Genesis 9:18-29: Idiomatic Noah

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 29 Sept 2013
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Today we are speaking about Noah so I found a few riddles about that to share here[1]:

1. What did Noah say as he was loading the Ark?

Ø      "Now I herd everything."

2. Why did the people on the ark think the horses were pessimistic?

Ø      They kept saying neigh.

3. What animal could Noah not trust?

Ø      The cheetah.

4. Why couldn't they play cards on the ark?

Ø      Noah was sitting on the deck.

5. Who was the first canning factory run by?

Ø      Noah, he had a boat full of preserved pairs.

6. Was Noah the first one out of the Ark?

Ø      No, he came fourth out of the ark.

Before we chat a little bit about Noah we should probably have a little bit of context. Noah is one story among many in the book of Genesis, so let’s recap what those of us who have been reading Genesis have read in the chapters leading up to the Noah episode.[2]

Remember in the beginning of Genesis? Remember the creation story?[3] By the third day God had finished making the earth and the sky and the sea and by the sixth day He had completed and rested from making birds and animals and people to live in their environments. God makes this beautiful world that He loves and it is good and He creates good people  –Adam and Eve, whom we spoke about last week - to look after it, but sin creeps in and this breaks God’s heart; so He needs to remove people from the land He put us in. [4]

Not long after this time Cain, Adam and Eve’s firstborn son, also falls prey to sin, killing his brother and becoming further removed from the Lord and the land he is working (Genesis 4). God loves us so much that He even warns Cain before Cain succumbs to sin. He tells him, Genesis 4:7b, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”[5] Humanity nonetheless defies God and falls prey to sin; so again humanity needs to be removed from the land that was entrusted to us. God still loves His creation. He gave us, His children, this responsibility to look after His creation for Him and twice now, with Adam and Eve and with Cain, He has had to give us a time-out and twice now He has felt the need to remove us from the very land that He had asked us to look after on His behalf. This makes God sad.[6]

Now, it is only a few chapters further along in the story. The years have gone on and God has many more children whom He loves and they are still being disobedient, even with the examples of those before them.[7] As a matter of fact, they are worse than ever. Genesis 6:5-6: “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.” Again God seems to be left with little choice but to remove us from the land for which we are responsible. This time actually instead of taking us away from the land, He takes the land away from us drowning the world in His sorrows, and leaving his chosen property managers – Noah and Sons - floating until the property is ready for them.

Noah, of course, is in the direct lineage of Jesus Christ who is the Saviour of the whole world. On the family tree (or family vine, as the case may be) that we are reproducing of our Lord, Noah -generations before Christ- is the one God chooses as a vehicle to save us here as God re-creates the whole world. It is after God’s salvation of humanity via Noah and it is after God’s promise of further mercy for His creation; it is after God lovingly makes the rainbow to symbolize His promise to never destroy the earth by floodwaters again; it is after the people –Noah’s family – leave the boat, the Ark; it is at this point after we have had so much relief following a disaster of such magnitude that we experience a very strange part of Scripture.

God says, Genesis 9:15-29:

I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.  Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.  But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son [Ham] had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan!  The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

After the flood Noah lived 350 years. Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

This is the conclusion of the Noah story. The Noah story doesn’t end with rainbows and bunny rabbits.[8] The Noah story doesn’t end with a happy celebration after the flood. The Noah story doesn’t end in hugs and kisses and choirs of angels. The Noah story ends with Noah getting drunk and his youngest son doing something –we don’t really know what he does – his youngest son does something which results in Noah cursing, not the offender but the offender’s child who is Noah’s own grandson. Noah calls out a curse on Canaan, his own grandson; his descendants will be slaves of his uncle’s descendants. Have you ever wondered why God and the Bible conclude the Noah story this way? Does it strike anyone else as strange? And what did Ham do that causes Noah (Ham’s dad) to curse Canaan (Ham’s son)? What exactly was it that Ham did to provoke Noah into cursing Canaan, who is Noah’s own grandson?

Verses 21-23, again reads: “When he [Noah] drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.” Then Noah wakes up and curses his grandson, the son of his son who, Verse 22, “saw his father naked and told his two brothers”. What was so wrong with this?

First in understanding what is so wrong with this we need to understand a certain idiomatic euphemism; can anyone tell me what is an euphemism or an idiom? An euphemism is a vague or a gentler way to say something and an idiom is a phrase that we all know what it means but it means something other than what it literally says. It is an expression for something. I have some idiomatic euphemisms. Let’s see who can tell me what they mean?

