Faith is a fairly common commodity; it is something we use all the time. When we sit in the dentist chair and open our mouth, we put faith in the dentist. We trust him not to do us harm. We trust his professional competence to give appropriate treatment. When we eat a meal we put faith in those involved in the production and preparation of that food.

When we cast our vote in a general election we put our faith in the politician or party that we trust most to run our country. In that context, many people often feel let down once a party gets into power. They feel their faith was misplaced. That is not always the government’s fault. I believe that governments generally do their best to run the country, but what they are able to do is limited by the realities of a fallen world. Many people are reluctant to acknowledge that reality. Politicians in a democracy have to win popular support, and so there is always a tendency for them to over exaggerate what they are able to achieve. The offer of blood, toil, tears and sweat will not win many votes in 21st century Britain.

Above all we use faith in our personal relationships. That faith has to develop and grow if our relationships are healthy. It has to do with keeping promises, it has to do with getting to know each others’ strengths and weaknesses. It has to do with acceptance and forgiveness. It has to be based on reality and truth. Sometimes faith breaks down and relationships break up. That is very painful, but it is a reality that we have to face in our fallen world.

The one vital thing that can help human beings win through in life is faith in Jesus. It is the brightest ray of hope in a world that can be heartless and cynical. But that faith has to develop and grow as we go through life. It develops and grows as we come to know Christ better.

Matthew’s gospel was used widely in the early church we believe to teach new Christians about Jesus. It is put together in such a way as to lead believers on in their understanding of Jesus in order that their faith might grow. Matthew chapters 5 to 7 give Jesus’ teaching, but as we come on to chapter 8 we see another aspect of Jesus life and ministry. We see his miraculous power at work, we see his love and compassion, and we see people’s faith being challenged, in order that it might grow. As we look at the events that Matthew records in chapter 8, we see the lessons regarding faith that are there for us. I am sure as we take in those lessons, they will sustain our faith or even enable our faith to grow.

First of all there is the story of the leper who comes and kneels before Jesus. ‘Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean’ he says. Leprosy was an incurable condition. Under Jewish law you were not just ill, you were unclean. Lepers had to live as outcasts. Yet this man had faith that Christ could heal him. Maybe he had listened from the edge of the crowd as Jesus had taught everyone. Maybe as he had observed Jesus’ authority as he taught his faith had grown, and he resolved that before Jesus went away he would ask for his help.
But there was still a question in his mind. He believed that Jesus had the power to heal him. But would he want to? He was an outcast. He was an untouchable. But Jesus reached out and touched him. Lesson one, Jesus not only has power and authority, he also has compassion. But there was also a lesson for another group of people. Not the crowd who were in the area; Jesus specifically tells the man not to tell them. But there are a group of people that Jesus wants to know, a group of people who need to grow in faith. Jesus specifically tells the man to go to the priests.

Under Jewish law, in the rare event of a person with leprosy getting well again then that person has to go to the priest taking an offering, and show the priests that he has recovered. Jesus says go to the priests; obey the law as a testimony to them. Jesus wanted the priests to know the reality of who he was. He was giving them the opportunity to grow in faith. From the story Matthew tells, although the priests were consecrated to God’s service, they were a group who were very slow to develop faith. In fact the opposite, there was opposition to Jesus from the priesthood. In the end it was the chief priests who had Jesus crucified. But Jesus wants them to know, to see the reality of God’s power at work. Interestingly, much later many of the priests did come to trust Jesus. It tells us so in Acts 6 v 7. Sometimes the seeds of faith lay dormant for along time. But Jesus sows those seeds.

As Jesus arrives in Capernaum a very different man meets him. He is a soldier, a centurion who commands 100 men. He is certainly not Jewish, but he has heard of what Jesus can do, of his power to heal. His servant is at home chronically ill. Jesus offers to come and heal him. But the man knows the rules. Jews are forbidden to be guests in gentile homes. He knows he is not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof. But he is a man of real faith. He understands authority, the Roman legions operate by it, and he recognises Jesus as a man with God’s authority.

‘Just say the word’ he tells Jesus. When Jesus heard this, he was astonished. Here was a man with exceptional faith. His faith excelled that of anyone else Jesus had encountered. And he was not Jewish. Jesus ministry was specifically to the Jews. He came to his own people; he was their Messiah. Nowhere in the gospels do we find Jesus entering a gentile home or touching and healing a gentile.

