would not go into their homes. And this man is part of the Roman military.

16:10It's a occupying force that had oppressed the Jewish people. If the crowd looked at the leper with disgust, they look at this centurion with disdain, we hate you and your kind. And the surprise comes. There's actually surprise after surprise after surprise. The surprise comes when this centurion requests Jesus help. Look at that in verse six. He says, my servant is lying, paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. He's not asking for healing for his wife or his child. This is a servant. And so there there's more surprises. This now we have this military man who's used to giving orders with 80 to a hundred soldiers under his command, humbly asking Jesus for help.

16:56Imagine your grizzled navy seal, Navy seal commander who's humbling himself to come to Jesus. And then he is asking on behalf of a servant. This is not the word for slave, but it's a servant. I think it's probably like a young boy born to one of his household slaves. And in the Greco Greco-Roman world, slaves were treated like animals. And so the thought is, why would you embarrass yourself to come to a Jew to ask for healing when you can just buy another slave? And then there's another surprise Jesus response to this gentile who comes to him. Verse seven, I will come and heal him. And then the centurion's response is even more surprising verses eight and nine to fall along as I read it, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed for I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me.

17:54And I say to one, go and he goes, and to another come and he comes and to my servant, do this and he does it. So here we have a centurion military leader in the world's greatest army, a free Roman citizen who has a house full of slaves. And he somehow believes that Jesus is so worthy that he should not have him in his home. It's unthinkable to have him in his home. Uh, this Ur understands authority as he alludes to, he has the authority to give commands. If a soldier disobeyed him, he would have the authority to punish him on the spot or even execute him. He could enforce Roman law as a Roman citizen.

18:37It came with certain legal privileges and many of the century were quite wealthy. And part of the political elite, according to Luke's account, the parallel account of this same story, it says that some of the leaders of the synagogue come on his behalf with the centurion to say, this man has helped us build the temple, which means this man has power, influence, and wealth. And it's shocking that he says, I am not worthy. He recognizes that Jesus possesses an authority that's at a whole nother level than his. He's like, I can command people, you can command illnesses. And he refuses to have Jesus come into his home.

19:24This is stunning. It, it got me thinking. How many of us like having a virtual visit with the doctor instead of an in-person visit? Don't raise your hands. I imagine very few of us, like I don't want to pay my copay just to zoom with you. Like I'd rather go into the office, have you squeeze and touch and look at, you know, hear my cough, whatever it is. And, and, and I want you like there present. I, I imagine that most of us feel that same way. And yet here is this man where Jesus has already agreed to come. I'm gonna come into your home and heal your servant. He says, no, no, no, I'm so unworthy. Don't come.

20:03Just say the word Jesus. Marvels at this man's faith because this man possessed an infinite confidence in Jesus power to heal this man possessed an infinite confidence in Jesus' power to heal exceeding anyone else in Israel. Just say the word. Just say the word Jesus. That's all I need. And then Jesus gives a very unusual response. Verses 10, 10 to 12. Jesus says, truly I tell you, with no one in Israel, have I sound, have I found such faith? I tell you, many will come from the east and from the west and recline a table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness.

20:54In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We don't have the time to dissect every element of this, but what Jesus is doing is he is likening heaven to this great wedding banquet that all these people will come have invitations and they're gonna enjoy this glorious feast. And then there's gonna be some that are locked out of that. And what he says is that there's going to be some who come from the east and from the west, meaning there's gonna be gentiles who come and and enjoy this wedding feast in this upside down kingdom. There's gonna be gentiles that participate, but the sons of the kingdom, the Israelites, the Jews, they are going to be locked out.

21:35What Jesus is showing his listeners is don't automatically bank on your ethnicity or background for your right standing with God. We heard that in some of the baptism testimonies. I can't lean on just the fact that my parents are believers that somehow I'm washed. In the same way. It doesn't matter if you're an MK or a PK or if your great grandfather was, you know, in ministry. What matters is, is there a living faith in Jesus? What Jesus is doing here is he's anticipating foreshadowing the Gentile mission so that some from every tribe, tongue, language and nation would be gathered around that throne.

22:20And even now he says, I'm going to show compassion to the outcasts, these gentiles, that the Jews would have nothing to do with. I won't even eat with you. Jesus says, I would be willing to come into your home and I would heal you. What's the result? Jesus says, verse 13, go let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed At that very moment, Jesus healed the leper with a touch of compassion. And now he heals with merely a word there. There's no spells, no incantations, no rituals. He doesn't say, well take this handkerchief, let, let me rub it against my arm and then bring it with you and then let that be the healing.