1. Turn a blind eye to something
2. Caught red-handed
3. He blew his fuse
4. The apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree
5. Dog’s breakfast

I used to be involved in the administration of international colleges. You can imagine how confusing idioms like this would be for our students who didn’t speak English as a first language. What would they think if they heard the following: “He had always turned a blind eye to it but today he really blew his fuse because the whole place was a dog’s breakfast.” If English isn’t your first language you’re not really going to know what is going on.

Today we have before us in our text, one of those idiomatic euphemisms from ancient Hebrew: “seeing his father’s nakedness”. This phrase – in the Bible, in the Old Testament, in the Pentateuch – has often been used as an expression for sexual activity.[9] For one example – and there are many examples - Leviticus records that you should not have sexual relations with – literally, ‘you should not uncover the nakedness’ of a close relative (Leviticus 18:16). Ezekiel sometimes also uses this idiomatic euphemism to refer specifically to violent or other illicit sexual encounters (Ezekiel 16:36-37; 22:10; 23:10, 18,29).

This has caused scholars to interpret Ham’s sin in various ways.

A few people simply see Ham’s sin here as literally looking at his naked father but that argument doesn’t seem to really – if you will excuse the idiomatic euphemism, that argument doesn’t seem to ‘hold any water.’ Some Jewish scholars see Ham’s sin as castrating his father in order to usurp his authority. I can’t find any Biblical support for that.[10]

Many scholars these days recognize that since the phrase, ‘uncover his father’s nakedness’ usually refers to sexual activity that there is some sort of sexual encounter here. Quite popular, these days, is the opinion that Ham lay with his drunken or passed out father. The problem with that theory is that it doesn’t explain why Noah cursed Ham’s son rather than Ham himself.

As a result of this and readings of other texts, scholars acknowledge that the phrase, ‘uncover his father’s nakedness’, can also refer to acting like Oedipus and having relations with his own mother. The phrase is used this way in Leviticus 18:7-8 as well (cf. Leviticus 18:14-16; 20:11, cf. also Deuteronomy 23:1, 27:20).[11] If that is true, that would certainly better explain why his child is cursed rather than just Ham himself, especially if his child is the product of this illicit relationship.

But none of this is 100% agreed upon. What is agreed upon is this: whatever it is that Ham did, it is serious. Whatever it is that Ham did, it caused his own son to be cursed. Whatever it is that Ham did, it caused Noah to curse his own grandchild. Whatever it is that Ham did, it caused his family to be cursed after they were already saved from the flood. Whatever this heinous sin here is, that Ham did, it is the note upon which the whole Noah story ends. The short version of the flood story in the context of Genesis is then as follows:

Ø      God makes mankind (Adam and Eve) and He loves them

Ø      They sin horribly in the garden and suffer the consequences

Ø      God still loves them and makes provisions for their safety

Ø      Man (Cane) sins horribly by killing his own brother and suffers the consequences

Ø      God still loves him and makes provisions for his safety

Ø      Mankind sins horribly – ‘doing only evil all the time’ – and suffers the consequences of the flood

Ø      God still loves them and makes provisions for their safety

Ø      Mankind then sins horribly with this story of Ham and Noah and suffers the consequences

And around and around we go…

Well, how about our own lives? Are we any better? How many times do our lives get so overwhelming that we cry out to the Lord, we see how miraculously God delivers us from our problems and then over time we drift further and further away from the Lord and holiness and instead we drift closer and closer to sin and death? How many people have said at some point, “God if you do such and such for me, I will do such and such in my life” only to have God help you and then you forget –maybe not right away but - over time you don’t uphold your part of the bargain? Or how about those of us who have known God for a long time? There was a time when we realized that we have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. There was a time when we realized that we can’t make it without God. There was a time when we realized that we needed to board the Ark of eternal Salvation. There was a time when we asked Jesus to come into our hearts and there was a time when we turned our lives totally over to God. For many of us then, as time goes on, there is the temptation to either doubt or forget all that God has done for us; for many of us then, as time goes on, there is the temptation to either doubt or forget how important it is what God did for us; and then, some of us, as time goes on, are we tempted to proceed to do whatever is the equivalent in our life is of ‘uncovering our father’s nakedness’?

Today, many of us are just like Noah’s family. Today, many of us have experienced (and are experiencing) the Salvation that was provided by the ‘Jesus Ark’ so many years ago. Today, many years after landing safely on the dry ground of our relationship with our Lord, the devil can tempt any of us, to forget what the Lord has done for us and commit whatever the equivalent in our life is of ‘uncovering our father’s nakedness’.

