ESOCS Devotional 15 January 2025 – Willingness to Heal
MEMORY VERSE: “And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” Matthew 8:3
TEXT: MATTHEW 8:1-22
When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”
7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.
14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served [a]them.
16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“He Himself took our infirmities
And bore our sicknesses.”
18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
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Matthew 8 opens with Jesus concluding His sermon that He proclaimed on the mountain. He is coming down the mountain after preaching that sermon and large crowds are following Him. You can imagine the crowd that is walking beside Him and behind Him. Imagine this large crowd of people encircling Jesus. Have you ever seen on TV how a crowd will follow a celebrity or a sports star? It is j a mass of people trying to get as close as they can to see the person. There is just a mass of people around Jesus. But something very surprising happens. A man with leprosy comes to Jesus and kneels before Him. Remember that people with skin diseases were considered unclean and needed to be separated from the community (Num. 5:2; Lev.13-14). This means that this crowd had to move out of the way, as this unclean man approached Jesus.
Listen to what this man says to Jesus: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” This is quite an understanding about Jesus. The man does not question if Jesus has the ability to heal. He knows that Jesus does and that is why he has approached Jesus, though he is unclean. The man only has one question. Is Jesus willing to heal him? You can make me clean if you want to. You have the power. Do you want to heal me? Now, this man with this skin disease would not be a person that anyone would want to be nearby. Everyone would want to avoid him. Everyone would want to send him away.
But look at what Jesus does in verse 3. Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. Did Jesus have to do that to heal him? Did Jesus have to touch this unclean man who has a skin disease? No, He did not have to do that. Jesus reaches out His hand and says, “I am willing. Be clean.” Immediately, this man’s leprosy was cleansed. Jesus then tells the man to show himself to the priest as the Law of Moses commanded and it will be a testimony to them that the Healer has come.
This morning, Jesus has come because He wants to heal you. He desires to heal. He is willing to heal. You will not come to Jesus for help and healing and find Him saying no to you. You have not come to an unwilling Saviour. In your filthiness, Jesus does not recoil or shutter. He does not tell you to stay back. Jesus is not repulsed by you. You can come to Him with all of your sins and find a willing Saviour. This will be your testimony today and always.
CHALLENGES
- Have faith in God and He will heal all your wounds, whatever they may be.
PRAYER POINT
- Father, I ask for your touch and may every aspect of my life receive healing now and always.
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 19:1-end; 20:1-end; Matthew 8:23-end
ESOCS Devotional 15 January 2025
