HE TOUCHED ME …
MATTHEW 8:1-4
“MATTHEW 8 ACTUALLY BEGINS WHERE CHAPTER 4 STOPS, WITH THE ‘SERMON ON THE MOUNT’ AS A MAJOR TEACHING PARENTHESIS. MATTHEW IS BUILDING AN IMPREGNABLE DEFENSE OF THE MESSIAHSHIP OF JESUS. HE IS LEGALLY QUALIFIED THROUGH HIS GENEALOGY (1:1-17), PROPHETICALLY QUALIFIED BY THE PROPHECIES OF HIS BIRTH AND INFANCY (I:18-2:23), DIVINELY QUALIFIED BY THE FATHER’S DECLARATION OF HIS BAPTISM (3:13-17), SPIRITUALLY QUALIFIED BY HIS VICTORY OVER SATANIC TEMPTATION, (4:1-11), THEOLOGICALLY QUALIFIED BY HIS TEACHING IN THE ‘SERMON ON THE MOUNT’ (CH.5-7) AND NOW SUPERNATURALLY QUALIFIED BY THE MIRACLES HE PREFORMS (CH.8-9). LIFEWAY
JESUS COMES DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN, 1
A LEPER CAME TO HIM, 2
A BIBLICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE LEPER,
LEVITICUS 13:1-8, 45-46, 55-57
LEVITICUS 14:43-47
“THOUGH THE LEPER WAS NOT WORSE OR GUILTIER THAN HIS FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN, HE WAS NEVERTHELESS A PARABLE OF SIN – AN OUTWARD VISIBLE SIGN OF INNERMOST SPIRITUAL CORRUPTION.” R.C. TRENCH
LEPROSY IS BETTER KNOWN AS HANSEN’S DISEASE HANSEN’S DISEASE IS CAUSED BY DEADENING OF THE NERVE CELLS IN THE EXTEMITIES. DR PAUL BRAND AND OTHERS HAVE DISCOVERED THAT THE DISEASE KILLS THE BODY’S PAIN WARNING SYSTEM. THE DISEASE ACTS AS AN ANESTHETIC, BRINGING NUMBNESS, A PERSON MAY PUT THEIR HAND IN A BURNING FIRE, FALL OFF A CURB OR WASH THEIR FACE WITH SCALDING WATER. IN THE THIRD WORLD VERMIN LIKE RATS MAY BITE AND CHEW ON LEPERS. DR BRAND CALLED THE DISEASE THE PAINLESS HELL.
“LEPERS IN JESUS DAY WOULD BEGIN TO TAKE ON VERY GROSS APPEARANCES AS THEIR SKIN BECAME HARD AND SCALY, AND AS THEIR FINGERS AND TOES DISAPPEARED. THEIR FACES BECAME LION-LIKE - SWOLLEN WITH HUGE FOLDS. INEVITABLY, IN THE MIDDLE STAGES OF THE DISEASE, ONE’S NOSE WOULD DISAPPEAR TOTALLY. THERE WOULD ALSO BE A STRONG ORDER EMANATING FROM THE BODY OF ONE WHO HAD LEPROSY. WE ARE TOLD A LEPER COULD BE SMELLED A 100 FEET AWAY.” JON COURSON
“I WOULD NOT SO MUCH BUY AN EGG FROM A MARKET THAT WAS ON THE STREET THAT A LEPER WALKED DOWN.” A JEWISH RABBI
“I SEE LEPERS COMING, I WILL THROW STONES AT THEM UNTIL THEY TURN AND RUN IN AN OPPOSITE DIRECTION.”
A JEWISH RABBI
THE LEPER WORSHIPS, “BOWED DOWN”
THE LEPER’S WORDS OF FAITH,
JESUS TOUCHES THE LEPER, 3
THE COMPASSION
THE CONSENT, “I AM WILLING”
JN 6:37
THE CLEANSING
THE LEPER’S TESTIMONY, 4
TELL NO ONE
SHOW AND TELL
APPLICATION:
WE HAVE LEPROSY
THE LORD HAS OVERCOME
THE LORD IS WILLING TO SAVE
HAVING CLEANSED US HE SAYS LET THE WORLD KNOW A SAVIOR HAS COME
