Latest / Reformed Thinking / Holiness That Touches: Christ’s Authority to Cleanse the Unclean (Matthew 8:1–4)

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Holiness That Touches: Christ’s Authority to Cleanse the Unclean (Matthew 8:1–4) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking, the show where we take a stack
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  of sources, scripture articles, research and really try to
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  extract the key knowledge you need to be well informed.
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  We skip the surface level stuff and get right to the heart of
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  it. And today we are taking a a very
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  strategic deep dive into the Gospel of Matthew.
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  We're looking at the account that comes right after Christ's
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  greatest sermon, right? Matthew chapter 8 verses one
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  through 4. It's that moment where the, you
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  know, the spoken authority of the king turns into visible
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  saving action. That's where we're headed.
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  So our mission in this deep dive is to isolate what the story
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  tells us about Christ's unique authority, how genuine faith
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  actually works when it meets that authority, and maybe the
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  most surprising part, the way Christ's holiness interacts with
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  human defilement. You'd think holiness would run
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  from the mess. But this passage shows us
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  something completely different. It's a total reversal of what
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  you'd expect from the Old covenant, and it really sets the
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  stage for everything Jesus does next.
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  OK, let's unpack this. So the Sermon on the Mount wraps
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  up in Matthew 7 and then chapter 8, verse one just starts.
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  When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed
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  him. We need to stop right there.
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  We do. Because that's not just a travel
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  update. Matthew is making a big
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  theological point with that one sentence.
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  The transition from the mountain is everything.
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  I mean, think about how Chapter 7 just ended.
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  The crowds were absolutely astonished because Jesus spoke
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  as one who had authority and not as their scribes.
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  Right, the scribes always had to lean on someone else's
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  authority. They did.
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  It was always rabbi so and so taught, or the tradition of the
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  elder says their authority was always second hand.
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  It came from quoting higher human sources.
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  It was almost like they were citing their footnotes out.
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  Loud. That's a great way to put it.
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  But Jesus spoke with this inherent immediate authority.
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  He wasn't saying Moses said this, but maybe we should think
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  about it this way. He said, you have heard that it
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  was said, but I say to you. That's a huge shift.
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  It's an earth shattering shift from quoting the law to being
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  the law giver. And the people who heard it,
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  they felt the weight of that. So Matthew is being very
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  deliberate here. He doesn't let that feeling of
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  awe just hang in the air. He immediately moves us from the
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  authoritative proclamation, the sermon, the doctrine, to an
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  authoritative encounter. From the word to the work.
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  Exactly. The authority of his voice is
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  immediately followed by the authority of his hand.
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  It's like he's saying you are amazed by what he said.
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  Now watch what he does. It validates the entire sermon.
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  If the Sermon on the Mount is the constitution of the Kingdom,
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  Matthew 8 is the immediate proof that the king not only wrote the
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  laws, but has the power to enforce them, and more than
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  that, to bring people into that Kingdom.
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  The very dynamic way to structure the story.
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  It is. Let's talk about the geography
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  for a second, because you mentioned it's strategic Jesus
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  coming down from a mountain. That's not accidental detail in
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  a book written for a Jewish audience.
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  Not at all. It's a subtle but really
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  powerful contract with Moses at Sinai.
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  You have to think back to Exodus.
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  Moses goes at Mount Sinai to get the law and what are the people
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  told? Stay back, don't even touch the
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  mountain or you'll be put to death.
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  Right there are barriers, smoke, fire and a sense of terror.
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  The message of Sinai was that God's holiness is dangerous and
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  you mortals need to keep your distance.
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  So holiness was something that had to be kept separate.
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  Protected access was incredibly restricted, you know, through
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  the priesthood and all the rituals.
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  Yes, and Jesus's descent just flips that whole expectation on
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  its head. He is the greater Moses, but
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  instead of going up and leaving the people down below, he comes
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  down into the crowd, into the chaos.
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  This holiness doesn't need a quarantine zone.
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  No, it's not timid. It's active.
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  It's pursuing. It's restorative.
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  This isn't holiness being lowered or compromised to meet
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  the mess. This is Holiness demonstrating
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  its saving power by moving toward the mess.
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  That is a critical point. The Holy 1 doesn't just sit up
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  in his holy fortress and wait for the weak and defile to
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  somehow climb their way up to him.