God loved Noah and Noah’s family. God saved Ham (and by extension Canaan) from the flood in which so many people perished. Yet Ham committed some heinous act that caused him to turn the blessing of salvation he received from the flood into a curse for generations to come. God saved Ham. Ham turned on God and his father and Ham and his family missed out on the full blessing of the salvation that his brothers and their families experienced.

Today, if there are any of us here who haven’t boarded the Salvation Ark, I would invite us to do so before we are engulfed in the eternal flood. To those of us who have indeed boarded the Ark of Salvation and have landed on dry land maybe many years ago, I encourage us to please keep strong. Let us remember how God saves us and let us turn not on our Father but instead let us turn to our Father (cf. TSA doc 9). For when we love God and when we love our neighbour in this way, all curses will be ultimately be erased and we will live out our Salvation for now and evermore with our Lord and Saviour.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] ‘The Riddles are from Noah’s Ark Riddles’ on The English Humour Wikki http://mirth.wikia.com/wiki/Noah's_Ark_RiddlesGod loves us.

[2] Cf Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Genesis 6:5-7: This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.' Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current:10 June 2012). On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/06/genesis-65-7-this-is-going-to-hurt-me.html

[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Room for Creation (Sheepspeak: Swift Current: 2012) and Captain Michael Ramsay,The Appeal of Creation: Genesis 1, Romans 1. Presented to the Nipawin Corps, (Sheepspeak.com: Nipawin SK: 07 June 2009),On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/06/appeal-of-creation-genesis-1-romans-1.html

[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay,Genesis 1-4: God: Creator, Governor, and Preserver of All Things. Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current: 26 Feb 2012). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/02/genesis-1-4-god-creator-governor-and.html

[5] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay,'Genesis 4:7b: Sin is Crouching at Your Door'. Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 03 June 2012). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/05/genesis-47b-sin-is-crouching-at-your.html

[6] Cf. Derek Kidner: Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1967 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 1), S. 91

[7] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Suffering of God, (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984),112.

[8] But cf. W. Sibley Towner,  “Genesis 9:8-17.” Interpretation 63, no. 2 (April 1, 2009): 168-171.

[9] Scott Sietze Bergsma and Scott Walker Hahn,  “Noah’s Nakedness and the Curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27).” Journal of Biblical Literature 124, no. 1 (2005): 25-40.

[10] But cf. Graves and Patai, Hebrew Myths, 122 for non-Biblical examples. Cited from Scott Sietze Bergsma and Scott Walker Hahn,  “Noah’s Nakedness and the Curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27).” Journal of Biblical Literature 124, no. 1 (2005): 29.

[11] Scott Sietze Bergsma and Scott Walker Hahn,  “Noah’s Nakedness and the Curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27).” Journal of Biblical Literature 124, no. 1 (2005): 25-40.

Matthew 10:34-39, 11:16-30: You Didn’t Dance

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 15 Sept. 2013

By Captain Michael Ramsay

I mentioned last Sunday how my former head pastor was Promoted to Glory (passed away) last Saturday. His daughter –whom I haven’t seen in two decades or more – ‘facebooked’ me to let me know. I didn’t grow up in The Salvation Army. I didn’t grow up in a small church. I don’t think that there is a church in this community as large as the one I grew up in and it wasn’t even the biggest church in my hometown. We could have over 500 people in a Sunday service and there were 3 services each Sunday. The evening service was small though not as small as our good little group here but small nonetheless.

I am not sure how many pastors were on staff: Senior pastor, youth pastor, seniors’ pastor, children’s pastor, music pastor… In a church that large you don’t necessarily get to know the pastors as well as many of you know me here. The pastors were great. In all the years that we were there, I think the only time Pastor Jake came to my parents’ home though was when my little sister was caught smoking behind the church with his youngest daughter. I remember my parents let me hover around the kitchen when they came to visit and in typical Mike-fashion of those days during the conversation about how to help and what to do about the girls caught smoking behind the church, I lit up a cigarette. (Not the classiest manoeuvre!) I did get to know the pastor a little bit as I did go over to his house a couple of times growing up: I was friends with his daughters, particularly his older daughter. She is a good person. His wife is a great lady as well. I do remember some very encouraging conversations I had with her a quarter century ago or more.

I have a lot of respect for the church that I grew up in – of which Jake was the Head Pastor. From my old youth or young adult group, of the people that I know of personally, 6 or 7 of us now are clergy working for the Lord in anything from large Baptist churches to Alliance churches to Youth for Christ Ministries to hospital chaplaincies to The Salvation Army and that is not including our spouses - some of whom went to church with us - and that is also not including people of whom I no longer have any knowledge of their lives.