23:05He just says like that. I'll, I'll just speak the word. What is the extent or reach of Jesus power this morning? Right now it is without limit. Without limit. This is the reach of his authority. This is the picture Matthew's painting for us. See the power, see the compassion. It's unlike anything you've ever seen. And the if the first portrait was for the outcast, the second portrait is, is for a different kind of outcast, isn't it? The centurion is rather respectable, has some influence, authority, a good family. We imagine some wealth and respect in the community. Some of you this morning have some spiritual kinship with a centurion.

23:52You've cleaned up pretty nicely this morning for Easter. Your life is pretty put together. And yet, if you thought long and hard enough about it of your own spiritual condition, how you would respond If every deed, every word was exposed before God's holiness, you would recognize that I am spiritually bankrupt. I can bring nothing that can merit God's acceptance. And you would conclude just like the centurion, there is no way that I'm worthy to have him come under my roof. And Jesus shows us from this portrait that what you need is to come by faith, not to become Jewish, not to practice the Old Testament law, but to come by faith and to recline at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

24:47All you need to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to cast yourself at his mercy. Don't let your power or your success or how put together you are, keep you from coming to Jesus who grants forgiveness of sins to all those who will come and fall before him and ask for his help. We're to see this powerful and compassionate portrait of Jesus and come, he's eager to save. Even if you can't kneel right in his presence, his power extends even right now so that without a touch, he can give you new life. So that's four. First portrait reveals Jesus, compassion and his power. Second portrait reveals many of the same things, but also his global mission to the Gentiles and to every nation, tribe, people, and language that there's gonna be some gathered around that throne.

25:54So God loves to save the unlikeliest of people. This centurion is the unlikeliest of people. And some of you here this morning are some of the unlikeliest of people. And yet God delights to pick the unlikeliest of people and to say, come into my kingdom. The sixth servant never even meets Jesus and he becomes a surprising recipient of God's healing touch. Now we come to our third and final portrait of Jesus. This third portrait is rather brief verses 14 to 17. It's coupled with some summary statements about Jesus' ministry right at the end. So Jesus arrives at Peter's house, house sees his mother-in-law, lying sick with a fever.

26:45In this case, we don't hear a word about faith. We don't even hear about Peter asking for help. Jesus just leaps into action. Verse 15, Jesus touched her hand and the fever left her and she rose and began to serve him. Jesus initiates healing with his touch. Once again, like a mom who intuitively knows when her child is sick, Jesus springs into action even before anyone asks and notice that she rose and began to serve him. You know, some of us might think that's not great, right? Like if we're sick, we usually like to milk it that extra day or so like I'll lay in bed just relaxing, just recovering, have my wife bring me some chicken noodle soup.

27:30You know, while I'm still pre feeling pretty good. Uh, and yet we, we see Peter's mother-in-law beginning to serve. And I think this is pointing to a a greater reality. When we get saved, we're saved in order to serve so that we might use our gifts in service of others. And she knows disciples aren't gonna feed themselves. And so she springs into action. This is surprising and striking in many ways. Jesus touches this woman and Jesus touches this woman with a fever. And both would've been frowned upon among Jewish custom. There's a prayer that's well known that Jewish men in the morning would pray every day and they would say, thank you Lord, that you did not make me a gentile, a slave or a woman.

28:20They weren't very politically correct, but that was what was often prayed. The women were looked down upon. And yet we see Jesus once again display his power. He's willing and able and his compassion and Jesus springs into action even before the request comes. And I think this is pointing and reinforcing something we saw earlier in Matthew sermon on the Mount, Matthew six eight. He says, speaking about prayer, your father knows what you need even before you ask him. And here Jesus knows what's needed. Or Isaiah 65 24, it says, before they call, I will answer. While they are yet speaking, I will hear before you even utter the request, the answer is on the way.