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  No, he draws near. That descent sets the whole tone
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  for Matthew chapters 8:00 and 9:00.
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  It shows that the Kingdom of God operates by grace coming down,
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  not by human merit climbing up. Which explains the flow of those
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  next two chapters, right? It's just one miracle after
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  another. Healing.
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  Casting out demons, calming a storm.
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  It shows that the Kingdom isn't just a collection of nice ideas
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  or high ethical standards. It is the active reign of God
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  breaking into a world that's bound by sickness, by demons, by
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  uncleanness, by chaos. The descent shows the King's
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  authority is for deliverance. And the text makes a point to
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  say great crowds followed him. This isn't happening in a corner
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  somewhere. It's a public display.
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  Very public. This underscores that Christ's
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  authority, His works, they're visible, they're accountable,
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  they're open for everyone to see and examine.
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  The crowd is also, you know, the stage where you can see all the
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  social rules in action. You know who belongs and who
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  doesn't, who's in and who's out. The social tension is thick.
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  And who's the very first person to breakthrough all those
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  unwritten rules, all those barriers to approach the king?
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  The one person who absolutely should not be there.
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  The man with the deepest social and religious stigma you could
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  imagine. A leper.
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  Matthew's placement is brilliant.
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  He puts the king who just laid down the highest ethical
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  standards for his Kingdom face to face with the lowest, most
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  excluded person in that society. So right after he explains the
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  kind of righteousness the Kingdom demands, he demonstrates
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  the merciful power of the king, who can actually give that
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  righteousness to sinners and bring them in.
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  It's the perfect pastoral move. It shows that the same Christ
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  who just exposed the hidden sin of the heart, the lust, the
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  anger, is the same Christ who now meets the truly helpless and
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  makes them clean. He doesn't just tell us what
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  holiness is. He shows us that holiness is
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  something He gives. So Jesus is down from the
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  mountain, the huge crowd is watching, and then the text
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  says. And behold, A leper came to him.
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  That word, behold, is Matthew's way of telling us to pay close
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  attention. Right.
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  It's like a big flashing arrow, He's saying, look at this.
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  The most profound theological lesson is about to come from the
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  most rejected person here. To really feel the weight of
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  this, we have to understand what leprosy meant in that culture.
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  It was so much more than a skin disease.
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  Oh absolutely. It was what you could call a
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  covenant problem. What do you mean by that?
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  A covenant problem. Well, it wasn't necessarily a
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  sinew committed that gave you leprosy, the law is clear on
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  that. But the result was a state of
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  ceremonial uncleanness. Leviticus 13 and 14 laid all
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  out. And it was brutal.
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  It was a person with leprosy had to tear their clothes, let their
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  hair be unkempt, cover their mouth and shout unclean, unclean
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  wherever they went. A.
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  Walking warning sign for everyone else to stay away.
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  And they had to live outside the camp, outside the community.
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  They were cut off from their family, from the market.
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  And this is key from the temple, from corporate worship it.
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  Was a kind of living death. You're still breathing, but
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  you've been erased from society. Exactly so.
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  This man is carrying this immense burden of physical
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  decay, social rejection, and religious alienation.
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  For a person in that state to just walk up to a rabbi in the
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  middle of a crowd, that is an act of incredible, almost law
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  breaking audacity. Just by walking toward Jesus,
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  he's making a huge statement of faith, isn't he?
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  Two big statements, I think. First, he's confessing that he
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  believes Jesus is totally different from every other
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  religious figure. He isn't threatened by this
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  man's uncleanness. And 2nd.
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  Second, he believes Jesus can do what the entire priestly system
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  could not. A priest couldn't cure a
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  leprosy. A priest could only verify that
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  God had cured it and then let you back into the community.
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  So this man is bypassing the system and going straight to the
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  source of cleansing itself. He is, and in doing that his
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  approach sort of rebukes 2 common errors.
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  We fall into the despair that says I'm too far gone, I can't
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  approach God, and the self-sufficiency that says let
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  me clean myself up first, then I'll approach God.
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  He comes in his full uncleanness.
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  And look at his posture, Matthew tells us.
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  He knelt before him. The Greek word there is
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  prescuni. And that word is significant.
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  It's not just, he bowed. No, it's much more than that.
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  It's a word that implies deep reverence, submission, sometimes
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  even worship of a divine being. In the non religious world, it's
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  what you did before, a king prostrating yourself.
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  So the leper is acknowledging Christ's rank.
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  He's not coming to a healer for a transaction, he's submitting
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  to a master. A king.
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  And what's so striking is that the first person in Matthew's
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  Gospel to offer this kind of Worshipful submission isn't a
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  Pharisee or a priest. It's the ultimate outcast.
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  That contrast is the whole point.
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  His posture really embodies the very virtues from the Sermon on
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  the Mount, doesn't it? The poverty of spirit, the
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  meekness. It does.
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  Real faith isn't demanding. It's surrender.
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  It's an appeal that recognizes Jesus may act according to his
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  own goodwill. Which brings us to the words he
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  actually says. It's so compact, but so
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  theologically dense. Lord, if you will, you can make
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  me clean. It's a perfect model of prayer.
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  Let's just break that down. The first part is the confidence
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  you can. There's no hesitation about
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  Christ's power. He has zero doubt that Jesus is
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  able to do this thing that nobody else can do.
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  None, no doubt whatsoever in Christ's ability.
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  The man's faith is not shaky on the question of Christ's power.
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  He believes Jesus can fundamentally change his
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  reality. And then comes the if, if you
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  will. That's the submission.
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  And this is where you see a model for for truly Reformed
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  prayer. The only if in his statement is
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  about Christ's will. He's acknowledging that God is
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  sovereign. He has the right to decide.
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  It's a kind of submissive boldness.
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  That's it. It's bold because he knows
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  Christ can, but it's submissive because he yields to Christ's
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  wisdom and freedom. He's not trying to manipulate or
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  demand anything. He's saying I trust you
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  completely, whatever your decision is.
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  It honors Jesus as Lord because a Lord has the right to dispense
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  His favor as He sees fit. You see that same pattern in
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  Christ's own prayer and Gethsemane, right?
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  Not as I will, but as you will. This leper, this outcast,
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  demonstrates the highest form of dependent faith.
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  And notice what he asks for. He doesn't say heal me or fix my
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  skin. He says make me clean.
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  That word clean Katharizu, is just loaded with meaning from
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  the Old Testament. He's asking for more than
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  physical relief. He wants restoration.
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  He wants back. In he wants to be able to
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  worship with his community again.
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  He wants to be able to touch his family.
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  He understands his deepest problem isn't his skin.
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  It's his defilement, his separation from God and God's
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  people. He's asking for what only God
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  can provide, a total change of status.
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  Yes. The whole approach, the coming,
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  the kneeling, the careful words. It's a rebuke to any kind of
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  health and wealth gospel that treats Jesus as a means to an
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  end. This man kneels and asks for the
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  one thing he needs most to be made clean.
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  OK, so the leper has thrown himself completely on Christ's
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  sovereign will, if you will. The ball is in Jesus's court.
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  Now. How does the King respond?
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  The response is immediate. It's powerful, and you know it's
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  deeply scandalous. For that context, verse 3 says
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  Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.
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  Before he even says a word, he touches him.
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  He touches him, and we have to feel the shock of that.
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  Under the ceremonial law, defilement was seen as
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  contagious. If you touched a leper, you
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  yourself became ritually unclean.
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  So Jesus was breaking a serious religious and social taboo right
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  in front of everyone he. Was, and it raises a question we
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  know from later in the same chapter with the centurion
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  servant, that Jesus can heal from a distance.
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  He doesn't need to touch him. So why does he Is the touch
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  necessary for the miracle itself?
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  I don't think it is. I think the touch is purely
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  pastoral and deeply prophetic. For this leper, being touched by
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  another person was probably a distant, painful memory.
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  People didn't just avoid lepers, they recoiled from them.
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  So the touch itself was an act of restoration.
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  A profound 1. Before Jesus even healed the
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  man's body, he healed his dignity.
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  He restored his humanity. The touch says I see a person,
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  not just a disease. I am not afraid of your mess.
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  I will draw near to you in your deepest shame.
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  And in that moment, the whole dynamic of contagion gets turned
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  upside down. This is the theological
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  earthquake in the story. The normal spiritual physics, if
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  you will, is that uncleanness spreads to the clean.
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  But here Christ's holiness isn't weak or fragile.
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  It's a conquering power. So instead of Jesus becoming
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  unclean from the leper. The leper becomes clean from
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  Jesus. Defilement is destroyed by his
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  purity. The holy King moves toward the
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  Sinner, not to be stained by the sin, but to obliterate the stain
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  of sin. That is the gospel.
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  In one single action, Christ draws near to the defiled, not
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  to approve of the defilement, but to remove it.
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  And he does it without being dirty himself.
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  And then after the touch comes the word.
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  He gives a direct answer to the leper's question.
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  The man asked if you will, and Jesus says I will.
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  That one phrase I will just settles the question of God's
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  disposition toward the needy, doesn't it?
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  It absolutely does. It reveals the very heart of
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  Christ for anyone who feels weighed down by their own
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  defilement, who wonders, is God really willing to accept someone
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  like me? Jesus gives the answer.
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  I will. The barrier to our cleansing is
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  never Christ's reluctance. That's a huge comfort.
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  We don't serve a grudging God. And that willingness is
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  immediately followed by a sovereign command.
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  He doesn't say. I hope you feel better soon, he
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  commands. Be clean.
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  That's the language of a king. It carries the full force of his
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  divine authority. He's not asking the law for
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  permission or following a procedure.
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  He is speaking reality into existence.
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  Cleansing flows directly from His will and His word.
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  And Matthew, make sure we get the point by adding that little
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  phrase. And immediately his leprosy was
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  cleansed. It's not a gradual process.
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  It's not a slow recovery. It's instantaneous.
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  It's complete. It's a decisive reversal.
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  And that immediacy is the whole point, isn't it?
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  It shows that this is not a human remedy.
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  No, we can't manage ourselves into cleanness over time.
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  We can't work off our defilement.
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  Sin requires a divine, immediate intervention.
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  And in this one story, Jesus, this gives us a living parable
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  of salvation. He's near enough to touch us,
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  holy enough to conquer our sin, willing enough to say I will,
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  and powerful enough to make us clean in an instant.
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  All right, so this man has just been touched, healed, and
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  cleansed in a flash by a sovereign command.
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  I mean, the natural thing to do would be to start screaming with
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  joy and telling everyone you see.
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  Absolutely, that would be the human reaction.
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  But Jesus gives him this really strict final instruction.
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  In verse four he says, see that you say nothing to anyone, but
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  go show yourself to the priest and offer to the gift that Moses
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  commanded for a proof to them. That first part, the command for
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  silence, can seem a bit strange. It feels counterintuitive.
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  Why would Jesus want to silence such a powerful testimony?
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  Right. If the goal is to show his
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  authority, why the secret? Well, this is often called the
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  messianic secret, and in this context it seems to be about
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  preventing the miracle from being misunderstood or Co opted.
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  Jesus constantly resists having his work turned into just a
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  spectacle. He doesn't want to be a circus
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  act. Exactly.
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  Or worse, he doesn't want his authority to be seen in purely
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  political terms. If this man runs off shouting
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  the new king just healed me, the crowd might start thinking about
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  a political revolution against Rome, not a spiritual cleansing
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  from sin. So Jesus is controlling the
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  narrative. He's making sure his mission is
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  understood correctly. It's about cleansing and
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  obedience, not just raw power displace.
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  And I think there's also an element of spiritual discipline
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  for the man himself. The gift he just received needs
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  to 1st lead to quiet obedience before it leads to public
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  proclamation. So he's being commissioned first
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  as an obedient worshipper, not as a celebrity.
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  The focus has to stay on God and His prescribed order.
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  And that brings us to the second part of the command.
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  Go show yourself to the priest. Right after this incredible act
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  of New Covenant power, Jesus sends the man right back into
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  the formal structure of the Old Covenant.
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  That is so important for understanding Jesus's
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  relationship with the Law of Moses.
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  He's not here to abolish it. No, he's showing that he's not
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  contemptuous of God's established order.
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  He just showed he can do what the law could never do, actually
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  cleanse someone. But now he honors the law's
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  role. And what was the law's role in a
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  case like this? The priest's job, according to
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  Leviticus 13 and 14, was purely diagnostic and administrative.
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  They would inspect someone and if and only if the disease was
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  gone, the priest would declare them clean and officiate their
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  reentry into the community. So Jesus provides the cure, and
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  the law provides the official certification.
