Matthew 8:1-17 – The Father’s Will, Part 1

In 1897 Charles Sheldon published the book In His Steps, in which he introduced a phrase that would become quite popular in the 20th and 21st centuries. The abbreviation of this phrase would adorn innumerable items such as t-shirts, bumper stickers, and rubber bracelets. Mr. Sheldon’s phrase, What Would Jesus Do (abbr. WWJD), has been taken as a guiding principle for us to see our circumstances and situations through the eyes of Jesus. Yet, while it is a noble thought to continually ask WWJD, I’m not so sure that is the best way to discern God’s will for our lives, nor is it probably what Jesus had in mind when he told us to pray, “Your will be done.” Certainly, we should act morally in all situations and we should strive to live Christ-like lives, but the will of the Father, as emphasized by Matthew in his Gospel, is more specific than such a broad sweeping generalization and is more proactive than it is reactive.

Matthew begins the next section of his Gospel, (Matt. 8-11:18), with a structured re-telling of Jesus’s miraculous works (Matt. 8-9). These chapters consist of three episodes, each progressively explaining what it means for the will of God to be done, and each with similar structures — a comment about following Jesus, four stories of miraculous events, and a comment regarding Jesus’s authority.

The first episode begins where Matthew writes,

1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

Matthew 8:1

Matthew quite simply tells us that the crowds, after hearing Jesus speak and seeing miraculous works, followed Jesus. Attraction to an authoritative figure is a given in this world — I imagine if Jesus had Twitter, Instagram, or Tik-Tok, his followers would have been off the charts following his teaching on the mount. We are and always have been, a species attracted to special people and fantastic events. And Jesus’s ministry, thus far in Matthew’s Gospel, has been filled with fantastic events without any sort of conflict or danger that might threaten to thin the crowds. This wave of popularity continues sweeping forward as Matthew writes,

2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

Matthew 8:2-4

When I picture this scene, I see a filthy man dressed in tattered clothes, his head and face covered, kneeling in front of Jesus. The large crowd behind Jesus steps back, for they want nothing to do with this unclean person. The crowd knew the Laws of Moses were quite clear: lepers were to be cast away from society and declared unclean (Lev. 13:45-46). They knew that once a person had been declared unclean no one was to go near them, let alone touch them. And they also knew, should the leper be healed, they were to go to the priest for verification and to offer a sacrifice before they could be reintroduced into society (Lev. 14:1-32).

Yet, even with all this being true, when the leper knelt before Jesus, Jesus didn’t back away; he listened to the leper’s request and Jesus noticed what we should notice: there was no doubt in the leper’s mind whether Jesus could heal him; the leper didn’t say, “if you can,” he said, “if you will.” The leper was certain about Jesus’s authority over diseases, and in response, Jesus said, “I will.” Now, I realize that the word “will” (or the Greek word thelo) is a quite common word in the Bible, so maybe it’s a bit of a stretch to make a big deal about its use here. But I find it uncanny that Jesus’s first miracle in Matthew’s Gospel emphasizes Jesus’s will in both the leper’s request and in Jesus’s response. It seems as though Matthew wants us to see Jesus’s miracles as an act of God’s will.

But Jesus didn’t merely carry on a conversation with the leper, he touched him.

Imagine you have been cast away from society, lost all of your friends, have been living on your own, and not felt the touch of another person for years. Furthermore, imagine that the laws of the land dictate that you have to cry out “unclean, unclean!” whenever other people are in the vicinity. We have all felt the strains of “social distancing” and wearing a mask to some degree or another, but that is nothing compared to what this leper felt.

If this healing tells us anything about the will of God being done, it tells us that God’s will includes human interaction in defiance of social expectations. Nobody wanted to touch the leper for fear of becoming unclean themselves, but that did not hinder Jesus. Even though Jesus knew he could have healed the leper with only a word, Jesus wanted the leper to realize he was still a valuable human being; Jesus wanted them to know they had not lost their value in the eyes of God. Jesus would heal using only a word at other times, but Jesus’s first recorded miracle in Matthew tells us that God’s healing power is anything but impersonal.

The telling of this miracle also shows us that Jesus still honored the Laws of Moses. For all the bad press the Gospels seem to give those who lived strictly by the laws and traditions, when Jesus told the leper to go to the priest and offer a sacrifice, he honored the law. But this miracle does not tell the entire story of God’s will. Matthew, in the second miraculous episode, emphasizes other aspects of God’s will. Matthew writes,

5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Matthew 8:5-13

Unlike the previous miracle, no sick person stood in front of Jesus, rather a centurion, a person standing on the other end of the social spectrum, stepped forward and asked Jesus to heal his servant. I can still see the crowd stepping back the way they did with the leper, but they did not retreat out of fear of becoming unclean, they withdrew because they feared what this Roman centurion might demand from them. Still, Jesus remained unmoved. And, after hearing the request, he once again said that his will was to come and heal the paralyzed servant.

