SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published on 27 September 2018.

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Welcome to Thursday’s podcast. My name’s Bryony and it’s great to be with you this week.

REFLECTION:

I want to start by reading the whole of today’s passage from Matthew 8:1-17:

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘my servant lies at home paralysed, suffering terribly.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Shall I come and heal him?’

The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, “Go,” and he goes; and that one, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.’ And his servant was healed at that moment.

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

‘He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.’

As we continue through the gospel after the Sermon on the Mount which we finished looking at yesterday, Matthew totally changes track and gives us these 3 quick fire stories of healing. These healing miracles demonstrate Jesus’ power and authority – he works in words and action. That the manifesto of his Kingdom, the ‘sermon on the mount’, is backed by his power, his authority and his action. Yesterday we saw that Jesus provides us with the gift of his word; today I want to suggest that Matthew includes these stories right off the back of Jesus’ teaching as examples of his welcome, full of love and grace. A welcome that says ‘this way of life is for everyone’.

Firstly we have the man with leprosy: the outcast. Leprosy was an illness which meant you were stigmatised and outcast. Jesus reaches out and touches him – this was totally radical. No-one was expected to touch a leprosy sufferer, let alone a rabbi and religious leader.

Then we move to the Centurion: he isn’t Jewish (the Jewish people would have described him as a Gentile); this means he’s not in the club of people who should even be learning from Jesus, even less asking him for healing. What’s more, he asks for healing for a slave, a person who could be bought and sold. Jesus himself points out the fact that this man isn’t a Jew or one of ‘God’s people’ and yet he has faith in Jesus’ authority.

Finally Jesus brings healing to Peter’s mother-in-law, and what is remarkable here is that Jesus gives dignity, healing and wholeness to a woman. A woman who, in her culture, would expect to serve and not be served by Jesus in that way.

So in each of these stories, an outcast, a gentile, a slave and a woman are all touched by Jesus’ story of restoration. This highlights the truth which was to be unfolded through the rest of Jesus’ life. That the welcome into this new way of life which Jesus has outlined during the sermon on the mount is available for everyone. There’s no ‘in crowd’, no people who are too far, too sinful or too outcast to be part of Jesus’ story.

The people of Israel believed that one day there would be a great banquet or feast, a day to celebrate the victory of God. You see the theme of feast and banquet throughout the Psalms. The people thought it was going to be a Jewish affair, that it was going to be for ‘God’s people’ as they saw that.

Jesus makes it clear through the faith of the centurion that at his table there is no discrimination, it is open to all. More than that: some Israelites would miss out. Matthew in his writing of this episode is setting the scene or setting up the argument for making disciples of all nations. Matthew finished his gospel with Jesus’ instructions to ‘go and make disciples of all nations’; here in chapter 8 as we we see Jesus healing not just the three featured people but also the many, we are shown the universal scope of the grace of God. No-one has to miss out!

September is our month of welcome here at STC Sheffield. We believe that God has welcomed each of us to his table. It’s because of the welcome we have received that we have to tell other about it. We have to let others know that the table isn’t set for people who have it all together, the ‘good’ people, the ‘holy’ people. The table has always been open to everyone. Jesus’ words, but more important, his actions, say ‘you are valued, you are loved, you are welcome’.

These three stories are so radical and counter-cultural that it’s hard for us to comprehend their significance. But for those watching Jesu,s these interactions were opening up a whole different way of seeing the world. They were glimpsing grace.

Today I wonder if we really know that we are welcome at the table? Do we constantly think of things that disqualify us or exclude us from a full relationship with God? Maybe we know someone who needs to know that they are welcome in God’s family? What might God be saying to each of us personally today?

PRAYER:

Thank you God that in your son Jesus you demonstrated that your love wasn’t exclusive. Thank you that you went beyond social expectations and conventions to give welcome and grace to those on the very edge. Help us to experience this welcome and to offer it to others this day. Amen.

READING: Matthew 8:1-17

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘my servant lies at home paralysed, suffering terribly.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Shall I come and heal him?’

The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, “Go,” and he goes; and that one, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.’ And his servant was healed at that moment.

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

‘He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.’