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  Precisely. Christ fulfills the law.
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  He operates with an authority far beyond the law's power, but
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  he works within its established framework.
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  The miracle gets validated by God's own public system.
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  And then there's the offering offer, the gift that Moses
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  commanded. Right, that sends us straight to
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  the rituals in Leviticus 14, which involved, you know, 2
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  clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, hyssop.
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  It was quite a process. So what's the point of the
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  offering if the cleansing has already happened by grace for
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  free? It's not a payment.
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  Grace is never for sale. The offering serves a few
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  purposes. First, it's an act of public
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  obedience and Thanksgiving. It formally confirms his
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  reintegration back into the Covenant community.
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  So cleanness isn't just a private, personal thing, it's
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  communal. It is.
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  And 2nd, those offerings, especially the blood sacrifices
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  involved, were all types. They were shadows pointing
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  forward to something greater. So this man is offering the
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  shadow commanded by Moses, even though he was just cleansed by
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  the very substance, the very reality that those shadows were
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  pointing to. Jesus.
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  Jesus. And what about that last phrase?
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  The whole thing is for a proof to them who is them.
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  The most natural reading is that them refers to the priests, the
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  religious authorities in Jerusalem.
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  So this isn't just about the man's personal restoration, it's
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  a direct challenge to the establishment.
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  It's a high stakes confrontation delivered quietly.
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  This cleansed man shows up at the temple healed with the
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  legally required offering. He is forcing the official
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  religious system to deal with what has happened.
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  His healed body is Exhibit A. Right, and the lawful offering
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  is the documented proof the priests are cornered.
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  They have to legally declare this man clean, and in doing so
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  they are forced to acknowledge that a genuine divine
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  restoration has happened in Israel and the only one claiming
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  that authority is Jesus. It makes their later rejection
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  of Jesus completely inexcusable. They can't claim ignorance.
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  They were presented with verifiable, law abiding proof of
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  His divine authority. It forces them to make a choice,
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  either accept the miracle and its source or reject the very
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  law they claim to guard. So if we step back now and look
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  at the whole biblical picture, this leper is really a symbol
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  for the human condition apart from Christ.
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  Uncleanness in the Old Testament was this.
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  This lived out terrible. It was it was constantly
• 18:58
  teaching the people that in our fallen state we are unfit for
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  God's presence. Our biggest problem is distance,
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  the separation from communion with a holy God.
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  And the law was designed to manage that distance.
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  It could diagnose the problem, it could expose the defilement
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  and separate it. But it couldn't provide the
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  cure. It left Israel longing for
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  something more, for a decisive divine act of cleansing that
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  only the Messiah could bring. And that's what happens in
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  Matthew 8. Jesus arrives and performs that
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  act. Let's talk more about that
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  reversal you mentioned earlier, the conquest of contagion.
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  Right in the physical world, the impure thing contaminates the
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  fear thing. That's how it works.
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  But with Jesus we see a new spiritual reality.
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  His superior holiness doesn't get absorbed by the defilement,
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  it radiates out and consumes the defilement.
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  That's a powerful picture of his divine nature.
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  Only God's holiness could function like that.
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  It's a direct proof of his claim, and this physical act is
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  a clear foreshadowing of his work on the cross, his
• 19:57
  substitutionary atonement. The physical touch anticipates A
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  deeper spiritual identification. Exactly.
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  The Holy One draws near to sinners not just to declare them
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  clean from a distance, but to actually make them clean.
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  And to do that, he had to willingly be treated as if he
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  were the unclean 1. He took our defilement on
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  himself. He became sin for us on the
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  cross, bearing the exclusion and the shame, so that we could
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  receive His perfect cleansing righteousness.
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  So this story of the leper is really the gospel in miniature.
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  The Kingdom of God is a work of divine cleansing first, not a
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  program of moral improvement. We're made fit for God's
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  presence by a king who comes down to us, not by our own
• 20:37
  efforts to climb up. That's the heart of it.
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  So let's bring this down to a practical level for our own
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  faith and prayer, OK? The fact that Christ comes down
• 20:45
  from the mountain should be a huge rebuke to our tendency to
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  hide from Him when we feel unworthy.
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  It should So many people, especially when they're
• 20:53
  struggling with sin, they treat Jesus like he's at the top of
• 20:57
  the mountain, and they think they have to get themselves
• 20:59
  cleaned up a bit before they can even start the climb.
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  So if you feel defiled, the answer isn't to hide or to try
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  harder on your own. No, repentance isn't a climb to
• 21:09
  earn God's attention. It's a return to the Savior who
• 21:13
  is already at the bottom of the mountain, meeting sinners at the
• 21:16
  margins. The descent of Christ is our
• 21:18
  assurance that He is accessible to the unclean.
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  And the leprous prayer itself, it's a guide for us.
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  He asked to be made clean, not just for his circumstances to
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  get better. That's a mirror we really need
• 21:30
  to hold up to our own prayers. How often do we pray for the
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  consequences of our sin to go away?
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  You know, fix the relationship, help the finances before we ask
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  for the sin itself to be cleansed.
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  We have to name our deepest need first.
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  Lord, make me clean. And then hold those two things
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  in tension from his prayer, the confidence you can, and the
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  submission if you will. That balance trains us in humble
• 21:53
  dependence. It protects us from two big
• 21:56
  errors. On one side, it stops us from
• 21:58
  trying to manipulate God, thinking I did my part, now God
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  owes me. And on the other side, it keeps
• 22:03
  us from a passive fatalism that just says, well, whatever
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  happens, happens. We ask boldly because we know He
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  can, and we submit humbly because we trust His wisdom is
• 22:14
  perfect. That's right.
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  How does this apply to the church today?
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  To our own pursuit of holiness? I mean, Jesus touching the
• 22:21
  lepers seems to be a real warning against a kind of self
• 22:24
  protective cleanliness that's really just fear.
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  It hits hard, doesn't it? The church can so easily fall
• 22:29
  into the trap of valuing separation more than mission.
• 22:32
  We build our clean, safe walls to keep the messy people out and
• 22:36
  then pat ourselves on the back for our purity.
• 22:38
  We act like our holiness is brittle, like it'll shatter if
• 22:41
  we get too close to a Sinner. But Christ is conquering its
• 22:44
  offensive, not defensive. So we have to hold two things
• 22:48
  together. We never accommodate or approve
• 22:50
  of sin, but we also never keep sinners at arm's length.
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  The world's messages get yourself clean.
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  Then you can come hang out. Christ's messages come as you
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  are, and I will make you clean. And that has to define how we
• 23:02
  engage with the world. And finally, that command in
• 23:05
  verse 4 for silence and obedience to the priest, that
• 23:09
  seems like a good corrective for our culture of sensationalism.
• 23:12
  Our zeal always needs to be disciplined by obedience to
• 23:15
  God's Word and his established order.
• 23:17
  The flesh wants a platform. It wants instant recognition.
• 23:21
  But Jesus says, before you shout, go, obey.
• 23:24
  The miracle is confirmed through humble submission to Scripture
• 23:26
  and the community, not through a viral video.
• 23:29
  So maybe the most practical lesson from this whole story is
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  a simple sequence. Come to Christ for immediate,
• 23:34
  decisive cleansing, then walk in quiet, humble obedience that
• 23:37
  allows your whole life, lawfully and truthfully, to become a
• 23:40
  testimony to Him. Our witness should be governed
• 23:43
  by the Word, not by our own noise.
• 23:46
  So this deep dive into just 4 verses of Matthew 8 is really
• 23:49
  shown as a vital sequence. Christ's descending authority,
• 23:53
  the nature of true reverent faith.
• 23:55
  Christ's powerful and willing cleansing, and then the command
• 23:58
  for humble obedience and testimony.
• 24:01
  Matthew shows us a Messiah who brings the Kingdom by making
• 24:04
  defiled people fit for fellowship.
• 24:06
  With God. And there's such immense comfort
• 24:08
  in that. The leper who was once excluded
• 24:10
  by the law was brought back into worship because the Holy One
• 24:13
  came near to him. So think about this for your own
• 24:16
  life. If the Old Covenant law could
• 24:18
  only diagnose the problem and separate you, what does it mean
• 24:21
  for your daily standing before God that Christ, who destroys
• 24:23
  defilement at its root, has commanded you to approach God
• 24:26
  directly in His name? Just reflect on the kind of
• 24:29
  certainty that gives you before the King of Glory.