Point of contact

In Capernaum, a synagogue official came to Jesus asking Him to come to his house. His daughter had just died, yet he believed that if Jesus touched her, she would live. Jesus got up, and followed the man back to his house.

While Jesus was on the way to this man's house, a woman came up from behind Him, to just touch His cloak. She had suffered from a hemorrhage from twelve years; Mark adds that she had suffered much at the hands of physicians, having spent all that she had trying to become well. Like the synagogue official, she believed she would be healed if she only touched Jesus; even if He did not know that she touched Him.

This woman touched the outer cloak that Jesus wore, from behind Him. Mark makes it clear that she immediately felt that she was healed. But both Mark and Luke added that Jesus felt power go out from Him. He turned around, and asked who touched Him. The woman, in fear, came before Him and told Him what had happened. Jesus told her to take courage; He expressed to her that it was her faith that had made her well.

When Jesus came to the synagogue officials house, the mourners, including fluteplayers were already there. Jesus told them to go away, saying that she was not dead, only sleeping. The crowd laughed at Jesus, but He went inside the house, and had the crowd sent outside. He took the girl by the hand, and she arose.

These two stories are told in this same way in Matthew, Mark, and Luke; the one story is always embedded in the other. What is in common in the stories is issue of a point of contact for faith. Jesus made a point of stopping to find the woman and then making it clear to her that it was her faith that made her well. But she was made well when she touched His cloak; Jesus felt power going from Him when she touched His outer garment. Her heart had focused on a point of contact; she had good reason to think that the physical contact had healed her. In the same way, the synagogue official thought that if Jesus laid His hand on his daughter, see would be made alive. He also had focused on a point of contact. In both cases Jesus healed, even when their heart had focused on a point of contact.

His disciples saw Jesus go with the synagogue official, to lay His hand upon the girl as the man had asked. Jesus did not seek to convince the man that He only needed to speak a word and his daughter would live; the centurion understood that, but the synagogue official did not. Jesus was willing to work with the man's faith, even though his faith was limited by a need for a point of contact. But by going, Jesus rewarded the faith that this man had; this man watched Jesus raise His daughter from the dead.

His disciples also saw Jesus find the woman who had touched Him; she had been healed without His knowledge, but He wanted to see her face to face. Jesus told her face to face that her faith had made her well.

What His disciples saw was His concern for the faith of those who came to Him; He wanted those who came to Him to understand that those who come to Him by faith are rewarded.

The synagogue official must have prayed much for his daughter; the people of the synagogue must have joined him in prayer. Yet his daughter slipped away. He had sought for healing, but he did not find it. The woman had gone to many physicians, and had endured much pain in their "treatments"; she had spent all she had seeking to be cured. She had trusted many different physicians, and had not been helped. She had sought to be healed, but she had not found it through what she had done. They had both sought healing in what they thought would work, but had not found it. When they came to Jesus in faith, they found healing.

This is the point of what the disciples saw: those who seek Him are rewarded.

"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of of those who seek Him."
Hebrews 11:6

Seek the touch of the Rewarder, not the reward.

Letting go of culture

Jesus went out from where He was teaching, and as He walked through the city of Capernaum He called a man to follow Him.

"And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' And he rose, and followed Him." Matthew 9:9

Crowds followed Jesus everywhere; as He walked He was surrounded by people. But Jesus picked this man Matthew, a tax collector for the Roman government, to be a disciple. Jesus called Matthew to follow, and at that simple imperative, he got up from his place and followed Jesus.

Matthew may have listened to Jesus preach and teach; many had. Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount indicates that he was there; no one else recorded it in such detail as far as we know. But Jesus found Matthew back at the tax office. Matthew had a job to do, even if everyone hated him for it.

Luke makes it clear that Matthew held a feast for Jesus at his house; many tax-gathers and other sinners came to this feast. These men would have not been allowed in the house of a religious Jew, but Matthew was one of the sinners. So as Jesus and His disciples sat at the table surrounded by the "worldly", the "righteous" asked His disciples why their Teacher ate with sinners. But Jesus overheard their comments, and replied to the Pharisees.

