Matthew 8 -- A Lot About Faith

A man with leprosy broke all the rules when he came running up and didn’t declare, “Unclean!  Unclean!”  Jesus knew he was unclean due to the disease.  The man bowed down and said, “Lord, heal me if You will.”  He wasn’t questioning Jesus’ ability to heal – only His willingness to heal him.  And Jesus certainly was.  My commentary said, “When Jesus touched the leper, He contracted the leper’s defilement, but He also conveyed HIS health.”  The man was instantly healed as the disease left him.  In much the same way, on the cross Jesus took on our spiritual defilement and imparted through His death and resurrection His own righteousness before God to us!

 

Also in this chapter, Jesus healed two possessed men.  My commentary pointed out three prayers in this particular story:  The demons asked Him to send them into the pigs, the citizens asked Him to leave, and one of the healed men asked to follow Jesus.  “Jesus answered the prayers of the demons and the [ungrateful] citizens, but not the prayer of the healed man!”

 

I was one who once thought it very unfair that Jesus in a way caused the loss of the herd of pigs because He allowed the demons to enter them and they drowned.   Yet my commentary reminds us, “God owns everything and can do with it as He pleases.”  Thankfully Jesus values men more than pigs!

 

Faith was a major factor in this chapter.  Jesus was even amazed by the faith of the centurion, who believed that Jesus had authority even to heal from a distance!  Our question today would seem to be, “Do we believe that He can heal, even from the great distance of heaven?  Of course He can!

 

Father, the only limits upon You seem to be those we place ourselves by our lack of faith.  Help us in our unbelief!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford