Study Guides

← Back to Study Guides

The Authentic Jesus | Wonder Worker

February 12, 2023
Matthew 4:23-25; 8:1-17

Matthew 4:23-25

²³And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. ²⁴So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. ²⁵And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Matthew 8:1-17

¹When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. ²And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” ³And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴And 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.”

⁵When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, ⁶“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” ⁷And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸But 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. ⁹For 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.” ¹⁰When 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. ¹¹I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹²while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³And 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.

¹⁴And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. ¹⁵He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. ¹⁶That 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. ¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Download .pdf

Purpose

1. Looking at the Bible

What does the text say? What according to you is the theme of this passage?

• In Matthew 4:23, we see Matthew describe the two dimensions of Jesus’ ministry—what are those, and what can we learn about the character of God, and the nature of the kingdom of God?
• In Matthew 8:1-4, we read about Jesus healing a leper. If you notice verse 2-3, the leper requests Jesus to make him clean, and Jesus responds by saying, “Be clean.” What is the significance of Jesus cleansing the leper?
• In Matthew 8:10, we see Jesus marvel at the faith of the Centurion. How is the centurion’s faith different from the faith of the Jewish people?

2. Looking at Jesus

At Central we believe that all of Scripture points to Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the theological center of the Bible. Every passage not only points to Jesus, but the grand narrative of the Bible also finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus.

• What can we learn about the reality, meaning, and purpose of Jesus’ miracles from Matthew 4:23-25; 8:1-17?
• How do we as 21st century Christians experience the miraculous work of Jesus in our lives?

3. Looking at Our Hearts

• Jesus’ miraculous deeds recorded in the gospels does not stop at the physical healing and deliverance from the demonic oppression. Jesus’ ministry was characterized by his emphasis on the most serious of all sickness—sin. How would you describe the miracle of your salvation?
  

4. Looking at Our World

• How do the miracles of Jesus both challenge us to examine our hearts, and give us hope and confidence to be God’s instruments of grace in this city?  

Sending

• View Study Guide Notes

  Question 1: In 4:23 Matthew describes the two dimensions of Jesus’ ministry. Firstly, Jesus is said to teach or proclaim the gospel in the synagogues. Jesus, as an itinerant teacher, primarily declared the kingdom of God through preaching. Jesus proclaimed the gospel of repentance and faith, and through his word ministry, Jesus offered forgiveness of sins and reconciliation of relationship with God. The second dimension of Jesus’ ministry included the demonstration of the kingdom of God through his miraculous deeds. Jesus’ ministry demonstrated that the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. Jesus did not come simply to preach the kingdom of God, but to enact the kingdom of God by bringing God’s wholeness, healing, and salvation—God’s rescue at every level of our need.

  From this passage, we can learn about the compassionate heart of God towards fallen humanity. Jesus reaches out to the sick and the needy with God’s compassion. What Jesus did and what Jesus said revealed the nature of God’s kingdom—God’s rule corresponds to God’s character. God sent his son to bring healing and forgiveness into the lives of people he met. Jesus fulfilled the promises of the kingdom of God by offering forgiveness and healing to the sick, the ceremonially unclean, the social outcasts of the society. We also learn about the universal scope of the kingdom of  God from this passage—absolutely anyone who puts his or her faith in the person and work of Jesus, is invited into the kingdom of God as the child of God.

  In order to understand the significance of Jesus cleansing the leper, it is important to know what leprosy was indicative according to the Levitical law. The word leprosy covered a variety of serious skin diseases, and according to the law, lepers were considered as ceremonially unclean. There are several passages in the Old Testament wherein to be a leper was interpreted as being cursed (cf. Numbers 12:10, 12; Job 18:13). These lepers were ostracized from the rest of society, as they were impure. The lepers were forced to dress in rags, and to shout out ‘unclean’ wherever they went.

  Jesus encounters the leper on the outskirts of the city. The leper displays his faith in his boldness to approach Jesus. By requesting Jesus to cleanse him, the leper identifies Jesus to possess the authority to make him morally and ceremonially clean. Jesus not only healed the leper, but also, in a gesture that restored the dignity, healed him by touching him. According to the Levitical law a Jew who comes in contact with a leper would become ceremonially unclean. However, Jesus reverses the law in that he cleanses the leper by touching him. Jesus’ miraculous healing is also significant as the leper is not only cleansed physically, but he is also cleansed spiritually.

