Teaching Text

Matthew 4:18-22

“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.”

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Dr. Ron Walborn joined us for the first time as a new addition to our pastoral staff, continuing our FOLLOW series with a teaching on healing from Matthew 8:1–4.

Rather than beginning with techniques or outcomes, Dr. Ron began with the character of Jesus. As Jesus comes down the mountain after the Sermon on the Mount, He is met by a man with leprosy. A disease that is marked not only by physical suffering, but by isolation, exclusion, and shame. Against every social and religious expectation, Jesus reaches out and touches him. Before the healing is a miracle, it is an act of compassion. In Jesus, we see what God is like.

From there, Dr. Ron traced two movements through the passage. First, he considered the posture of the man seeking healing. The leper comes to Jesus in faith, worships Him, asks with humility, and leaves in obedience. Dr. Ron suggested that healing is never merely an end in itself. Jesus heals people so they can walk more fully into the life He has for them. Their destiny lies on the other side of their healing.

He then turned to Jesus as our model for ministering to others. Jesus responds with compassion, reveals the Father's desire to heal, ministers in the power of the Spirit, and keeps healing connected to its greater purpose—worship, obedience, and the Gospel. Dr. Ron held together two convictions that are often separated: we confidently pray because God is a healing God, while also recognizing that we live in the tension of the Kingdom's “now and not yet.” Not every prayer is answered in the way we hope this side of heaven, but that uncertainty never keeps us from asking.

He closed with a simple challenge. The healing ministry of Jesus was never meant to belong only to gifted individuals or special moments. It belongs to the Church. As apprentices of Jesus, we are invited not only to receive His healing, but to carry His compassion into the lives of others.