When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. 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.
Immediately, this passage tells us that people were following Jesus. Remember the last verse of chapter 7 said, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law." THAT is why they are following Him. They are following Him because of His teaching. They are challenged and intrigued, and He hasn't even started healing people yet! So many times our culture views Jesus as their vending-machine Jesus, asking for whatever they want for their own benefit and "trusting" that Jesus will do that for them. I'm not saying He doesn't sometimes do the things that we want, but I sure hope we know how much MORE He is than just our "problem-fixer."
Jesus healed many people in this passage: the leper, the centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, and the demon-possessed. A stranger, a leader, a friend, and the "crazy." I don't see any discrimination there.
And I love the leper's inquiry of Jesus. "A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”" The man, who was considered to be the dirtiest of them all, CAME to Jesus. He didn't expect that Jesus would come find him. Then, he humbly knelt before Him. How often do we humbly kneel before God? I mean really...get on our physical knees and physically place ourselves in a position of humility (kneeling). We need to remember who we are...and who we are not. Isaiah 47 talks about this attitude of, "I am, and besides me there is no other." Who should be saying this? God! Because that would be true of Him! But in Isaiah, it's the people saying it! Oh my, how our Western culture has it wrong! We think we should be able to order, plan, and run my life any way I want. But oh, to look at our hearts and see how far they are from the Lord at times. The leper doesn't demand anything of Jesus -- he knows who the real I AM is here. Instead, he says "if you are willing, you CAN make me clean." He knows Jesus has the power to do it, but he's not pushing is own agenda on the Lord. Have you been pushing your own agenda lately? Step back, examine your heart, then lay your desires at the feet of Christ and wait for His timing. The leper showed humility and belief.
The centurion beseeches Jesus on behalf of his servant who was in great suffering. Right there, I know something about this man. He was praying on behalf of his servant! He was not too prideful to think that he was above his servant, and he has empathy toward his servant because of his great suffering. He, too, goes humbly to Jesus and asks with belief. Jesus says that He will go with him to heal the suffering servant, but the centurion replies, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed." Wow! What faith! And do we know how much we do not deserve Christ? We sure do think we deserve a lot of things -- including a Starbucks coffee on the way to work this morning because it's cold and wet outside. But, in our sin, we do not deserve Christ! Yet, He loves us, and we believe in Him and have relationship with Him anyway.
In verse 16, he drove the spirits our with A WORD. One word. Talk about authority! He can do whatever we ask of Him; yet, sometimes He has a different plan, and we do have to trust that plan.
But I challenge you this morning, to see if your heart is in the posture of humility first as these men's hearts were. Before you go asking for things, remember who He is. WE are HIS servants, not the other way around.
Then we must believe! James 1:5-7 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord..."
Humility and belief. Remember who you are not, and remember who God is.
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