Matthew 8: Jesus Stretched Out His Hand and Touched the Man with Leprosy

Introduction

About twenty years ago, Emmanuel Burwam and his wife were looking for a way to join MAF France. They pulled out a map, saw that there was aviation in Toulouse, and found Toulouse International Church online: "That's where we'll go to church." The Lord led them elsewhere, to the Marseille area. Twenty years later, here they are in this very church, and he sees it as a reminder that God remains in charge of every detail of what he calls us to do.

A French-Nigerian pilot with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) for nine years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Emmanuel is about to leave for Nigeria to open a new program. The church had just begun a series on evangelism and bearing witness to those around us. He suggests looking at this theme from the point of view of mission.

His definition: for a Christian, reaching out to others is "a biblical response to a world in distress." To show this, he opens a short account from Matthew 8, where Jesus touches a man with leprosy. He sees in it a world that needs compassion, hope, healing, and truth.

Outline of the Message

1. A World in Distress, One Person at a Time

"When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him." You only have to look out the window to understand that we live in a world in distress. The question becomes: how do I respond?
Do I pull back out of fear, because I feel powerless in the face of a colossal problem? Or can I reach out and do something?
Jesus comes down from the mountain after the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7). He had taught something radically different from what the rabbis said. Now he moves into practice.
Crowds often overwhelm us. But it is one man, just one, who steps forward. "Often, Jesus asks us to take care of one person at a time."
The man with leprosy has faith: "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean." It is also a risk. He does not know whether Jesus will take the time to look at him. The world in distress often shows up this way, as one person reaching out a hand to us.

2. A World Lacking Compassion: Jesus Touched Him

"Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him." We talk about reaching out to others, and the word is right there: Jesus stretched out his hand.
Leviticus 13 and 14 lay out in detail what had to be done in cases of leprosy. The man with leprosy was unclean. He had to live outside the camp, outside the city, alone or with other people with leprosy, and cry "Unclean! Unclean!" whenever someone approached.
Jesus could have healed from a distance. Right afterward, a Roman centurion tells him a single word is enough, and Jesus heals his servant without even going to his house.
Here, he chooses to touch. Everyone must have thought the teacher had become unclean. "He did not heal him and then touch him. He touched him, then healed him."
Human contact matters. We greet each other with a kiss on the cheek, a hug, a handshake; in the Congo, men greet each other forehead to forehead. When we are hurting, we want someone to hold us. How long had it been since this man had felt a hand telling him: "You matter to me"?
We live in a world that is often cold, hard, and cruel, a world crying out for compassion.

3. A World Lacking Hope: "I Want To"

The man did not just say "you can heal me," but "you can make me clean." He wanted to be restored to society, to become whole again. Behind the visible need, there are deeper needs: emotional, psychological, spiritual.
"I want to." God is not only able to help us, he wants to. And that gives hope.
Even in France, whatever we think of people who shout and smash things, it is a cry and a form of despair. We all know what someone who is losing hope looks like: they stop asking, and they fade away.
Emmanuel makes a confession: "Too often, I am guilty of having crushed people's hope," by answering "I can't do anything for you" instead of saying: "Lord, help me. What do you want to do for this person?"

4. A World Lacking Healing: "Be Made Clean"

"Be made clean. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed." He still had a few steps to take before being recognized as clean, but he is healed and on the road to becoming whole again.
There are so many physical illnesses, but also hidden wounds, emotional and psychological, and in the end the need for spiritual healing.
MAF wants to "give wings" to this work. Its mission: to serve together to bring help, hope, and healing through aviation, so that isolated people are transformed by the love of Christ.
The focus is on remote regions, villages, places where people are often forgotten and which many leave to look for opportunities in the city.
MAF carries medical teams, patients, and supplies. It also carries workers of the gospel: Bible translators, so that everyone can read the Word in their heart language, and trainers of pastors and Sunday school leaders. It also runs flights that link villages to cities.
In eastern Congo, where rebel groups make the roads too dangerous, MAF runs an "air bridge" between two cities.
In Nigeria, a Christian mission hospital in Egbe, in Kogi State, invited MAF. From Abuja, it is an 8 to 10 hour drive, with risks of kidnapping and attacks. Some organizations cannot send their teams there without an air link, because their insurance does not cover them.

