An overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Matthew 8:1-4, 14-17, and 9:1-8, Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for January 18, 2026. Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

ILLUSTRATION:

You might open by asking how many saw/read Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” this Christmas season). In it he writes of how Ebenezer Scrooge’s former business partner’s ghost appeared to him on Christmas Eve, mourning in chains over his neglect of mankind.

“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” (Marley’s ghost) held up its chain at arm’s length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.”

(Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, p. 22)

Dickens’ point through Jacob Marley is that “mankind is our business” — that caring for people is more important than money or any business concern. And we see in our passage for today that “mankind was certainly JESUS’ business,” as He showed His love and care for every individual He met — giving us the example that we should do the same thing too! 

CONTEXT:

We are continuing our study in the Book of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. We’ve seen how Jesus began His ministry, “reaching, teaching, and caring” for people, and for the past three lessons we’ve studied His first great sermon in the New Testament, “The Sermon on the Mount,” and how He challenged His followers to have more than just an empty “profession of faith,” but to bear fruit and DO what He commands if they are truly His. When He finished, it says the multitudes were rightly amazed at His teaching, and they knew that this was Someone more than just another good teacher!

This brings us to Chapters 8 & 9, our text for this week. Chapter 8 opens with Jesus coming down from that mountaintop, and in these next couple of chapters He establishes His authority in a number of difficult situations. We see His power over sickness, the elements of creation, over demons — and in Chapter 9, even over sin! In all of these situations, we also see how Jesus CARES for the individuals involved. Our lesson for today highlights several of these, and shows us how “every life is valued” by Jesus — and ought to be valued by us if we are His followers!

OUTLINE:

I.    Love for the Outcast  (8:1-4)

II.   Love for the Sick and Oppressed  (8:14-17)

III.  Love for the Sinner  (9:1-8)

(I was tempted to entitle these: “Jesus’ Love for the Outcast,” “Jesus’ Love for the Sick,” and so on — but the primary application we should make today is that because HE loved these, WE should too — so let’s make sure we don’t miss that as we teach this lesson. We should ALL love each of these, just like Jesus does!)

TEXT:  Matthew 8:1-4, 14-17, 9:1-8

I.   Love For The Outcast (8:1-4)

:1 “When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. 2 And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus *said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’”

So verse 1 has Jesus coming “down from the mountain” — the mountain where He preached “The Sermon on the Mount” in chapters 5-6-7. 

Verse 2 says “And a leper came to Him …”. Here begins a series of stories of Jesus encountering people and circumstances, and He shows His power and authority in every situation: over sickness, creation, demons — even sin. In this case it is a physical illness — leprosy. But it was not only the physical sickness that was significant here, but also the social stigma that accompanied leprosy. Lepers were outcasts from society; they were commanded to call out “leper, unclean” if they saw anyone approaching, so that people would be sure to keep their distance from them. Can you imagine the isolation these people faced? No one wanted to be anywhere near them. How long had it been since they’d had a loving touch?

ILLUSTRATION

Bernard Ollivier shared of his walking trip through Marco Polo’s route in Asia. At one point, he wrote:

“And then, from atop a ridge, a small, fierce-green valley comes into view. This is where the lepers live, twenty miles from the city. Once rejected by society, abandoned by their loved ones, shunned and made to live in the mountains, they attacked travelers and ate their horses. This valley, donated to those suffering from the disease by a Tabriz prince, is today home to six hundred souls. Some, having lost all ties with society unafflicted by the disease, have firmly established themselves here over the course of several generations. A police officer stops the taxi because it isn’t allowed to enter the forbidden city. My driver clearly didn’t really want to go there anyway. People still fear the illness. A building that must be a kind of community center is decorated with geometric designs in bold colors. I meet a few people in the shaded side streets, including one woman who has lost her fingers and nose. (Bernard Ollivier and Dan Golembeski, Walking to Samarkand, Kindle loc. 684)

This is a relatively recent source (Ollivier wrote that in 2020!) Because of that kind of social stigma of leprosy, I don’t think we have any idea how much it meant to that leper, when :3 says “Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him.” He TOUCHED him?! A leper? Who would touch him. No one wanted to come within a mile of him. How long had it been since he’d had a friendly, loving touch — but Jesus touched him! If there were no other example in the Bible, this incident right here would powerfully show us how much Jesus cares for every individual — and how WE should too, if we are His followers! 

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION???

“What are some ‘outcast’ people we might encounter today?”

