Jesus had just given his keynote address – the Sermon on the Mount – and comes down from the mountainside into the real world. He puts his teaching into practice. The very first thing he did (above) was to cleanse the deeply unclean. This dear man knew he had leprosy, that he was unclean internally, and that this was evident externally. His deep concern was not whether Jesus could cleanse him but whether he was willing to cleanse him. After the cleansing it was the priest who, in those days, would make the decision as to whether he was indeed clean within. This evident cleanness would be a witness to them – to the religious leaders.
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a Roman commander came to him. He asked Jesus for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home and can’t move. He is suffering terribly.” Jesus said, “I will go and heal him.” The commander replied, “Lord, I am not good enough to have you come into my house. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. I myself am a man under authority. And I have soldiers who obey my orders. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes. I tell that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He said to those following him, “What I’m about to tell you is true. In Israel I have not found anyone whose faith is so strong. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west. They will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of heaven. They will sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But those who think they belong to the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness. There they will sob and grind their teeth.” Then Jesus said to the Roman commander, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
|
|
When Jersey was occupied by the German military (1942-1945) the Nazi leaders in the island were feared and avoided. But (above), in similar circumstances, Jesus agreed to go and heal the paralyzed servant in his terrible suffering. The commander knew (yes, it seems that he really knew) that this was not necessary. Jesus did not need to go to the commander’s home to break the paralysis and heal the suffering. He did it at a distance. |
|
When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law. She was lying in bed. She had a fever. Jesus touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and began to wait on him.
A fever? Lying in bed? A touch of Jesus’ hand. This dear lady then began to do for others what she had been unable to do in the heat of her prostration.
When evening came, many people controlled by demons were brought to Jesus. He drove out the spirits with a word. He healed all who were sick. He did it to make what the prophet Isaiah had said come true. He had said, “He suffered the things we should have suffered. He took on himself the sicknesses that should have been ours.”
Demons? The declining longevity of citizens of the USA has some pointers. Here is an extract from a report on the Harvard University website is the following report: - “it’s striking — and disappointing — that after decades of increasing life expectancy, and at a time when researchers are rethinking aging and the limits of the lifespan, we are now seeing life expectancy fall. This downward trend could be reversed if we make progress in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and opioid epidemic.”
|
|
The ongoing strikes in the UK by health care workers, doctors and nurses highlights something one might miss in the above records: no one paid Jesus for what he did for them.
Later in Matthew’s biography, it’s recorded that Jesus was crucified, dead and buried (see above - “He suffered the things we should have suffered. He took on himself the sicknesses that should have been ours.”) and rose again. He's still around – ready to talk.
|
|
