I want you to be blown away by the power of Jesus Christ today as we read accounts of His mighty power in healing and saving people. I also want you to appreciate how much He suffered in order to do it. It is inaccurate and unhelpful to think of Jesus like the comic-book Superman who could do anything without any cost to Himself. Let’s go.
This year, we at Calvary are seeking to…
“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.
God doesn’t always make things easy in this life for His people, but He always makes it worth it. The living, breathing proof of this is Jesus. Everything about Jesus is humble self-sacrifice–His birth and life, His teaching and ministry, His death. But God brought Him back to life and crowned Him King of kings. That’s cruciformity. We’re learning this story well as we preach through the Gospel according to Matthew this year.
We also see cruciformity in the beatitudes, the introduction to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The beatitudes are the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s people. We’re memorizing all eight beatitudes this year. Here’s the first three:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:3-5 NIV)
See a pattern? The attitudes that invite a state of blessedness from God–joy, contentment, happiness–are all soaked in otherworldly humility. Poor in spirit—knowing that you have nothing apart from God. Mourning–having a heart broken over sin and its disastrous effects. Meek–being gentle even when you have the power to do otherwise. When I read the beatitudes, I think first about Jesus, who embodied these perfectly, and then I think about how much I must continue to grow to become like Him. These are really the main goal of following Jesus. If we’re learning from Jesus but these attitudes aren’t growing in us something’s off. That’s why we’re memorizing them. They need the focus they deserve.
Now to continue in the gospel according to Matthew. At the end of Matthew 4, we read a summary of what Jesus’ ministry:
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. (Matthew 4:23-25)
Though healing was a popular part of His ministry, Jesus was primarily a teacher. It’s important to see Jesus is not a healer who also teaches but a teacher who also heals. He came first and foremost to save us from sin–not just the effects of sin like disease and death. He came to save us from sin by (1) calling us to repentance and kingdom living and (2) paying the penalty of our sin by dying on the cross.
Matthew then goes on to give us a prime example of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), in which Jesus unpacked what kingdom-based living looks like for His disciples. In chapter 8, Matthew begins to tell us about the amazing healings and miracles Jesus performed. These stories are set in the immediate aftermath of the Sermon on the Mount:
1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
It’s been a long day already for Jesus. He hiked up the hillside and preached the world’s greatest sermon. It’s about time to head home and start winding down. But the crowds who came for healing and heard Jesus’ teaching continued to follow Him. That’s when the first miracle is recorded:
Jesus’ Healing Miracles
1) Jesus vs Leprosy
2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 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.”
I preached through Leviticus earlier this year, and we learned about the holiness and cleanliness system. Temple worship required ritual purity, ceremonial cleanliness. Skin diseases like leprosy would make an Israelite unclean and anyone who touched them unclean. The unclean could not worship in the tabernacle until they were made clean again by a series of sacrifices. But a person with a skin disease could not be pronounced clean until they were first healed of the disease. Therefore, people with skin diseases had to live outside of town, waiting for God to heal them so that a priest could pronounce them clean. Needless to say, this was a devastating and desperate situation.
While Jesus was on His way from the Mount back to Capernaum, a man in THAT situation begged Jesus not just for healing but cleanliness too. He respectfully calls Jesus “Lord” and humbly demonstrates faith that the only thing keeping from making him clean is whether or not Jesus wants to. He believes Jesus is able yet asks if Jesus is willing. Of course, He is. More than that, Jesus touched the man. That man hadn’t been touched by another human being since he became sick. No hugs, no handshakes, no high fives. In fact, people would keep their distance from him so there was not even a risk of touching him, but Jesus risked His own ritual purity to reach out and touch the man! And with a word, He healed him. “Be clean!” Jesus defeated leprosy and the ritual impurity that stood between the leper and his God and people.
2) Jesus vs Paralysis
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” 7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” 8 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. 9 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.”
Jesus is finally back to town and immediately faced with another need. A Roman centurion, who is an unclean Gentile by the way, begs Jesus to heal his paralyzed servant back home. This passage reminds me of all those I know who have suffered from this type of disability and disease. Our sister June Hoppe battled ALS for years and remained faithful to Christ and finally met Jesus face to face last year, with her beloved husband Mike and sister Sandy Sischo serving her all the way to the end. Ken Earny, a much loved disciple of Jesus and member of the Fruitport community died and entered the presence of Christ this past week. He battled ALS for several years, which slowly took away his ability to use his muscles. So many more suffer from ALS or other types of paralysis. In Matthew 8, Jesus faced someone with a need like that.