There was the common idea around among the Jewish people that heaven was reserved for Jews alone. There was great emphasis on tracing your ancestry from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and if you were a true descendant, then you would have a place at the banquet in heaven. But the lesson for everyone here, is that it’s not just the Jews that will get to heaven, rather it is people with faith. In fact Jesus point out that to be a descendant of Abraham, but not to have faith will mean exclusion from heaven.

What the religious teachers of Jesus’ day had foolishly forgotten was that God’s care and concern is for all mankind. At the beginning of our service we read from Isaiah 25. The prophet speaks of God providing a feast of rich food for all peoples. The good news is that salvation is for all, for all who have faith.

Then Jesus comes to Peter’s house. His mother in law has a fever. Jesus touches her hand and she is instantly well. That evening, the crowds come bringing the sick and demon possessed. Jesus commands the evil spirits to depart. He heals all the sick. The lesson is that Jesus is the one who has been promised in the scripture. He has come to deal with the human predicament. Matthew quotes from Isaiah 53, the passage that we read from at communion. He is the one who can deal with the things that disable people.

The passage in Isaiah refers to infirmities. That includes both illness as well as human sin. Jesus is the one who has come to deliver his people. Just as God has promised. Now I know we would like to see everyone healed in the way that Jesus healed those people in Capernaum. Sometimes God does heal today. When God does heal miraculously, that is a sign to enable people to believe.

Jesus healed all those who came to him there in Capernaum as a sign to mark him out as the unique Son of God. But Jesus came primarily, not to restore everyone to perfect health. He came to defeat the power of death and sin, to call people to faith in him, to restore them to a right relationship with God.

But faith in Christ is not just an additional option to life. Jesus calls people to total commitment. Next we have the instance of two men who want to make a partial commitment. One wants to follow Jesus. He was a teacher of the law. He had the theological background gained from studying the Old Testament. Jesus challenges him to a life of nomadic discipleship. Someone else wants to follow Jesus, but he has family commitments. Either he has an elderly father, or possibly his father had even died. Jesus challenges him to leave his family responsibilities to others. That sounds quite harsh. The Old Testament, as well as Jesus teaching shows us that we have responsibilities to our families. But the point is that Jesus wants us to give our primary allegiance to him. Faith is putting Jesus first, loving him above all else.

So we come on to the stilling of the storm. A number of Jesus disciples are fishermen. They are used to the Sea of Galilee. As they go across the lake, a horrific storm blows up. Galilee is deep, they are along way from land and the boat is filling with water. The disciples are terrified. Jesus rebukes the wind and the waves. What is the lesson? Jesus has God’s sovereign power, even over the forces of nature. The disciples were men of little faith. But Jesus continues to reveal more of himself to them. Slowly their faith was growing.

As they land we come to the last of the incidents recorded in Matthew 8. Two demon possessed men meet Jesus. These men were so violent and out of control that society had given up on them. Evil spirits possessed them. They do have faith of a sort, but it’s the wrong sort. Being demonic, they are quite aware that Jesus is the Son of God and address him as such. But Jesus is not intimidated. The demons know that they have met their match. They plead for a concession. They want physical bodies to inhabit. Jesus is operating at a level that we cannot comprehend, I will not attempt to explain all the implications of the story, and as an ex pig farmer I do have some questions.
But there are two clear lessons. Jesus cares for those two individuals whom everyone else has given up on. Jesus taught that God regards each of his children as of far more worth than many sparrows. This story confirms that in God’s eyes his children are also worth far more than many pigs.

The second lesson is that Jesus shows us that although society may give up on people, there is no one who is beyond his power to help and save. The locals did not respond to Jesus with faith. Rather they begged him to leave. They were concerned about the economy; they were concerned about their profits. Many people take that attitude today. But for those who recognise Jesus for whom he is, those who realise that he is the most precious treasure men and women can have, then in them by his Holy Spirit he creates and nurtures faith.

As our faith in him grows, other things become less vital, we see everything in true perspective. We come to know something of the abundant life and freedom and joy that Jesus came to bring.
 

Amen.

Return to top of page