Over the course of six weeks, I’m posting a series of devotional reflections for children on Matthew 8. This is the third devotional. Here are links to the first and second. These are free for your use as devotionals for your family.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic of the past year, we’ve had a small taste of what it was like for someone who was sick in Bible times. Many of us have just now learned what it means to social distance. But those who were sick with fevers and diseases in Jesus’s day were often quarantined away from friends and family until they fully recovered. Often no contact at all was allowed. Some people—like the leprous man Jesus healed earlier in this passage—were required to shout “Unclean!” whenever they were approached. This was a warning for people to keep away lest the disease spread.
One of the amazing things about Jesus’s ministry is that he didn’t run away from those who were sick. He walked toward them, and he even touched them. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t take diseases seriously; he knew that sickness can be deadly. But he also knew that he has authority as the Savior to heal sickness and disease.
Read Matthew 8:14–17
When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever immediately left her. That evening, many people whose minds were under the control of demons were brought to Jesus. Jesus drove the spirits away with a word and healed all the sick.
Here in Matthew 8, we see two kinds of needs. There are physical needs—people who are sick (like Peter’s mother-in-law), injured, or disabled. Then, there are spiritual needs—people who are lost and far from God, who are trapped in sin, or whose minds and hearts are haunted by evil spirits.
Matthew tells us that Jesus healed many people in order to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah had predicted: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (v. 17, quoting Isaiah 53:4). Isaiah prophesied that a servant would come who would take the diseases of God’s people upon himself and heal them by bearing their sickness and suffering death for their sin.
The apostle Peter described it this way: “‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’”
When we think about how Jesus died for our sins, how often do we also think about the fact that Jesus died for all of the brokenness and evil in the world? Jesus died to remove our sicknesses and diseases. He does not always heal right away, but because Jesus rose from the dead, we have hope that we will live with bodies that are free from sickness, injury, disability, and death. Jesus died to remove hatred, injustice, and war from the world as well. His death even removes the work of demons who haunt people’s minds and hearts.
Think, Pray, and Apply
Take a few minutes with your family and reflect on the following questions:
How have you experienced Jesus’s healing touch in the past? Has God healed you from a physical sickness? How has Jesus met your spiritual needs?
In what part of your life do you most need Jesus’s healing touch right now?
If you experienced Jesus’s healing power today, how would you respond? Would you be grateful? What is the first thing you would do or say in response?
Say: After Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, she got up and immediately began to serve him and his disciples. When she experienced Jesus’s power to heal, it changed her and gave her the ability to serve him.
Make a prayer list. Pray for the people you know who are sick or who are battling a disability (physical needs). Also, confess your own sins and doubts to your family members and ask them to pray that Christ would strengthen your heart to follow him (spiritual needs). Assign the prayer requests to the members of your family and take turns asking for God’s help.
Say: Jesus has the authority to heal both physical needs and spiritual needs. Jesus is the God-Man. He came with the Father’s authority, and he was able to simply speak, “You’re healed,” and it was done. We can turst Jesus to one day remove all the sickness and brokenness in the world.
Gospel-Centered Family’s mission is to help parents and church leaders share Jesus with the next generation. Below you’ll find information about our upcoming coaching cohorts as well as a link to Jesus Is Bigger Than Me: True Stories of His Miracles, a new board book that releases later this month. You’ll also find our weekly links below.
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Jared Kennedy
Register for One of Our Fall Cohorts
There’s nothing like doing ministry to expose our anxiety and weaknesses. We feel it on those days when the stalled check-in computer and the missing medical release form stress us out. But in the midst of our weakness, there’s great glory in knowing and sharing Jesus with the next generation.
One of the most helpful ways to keep your leadership and ministry centered on and—more importantly—shaped by the gospel is to get help through coaching. Our coaching cohorts will help you improve your personal leadership health as well as your ministry capacity. Opportunities are open for children’s ministry, special needs ministry, and student ministry leaders this Fall.
Jesus Is Bigger Than Me—new book releases on July 12
Kids live in the same beautiful and broken world that we inhabit, and they need to know that God is present and active in our world. More than that, they need to know that they can trust him. That’s why I wrote Jesus is Bigger than Me: True Stories of His Miracles.
In the book, children will learn that Jesus is good and powerful—that he has the power to heal and even give life to the dead. Most importantly, children will learn that Jesus is God, and through the stories of his miracles, they’ll be encouraged to go to him for help because he cares for them.
This Week’s Links
Steven Ackley posted at Ministry Grid answering the question, “What is Family Ministry?” This is a great primer for those who are just coming into children’s or youth ministry. It will also help churches that are seeking to train and equip parents.
Fierce Marriage outlined 3 bulletproof ways to cultivate fierce unity in marriage. Unity is a reality that every marriage desperately needs and yet most couples struggle to find it. This post is a great resource if you’re looking for help.
Christian and Missionary Alliance children’s ministry leader, Melissa MacDonald posted at Ministry Spark on the topic of spiritual formation and how church, home, and community work together towards this common goal.
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