Category: Matthew

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:14-17 (day seven)

As we work our way through these miracles, we see that Jesus is healing these people organically. I don’t mean this like He is feeding them healthy organic food, rather that this process is coming very natural to Him. It is in His normal pattern of life. Jesus is not going out of His way to find these individuals. Many of them are coming to Him, but the reason they are even coming to Him is because the rumor of His authentic and organic works are beginning to trickle out into the public. Jesus isn’t putting on a show. It is simple. It is the touch of a hand, the utterance of a word, in His friend’s house, on His road home. Simple, yet profound. The way Jesus approaches this situation begs us to ask a question of ourselves: who are the people in our normal pattern of life that are hurting and in need? Lord Jesus give us Your vision to see those around us who need You!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:14-17 (day six)

“…, and she rose and began to serve him.” Matthew 8:15b

Many would read this verse and come to the conclusion we should serve Jesus. While that is certainly true, I’m not sure that’s the main message in this story. Peter’s mother-in-law served Jesus, and anyone other guest in her home, because she was well enough (after Jesus healed her) to be a good host. I mean, what would you do if you had guests in your home? You would get up, if you could, and make sure they had every thing they needed. Something to drink, or a meal perhaps.

Her behavior has more to do with Jesus’ presence than Jesus’ healing. Now let me ask, would anything change in your home if Jesus were there? If He were present, what affect would that have? Would you be a good host?

I really think, what was true for Peter’s mother-in-law is true for us, lasting change (or serving Jesus) happens when we realize Jesus is present in us, and around us. He has entered our home, healed us, and is sticking around.

Do you see Him?

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:14-17 (day five)

“They brought to him many”. Don’t overlook this part of the narrative. Don’t miss the action and activity of Jesus’ followers. “They” were leveraging their friendships and relationships to bring others to Jesus. There was a certainty that if only their friends and family could be in His presence, Jesus could/would meet their needs.

What about now?  Where would we bring people to encounter the powerful presence of Jesus?  Let me suggest three for starters:  First, invite and bring them into sincere and authentic friendship.  Allowing them to be close to you (as you live out and proclaim the gospel) will bring them into Jesus’ presence. Second, bring them into your home. Each home should be an incubator for gospel power- a place where God’s Word is both “taught and caught”. The home is a place where God’s presence should be  clearly evident. Third, bring them to church. Having others join us as we study and discuss God’s Word as well as gather for authentic worship will place them in God’s promised presence. Will you leverage your friendships and relationships to “bring others to Him”?

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:14-17 (day four)

This passage marks the third miracle identified in chapter 8.  Matthew includes the miracle in order to point out that Jesus is fulfilling prophecy.  He quotes the prophet Isaiah from chapter 53, the Suffering Servant passage.  Jesus is not just making sick people well, Matthew is equating their physical illnesses with their spiritual sins.

Jesus came to bring spiritual healing to the world.  His fulfillment of prophecy about the coming messiah was a proclamation of His divine identity.  Isaiah foretold the death of the Christ and His redeeming work of bearing our sins on His own, so that we might live.

If asked, can you tell someone who Jesus is?  The three questions every believer should be able to answer are:  1) Who is Jesus?  2) Why did He come?  3) What does it mean to us?  If you are struggling with any of these questions yourself, check out Christianity Explored at www.fbcsa.org.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:14-17 (day three)

“He himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”

Jesus never staged mass healings in which scores of anonymous people received health simultaneously and went happily on their way. Jesus’s pattern was to listen in rapt attention to individual persons as they or their loved ones described the suffering and misery disease had wrought in their bodies. The one time a person with illness attempted to remain unnoticed, Jesus stopped everything until he had looked on the face of the newly-healed one and heard her story. His touch healed her body; his attention healed her spirit. He will not leave a well body with a broken spirit. He will not redeem a spirit and leave a body moldering in the grave. He is the Savior of the entire person.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:14-17 (day two)

He touched her hand…vs. 15a …and He cast out the spirits with a word. 16b

With a touch and a word Jesus made a difference. We may not have Jesus healing abilities, but we surely have the ability to spend time with someone who is in need of comfort. Surely we have a word of kindness for one experiencing grief, loss, or pain. Jesus spent much of his ministry teaching us to identify our neighbors. He doesn’t ask us to cure cancer. He asks as to show love as we have been loved. To show mercy as we have been shown mercy. Sometimes the path to complete restoration can begin with a touch and a word.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:1-4 (day seven)

“When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him.”

Very shortly before this, Jesus spoke these words on top of the mountain, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

The leper heard these words of Jesus. He was listening intently. He then sought obediently, approached reverently, and asked boldly just as Jesus had said. This man had faith.

For Jesus, here is a grand opportunity for Him to teach a lesson. He was very strategic in who He healed and when He healed. This was a time for Him to show the masses who were following closely behind these things:

1) He is who He says He is.

2) You can trust that His promises are true.

3) Faith in Him is where the miracle begins.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:1-4 (day six)

There was far more at stake than his health. The leper went to great lengths to encounter Jesus. Hearing him teaching from afar, he was enamored with the authority in which he spoke, unlike any he had heard before. But the stories of healings, of men and women not unlike himself, were what set him on this path.

There is no telling how many years this man had been separated from his family and community because he was unclean. Perhaps no one had touched him in an equal amount of time. His wife, his children, his rabbi, no one could come near; banished to the outskirts of town. His skin, yes, needed healing, but much more he needed to be restored back to fellowship; he needed to belong again.

He was desperate to be clean, to be known.

And Jesus touched him.

“Be clean,” he said.

And what once was distant and separate was restored.

That’s what the kingdom of God is like.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 8:1-4 (day five) “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”  As we look at Jesus’ encounters with the leper and the centurion, we see great faith being displayed by each of them. But don’t miss their testimony.  In both of their statements, there are known and unknown statements about Jesus. The unknown- Jesus’ willingness to heal.  The known- His power, His capability, His authority, His majesty and sovereignty. What is it that you know about Jesus?  What have you already experienced and encountered?  Will you preach to yourself those Gospel truths?  (The goodness and greatness of Jesus)
“Preaching the gospel to ourselves is a habit of grace that is both proactive and reactive. It’s reactive as we encounter temptation and frustration and seek to restock in the moment… But it’s also proactive. We go on the offensive when we feed our souls in some regular rhythm before the events and tasks and disappointments of daily life begin streaming our way.”