Like the leper, the centurion has total faith that Jesus can–the only question is whether He will. Here’s Jesus’ response:
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 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. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
Jesus is immediately impressed with the Roman centurion’s faith and humility and takes this moment to give a warning to the Jews and an invitation to the Gentiles. This continues to build up the tension in Matthew’s Gospel between proud, unbelieving Jews and Jesus as well as open the door to the eventual mission to “make disciples of all nations.” But the glorious punchline of this miracle account is that Jesus appears more than willing to heal the paralyzed servant. He immediately healed him without even visiting him!
3) Jesus vs Fever
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
Finally “home” at Peter’s house, Jesus still can’t get a nap yet. Peter’s mother-in-law had a dangerous fever. At His touch, Jesus healed her, and she’s immediately 100% back to herself and began to fix some dinner or something for Jesus because, remember, He’s hungry and tired!
Now the series of miracle accounts over the next few chapters will be periodically interrupted by important lessons from Jesus, and here’s the first one:
A Lesson: Jesus personally suffered in order to powerfully heal.
16 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. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
When evening came…this has all happened in one day! Jesus must have been exhausted, yet He continued to pour Himself out that day for hurting people.
When Matthew quotes Isaiah 53:4, he is not merely pointing out a fulfilled prophecy as if Jesus just keeps checking the boxes; he’s also commenting on the nature and character of Jesus. Jesus fulfills prophecy as the SUFFERING SERVANT. Isaiah 53 is a famous passage about how God would call His innocent and righteous servant to suffer and die on behalf of His people for their sin. If you read the whole passage, you can’t help but see Jesus and His crucifixion.
Many have wondered, including my men’s group studying Isaiah, why the Jews did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah because He so clearly fulfills prophecy from Isaiah. Most scholars note that there was little to no connection in the Jewsh mind between the Suffering Servant and the Messiah until Jesus and the New Testament. The human heart would not naturally embrace suffering. It is not until Jesus did what He did that His followers began to connect the dots, and now of course we have the benefit of their hindsight. Had we been 1st century Jews, we wouldn’t have made the connection either. But Jesus came and revealed His cruciform nature and ministry to His disciples.
So, if Jesus was God, how could Jesus suffer? Jesus was fully God and He was also fully human. All Christians everywhere believe in the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Trinity is the idea, supported throughout Scripture, that there is one divine being–God–that exists equally and eternally in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation is the idea, again supported throughout Scripture, that the second Person of the Trinity–the Son–took on a human nature, thus making Him both fully God and fully human. His name is Jesus! Because Jesus is fully God, He is willing and able to conquer any foe and heal any disease. Because Jesus is fully human, He experienced the limits and temptations and suffering that we do. In other words, though Jesus could perform miracles for others, He Himself suffered. A full day of ministry–like the one just described–was costly.
What kinds of things did Jesus personally suffer in order to powerfully heal?
- His energy. Each interaction, each conversation, each prayer would have taken effort. It would be “draining.”
- His comfort. These are some sad and difficult and even scary people to be around. As we’re seeing, there’s little opportunity for rest and relaxation, let alone “me” time.
- His social status. These people have nothing to offer Jesus. They were not family or friends who refreshed him. They were strangers asking Him for help. The ceremonially unclean, the poor, the foreigner, the “insignificant” in the eyes of the world.
- His life. At the cross, Jesus paid for all the sin of all who’d believe.
In fact, in the next few verses, Jesus unpacks some of the ways he suffered….
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Following Jesus is costly! In order to follow Jesus and learn how to help others, we must suffer like Him. Jesus often had no place to sleep, no time to rest. In Capernaum, He probably stayed at Peter’s house, but even that had been overrun with people needing help. Jesus also had to leave His family–especially His mother Mary, who He loved–for extended periods of time. In fact, we just read John 19 in our church-wide New Testament plan, where Jesus was in the middle of being crucified and told one of His disciples (likely John) to take His mother Mary into his own home and care for her as his own mom. It’s clear that Jesus expected His disciples to make similar sacrifices to be with Him.
So do we need to get rid of our housing and abandon our families? Not necessarily. Some might, some might not, but we all need to re-prioritize and look at our commitments in light of our commitment to follow Jesus. Following Jesus in the Gospels is a bit different than following Him today. To follow Jesus in the Gospels was not only to learn from Him but to be physically near Him. This meant giving up totally or in part your job, your possessions, and your family. But since the Gospels, Jesus has ascended to His Father’s right hand as King of kings. He sent the Spirit to be with us and in us and given us His Word. Now our commitment to Jesus pulls us away from job commitments and family commitments far less in usual circumstances. Material things and family ties–both of which are good gifts of God–still must be re-prioritized in the lives of Jesus’ disciples today.