But, before Jesus could take a step toward the centurion’s home, the centurion stopped him. And, instead of asserting his authority over Jesus, he surrenders to Jesus’s greater authority. He says that he understands authority — there’s that authority word again! — and, he knows that Jesus need only speak a word and his servant will be healed. This is certainly a testament to the healing power of Jesus, but Jesus recognizes it also as a testament to the centurion’s faith. Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” While the role of faith is inferred in the healing of the leper, Matthew makes it the primary point of this miracle. Matthew knew what the author of Hebrews would later write: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). The centurion was certain that Jesus could fulfill his hope for healing and he was convinced that Jesus could do it with a word and at a distance. And so it was that because of the centurion’s hope on display in front of Jesus, out of sight and some distance away, the paralyzed servant was healed.

The third miraculous event Matthew recorded occurs when Jesus leaves the crowds behind and enters Peter’s house. Matthew writes,

14 And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.

Matthew 8:14-15

Unlike the previous two episodes where Jesus was asked for healing, this third miracle shows Jesus approaching the sick person. Peter’s mother-in-law had a fever, quite a bit less intense than leprosy or paralysis, yet Jesus still chooses to heal her, and he does it with a touch. With the crowds most likely outside of Peter’s house, Jesus shows, in this intimate setting, his will and authority to heal the sick no matter how light the afflictions may be. And, while we are left to wonder whether the leper actually went to the priest or how the centurion responded when he arrived home to his healed servant, in this third miracle, Matthew shows us the response to the healing: Peter’s mother-in-law got up and began serving Jesus. The modern mindset might have a difficult time with this as it sounds too patriarchal and out of touch with freedom and liberation. For goodness sake, women serving men! Well, get over yourself, this isn’t about gender at all.

Just as it was Jesus’s will to heal Peter’s mother-in-law, it was Peter’s mother-in-law’s will to serve the one who healed her. Her gratitude for the miraculous healing resulted in her thankful response of service. We aren’t told if she served Jesus tea and crumpets, bagels and lox, or hamburgers and fries. We aren’t told exactly what domestic duties she may have performed as her way of service, but that isn’t the point. We are just told that she served him. The emphasis of this third miracle is not the faith of the one being healed, it is not the continuing will of Jesus, nor is it his healing touch. The point of emphasis here is that as a result of being healed, Peter’s mother-in-law performed her work for Jesus; she served him.

But Matthew is not quite yet finished painting this mural of the will of God. Following this third miraculous healing, Matthew writes,

16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

Matthew 8:16

In this last of four miraculous events, Matthew tells us that Jesus cast out spirits, removing demonic oppression and healing the sick. This short sentence might seem like just a nice quick way to conclude the telling of these miracles, but I think there is an important point of emphasis to be found in the little phrase “with a word.” Jesus did not need to touch anyone; his word was sufficient to cast out spirits and heal everyone. Once again Matthew emphasizes Jesus’s authority over human sickness and demonic oppression.

It struck me, as I was reading and writing this post, that I can often read these things with a sort of blasé eye turned to the page. I’ve heard about these miracles so often that they seem anything but exciting, but these events were astounding. Our bodies, as a result of sin, the fall, and Satan’s attacks, inevitably decay, and for this, there is no lasting preventative medicine. We can’t stave off disease any more than we can stop the earth from turning, the clock from running, or the skin from sagging. These miracles are aptly titled “miracles” because they do that which is for us impossible. They are miraculous and unexpected.

But it is not just the actual miracle that is unexpected, the will of God defies reason. The fact that the creator of the universe cares enough to touch the hand of a feverish woman should astound us. Most people we know who have great amounts of authority (earned or given) would never stoop far enough to deal with the smallest problem of the lowest person on the social ladder. But Jesus did. He who had created the heavens and the earth cares enough to exert his will to remedy a fever.

But as much as this fact should astound us, it should also not be surprising. The pages of the Old Testament are filled with passages about how God’s heart reaches out for the outcast, the down-trodden, the sick, and the infirm. God told his people, Israel, to take care of those less fortunate than themselves, but they didn’t. They broke the two greatest commandments: they worshipped other gods, and they didn’t love their neighbors. For both of these transgressions, Israel was condemned. This is, in part, why Matthew concludes this episode by writing,

17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Matthew 8:17

The will of God had been told to Israel, but they failed. So God spoke through prophets that someone would come who would do what Israel had failed to do. And, after hundreds of years, Jesus came. He removed illnesses and healed diseases. Jesus walked this earth with the power and authority his Father in heaven had given him. But Jesus didn’t exert his power and authority in just any old way that he wanted; he was under the Father’s authority. In fact, Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). Surely, the will of the Father culminated in Jesus’s death on the cross, but it also filled Jesus’s days before the cross as he walked the dusty paths of the earth. Jesus did the will of the Father and touched the leper, healed the servant unseen, touched Peter’s mother-in-law on the hand, and spoke a word to cast out demons and heal the sick. But Jesus didn’t do this just as a one-time event; he wants his disciples to do the will of the Father also. This is why Jesus told his disciples to pray, “Your will be done.” The will of the Father didn’t conclude with the work on the cross and the resurrection from the grave; his will can still be done by his disciples as they (we) walk the dusty paths of this earth. Okay, we might not have Jesus’s miraculous touch, but we can still minister to the outcast, the down-trodden, the sick, and the infirm. And this is, in part, what it means to pray, “Your will be done.”

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