Now we could have up to 100 people at to a youth event when I was young. My Sunday school classes were often larger than our group gathered here today. I had great Sunday school teachers from the time that I was a teenager through university especially. We would discuss and debate everything.

Then as now I read my Bible a lot. We would often have theological debates about our lives. A common topic then was smoking as more than half of Canadians in those days smoked.  I was one of those smokers as a teenager. Whenever -in those days- someone would say that I was defiling my body as the Temple of God through my bad habit of having a cigarette, I would quickly respond from scripture that it is not what goes into a body that defiles it but what comes out of it (Mark 7:20-23) and I would often point to this part of today’s scripture. “Like you” I would say, Matthew 11:18, “…John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say ‘He has a demon.’ [Like me, Jesus], The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say he is a drunkard, a friend of …sinners”.

These days, I no longer smoke or drink, of course. Some of those there who didn’t drink then, now do but they still have very powerful ministries. I remember one person (now a pastor friend of mine) sought me out a year ago or so and credited me with opening up his eyes about drinking and how he now enjoys a pint every week – to which I responded that I, of course, went the other direction and I no longer imbibe alcohol at all. Smoking and drinking are well in my rear-view mirror. Things change.

Things do change but here is the thing: There are some people who will hear the gospel whether they hear it from someone like a younger me - maybe even while I was sinning and having too many beers - and they will still repent and follow Jesus. There are some who will see the seemingly purer lives of my old friends or myself now and still repent. But there are those also who won’t repent no matter what. Matthew 11:18: “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say ‘He has a demon.’ [Jesus], The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say he is a drunkard, a friend of …sinners.” And Matthew 11:17: “We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang dirge [a funeral hymn], and you did not mourn.”

And you know what? No matter what you do, no matter who you are, no matter how God speaks through you, some people will reject the beautiful boundless salvation (TSA SB 298) that God provided through Jesus’ death and the resurrection for the whole world so that whosever believes in Him need not perish but can have everlasting life (John 3:16-17).

Did you know that breaks my heart? I think of people that I love and know who as far as I know still reject Jesus and I still pray for them - especially those that the enemy may have used my own failings to lead them towards hell. It breaks my heart. I have been at different times in my life like each of Jesus and John the Baptist of our pericope today with some people. As recorded in Matthew 11:17: “We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang dirge [a funeral hymn], and you did not mourn.” Even though I know that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1, I can be plagued some days by so much regret from those old days and on the other hand, at other times I long to escape to the simplicity of those times. I can’t tell you the number of times I sat on a beach decades ago watching the sun come up after a night of socializing and drinking that eventually led to talking with fellow teenagers and students about Jesus and praying with them. We didn’t all make it out of that time and place. Sometimes I was so tired even though I was proclaiming the gospel in the midst of my old life and all the problems that came with it that I almost couldn’t take it anymore.

Sometimes today, it is even worse as I sit at meetings even with other clergy and they dole out 1 to 1000 reasons not to share their faith with the next person. Sometimes today, I talk to clergy who extol the virtues of what I would call hiding their light under a bushel (Matthew 5:14-16). Sometimes today, being clean and sober for many years now, I see my new friends struggle even with their faith as they struggle with their addiction. It hurts. Sometimes today, I am so tired even in the midst of proclaiming the gospel in my now life that I almost can’t take it anymore. Sometimes today, I feel that I am wasting my breath. Sometimes I feel like no matter how many people are led in the sinner’s prayer, more are being led to sin even by the churches; sometimes I feel like no matter how many people I tell about Jesus there are even more so-called ‘Christians’ who refuse to tell people about Jesus and then actually teach other Christians so as they may become ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Romans 1:16, Mark 8:38, Luke 9:26). Sometimes I feel like my new non-imbibing self can draw all kinds of criticisms of hypocrisy and self-righteousness that some will use it as an excuse to go to hell and that hurts (cf. TSA doc. 11). I have been in my life both like Christ and John the Baptist of this pericope with some people and still - Matthew 11:17 - “We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang dirge [a funeral hymn], and you did not mourn.”

This is the life of many a Christian. As Christians, we don’t want anyone to go to hell and a true Christian will try anything to help others avoid eternal separation from God but the reality is Matthew 11:18: “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say ‘He has a demon.’ [Jesus], The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say he is a drunkard, a friend of …sinners.” And Matthew 11:17: “We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang dirge [a funeral hymn], and you did not mourn.” And even more, Matthew 10: 34-39, Jesus says:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn: “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

As Christians, we tell people about Jesus, no matter who we are: Dennis you can reach people who I can’t; Ron you can reach people who I can’t; Lloyd you can reach people who I can’t and Larry some of those people you reach will turn against you; Richard it might be someone in your own family; Cheryl it may cost you a job; Elaine it may cost you a friend or a loved one but we still keep telling those in our lives about Salvation (cf. Matthew 28:16-20). That is what we do.

As we know that an eschatological disaster is coming; Christians, we naturally warn all of our neighbours about it just as we would if a tornado was coming in this direction.[1] What it means when the Scriptures say that the Prince of Peace, Jesus, will bring a sword to the earth is that people will turn on you when you warn them of the eschatological storm. When you stand up for Christ, you will be set upon by the enemy; some people won’t accept the Good News no matter what but we must remain faithful. I can’t save anyone. You can’t save anyone. I can’t send anyone to hell. You can’t send anyone to hell. You can’t save anyone from hell (Acts 4:12).

Salvation comes from Christ alone (Acts 4:12) but Jesus is quite clear that we have a very strong responsibility to share the Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20).  Even if people spit in our face or call us names or make sport of us, we have a very real responsibility to tell people about the Salvation that is available for everyone but here is the thing: there will be persecution, people will discriminate against you for being a Christian, people will hate you for Christ (cf. Matthew 10:17-39). People will avoid you for pointing them and others to safety and salvation but we must do it. Can you imagine if a fire-fighter didn’t run into a building to save people because she might get burned? Can you imagine if the police officer didn’t stop a crime because he might get hurt? Can you imagine if your doctor wouldn’t operate to save your life because he was too embarrassed to see you on the table? Can you imagine if the radio didn’t tell you a flood was coming in time for you to be saved from drowning because the announcer thought you might not believe him? Can you imagine if your co-worker never told you about eternal salvation because he was afraid he would get fired? Can you imagine if your neighbour wound up in hell and you were too embarrassed to tell her how she could be saved?

So here is the thing: some will reject Salvation. Some will hate you for pointing them and others to Salvation. Some of us will be falsely accused and some of us will lose everything for standing up for Christ but even if we lose everything in this world but gain Christ, we lose nothing and gain everything (cf. Philippians 1:12-25).[2] Realizing that most of Jesus’ twelve disciples will ultimately be tortured and killed for pointing others to Salvation, Jesus says that cost won’t actually be a significant burden to bear.[3] Even the cost of our own lives will be easy.[4] If we rest in Christ, we will find peace. Jesus says of our Christian responsibilities, Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Whatever the cost is for following Christ – and it may be our lives, or worse for some people, a little embarrassment – whatever the cost is for following Christ, it is worth it because Jesus paid the price for our sins many years ago and as we cast all our cares upon Him, He promises that even as it costs our whole life to follow Him, His yoke is easy (TSA SB 483). His yoke is comfortable and His burden is light.

This is an encouragement today to keep on keeping on. This is my encouragement today that if there are any here who have not yet given their lives to the Lord, today would be the perfect time because God promises that no matter how difficult life gets, He will never leave us nor forsake us and God promises that no matter how difficult life is… He calls to us, Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Let us pray.

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[1] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Romans 1:16-17: I am not ashamed of the Gospel!’ Presented to Swift Current Corps, (Sheapspeak.com: Swift Current:05 July 2009). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/07/romans-116-i-am-not-ashamed-of-gospel.html

[2] R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), S. 204

[3] Cf  Martin Percy, Expository Times 119, no. 9 (June 2008): 441-443

[4] Cf. H.D. Betz, “The Logion of the Easy Yoke and of Rest [Matt 11:28-30],” Journal of Biblical Literature 86 (1967): 10-24.

Matthew 8:1-9:34: You are Healed

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 01 Sept 2013 by Rebecca, Sarah-Grace, and Captain Michael Ramsay

To view a 24 November 2019 version of this sermon that was presented to Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/11/matthew-81-934-you-are-healed-2019.html

“The Miracle stories in [Matthew] 8:1-9:34 should not be interpreted in isolation, but each should be interpreted in the context of the section as a whole, since it was constructed by Matthew as “Messiah in deed” (cf. 11:2), corresponding 5:7-29 as “Messiah in word”.[1] Today we will very quickly attempt to do just that while focusing on healings: the infirmity, the patient, who initiates the healing, what is the response, what is the directive, and then after we do all of this we will try to pull it together and ask ourselves how do all of Jesus’ healings here recorded apply to our lives today?

Matthew 8:1-4: 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.”

