The Leper and the Centurion / Matthew 8:1-13
Good evening, church. It’s good to be with you. How are we doing?
Tonight, we pick up right where we left off. If you have your Bible with you, I want to invite you to turn to Matthew chapter 8. We are going to begin a new section in our journey through the Gospel of Matthew, which is all about the King and His kingdom.
In the first section of Matthew, chapters 1 through 4, we saw Jesus’ early life. Matthew, writing primarily to a Jewish audience, demonstrated that Jesus possesses the legal qualifications to be the Messiah. Authenticated through His genealogy, His baptism, and His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus showed that He has every moral quality and legal right to claim divine authority.
Then we moved into the second section, chapters 5 through 7, known as the Sermon on the Mount. It is three chapters of the most famous discourse ever delivered in human history. Jesus laid out His teaching with profound authority. The people were amazed that this man had the presence of mind to say, “You have heard it said… but I say to you,” claiming authority over the scribes and the Pharisees. At the very end of Matthew 7, the crowds were left in awe. He dropped the mic, so to speak, and walked off the stage.
Matthew 7:28-29 (NASB)
When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as [one] having authority, and not as their scribes.
Now, in chapters 8 and 9, we see a new movement. Jesus has finished teaching, and now He is going to act. We are going to see a series of powerful miracles unfold. Matthew actually gave us a preview of this pattern earlier in the Gospel:
Matthew 4:23 (NASB)
Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
Jesus was going through all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness among the people. Teaching, proclaiming, and healing—they went together.
Authenticating the King
Why did Jesus move into this section of miracles? Why did He begin to not just teach about the kingdom, but actively demonstrate it? As an obedient Old Testament Jew, you would have known the prophecies. You would have believed the words of the prophet Isaiah, who told us what to look for when the Messiah arrived:
Isaiah 35:5-6 (NASB)
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.
To a Jewish mind, the true Messiah would be authenticated not just by His words, but by the demonstration of supernatural power. He would have the ability to do things no other person in human history could ever do. Having delivered the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is now authenticating what He said by what He does.
When I was growing up, I was in total awe of my dad. My dad was a Marine. He graduated from high school in the 1950s, went to college during the height of the Vietnam War, and after earning his degree at the University of Texas at Arlington, he joined the Marine Corps. He had the option to pursue a comfortable civilian career, but the war was reaching a boiling point, and he chose to serve our country. He didn’t just want to be an enlisted man; he wanted to be an officer and a pilot. My dad flew F-4 Phantoms in Vietnam.
When you’re a junior high kid, those are the coolest stories in the world. Once, during training over farmland in North Carolina, his plane had mechanical failure. He had to eject, and he ended up landing right in some woman’s front yard, casually packing up his parachute like, “Hi, good to see you!” Even today, around Christmas, my kids sit around and say, “Granddaddy, tell us stories about flying airplanes.” I was completely mesmerized by him.
Because my dad was an officer, he was issued something that set him apart from enlisted men. I remember sneaking into my dad’s closet over summer break, reaching up, and pulling out the dress sword issued to Marine officers. It was a beautiful, ornamented sword with his name engraved on it. You could claim to be an officer, but that sword authenticated your position. If someone saw you with it, they knew your authority and pedigree.
In Matthew 8 and 9, Jesus is drawing His sword. He is demonstrating through His actions that He is indeed the Messiah. In Mark chapter 2, when Jesus heals a paralyzed man, He asks the crowd a revealing question:
Mark 2:9-11 (NASB)
’Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ’Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk ’? ’But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins ’– He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.’
Anyone can claim to forgive sins because that happens in the unseen, spiritual realm. It requires no visible evidence. But Jesus demonstrated His spiritual authority over sin by exercising physical authority over disease. The miracles in Matthew 8 and 9 are given to authenticate both the message and the Messenger.
Throughout the fifteen hundred years of biblical history, miracles are not normative every day. They cluster around three major eras: Moses and Joshua during the Exodus and conquest, Elijah and Elisha during the prophetic crisis, and Jesus and His apostles. Here in Matthew, we see ten specific miracles arranged in three distinct groups. Tonight, we are going to look at the first two: a Jewish leper and a Roman centurion.
The Leper: Willing and Able
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. They were impressed with His authority. And right into that massive crowd comes a man who had no business being there.
Matthew 8:1-2 (NASB)
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’
In the ancient world, leprosy was a devastating reality. In biblical terminology, “leprosy” could refer to a variety of serious skin diseases described in Leviticus 13, but it also referred to what we know today as Hansen’s disease—full-blown leprosy.
Under the Mosaic Law, if you noticed a suspicious sore, scab, or infection, you went to the priest. If he determined it was an infectious skin disease, you were removed from the community and placed outside the camp. If it healed, you offered a sacrifice and were restored. But if it spread and worsened, you were permanently banished. You were cut off from your home, your family, your job, and your place of worship. You had to live in isolation with other unclean people.
Luke, a physician, gives us an additional medical detail in his account of this story. He writes that the man was “covered with leprosy”—literally full of it from head to toe. It takes years for leprosy to ravage a body to that extent.
Luke 5:12 (NASB)
While He was in one of the cities, behold, [there was] a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’
Leprosy is a horrific disease. It attacks the nervous system, destroying pain receptors. Sores and ulcers form and eat inward toward the bone. Extremities like fingers, toes, and earlobes become deformed and absorbed. Because lepers lose physical sensation, they suffer repeated, undetected injuries that lead to infection, disfigurement, and eventually death from blood poisoning.
Beyond the physical agony, the psychological and emotional horror was unbearable. Whenever anyone approached, a leper had to cover his mouth and cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” Nobody touched you. Nobody hugged you. Nobody looked at you with anything other than horror.
In Scripture, leprosy often serves as a vivid picture of sin. The Hebrew root literally means “to strike.” In the Old Testament, God struck Miriam with leprosy when she rebelled against Moses, and King Uzziah was struck when he arrogantly usurped the priestly office. Leprosy was seen not just as a physical ailment, but as a visible picture of the spiritual corruption and curse inside the human heart.
Yet notice what this leper does when he sees Jesus. First, he falls prostrate on the ground before Him. By falling at Jesus’ feet, he acknowledges Jesus’ supreme authority. Second, he addresses Him as “Lord.” He is the very first person in the entire Gospel of Matthew to call Jesus “Lord.” And look at what he says: “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
He doesn’t doubt Jesus’ power. He doesn’t say, “If You can.” He says, “I know You can. The only question is, are You willing to enter my broken world and touch someone like me?”
Matthew places this story right after the Sermon on the Mount for a reason. His Jewish readers had just read the greatest sermon ever preached. The very first Jewish individual to encounter Jesus after the sermon bows low, calls Him Lord, and seeks cleansing. That is the exact posture Matthew desires for every reader.
Matthew 8:3 (NASB)
Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Under the Law, if you touched a leper, you became ritually unclean. When this leper walked into the crowd, people must have parted like the Red Sea, backing away in terror. But Jesus doesn’t take a step back. He takes a step forward. In front of the entire watching crowd, Jesus reaches out and touches him.
When was the last time that man had felt the warmth of a human hand? When was the last time someone looked at him with compassion instead of disgust? Jesus looks at him and says, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Instantly, the leprosy vanished.
Instead of the leper’s uncleanness transferring to Jesus, Jesus’ holiness and power transferred to the leper. Only God can touch defilement and make it pure. Whenever an individual comes to Jesus in true repentance and humility, God never turns them away. He doesn’t say, “You’re too messy, your pedigree isn’t right, or I don’t care enough.” Jesus is not only able; He is willing.
Matthew 8:4 (NASB)
And Jesus said to him, ‘See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’
Why did Jesus tell him to keep quiet? Because Jesus did not come merely to be a miracle worker or a physical problem-solver. If the crowds followed Him solely for physical healing, they would miss the greater purpose of His mission: the healing of the human soul from sin.
Jesus instructed the man to fulfill the command of Moses in Leviticus 14. When a leper was cleansed, he was to bring two birds to the priest. One bird was killed over fresh water in an earthenware vessel. Its blood was caught, and hyssop was dipped into the blood. The living bird was then sprinkled with the blood of the slain bird and released into an open field to fly free. It was a vivid picture that one must die so that another can go free. By sending this cleansed leper to the priests with that prescribed sacrifice, Jesus provided undeniable proof to the religious leaders that the Messiah had arrived.
