What kind of kingdom must it be? …what does it say about the kingdom Jesus is ushering if it is characterized by these healings?
A man no one would want to touch.
An outsider, commander of an army holding Israel at bay.
A mother-in-law, a woman whose role, in that society, gave her no prestige.
Jesus touches, affirms, and restores. He heals without hesitation or boundary. The kingdom he proclaims is not abstract or far-off—it is tangible, embodied, compassionate. He isn’t checking ID cards. Not digging into personal history. Just healing. It breaks through where pain, isolation, and exclusion have taken root.
And as Matthew tells us, this isn’t random. It’s fulfillment. This is what the prophets foretold: that the Messiah would take our illnesses and carry our diseases. The kingdom is not built on avoidance of suffering—but on entering into it, lifting it, and healing it.
Matthew 8:1-17
Now when Jesus had come down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. A man with a skin disease came, kneeled before him, and said, “Lord, if you want, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to. Become clean.” Instantly his skin disease was cleansed. Jesus said to him, “Don’t say anything to anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded. This will be a testimony to them.”
When Jesus went to Capernaum, a centurion approached, pleading with him, “Lord, my servant is flat on his back at home, paralyzed, and his suffering is awful.”
Jesus responded, “I’ll come and heal him.”
But the centurion replied, “Lord, I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof. Just say the word and my servant will be healed. I’m a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and the servant does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was impressed and said to the people following him, “I say to you with all seriousness that even in Israel I haven’t found faith like this. I say to you that there are many who will come from east and west and sit down to eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.” Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it will be done for you just as you have believed.” And his servant was healed that very moment.
Jesus went home with Peter and saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and served them. That evening people brought to Jesus many who were demon-possessed. He threw the spirits out with just a word. He healed everyone who was sick. This happened so that what Isaiah the prophet said would be fulfilled: He is the one who took our illnesses and carried away our diseases.
Psalm 103:1-5
Let my whole being bless the Lord! Let everything inside me bless his holy name! Let my whole being bless the Lord and never forget all his good deeds: how God forgives all your sins, heals all your sickness, saves your life from the pit, crowns you with faithful love and compassion, and satisfies you with plenty of good things so that your youth is made fresh like an eagle’s.
Prayer
God,
Make me compassionate like Jesus. Help me to bring healing and not division. You do not shy away from the wounded or cast aside the outsider. So don’t let me. You heal what others would ignore, and you draw close when the world steps back.
Make me an agent of your healing kingdom—present, open, and full of grace.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
So don’t let me. Amen.
So powerful