Infirmity: Leprosy (any skin disease)

Patient: Leper (social outcast)

Initiation: “A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2)

Response: “I am willing”, “Be clean” – Immediately the man was healed (v.3)

Directive: 1) Tell no one 2) Show yourself to the priest and offer sacrifices as a testimony (v.4)

This healing miracle is initiated by a man suffering from a skin disease. It may or may not be Hansen’s Disease –which is what we think of when we think of leprosy. This man, however, is shunned by his community: people with skin diseases are not allowed to take part in many social activities. He is an outcast. He is seen as unclean. There are a couple of important things that I notice off the bat about this healing. 1) The way the leper approaches Jesus: he approaches Him with deference and respect. He doesn’t command Jesus as if Jesus is some genie in a bottle. Instead the man says, Verse 2, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” And, Verse 3, then “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’” And 2) as he is healed, Jesus tells the man to offer the appropriate sacrifices to God as a testimony to the priests. We need to thank God for what he does in our lives and we need to share that with our religious leaders so that they have the opportunity to offer Glory to God as well.

Matthew 8:5-13: When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, 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.

Infirmity: Paralysis 

Patient: Roman Centurion’s servant (military occupier, foreigner, political and social outcast)

Initiation: The Centurion approached Jesus in person rather than sending a servant: “‘Lord’, he said, ‘my servant lies at home in terrible suffering” (Matthew 8:6)

Response: “I will go and heal him” or “Shall I come and heal him?”[2] – Immediately the man is healed (v.8). The Centurion (though he is powerful and a master of both soldiers and servants) publicly initiates a confession of his unworthiness of Jesus to come to his home. He confesses a belief in the power of Jesus to even heal from a distance (v.9). Jesus heals his servant and pronounces that the Kingdom of God is open to all who have faith and are faithful; whether they are outcasts of society or not. Conversely, not everyone who is currently part of the ‘in group’ of our society will be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Directive: “Go! It will be done…” (v.12).

One of the important pieces of this miracle is the patient. The patient is the servant of a Roman Centurion. The Romans, we remember, are an occupying military. They are as popular in Palestine then as the Americans are in the countries they are invading and occupying today. Some of Jesus’ followers themselves even identify with the terrorist (sicarii, zealots) and their struggle against the Romans. Jesus still delivers this man’s servant from being paralyzed. The Roman Officer: he could have sent a servant for Jesus but he went himself. Jesus asked or even offered to come to his house to heal the servant but the Officer – who is a powerful man – declares that 1) he is unworthy of Jesus’ entering his house; he acknowledges that Jesus is so much more than even he is; and 2) he publicly declares that he has so much faith in the power of Jesus that even from a distance, without ever even seeing the girl, Jesus can heal her. This is amazing. If only we all had the faith of this Gentile, military adversary of the independence-seeking Jews.

This brings us to another very important point. Through this exchange Jesus pronounces to all that the Kingdom of God is open to all who have faith and are faithful; whether they are outcasts of society or not. Conversely, Jesus tells us that not everyone who is currently part of the ‘in group’ of our society or our churches be a part of His eternal Kingdom. Some will be cast out (TSA Doc. 9).[3] It is not ‘who you are’; it is not ‘what you do’, like so much in this life it is simply  a matter of ‘who you know’.

Matthew 8:14-15: 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.

Infirmity: Fever

Patient: Peter’s mother-in-law

Initiation: None specified: “When Jesus came to Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever” (Matthew 8:14)

Response: 1) Jesus touched her hand, healed her 2) She waited on her Lord

Directive: None recorded.

What makes this healing stand out from the others? First, the others show very humble people coming before the Lord with much intention, deference, and respect on behalf of others or themselves. They approach Jesus quite humbly and they ask Him to please heal them or their loved ones. In this episode it even seems that Jesus initiates the healing: He goes to Peter’s house; He notices Peter’s mother-in-law and He heals her on the spot. Now even if she did not approach Jesus in humility before her healing, you will notice that afterward she gets up from her sickbed and proceeds to wait on Him.  Can you imagine if the doctor came to your house, healed an in-law of yours and then she immediately got up and began waiting on doctor? What would you think? Wow. She is better! This is what it was like and this is the same gratitude we should show as God delivers us from our ailments and infirmities.

Matthew 8:16: When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

Infirmity: Demon-possession

Patient: Many

Initiation: They were brought to him

Response: Jesus “drove out the spirits with a word and healed the sick” (v.16)

Directive: None specified

This verse mentions neither the heart of those coming before the Lord nor their actions or beliefs after being healed but merely that Jesus “drove out the spirits with a word and healed the sick” (v.16). This is passage is pointing out that these miracles Jesus is performing fulfill the prophesy of Isaiah 53:4. Jesus is the Messiah.

