“With His Wounds We Are Healed”
Text: Matthew 8:1-17
3-16-2022
In the name of Him who was wounded to heal our souls, dear friends in Christ. This evening in our Lenten meditation we’re going to visit Capernaum. At the time of Christ, it was quite the metropolis with about 1,500 residents. It was situated on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Because of this there was a successful fishing industry there, which would explain why Simon Peter, a fisherman by trade, had his home in this town. From our text we learn that his mother-in-law also lived with him and his wife. On page 10 of your bulletin there is a picture of the remains of a house that is believed to have been St. Peter’s. Below that is a broader view of the neighborhood that surrounded Peter’s house. IN the upper part of that photo, you can see part of the modern church that was built over the site of Peter’s house. If you look closely, there are pillars around that church in a pattern like a spider’s legs. The stone beams from those pillars support the church so that it could be suspended over the house. That way tourists could look down through a glass panel in the floor and see into the house without disturbing it. Personally, I thought that was a stroke of genius by the architect, but I digress. The significance of Peter’s house will be explained in just a bit.
The other picture I would have you look at is on page 11 of the bulletin. It’s a view from the interior of the synagogue in Capernaum. You can see the stone benches for people to sit on as they were being taught during worship. Luke chapter 7 tells us that the centurion in our text actually paid to have that synagogue built. That tells us two things. First, he was quite generous. Second, he wanted to honor the God of Israel. And more importantly, he had faith in Jesus as the Son of God and His divine power to heal his servant.
Now, Peter was certainly a well-known resident of Capernaum. But the most famous person, by far, who lived in this town was Jesus Christ. He went there as an adult after He left Nazareth. It was the headquarters for His 3 years of ministry. Over and over again, He and the disciples would go out to spread the good news and then end up right back in Capernaum.
I have to admit, as I prepared for this sermon, I was surprised by the numerous things I discovered that occurred at Capernaum. Like me, you may recall the incident but you simply weren’t aware that it took place there. I probably overlooked some, but here’s the list I came up with: *Matthew was a tax collector at Capernaum when Jesus called him to be a disciple. *Jesus taught regularly at the synagogue in that last picture and even cast a demon out of a man there. *Jairus was the ruler of that synagogue. He’s the guy who came to Jesus, begging Him to heal his 12-year-old daughter who was near death. *On the way to his house in Capernaum, the woman with the bleeding disorder was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ robe. *At a house in Capernaum where Jesus was teaching, some men brought their paralyzed friend to Him. But since they couldn’t get inside, they tore out part of the roof and lowered him through the ceiling. *And it was here that Jesus told the crowds that He is the Bread of Life, which came down from heaven.
Like I said, I probably missed some, but even so, that’s a pretty impressive list, wouldn’t you say? And that doesn’t even include the miracles which are contained in our texts for tonight. As we look at those, I would like you to ask an important question: What do they have in common?
First, there’s the man with leprosy. He expresses faith that Jesus could heal him if He so desired. And Christ did! What’s remarkable is the way in which Jesus performed the miracle. It says He reached out and touched the man. Everyone else knew better than to do that because it would make a Jew ceremonially unclean, plus it could transfer the disease to you! Jesus wasn’t afraid of that, though, because that’s part and parcel of why He came. I’ll explain that later in just a minute.
Next, there’s the centurion’s servant. This commander also expressed his faith in the divine power of Jesus to heal. And Christ was more than willing to go and do it in person. But the amazing faith of that centurion really shines as he humbly confesses his sinfulness by saying he isn’t worthy to have Jesus enter his home. Rather, he has full confidence that Jesus has the power to just give the command and his servant would be healed. Christ marveled at this man’s solid faith because it was so rare. He aw also unselfish and compassionate towards someone else, and a servant no less! While the Jews kept demanding signs and wonders, this Gentile placed his trust in the power of Jesus to affect the healing simply by speaking a word. And that’s what Christ did. He removed the paralysis by His verbal command.
Then there’s Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with a fever. This time there wasn’t even a request. Jesus saw the need, showed compassion, and healed her with the touch of His hand. Again, He risked becoming unclean as well as risking the transfer of her illness while bringing about this miracle.
Finally, there are the masses of people who brought the demon-possessed and the sick for Jesus to heal. We don’t know how many but you can be sure it was plenty. He cast out the demons with His powerful word, and even though it doesn’t say so, based on His track record we can be fairly certain that He touched the sick people as He made them well again.
Okay, so what do they all have in common? Well, first of all, imbedded in each incident there is the call to faith, both for the person who was hurting and the people around them. The sad footnote to the city of Capernaum is that later, Jesus criticized those who lived there because they didn’t believe in Him. They had witnessed these mighty miracles and heard Him teach the truth of God’s Word, and yet many rejected Him as the Savior. The other thing these healed people had in common is that whether it was demon possession, a disease or a disability, it was all caused by mankind’s fall into sin. Every human being is infected by it. And that’s precisely what Jesus came to cure. Not just the detrimental side-effects of sin that are the cause of all the pain and suffering, but He came to cure the disease of sin itself!
St. Matthew zeroes in on this as the main purpose of Christ’s healing ministry. It was a healing ministry of both body and soul. The physical problems were just symptoms of the spiritual disease of sin that each human being suffers from. Matthew says that all these miracles fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says, “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” Isaiah wasn’t saying that the Messiah would merely transfer our sicknesses onto His body. Instead, the prophet was pointing to the transfer of the deeper disease of sin onto Christ. That becomes clearer when we look at verse 5 of Isaiah 53. It says, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” When He was beaten, whipped, and scourged, each blow that wounded Jesus was due to Him taking our disease of sin upon Himself. When the crown of thorns pierced His precious head as He was mocked and reviled, it was for our healing. His hands and feet were pierced by the nails of the cross because the disease of our iniquities had been transferred to Him. He suffered and died in our place so that we could be forgiven of all our sins. The sweet balm of our salvation was secured because He was “stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” Oh, may the Holy Spirit keep us from ever becoming like the people of Capernaum and rejecting this great miracle of God’s Son who took all our sins upon Himself. Instead, as we look to the cross, may we ever rejoice in believing the wondrous, spiritual truth that “with His wounds we are healed.” Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!