  The Jewish people of Jesus’ day failed to identify Jesus for who he was. The Jewish people anticipated the Messiah to arrive in military power, and establish an earthly kingdom by overthrowing the Roman empire. The religious leaders like the Pharisees and the Scribes despised Jesus’ authoritative ministry and attributed his miracles to the devil. In other words, the Jews were blinded by erroneous understanding of the kingdom of God and external religiosity. The Centurion was a Gentile, and yet he could identify Jesus for who he really was. He identified Jesus through the eyes of faith. In 8-9, we see the Centurion’s humility and faith in his plea for Jesus to command healing from a distance. Centurions were the military commanders who established the emperor’s authority. A Centurion’s command, in other words, was spoken with the emperor’s authority, and to obey the centurion meant to obey the emperor. Thus, the Centurion, albeit a Gentile, truly identifies Jesus as the one commissioned by God to exercise authority over God’s people. Jesus marvels at the Centurion’s faith, and proclaims the inclusion of the Gentiles from all around the world, and the exclusion of the self-righteous Jews from the kingdom of God.

  Question 2: The very possibility of miracles poses a big problem. Expect questions like, “how can one expect to believe in miracles in the 21st century?” The Scriptures, particularly every strand of the Gospels manuscript, presents Jesus as different from others both in his person and power. Miracles are associated with Jesus from his very birth to his bodily resurrection and ascension. As we see in this passage, Matthew presents the outworking of Jesus’ ministry of word and deed in a matter of fact manner. See the summary and connection for more about miracles. 

  As we have already discussed, the ministry of Jesus included the proclamation and the demonstration of the kingdom of God. In the Old Testament, prophet Isaiah wrote about the days when the Messiah would bring in the kingdom of God. According to Isaiah, the clear signs of the arrival of the Messiah included the miraculous deeds like the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, the lepers cleansed, the dead raised, and the poor hearing the good news. Thus, Jesus’ ministry included both calling the sinners to repentance and faith, and healing and restoration of the sick and the needy. In both word and deeds, Jesus demonstrated God’s redemptive purpose towards the fallen humanity—God’s grace restores nature and God’s holiness establishes justice and peace.

  We see the redemptive purpose of God fulfilled on the cross of Jesus. On the cross, Jesus meets the righteous demand of God’s law by his perfect obedience, and on the cross we see Jesus demonstrate God’s love for us by taking on himself the sickness of our sin and shame. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul writes, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” As Christians we have put our faith in Jesus who healed our sickness that is far worse than blindness, epilepsy, leprosy, and demon possession. Our salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone is the ultimate demonstration of the reality, purpose, and meaning of miracles in the Scriptures. Furthermore, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is called our helper is an evidence of the miraculous work of Jesus in our lives.

  Question 3: The Scriptures clearly teach us that we are sinners who are dead in our sins. In Romans 3:23-25, Paul writes, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” The presence of sin brings the guilt of being in the wrong with God. Like cancer, sin consumes us alive. We need the great physician to raise us from the dead and we need Jesus, the wonder worker, to restore us spiritually.

  The characteristic feature of Jesus’ healing included the spiritual restoration. For instance, in Mark 2, before physically healing the paralyzed man, Jesus pronounces spiritual healing—forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ healing goes to the very root of human sickness and misery—sin. When Jesus heals people of their sickness of sin, there is a visible transformation. The incident involving Zacchaeus in Luke 19 shows us how the wholeness of salvation is more valuable than all the material riches of the world. Jesus ministers to people at their point of need—he restores dignity to lepers, offers forgiveness to prostitutes, and gives a new identity to the downtrodden like the woman with the bleeding problem. The miracle of our salvation shows us that Jesus came to bring healing at every level of our need—physical, emotional, and spiritual. 

  Question 4: The miracles challenge us to examine our hearts to see whether we truly understand the reality, meaning, and purpose of the miracles as recorded in the gospels. When it comes to miracles, there are two possible dangers. On the one hand, it is easy for us to believe in a “non-miraculous Jesus’’ as we live in a society that deems miracles to be against the ‘law of nature.’ It is vital for us to understand that ‘law of nature’ is simply the term we have given to a series of observed uniformities. However, the laws of nature do not forbid miracles as long as the instance of miracle is well attested. Encourage the group to ask self-diagnostic questions like, “Do I truly believe in the miracles recorded in the Bible, and if so, do I understand their purpose?” On the other hand, we could misinterpret the meaning of miracles. For instance, the Pentecostals put a heavy emphasis on the miracle of physical healing, in such a way that the emphasis on the redemption from the sickness of sin is sidelined. If we misinterpret miracles, we run the risk of presenting a counterfeit Jesus who heals on the merit of one’s faith and spiritual maturity.

  This passage gives us hope and confidence as we learn the true meaning and purpose of miracles—to reveal a God who cares so much for the condition of poor, and broken humanity that he comes in person to be the rescuer. We learn what Jesus offers to the fallen humanity—a new vision to the blind, a new power to the paralyzed, a new identity to the lepers, and eternal life to the sick, and the needy. Thus, as the sinners saved and healed by grace, we are equipped to be the doctors who offer healing by pointing to the great physician.