The Centurion: Faith Beyond Israel
Jesus proved He can heal a Jewish outcast. But what about a Gentile? Matthew immediately moves to the second miracle.
Matthew 8:5-7 (NASB)
And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.’ Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a Roman centurion came to Him. A centurion was an officer in the Roman military in charge of one hundred soldiers. He was a Gentile, an occupier, and the very symbol of Roman oppression that the Jewish people despised. Yet this officer comes to Jesus on behalf of his servant, a young boy lying paralyzed at home in fearful torment.
Luke’s Gospel adds that this centurion had sent Jewish elders to intercede for him, and those elders told Jesus, “He is worthy to have You do this, for he loves our nation and built our synagogue.” This Roman officer was a God-fearer who had used his own resources to bless the Jewish people.
Matthew 8:8-9 (NASB)
But the centurion said, ’Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ’For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does [it].’
When Jesus offered to come to his house, the centurion stopped Him. He recognized that as a Gentile, having a Jewish teacher enter his home was culturally complicated, but his humility went deeper: “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof.”
Then he makes an astonishing statement about authority. He says, “I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another ‘Come,’ and he comes.” The centurion understood how authority works in the physical world. He realized that Jesus possessed that same absolute authority in the spiritual and physical realm. Jesus didn’t need to travel to the house, touch the boy, or perform a ritual. He only needed to speak the word.
Matthew 8:10 (NASB)
Now when Jesus heard [this], He marveled and said to those who were following, ’Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.
Jesus marveled. The Son of God was amazed by this Gentile soldier’s faith. Among the covenant people of Israel—who had the Scriptures, the covenants, and the prophecies—Jesus had not found faith like this.
Centuries earlier, God had warned Israel through Moses that this very dynamic would take place:
Deuteronomy 32:21 (NASB)
’They have made Me jealous with [what] is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with [those who] are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
Because of Israel’s unbelief, the blessing would extend to the nations.
Matthew 8:11-12 (NASB)
‘I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline [at the table] with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Jesus looks forward to the great messianic banquet. People from the east and the west—Gentiles from every tribe, tongue, and nation—will sit down at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. That includes you and me. But those who relied merely on their physical heritage and rejected the Messiah would be cast out into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It grieved Jesus’ heart that those closest to the promises would miss the King because of their pride.
Matthew 8:13 (NASB)
And Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed that [very] moment.
Jesus spoke the word, and that very hour, the servant was healed.
The Greater Healer
Why did Matthew put these two stories back-to-back? Because this is the gospel.
First, we are the leper. Spiritually, we are infected with the disease of sin.
Ephesians 2:1 (NASB)
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Sin is not just an occasional bad choice or a small blemish on the surface. It is an incurable, all-consuming condition at the core of our nature. It disfigures our souls and alienates us from a holy God. We cannot cure ourselves.
Second, we are the paralyzed servant. Sin leaves us spiritually helpless, broken, and tormented, unable to save ourselves. We need an intercessor to stand in the gap.
Jesus is the greater Centurion who loves the lowly, intercedes for the helpless, and wields ultimate authority. Jesus is the greater Priest who touches our uncleanness, takes our sickness upon Himself, and pronounces us clean forever. On the cross, Jesus took our spiritual leprosy and gave us His spotless righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Like the servant boy, we have not seen Jesus with our physical eyes, yet we are called to trust His authoritative word.
1 Peter 1:8-9 (NASB)
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
That is the story of grace. We had an incurable condition called sin. We were dead in our trespasses. But in His boundless mercy, Jesus reached out His hand, touched our lives, and made us clean.
If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ, I want to implore you tonight: lay down your pride. You don’t have to clean yourself up before coming to Jesus. You don’t have to earn His favor. He is not only able to forgive you; He is willing. All you must do is bow before Him in faith and ask Him to make you clean.
Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You for these powerful pictures of Your grace and authority in Scripture. We thank You that Jesus possesses the power to heal not just physical sickness, but the deep, incurable disease of our sin. We confess that without You, we are unclean and helpless. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You were willing to touch us, to bear our sin on the cross, and to give us Your righteousness. Give us the faith of the centurion to trust Your word and the humility of the leper to fall at Your feet. We give You all the glory, and we pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.