Jesus’ Healing Miracles, cont.
4) Jesus vs Storm
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
First of all, notice Jesus was sleeping…on a boat…in a storm! It had been a long day! Work hard, sleep hard!
Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith in Him. The leper trusted Jesus. The centurion trusted Jesus. But the disciples struggled to. Before we throw the disciples under the bus, we would do well to recognize we would have done the same. If you’d never seen Jesus still a storm, you might have freaked out too. Even despite His lack of sleep and their lack of faith, Jesus calmed the storm.
5) Jesus vs Demons
28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
These two men are deeply tormented by evil spirits, so much so that they are violent and feared throughout their community. They were in Jesus’ way. No one could pass. The demons recognize Jesus immediately. They’re even afraid that, because they have been caught red-handed that Jesus might TORTURE them now. Jesus is going to torture demons? Yes, sir. That’s wonderful news.
I do not have much personal experience with the obviously demonic, and I’m grateful for that. But I have heard testimony from all over the world of people who are tormented by demons yet delivered by Jesus. Frankly, it’s more than enough for more to know that when it’s Jesus vs demons, Jesus always wins.
30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 He said to them, “Go!”So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.
The demons keep on talking and suggest the pigs as their next victim. Jesus gave permission, and they obeyed. These pigs belonged to Gentiles, who made up most of the population in the Gadarenes. The demonic mass killing of the pigs would have been quite the loss of finances and food, but Jesus unfairly took the blame:
33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.
So, even though the two demon-possessed men are no longer blocking Jesus’ way, the whole community has turned out to reject Him.
If Jesus healed like that back then, why doesn’t He heal like that now? A couple thoughts on that. First, there were a ton of people that He could have healed that He didn’t heal. I take that to mean that Jesus took opportunities to heal as a sign of His kingdom presence and as a precursor of ultimate kingdom restoration in the new heavens and earth. In other words, Jesus was demonstrating that, wherever He went, the kingdom of God went with Him and the evils of this world were being overcome with good. He was the kingdom of God breaking in to save the world. Jesus will actually deal more with this in Matthew 9, next weeks’ sermon text, in a special teaching He gives in the middle of some more miracles.
Second, God can absolutely still heal today, and He does through His Spirit-filled people, the body of Christ. Wherever people are submitting to God, living holy lives of love toward one another, God’s kingdom presence can and will be experienced. Jesus has the power to heal and the willingness to suffer. If serving God and loving others cost Jesus, it’ll cost His followers too. We have to sacrifice our preferences, comfort, time, money, giftedness, testimony, etc.
- For example, we need to turn “me” time into “God” time. Use the fleeting moments you have or the hour or so you can carve out for yourself to engage our Creator, Savior, and King in Scripture and prayer.
- Men must be willing to give up independence–the desire to be your own boss–and egos for the sake of God and others.
- Women must be willing to give up social status and fomo–the fear of missing out–for God and others.
In fact, one of the greatest privileges of being part of a church like that is that you see Christ powerfully at work in one another’s’ lives.
- We get to see Christ powerfully at work in people as they stay faithful through a fight with cancer.
- We get to see Christ powerfully at work in people battling addictions.
- We get to see Christ powerfully at work in people who need forgiveness and need to learn to forgive.
- We get to see Christ powerfully at work in people as they change from selfish sinners to self-sacrificing disciples of Jesus.
- We get to see Christ powerfully at work in people as they fall out of love with the things of this world and become obsessed with the things of God.
If our eyes are open, God is making things new all the time in churches like our church! In the Gospels, King Jesus does in a moment what broken yet Spirit-filled churches fight to see over decades. Wow! It’ll cost us a lot, but it’s worth it. Because a day is coming when His powerful work in the Gospels will be unleashed on all His people from all places and all times, and according to the vision God gave to John in Revelation: ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:4) That’s His great powerful work which came with through His great personal suffering.
Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion
- What kinds of sacrifices did Jesus make during His public ministry BEFORE the cross? How does reflecting on His sacrifices move you to worship and follow Him?
- Which of these miracles most stands out to you? Why? How is Jesus’ power on display?
- What kinds of sacrifices have you made to follow Jesus in doing God’s will and helping people? What kinds of sacrifices do you need to make?
Calvary | Muskegon 