— people of different nationalities/ethnic groups/immigrants

— the homeless

— mentally ill

— poor/needy

— the physically handicapped/disabled

You/your group can think of many. Then ask the question: “Does Jesus care for each of these?” Of course the answer is that He does — and the personal application for us, is that we should too! Jesus loves the outcast, and we are to “follow in His steps.” 

Jesus did heal the man, :3 says, and then in :4 Jesus gave what may seem to be an odd command: “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” What was this about? It was about obedience, and verifying the “testimony” of what Jesus had done. 

In Leviticus 14, God commanded a person who had been healed of leprosy to go to the priest, who would ascertain that the leprosy was indeed gone. Then :10 says the person was to make an offering of lambs without defect, with a grain offering, and the priest would “officially” pronounce him “clean”! 

So for one, this was an act of obedience. God had commanded this act when one was healed, so he should obey that command. Second, Jesus specifically said it was a “testimony to them.” A testimony to WHO? It was a testimony to the priest, and to those who heard, of what Jesus had done. Surely all kinds of “rumors” were going around the country about what this Jesus was supposedly doing. What was there of truth in all this? But when this man went to the priest and was officially pronounced “clean,” in this way the miracle was “verified” if you would. This wasn’t just “idle rumors;” this wasn’t even just this man saying it was true; it was officially “verified” by the priest. 

So there’s application for us today too: for one, we should always be obedient to the Lord’s commands; and also, when He does miraculous things, “verify” it: get the MRI, show it’s gone — it will be a witness to the medical staff, as well as to all who hear/see, of what the Lord has done.

But the main point of this section, is that Jesus cares for “outcast” individuals like this leper that no one would touch — and we should follow His example. 

II.  Love for the Sick & Oppressed (8:14-17)

:14 “When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him. 16 When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.’”

So after Jesus healed the leper and gave him the instructions, we then see more examples of His healing: verses 5-13 tell us that He healed the centurion’s servant, now :14, in our focus passage, tells how Jesus came to Peter’s home, where Peter’s mother-in-law was sick. 

“Penthera” is literally, “a wife’s mother.” So Peter’s wife’s mother was sick — sick enough to be “in bed” with a fever. (The word “fever” is actually a present active participle, so literally you might say she was “fevering”!)

What did Jesus do? Verse 15 says “He touched her hand, and the fever LEFT her.” The word “left” here is “aphiemi,” meaning “to go from,” and it is an “aorist” verb, meaning it happened at a point in time: that point of time, of course, was when Jesus touched her hand. The second He touched her, it LEFT, instantly!

(This is the same word used in Matthew 4:20, 22, of how Peter, Andrews, James, & John “immediately left” their boats and family to follow Jesus)  So here is another miracle, Jesus demonstrating His power over sickness — out of His love for the family there.

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“If we don’t have the gift of healing like Jesus did, how can we show love to those who are sick today?”

(Many ways! Our answers can include:

— PRAY for them, lift them to the One who IS the Healer in prayer.

— Visit them. Several ladies from our church, Trinity Norman, have come by to Cheryl here since her stroke, and it’s always encouraging to her.

— When I was pastoring in Angleton, TX, we had several deacons and ladies in our church who drove people to the hospital, or to doctor’s appointments. That is a fantastic ministry. Many are too ill, or aged, or incapacitated to drive. You can do for them what they can’t do for themselves — which is very Christlike!

— Take them meals. Again, our church in Angleton brought us meals for almost two months after Cheryl’s stroke; it was extraordinary, and it helps so much in times like that.

You/your group can think of many ways to show love to the sick like Jesus did.

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, He CARED for the people in it, and He did what He could to minister to them. In this case, He healed Peter’s mother-in-law. We may or may not be able to do exactly what He did, but the point is, let’s make sure to show love in some way to people we come across who are sick and have needs. 

NOTICE ALSO: when Peter’s mother-in-law was healed, what did she do? :15 says, “And she got up and waited on Him.” She got up and served! What a great example of what we are all to do when we have been touched by Jesus: get up and serve!

So here in Matthew 8 we see this theme of Jesus demonstrating His power, begin to expand:

— He had showed His power over leprosy; leprosy didn’t make Jesus unclean with a touch; He cleaned the leprosy! Jesus showed power over that dreaded disease! 

— Then in :5-13 Jesus heals the centurion’s servant, significantly WITHOUT touching him, or even being near him, showing His power over time and space!

— Now He shows His healing power again, with Peter’s mother.

THEN notice what happened next in :16, “When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.”