29:12Matthew reveals the authority of Jesus to know every single need. And even before you ask, he's already beginning to work in such a way so that the answers might come about. And so this should give us some measure of hope and confidence this morning, even when we don't know what to ask, we don't know what we need. We're just paralyzed. God knows and God cares. And he's already sending his answer. He He's at work even now this morning. And so we see Jesus compassion, we see him transcending the customs and the law, and he touches her hand to heal her once again. Verse 16, Matthew tells us how the day ended that evening, they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

30:09What Matthew is doing, he's saying, you haven't seen anything yet. Uh, there's gonna be another set of three healings and then another set of three healings. And they just continue to intensify. And he's saying, Jesus, yes, displays his authority over illness, over sickness, over fevers, over leprosy. But Jesus authority is so much greater. He's healing people who are oppressed by demons. And then the final verse says, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. This is a modified quote of Isaiah 53, verse four, which says, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

30:59And so this reveals that Jesus possesses not only the authority to heal, but that his healing ministry is a pointer or a foreshadowing of Isaiah's prophecy. Now, what's Isaiah's prophecy all about? Often when New Testament authors quote one verse from the Old Testament, they have sort of sometimes the whole chapter or the whole section, sometimes even the whole book in mind. And I think in this case, he has all of Isaiah 53 in mind. And if you know Isaiah 53, this is a famous chapter. This is a graphic chapter that describes the suffering servant that Isaiah inspired by. The Holy Spirit says there's gonna be someone who's coming that God is sending.

31:42He he's one who serves on behalf of God, but he does a lot of suffering. And what kind of suffering? He's gonna be despised and rejected by men. He's gonna be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. He's gonna be oppressed and afflicted like a lamb led to the slaughter. It was the will of the Lord to crush him and to put him to grief. He bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. And what Matthew is doing is he's saying this, Jesus is that suffering servant, the lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world and he's going to take our diseases.

32:26But more than that, he's gonna take our sins. Our greatest problem is not our diseases, it's not our sickness, but it's our sin, sickness that keep us from God, estranged from him. And he says, this suffering servant has come to fix that. And we get to behold these portraits of power on display to see the foreshadowing of what he's going to accomplish. Matthew was telling us this is him. In other words, Jesus would not just take our physical illness, but he would take our sins and die as the lamb of God. He would display his glorious victory by rising again from the dead. The Father would vindicate the sun and say all that he said was true, and then he would be victorious and conquer sin, death.

33:23And Satan declaring his victory over all. And that's what we celebrate this morning. Not just that Jesus died, that's not good news unless he rose again. We're celebrating the glorious resurrection of Christ where he takes all of our sin, sickness in his own body, gets punished by the Father for us, bears God's wrath so that we would have life everlasting this morning. So this account anticipates the cross and resurrection where sin condemns us. Jesus brings life. So Jesus uses his authority to serve the lowly, to reveal his true identity. And and so, uh, I just wanna review a few of these themes that we've seen.

34:20The first is this authority to heal. He brings greater spiritual deliverance. He fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah 53. These healings are the first fruits of the complete healing that we will find in Jesus. We don't get healing for every cancer disability here in this life, and yet we are promised glorified bodies if our hope and faith is in Jesus. Paul wrote, speaking of our earthly bodies, it's sewn in dishonor, it's raised in glory. It's sewn in weakness. It's raised in power. It's sewn a natural body. It's raised a spiritual body. That's what we saw enacted in baptism. You die with Christ in the waters of baptism.

35:02You rise again with Jesus to new life. We receive new and glorified bodies. He will take every single disease and illness and sickness and disability because we will be glorified with him forever. And so that's where our hope can be this morning. Even if you're wasting away, even if you are on hospice right now, even if there's a cancer diagnosis that is gonna come tomorrow morning and it just undoes you, Jesus is making all things new. And that includes our mortal bodies because in his resurrection, we too rise again to new life. The second thing is the priority of faith. We see this priority of faith of coming to Jesus.

35:51And so the Bible tells us, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And so true faith requires confession and belief. And so come. If you're not trusting in Jesus, come, there is no one that is too far from the healing touch of Jesus. No one too unclean, no one too far, no one too successful to accomplished, to destitute, to come, come to Jesus and say like the leopard Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And lastly, these three portraits point forward to the resurrection power of Jesus. In John 10 17, he said, for this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

36:51No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. Matthew is painting this picture for us of the authority of Jesus, not just in his teaching, but his authority to heal diseases. But this authority extends even to laying down his life as the lamb of God and then rising again from the dead. And the scriptures tell us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that's at work in us right now. This is why Christians can have glorious hope this morning that the same spirit that raised Jesus is at work in us, so that if we have been crucified with Christ, it's no longer we who live, but the life that we now live in, the flesh.

37:44We live by faith in the son of God who loved us and gave himself up for us. Praise be to God. Let's pray. Father, get glory for yourself this morning through your word, through the worship of your people and through every heart that turns away from self to put their hope and trust in Christ. In Christ alone exert your great power and authority and compassion to touch every heart. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Sermon Text

Matthew 8:1-17

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