5. Why We Do It

In Europe, MAF is often presented as a humanitarian organization. Not everyone understands the gospel, and some even associate it with negative things, but almost everyone understands kindness and compassion.
A well-known American evangelist who worked with young people used to say: "They don't care what you know until they know that you care about them."
Without that bond of the heart, you are just one more person with an interesting idea. A world lacking compassion needs to know that we care about it.
Caring opens the door. People ask: "Why are you doing this?" And the answer comes: "Because God loved me, he changed my life, and I want to do the same for someone else."

6. A World Lacking Truth: Verse 4

"See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
Jesus was not looking for fame. It was mostly a matter of timing: if the news spread too soon, the crowds would come for the wrong reasons and keep him from carrying out his ministry the way he wanted.
What matters is obedience. Healing, salvation, is a first step toward a new life with God as Lord. Jesus is already beginning to make this man a disciple.
He will bear witness not first by speaking, but by obeying. According to rabbinic writings, the healing of a man with leprosy, a very rare thing, was to be one of the signs of the Messiah. Jesus was sending the religious leaders a clear sign: open your eyes, the Messiah is here. They rejected it.
Humanitarian work has a purpose, but we must not stop there. In a world where so many crazy ideas circulate, the Bible contains the truth. By showing that we care about people, we earn the right to share it, gently and respectfully.
Jesus said: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).
That is why his wife opened a Christian school in Kinshasa. Teaching math, science, or geography is also teaching children who created all of this, who they are, and who God is. "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).
The name of the school comes from a Greek word close to "poem": a work of God, like a work of art. That is how we should see children, and every human being created in the image of God.

7. "Do You See Me?"

In the Congo, someone you pass in the street may give you a small gesture. It took Emmanuel a while to understand its meaning: "Do you see me?"
Not just: have you noticed that I am here? But: do you see me as a human being, with dignity? Do you see my need? And above all: do you care about me?
In Lingala, the right reply means: "I see you." You may not do anything in the moment, but you acknowledge the person.
"Let's not become robots passing each other by in this digital world." Do we see one another as works of God? Do we care enough about people to reach out and touch them as Jesus did?
Often, we are unable to. So let our prayer be that God gives us a heart of compassion and opens the doors. "but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15).

Key Takeaways

The world in distress often shows up as a single person who dares to step forward.
Jesus could have healed from a distance. He chose to touch the one nobody touched anymore.
God is not only able to help us, he wants to: "I want to."
Compassion opens the door: people don't care what you know until they know that you care about them.
We must not stop at caring: the world also needs truth, shared gently and respectfully.

Personal Application

Who is the one person God is placing on your path right now?
Faced with the needs around you, do you tend to pull back out of fear or a sense of powerlessness?
Have you ever crushed someone's hope by saying "I can't do anything for you," without asking the Lord what he wanted to do?
This week, who can you tell, by a gesture or a word: "I see you, you matter to me"?
Are you ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you, gently and respectfully?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it so powerful that Jesus touched the man with leprosy?

Under the law of Leviticus 13 and 14, a person with leprosy was unclean and had to live apart. Jesus could have healed him from a distance, as he did for the centurion's servant. He chose to touch him first, then heal him. For Emmanuel Burwam, this gesture shows Jesus' compassion toward a man whom nobody touched anymore.

Why does Jesus tell the man with leprosy not to tell anyone?

Jesus was not looking for fame. It was a matter of timing: if the news spread too soon, the crowds would come for the wrong reasons. Instead, he sends the man to show himself to the priest, as Moses had prescribed. The man's obedience becomes a testimony in itself.

What is MAF, and how does it relate to the gospel?

MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) serves together to bring help, hope, and healing through aviation, so that isolated people are transformed by the love of Christ. It carries medical teams and gospel workers such as Bible translators or trainers of pastors, and runs air links to isolated or dangerous regions.