Now Jesus shows His power over the DEMONIC/the spiritual world. He has power even over demons! And note how He does it: “with a word”! He didn’t have to “wrestle” with them, or do anything elaborate. It was just “with a word.” Jesus has total power over the forces of evil.

It reminds me of the Gerasene demoniac in Mark 5, when the demons “begged” Him to let them go in the pigs, and :13 says “He gave them PERMISSION”! He gave them “PERMISSION”! WHO is in charge here? It is Jesus, of course. He demonstrates His power over the forces of hell. 

So in Matthew 8 Jesus has demonstrated His power over sickness, over time and space, even over the demonic. And in 8:23-27 we see that He has power over creation, as He calms the storm on the sea. But we shall see an even greater power in our last point, in 9:1-8 — power over SIN!

Verse 17 is a quotation from Isaiah 53, the “Suffering Servant” passage, so again Matthew is demonstrating from the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus is the predicted Messiah, as He fulfills those prophecies. We see elsewhere in the New Testament that the predictions of Isaiah 53 also mean much MORE than that the Messiah would heal people of their physical sicknesses; I Peter 2:24 and other places show us that it means He would heal us from our SIN — which is exactly what we see next as Matthew 9 opens: 

III.  Love for the Sinner (9:1-8) 

:1 “Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city. 2 And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” 3 And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he got up and went home. 8 But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.”

Verse 1 here says that when all the activities of Chapter 8 had finished, Jesus crossed back over the sea (of Galilee) and came to “His own city,” which Mark 2:1 tells us was Capernaum, Jesus’ adopted “home base” which He operated out of, after being rejected by Nazareth. (Interestingly, Capernaum means “village of comfort”! It was evidently more of a “comfort” to Him than Nazareth was, and through His presence and ministry there, it truly became a “village of comfort” to many!)

Verse 2 says they brought Him a paralytic lying on a bed. The word “paraluticon” means “a person suffering from paralysis.” We get our word “paralyzed” from it. So the man can’t walk — maybe he can’t use his arms either. He was a “paralyzed” man.

HERE’S THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT: they bring this paralyzed man to Jesus, and He looks at him, and what is the first need He addresses? 

Or put it this way: if WE saw this man, what would WE think was his greatest need? If we were honest, virtually every one of us would say, “Oh it’s obvious; his biggest need is that he is paralyzed. We need to see if there’s something we can do to help him walk.” 

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT JESUS DID: when He saw him, the very first thing He said was “take courage son; your sins are forgiven.” NOTHING about his physical condition! This is extraordinary. Obviously (to us!) the man’s greatest need was to walk— only, according to Jesus, it WASN’T! His greatest need was for his sins to be forgiven.

We see this emphasis throughout Jesus’ life and teaching:

— He told another crippled man in John 5:14, after he had been healed, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” In other words, there’s something worse than being crippled — and that is the wages of your SIN!

— He had just said in Matthew 5:29, 30 in the Sermon on the Mount that it was better to lose one of the parts of your body, an eye or a leg, than for your whole body to go to hell. Spiritual problems have much worse consequences than physical ones.

— When the disciples were excited that they could cast out demons, Jesus said in Luke 10:20, “do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

Repeatedly Jesus emphasized the priority of our spiritual needs; that our worst problem is not anything physical that can happen to us, but rather the spiritual consequences of our sin. 

Here Jesus loved this paralyzed man, so He did THE single most important thing He could do for him: He forgave his sin! 

Interesting point: the word “forgiven” here in Matthew 9, is the SAME word “aphiemi’ as was used back in Point II in Matthew 8, of how the fever “left” Peter’s mother-in-law! The fever “left” her; his sins were “forgiven; cast out; GONE!” And that’s the blessing that every Christian knows: our sins are gone! It’s like the great hymn expresses: 

“My sin O the bliss of this glorious thought;

My sin not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!”

Remember, at this point, this man was still a paralytic. He still could not move. But the most important thing that could ever happen to him, had happened: his sins were forgiven! It’s just like Psalm 32:1 says “BLESSED is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered; blessed is the person whose guilt the Lord will not take into account.” THAT is the greatest blessing that any person can have. Any physical or temporal earthly trial is only temporary; forgiveness and salvation is eternal. It is by far the most important thing anyone can have.

A good point of application for us here, is that WE NEED TO SEE PEOPLE THE WAY JESUS DID HERE! We need to see past what may seem to be their “obvious” outward needs, and see the real, deeper, inner need — the greatest need they have — of the forgiveness of their sins! 