Matthew 8:28-34: When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.  Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Infirmity: Demon-possession

Patients: Two men living in the tombs (social outcasts)

Initiation: They violently came to Jesus, Matthew 8:29, “What do you want from us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Matthew 8:31: “The demons begged Jesus, ‘if you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

Response: 1) “Go!” Jesus drove them out. They went into the pigs and killed them. 2) The people looking after the pigs ran away and the whole town gathered and begged Jesus to leave.

Directive: Go!

This healing is neat too. Notice that no one initiates this who wants these men healed. The demon-possessed men violently come to Jesus and then the demons themselves provoke the encounter. Matthew 8:29, “What do you want from us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Matthew 8:31: “The demons begged Jesus, ‘if you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” Then once everyone finds out what Jesus has done –driving out the demons who kill the pigs - they beg him to go away. Whereas we have some coming to Jesus – like the Centurion and the leper - showing the proper respect and asking for mercy and some that it most appears as if Jesus just happened upon them – like Peter’s mother-in-law – here he we have demons hostile to and afraid of Jesus who are provoking Him to an action that no one seems to want and yet Jesus still heals these men - even though it doesn’t appear to wanted or even appreciated.

Matthew 9:1-8: Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.

Infirmity: Paralysis

Patient: A man

Initiation: Some friends brought him to Jesus

Response: 1) When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (v.2). 2) Teachers complained, accusing Jesus of blasphemy. Jesus then healed the man.

Directive: Verse 6, “But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Get up, take your mat and go home.’”

Some items of note here: We have friends bringing a friend to Jesus. Jesus responds, Verse 2, not to the man or because of the man brought to Him but Jesus responds to and because of the faithfulness of his friends who brought the man to Him. This is similar to the case of the Roman Centurion’s servant. One thing that is quite interesting here is that instead of healing the man immediately Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.” I don’t imagine that this is necessarily why this man’s friends brought him to Jesus and I could almost expect a response of “Gee, thanks…” if the teachers of the law didn’t provoke Jesus through commenting amongst themselves. The religious leaders are quite upset. They know that only God can forgive sins in this way. They know that Jesus is claiming to be God and it is in response to this that Jesus says, Verse 6, “But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” The man is healed. There is a certain irony here. Jesus forgives the sins of the man because of the faithfulness of the friends who bring him to Jesus for healing and he heals the man in response to the teachers’ lack of faith in Jesus’ ability to forgive sins.

Matthew 9:18-26: While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”  Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.  After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region.

Infirmity: Death

Patient: A girl

Initiation: Verse 18: “…a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, ‘My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.’”

Response: 1) …Jesus and his disciples went with the man, arrived at the house, threw out the mourners saying, Verse 24, “Go away, the girl is not dead but asleep.” 2) The crowd laughed at him. They were put outside then Jesus raised her from the dead

Directive: None.

Here we have two stories intertwined about healing bleeding and resurrecting the dead. We don’t really have time to address the full significance of the juxtaposition here;[4] so first we will look at the girl. After the religious teachers have just provoked Jesus, a religious synagogue leader is shown as coming to Jesus in desperation as his own daughter has just passed away. Here the leader is faithful in beseeching Jesus upon his knees - even as his relatives seemingly mock him as they laugh at Jesus. The synagogue leader puts his friends, relatives, and the mourners out of his house as he invites Jesus in. Jesus then raises the girl from the dead. No one other than the man apparently believe that Jesus will do this but when those present see it with their own eyes, they all believe and tell everyone that they know. The same is available to us. If we are bold in our faith and faithfulness, even as people mock us or laugh at us, they will see the power of God in our lives and so we should not be afraid to put those out who would drag us down into unbelief but rather we should boldly and faithfully proclaim our faith in their midst so that they too may believe.

Infirmity: Continual or frequently repeated bleeding

Patient: a woman (an unclean outcast)

Initiation: Verse 20-21: “…a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’”

Response: Jesus spoke and she was healed.

Directive: “Take heart, daughter” (v.22)

This lady barges upon the scene. She doesn’t have any of the requisite deference of the synagogue leader in our story who is kneeling before the Lord. She doesn’t have the humility and overtly displayed respect of the leper or the Centurion mentioned in Chapter 8. This lady just sneaks up to Jesus and touches His clothes almost as if she is trying to steal a healing. Jesus notices her –of course- and tells her not to be afraid; He tells her to “Take heart, daughter … your faith has healed you.” This woman is seemingly afraid of Jesus but she knows He can heal her so she comes to Him. Jesus knows her fears. Jesus knows her struggles. Jesus meets her and Jesus heals her. Even if we are afraid of God, as we approach Him, He will meet us with love and forgiveness – no matter who we are. He loves us.

