Three Healings Facts for 3-8 Year Olds

Categories: Jesus (Healings)

• Now, Jesus puts his words of the Sermon into action.
• He starts with three healings -- a leper, a centurion, and Peter’s mother-in-law.
• All these people live on the margins (the edge) of society -- a leper, a gentile (that’s a non-Jew), and a woman.
• Leprosy was a skin disease that people believed could not be cured.
• Even though these people were still alive, people acted like they didn’t exist at all.
• And priests sent them away.
• They couldn’t go to the Temple or be part of society.
• They were not allowed to come into contact with anyone or with anyone’s property.
• In fact, as they moved around, they had to say, “Unclean, unclean!,” so people along their paths could protect themselves by moving out of their way.
• So it is that “a man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus…”
• What a remarkable thing for him to do!
• In so doing, he is disobeying all the laws.
• This leper says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” He doesn’t say, “If you are able…”
• He already knows with confidence that Jesus is very able. The issue is if he is willing.
• Does Jesus think this man is worthy of healing?
• Jesus reaches out his hand and touches the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he is cleansed of his leprosy.
• Well, that’s amazing!
• No one is ever supposed to touch a leper.
• If anyone even accidentally did that, they would have become immediately unclean.
• But Jesus does not recognize those laws.
• He just says, “I will, be clean.”
• And immediately, the man is free.
• Jesus continues, “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.”
• What does Jesus mean by this?
• Maybe Jesus wanted the man to have time to think about what had happened, to try to understand it before he started sharing the story.
• But why did he say “show yourself to the priest”?
• Well, even though the man was cured, he couldn’t come back to his family or be with other people until he had gone through this cleaning ceremony, at which time the priest would declare him “clean.”
• So many scholars argue that by doing this, Jesus acknowledged the role of the Temple in the religious lives of the community.
• This means Jesus did not want the Law to be disobeyed.
• But there’s a problem with this.
• In the beginning of the story, Jesus ignores ritual law and touched the leper. Now, at the end of the story, he sternly orders the man to follow ritual law and go to the priests. That’s opposite.
• So some scholars say that we need to look at what the Greek words mean. (It was written in Greek.)
• Jesus really could have said, Go show yourself “against” the priests, not “to” the priests.
• The priests sent him away from everything familiar, including the Temple.
• The whole purpose of the Temple was to help people stay close to God, but this man couldn’t go there. He wasn’t even allowed to get close to it.
• So does it make sense for Jesus to come along, heal him, and send him right back to the priests and the Temple that had hurt him?
• Well, yes. When the priests see this man, they are forced to admit that this man was healed—and not by them, not by their laws and ceremonies.
• Jesus healed the man, touching him, and makes the priests affirm it.
• In the second healing, the authority of Jesus is made clear.
• “And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, asking for help.”
• The title “centurion” was a military term for a commander of one hundred soldiers of a Roman legion, the smallest unit.
• This man is thought to be a gentile, but not necessarily a Roman.
• The centurion says, “Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
• “Servant” can also mean “child” or “slave.” So we know that this is an important individual to the centurion.
• Scholars don’t exactly know the nature of this illness, but Jesus asks, “Shall I come and heal him?” Or, in some translations, Jesus says, “I will come and heal him.”
• Jesus shows immediate willingness to cross boundaries and go to his house.
• The centurion answers, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.”
• The centurion is very aware of the rules that say Jews cannot enter the home of a gentile, and he does not want to cause problems for Jesus.
• So, he offers a different way for Jesus to help him. He says, “just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
• The centurion explains why: “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, ‘Go, and he goes’ and to another, ‘Come, and he comes,’ and to my servant, ‘Do this, and he does it.’”
• Just as this centurion expects soldiers to obey his words, he believes that demons and evil powers have to obey Jesus’ words.
• When Jesus hears this, he is amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
• The centurion had the faith. We have no idea about the servant’s faith.
• This, then, is the first example of someone asking to pray for healing someone else.
• The faith of this man goes way beyond anything Jesus has experienced among the Jews. Jesus
• And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.”
• So another boundary is broken. Jesus doesn’t have to be right there for the healing to happen.
• The centurion accepts Jesus’ assurance, and returns home to find that “his servant was healed at that moment.”
• The healing occurred at the very hour when Jesus spoke his word of power.
• Just as the leper has faith in Jesus, so does this centurion.
• The third healing in this trio is of Peter’s mother-in-law.
• This is the only healing in Matthew when Jesus takes the initiative.
• “When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.”
• The healing is super short.
• Jesus simply, “touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.”
• “She got up” means that she is completely restored. And “she began to wait on him.”
• She didn’t jump up and wait on lots of people. She got up and served him “him” – Jesus.
• Jesus first ministers to Peter’s mother-in-law and she, in turn, ministers to him.
• This is the model for discipleship: after Jesus transforms a person, the person serves him.
• And Jesus didn’t have any fear about touching a woman with a fever. It is the last of the three.
• Jesus touches the leper, and the leper is cleansed. Jesus says the word and the centurion’s servant is healed. Now, the mother-in-law follows through with an appropriate response -- one of discipleship.
• And then, Jesus heals all the sick who come to him. God’s mercies are not just for those who are “in” society, but are for everyone.