ILLUSTRATION

In Carl Sandburg’s biography of Abraham Lincoln he writes:

“A woman with tears filling her eyes tried to speak gratitude for a ‘suspension of execution’ granted her husband. ‘Good-by, Mr. Lincoln. I shall probably never see you again till we meet in heaven.’ She had taken one of his hands. He took her right hand with both of his. They walked to the door as he spoke softly: ‘I am afraid with all my troubles I shall never get to the resting-place you speak of. But if I do, I am sure I shall find you. That you wish me to get there is, I believe, the best wish you could make for me. Good-by.’” (Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years, p. 590)

Wanting someone’s sins to be forgiven, and for them to be in heaven, IS truly the best wish we could have for anyone. It’s more important than their physical healing; it’s far greater than temporary financial well-being. It’s more important than any other thing. Jesus had it right (of course!) — and we need to follow His priority. 

— If we go on mission trips and provide food and water and education, but don’t tell them of the bread of life, the living water, and educate them about the way to heaven, we’ve missed the most important thing.

— And it’s the same with the people God brings across our paths right here where we are as well. 

Let’s love people like Jesus loved them: and make sure we share with them the most important thing: the forgiveness of their sins!

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“Does this mean that we should just ignore people’s physical needs, since their spiritual needs are far more important?”

(Of course the answer is “no”! We have seen repeatedly today that Jesus DID care for the physical/material needs of people, and He ministered to their needs. But He also realized what the single most important need was: their forgiveness and salvation.

That’s the attitude we should have. Help people in their point of need — but through it, look for opportunities to minister to their most important spiritual need. In fact, many people might find it hard to think about spiritual things while they have an ongoing physical/material need:

William Booth (Salvation Army founder) said: “You cannot warm the hearts of people with God’s love if they have an empty stomach and cold feet.”

So sometimes we need to minister to physical/material needs, in order to reach them about their most important need: the forgiveness of their sin and their relationship with God.

So Jesus did the most important thing for that man, but He was misunderstood (we need to realize that we too may be!)

Verse 3 says “some of the scribes said to themselves …”

(Luke 5:17 tells us that people had gathered there from “every village in Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem.” So there were a LOT of people there, and many who came to see/criticize Jesus, like these scribes in :3). They said “to themselves” “This fellow blasphemes.” Why would they say that? Because Jesus had just said “your sins are forgiven.” Again, WHO CAN SAY THAT? Here is another example of how Jesus was unlike ANY other religious teacher or leader. He didn’t say “may God forgive you,” or anything like that. He powerfully told him, “Your sins ARE forgiven”! He spoke with the authority of God, because He was and is God! 

But how do we KNOW that He is God? That’s what He proved next: 

— FIRST it says in :4 that HE KNEW THEIR THOUGHTS! Who can know others’ thoughts but God? He said to them, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts …”. In Psalm 139 David said to God, “You understand my thought from afar.” God knows our thoughts — and Jesus is God!

— THEN He proved it even more, saying in :6, “so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” And the man got up and walked!  

It’s easier to “say” “your sins are forgiven” than to say “rise up and walk.” But it’s harder to really DO it! But Jesus did both: He both forgave the man, AND raised him up to walk — PROVING not only His power over sickness, and time and space, and creation, and demons — but also over sin! “Everything is in subjection under His feet.” “All Hail, King Jesus!”

It’s poignant, isn’t it, that once again the scripture here in :8 says the people were “awestruck” at Jesus. They’d been “amazed” at His teaching at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Now they are “awestruck” at how He can forgive sins, and make men walk. It is amazing how powerfully Jesus loved and cared for every person. May the world be so amazed by the way that WE love and care for each person God brings across our path too! 

CONCLUSION:

C.S. Lewis ends his classic sermon “The Weight of Glory” writing:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another …”

Do you get what Lewis is saying here? Every, seemingly “insignificant” person you meet, is an eternal soul. If they are saved, one day they’ll be so glorious that if you saw them now, you’d tempted to bow down before them. But if they are lost, that same soul will become a nightmarish horror! Every person is eternal. Every person is valuable. So let’s make sure we treat EVERY PERSON we come across with the utmost value and love — just like Jesus did in these passages today. And like Him, let’s make sure we pay attention to the most important need they have: for their sins to be forgiven, and to become glorious in the presence of the Lord foreve. — and by caring for them, help them along to the better of these two eternal destinies!

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