Learning the Jesus Way of LifeSample

Putting the World Back Together

Pray: Jesus, give me the faith to go where you go, do what you do, trust what you say, and love how you love. Today, I commit to following you. Amen.

Immediately following the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ manifesto on what life is like when God is in charge, He goes out and demonstrates what that kind of life looks like in the real world.

Jesus' words are never empty. He proves them with His actions. Because His authority was born from His integrity.

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.” Matthew 8:1–2 NIV

What is the normal, culturally acceptable thing to do in this situation? In Jesus’ day, people with leprosy were social outcasts. They had to live outside the village, cut off from their closest relationships, because of their highly contagious disease. All of this led to lepers being some of the least, lowest, and loneliest members of society.

But, if you’ll recall, these are exactly the kind of people Jesus calls blessed in the kingdom of God, because His kingdom is built on a bedrock of blessing. His kingdom is a place where the lost are found, the least are most, and the outcasts find a home. Jesus puts the truth of these words into practice by reaching out and touching a man who was considered “untouchable.”

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.” Matthew 8:3–4 NIV

How does Jesus begin to put the world back together? By putting broken people back together. Jesus didn’t come to make a name for Himself; His is already the name above every other name. He came to undo the damage of sin, fix our relationship with God, and restore us to our place as partners with God.

Leprosy is a disease that ravages a person’s body, and sin is a disease that infects every person’s soul. Healing sickness and forgiving sins are both expressions of Jesus putting the world back together. One is physical, the other is spiritual. Both are significant. And both are connected.

In fact, many times when Jesus healed someone’s physical body, He first addressed their infected heart by saying, “Your sins are forgiven” or “Your faith has made you whole.” When Jesus makes us well, physically and spiritually, our lives become a testimony telling the whole world about the goodness of God. The Apostle Paul, who personally experienced the healing power of Jesus, writes:

So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:7 NLT

God’s plan has always been to partner with people like us to show the rest of the world who He is and what He is like. We enter into that partnership by faith: trust, based on evidence, that produces obedience. That’s what we see in the next interaction Matthew records.

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. Matthew 8:5–10 NIV

What Jesus says here should shock us. He is saying that this Roman centurion, a soldier paid by the very empire oppressing the Jewish people, has greater faith than anyone in Israel! This guy isn’t Jewish, so he doesn’t come to Jesus with a checklist of things that he thinks Jesus should do as the Messiah. He comes humbly, on behalf of someone else. This random Roman soldier has “healthier eyes” than most of the Jewish people in Jesus’ day, and than most of us have today. He sees pain in the world and doesn’t avoid it—he addresses it. He sees his servant suffering, and instead of viewing him as “less than,” he has compassion. And he sees Jesus, not as a threat to his power but as someone worthy of his trust and submission.

How do you approach Jesus? What would it look like to come to Him more faith-filled?

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. Matthew 8:13 NIV

And so, Jesus responds to this man’s faith, humility, and submission by doing exactly what the Roman officer hoped He would—and not because this guy figured out the secret formula to get God to do what he wanted. Jesus responded to His faith because that’s who He is. When we come to Him full of faith, humility, and a willingness to give Him authority over our lives, He responds in power.

Jesus came to announce the arrival of God’s kingdom, and He did it with authority. He backed up the words He said with the life He lived. And the really good news is this:

We are invited to look at Jesus’ life, place all our trust in Him, and join Him in the healing work of putting the world back together.

This is the more you were made for.

Application: Where is there pain and suffering around you? Who can you view through the lens of compassion today? What wrong can you make right? Every day, we have the opportunity to faithfully partner with Jesus in putting the world back together. Start by looking for little ways you can step into someone’s hurt and bring a little healing by blessing them with your words and actions.