Matthew 8:14-17
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Loading ...Matthew 8:14-17
The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law is the third miracle in this beginning group of miracles. It was first a leper, then a Gentile, and now a woman. Jesus has begun His ministry among those who are ordinary. That is comforting, isn’t it? How often we stand back and watch as the talented, the beautiful, and the rich seem to have it all. As we scan the magazine covers in grocery store aisles we realize that millions live out their fantasies and dreams through the lives of the famous. But those dreams are empty and the fantasies a waste of time. How wonderful to know that the ordinary person is sought out by Jesus. One day we will not be ordinary. One day we will sit on the throne with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Creator of the universe.When evening came, the multitudes brought both the demon possessed and those who were ill and Jesus healed them all. Matthew takes this occasion to quote from Isaiah 53, the great chapter on the Messiah as the suffering servant. In the context of Isaiah, it is evident that physical healing is not exactly what the prophet had in mind. In fact, Peter quotes from this same text and makes it clear that the healing is spiritual; a healing that takes away our sins (1 Pet. 2:24). Certainly Jesus did not die on a cross to heal us of physical infirmities. Indeed, if that is so, He was a failure, for our illnesses remain.
Instead, we learn from this text the method of Jesus and the purpose of His ministry and His church. His miracles in the physical realm were given to teach us eternal truths. Healing physical infirmities proved His ability to heal the greater spiritual infirmities. This ought to also redirect the mission the Lord left for His church. God did not give us the local church to care for the physical needs of the world. Again, if that is so, it is a failure. No, our mission is the spiritual needs of the world and when a church forgets this, they have missed their whole reason for existing.
Berry Kercheville