Matthew 9:27-31: As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

Infirmity: Blindness

Patient: Two men

Initiation: The blind men followed Jesus calling out “have mercy on us, Son of David!” They then followed Jesus inside the building.

Response: Jesus asked them, Verse 28-30, “‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’

‘Yes, Lord,’ they replied.

Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you’; and their sight was restored.”

Directive: Verses 30-31: “Jesus warned them sternly, ‘See that no one knows about this.’ But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.”

In this story of healing, we have two persistent blind fellows calling out for mercy. They call out to Jesus. After Jesus goes inside, they follow Him there too. Of these two men, Jesus asks if they believe. He hasn’t asked this of the other people but He asks it of these men before he touches their eyes and heals them. This next part is neat. Jesus tells them to tell no one and what did they do? They tell everyone! This seems to always happens in the Bible but this is interesting because even though Jesus knows that these men will disobey His directive to them, He still has compassion and heals their blindness. Our healing and wholeness isn’t dependant upon our faith/faithfulness; it is dependant upon the faithfulness of Christ. He knows what is best for us and if that is healing, then Christ will heal us.

Matthew 9:32-38: While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Infirmity: Demon-possession and muteness

Patient: a man

Initiation: He was brought to Jesus

Response: 1) Jesus drove the demon out and the man could speak

2) The crowd was amazed “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”3) Verse 34, “But the Pharisees said, ‘It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.’”

Directive: None.

You will notice that there are many different ailments and illnesses and infirmities that Jesus heals in this section. You will also notice that some of them are tied to demon possession and some of them are not tied to demon possession. I have seen some very possibly well-intentioned people hurt some very vulnerable people very significantly as they wrongly inform them that their illnesses are a direct result of demon possession. This is not the case in all of these healings that we have seen raised before us today. Jesus does have the power to heal people who are wounded by demons but not every wound in life is delivered by the devils. Sometimes people’s lives are the way they are for the glory of God: John 9:3.

Conclusion

I have seen people who have really been healed of cancer. I have seen people who have really been healed of HIV and who really have been healed of AIDS. I do know people who have been healed of diabetes. There are people in our congregation here today who have been really healed and really delivered from many different infirmities and illnesses. The power of God is real. But I want to bring this to your attention:

There are fake healers out there. We have probably all seen them, heard them, or heard about them. There are people who fake the power of God for their own gain or glory or to try to make us forget about the very real healings that Christ has performed in many of our lives. Don’t fall for them. Don’t fall for the devil’s traps.

There are people too who will take Scripture out of context and wrongly say that God will only heal you if you have enough faith; there are people too who will take Scripture out of context and wrongly say that God will only heal you if you are good enough; There are people too who will take Scripture out of context and wrongly say that God will only heal you if you repent of your sins. All of this is wrong. We have read of God healing people who were brought to Him. We have read of God healing people who were not brought to Him. We have read of God healing people who reached out to him. We have read of God healing people who were dragged defiantly before Him. We have read of God healing people who had no request nor expectation of healing from Him. And we have read of God healing people who persistently came to Him. And we have read of God healing people who sincerely humbled themselves before Him.

Our text today shows that God heals people for the Glory of God. Jesus did not heal everyone who was sick in Palestine in the first century. Jesus did not heal everyone who had faith in Him in Palestine in the first century. Jesus did not raise every dead person in Palestine in the first century. Jesus did not raise every dead person who had faith in Him in Palestine in the first century.

I have heard many people say that whether or not God heals us has to do with whether we are good enough, holy enough, pure enough, or have faith enough. Our Scriptures today show us that that is patently false. It is a lie of the devils.. The truth is as Jesus is recorded as saying in just a chapter or two earlier – Matthew 7:11- that your Father in Heaven will give good gifts to his children and sometimes that gift is prolonged life here and now and sometimes that gift is an early return to Heaven above to be with Him. In any case, our Father loves us and will give us exactly what we need to see, experience and know to experience everlasting life with Him both for now and forever.

For God so loved the entire world that He sent His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Let us pray.

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[1] M. Eugene Boring, ‘Matthew’, (NIB 8: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1995), 222

[2] Cf. Daniel J. Harrington, ‘The Gospel of Matthew’, (Sacra Pagina 1: Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2007), 113.

[3] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Matthew 8:11-12: Keep Your Eye on the Ball’ Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (Swift Current, SK: Sheepspeak.com: 18 July 2010). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2010/07/matthew-811-12-keep-your-eye-on-ball.html

[4] Cf. Douglas R.A. Hare, ‘Matthew’, (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1993), 105 for a discussion of this as well as how it relates to Mark 5.