One of my
favorite preachers is Dr. Fred Craddock. Fred Craddock tells of a young pastor
visiting an elderly woman in the hospital. The pastor finds the woman to be
quite ill, gasping for breath, and obviously nearing the end of her life. In the
midst of tubes, bags, and beeping medical machines, . . .
“The
pastor says, ‘What would you like me to pray for today?’
“The
patient responds, ‘That I would be healed.’
“The
pastor gulps. . . .
“[Then he
prays,] ‘Lord, we pray for your sustaining presence with this sick sister, and
if it be your will, we pray she will be restored to health and to service. But
if it’s not your will, we certainly hope she will adjust to her circumstances.’
. . .
“Immediately after the pastor puts an amen on
this safe prayer, the woman opens her eyes and sits up in bed. Then she throws
her feet over the side and stands up. . . .
“Before
the pastor can react, the woman walks over to the door, pulls it open, and
strides down the hospital corridor. The last thing the pastor hears before she
disappears are the words ‘Look at me, look at me. I’m
healed.’
“The
pastor pushes his mouth closed, gets up, and slowly walks down the stairs and
out to the parking lot. There is no sign of the former patient. He opens his car
door, and stops. Looking up to the heavens, the pastors says, ‘Please don’t ever
do that to me again’ (Beukema, in Biblical Preaching, 130).
In some cases, even pastors are slow to believe that God wills
to heal. Nevertheless, He keeps on astounding us with His grace as He did the
leper in Matthew
8:1-4.
We often
qualify our requests for healing. (Matthew
8:1-2) Whenever we’re sick, most of us pray, “Lord, if
you are willing, you can make me [well].” We know He’s able to heal us, yet for
some reason, we’re never quite sure if Christ wants to heal us for various
reasons. Maybe we brought this sickness on ourselves. Maybe we didn’t take
proper care of ourselves. Worst still, maybe we have sinned and we fear our
sickness is God’s punishment. Frankly, we don’t know why this man was sick,
probably because it doesn’t matter.
Jesus
always takes time for the individual as well as the multitude.
(Matthew
8:1-2) After “[Christ] came down from the mountainside,
large crowds followed him. [And] a man with leprosy came and knelt before him.”
When
we draw near to Him, it should be with the confidence, the humility, and the
reverence this leper had because they are the only attitudes appropriate for a
person asking God for a favor (Barclay, Matthew, volume 1,
302-3).
Unlike
religious hucksters, Jesus never shuns the ‘hard cases.’ (Matthew
8:2)
This “man [had] leprosy.” Jesus welcomed him nonetheless. He always welcomes
outcasts. He welcomes those who are self-conscious about their appearance. He
welcomes the fearful. Jesus apparently welcomes strangers, since we don’t even
know this man’s name. Therefore, if we fear that we do not know Christ well
enough to approach Him for help we are mistaken.
Even
though Jesus always has time for the individual and never shuns the hard cases,
we still tend to doubt His willingness to heal. Jesus normally responds to our
requests for healing. (Matthew
8:3-4) How wonderful it is when we sense Him saying to
us, “I am willing, . . . be thou healed!" Matthew records this story so that
we may know that Christ possesses both the ability and the willingness to heal
us of our illnesses. As it has been said, “Never put a question mark where God
has put a period.”
Jesus took
immediate action to reassure us of His concern. (Matthew
8:3)
While the leper knelt trembling in the dirt before Him, “Jesus reached out his
hand and touched [him].” Imagine the leper’s stench. Think about the Lord’s
sympathy (Mark
1:41). The leper probably hadn’t felt the warmth of
human touch in years. What thoughts must have flashed through his mind at this
moment? Besides, “By touching an unclean leper, Jesus would become
ceremonially defiled himself. . . . But at Jesus’ touch nothing remains
defiled. Far from becoming unclean, Jesus makes the unclean clean” (Carson,
Matthew, 198).
Afterward,
the leper could have sung the words of that old gospel tune we
know:
“Shackled by a heavy
burden,
’Neath
a load of guilt and shame
Then
the hand of Jesus touched me,
And
now I am no longer the same” (“He Touched Me,” ).
In Jesus our
Lord
Brown
