Matthew 8:14-17
March 12, 2025
I always find it amazing the amount of money that people can win in the state lottery. When I hear that the jackpot has reached $300 million dollars or $500 million dollars, I just can’t imagine what someone would do with all that money. I’m sure when people have won these large jackpots, all kinds of “relatives,” “friends,” and even charities have tried to contact them, all asking for money.
In our Gospel reading for tonight, it wasn’t lottery winnings that brought people out of the woodwork to see Jesus, instead it was His healing powers. Jesus had just healed a centurion’s servant when He comes to the house of His disciple, Peter. Peter’s mother in-law was lying in bed with a fever, but Jesus touched her hand and instantly healed her. By that evening many who were demon possessed were brought to Him for healing, and the Gospel of Mark says that “the whole city was gathered at the door” to be healed. Obviously the news of Jesus’ healing traveled fast. Like a lottery winner, suddenly Jesus had something that everyone wanted. And throughout the night Jesus healed every single person. But was there a deeper meaning to what Jesus did? If healing people of their illnesses was all that mattered, then I think Jesus would have stayed there and set up a clinic. Jesus healed them, because He is compassionate and merciful. He doesn’t like to see anyone suffer. But noticing the large number of people who came to see Him indicates that something is wrong. In this text, people are sick, hurting, and dealing with demon possession. And here in our church tonight, we are hurting. What I mean is we have aches and pains, heartaches and disappointments, and that should tell us something is wrong.
What is it that is wrong? We have an overabundance of sin in our world. We see it all over the news: war, famine, disease, and hate. Yet, not only does the world hurt because of sin, but we hurt because of sin. We all have regrets and guilt. We have shame that we want to hide. We
have hurts that we have inflicted on others, and we have hurts that others have inflicted on us. But the good news is we have a Savior in Jesus who goes where it hurts. In fact, that is the essence of Jesus’ ministry – wherever there is hurt, there you will find Jesus.
Peter’s mother in-law was hurting. In a time before fever-reducing medication, this woman’s fever could have been life threatening. The hurt of a fever could easily have become the hurt of death. But in the midst of this, Jesus touches Peter’s mother-in-law and heals her. Immediately she gets up and begins making lunch. The healing that Jesus brought to her was so thorough and so complete that she is feels 100% once again. No lingering cough or fatigue as she quickly goes back to work. Notice how the mere touch of Jesus brings healing. In the hands of Jesus, we find a healing power. In fact, there are many examples in the New Testament of Jesus placing His hands on people and healing them. Mark 6 says, “He laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Mark 8 says, “Then Jesus laid his hands on the eyes of the blind man again and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” Luke 4 tells us, “Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.”
Healing is found in the hands of Jesus, and through faith in Him, He puts His healing hands on you and me. When your life is in the hands of Jesus, you will find healing peace, comfort, promise, and hope. 1 Peter 2 tells us, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” God has an interesting plan for healing. The wounded hands of Jesus, which enduring nails being pounded into them on the cross for our sin, are the healing hands of Jesus.
But while we find healing in the hands of Jesus, that healing is hidden amid hurts. God brings healing by drawing near to our hurts. The prophet Isaiah told us to expect this from Jesus 700 years before He was born. Isaiah 53:3 tells us that God’s suffering servant, Jesus, would go to
where it hurts, saying, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” God is acquainted with grief in Jesus. God knows hurt and sorrow in Jesus. God knows war, hunger, and pain in Jesus. He is the God of the poor, the hurting, the oppressed, and the afflicted. God was hurt in Jesus.
But Jesus has brought life to this hurting world by going to the source of the problem and the root of the issue of sin. What I mean is, the only way to properly fix something is to address the source of the problem, make it right, and then put things back together. For example, when a wound is infected, you must take off the bandage, clean the wound, and apply the medication in order for healing to take place. When rust is eating away at metal, you must cut out the rust and weld in new metal. When there is rotting wood, you must tear out the rot and replace it with new wood. Even when trying to balance your checkbook, you must go back to the very first error in your calculations, fix it, and then you can proceed with your work. In the same way, Jesus has dealt with sin and hurt by going to the very source of the problem. Jesus did not try to fix sin from afar. Jesus did not come to this earth to simply speak some encouraging words to people. Jesus came to this world to hurt with hurting people and to heal our hurts by taking our disease of sin on Himself, and dying for us on the cross.
There are a lot of hurts in this world. There are hurts in our bodies and souls. There are hurts in our homes, our neighborhoods, and in our relationships. Yet, what a healer we have in Jesus. His wounded hands bring healing to our lives and through faith in Him, His healing hands always touch us where it hurts the most to comfort us and to make us whole.