"...It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:12-13

Jesus answered the Pharisees in a way that spoke to the basic assumptions of their culture. The Pharisees were the best; they were the most righteous, the most careful in keeping the Law. Yet nothing in their culture could offer hope to the weak. Jesus instead said that He would be a physician to the sick; He quoted a portion of Hosea that is about healing the apostasy of Israel. Jesus made the point that God wanted compassion, not empty sacrifice. Jesus implied that their culture was an empty sacrifice.

After that, the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus to ask Him why His disciples did not fast. They fasted, and the Pharisees fasted; Jews had always fasted. Jesus replied to them about fasting, and more.

"...The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast..." Matthew 9:15

Jesus answered the disciples of John with a picture of the attendants of a bridegroom, who would obviously not fast during a wedding feast. But then Jesus added that they will in a time to come when the bridegroom is not there. Jesus challenged their understanding of the reason to fast. Then He told them using two comparisons that their culture would not work with what He was doing.

"But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." Matthew 10:16-17

There is a common element in these three events around the calling of Matthew. Matthew and his friend saw themselves as "sinners"; these men did not follow the practices their religion. The Pharisees made a point of not associating with "sinners"; they thought it was wrong to eat with them. The disciples of John the Baptist thought it was wrong to not fast. What is common to these three events is a religious culture: the commonly held practices and assumptions.

But Jesus did not follow the forms of their culture; He was more concerned with function. He agreed with the Pharisees that the tax collectors and sinners were sick; but Jesus intended to heal the sick. Jesus agreed with the practice of fasting; He fasted and in time His disciples would fast. But the outward forms need to follow the inward function.

John the Baptist had been making ready the way of the Lord; what he taught his disciples was to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. The disciples of John the Baptist came to the Messiah that they thought they were preparing to meet, and did not recognize Him. The form had superceded function.

The disciples of Jesus watched Jesus deal with the culture of their world. They were probably not pleased themselves with Jesus calling a tax gatherer to join them. They were probably not pleased to go to a feast with tax collectors and sinners; their friends would wonder what they were doing. Yet as they watched Jesus, they would have seen that He was reaching out to these men outside of the religious culture. Function was more important than form.

There would come a time when the disciples of Jesus would fast, but they would do it for a good reason. There would come a time when Jesus would teach His disciples about dealing with a brother who has sinned, but that would be within the church. The forms were good if they followed function.

The same processes are at work in our culture. Many people in our world would not feel comfortable in a church, or around Christians. Many Christians would be uncomfortable around them. Like the disciples of John we want an emphasis on the outward first; new Christians should be intensely devout from the beginning. We need to examine our forms to see if they actually follow function; our culture can be excluding "sinners".

Where can a "sinner" listen to us without pretending to be religious?

A broken man

After the people asked Jesus to leave their region, Jesus went back across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, where He had been staying. Mark and Luke tell how several days later Jesus was teaching at home, surrounded by many people, in particular Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a litter. They were unable to bring the man to Jesus because of the crowd; so the men carried him onto the roof, made an opening in the roof, and lowered him to Jesus.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that Jesus took note of the faith of those who brought the man to Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, "Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven." The man had been brought by his friends to be healed; they had worked had to find a way to get him close to Jesus. What Jesus said at first was not what they expected.

What Jesus said was also not what the Pharisees and teachers of the Law expected. They spoke among themselves that Jesus spoke blasphemy, since only God could forgive.

But while this paralyzed man is lowered before Him, Jesus addressed the religious leaders and teachers. He asked them why they were thinking evil in their hearts. He asked them which is easier, to say that your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk. Then, speaking loudly enough for all those gathered around Him to hear, Jesus said "But in order that you might know that the Son of Man had authority on earth to forgive sins", He turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Rise, take up your bed, and go home."

The man rose up, took up his litter, and made his way through the crowd to go home.

The people gathered around were afraid, not because the man had been healed, but because God had given the authority to forgive sins to men. This was something completely new; this was not part of the Law.

His disciples saw what happened, and knew that Jesus had made a point of saying in front of many people, including Pharisees and teachers, "...your sins are forgiven" before He healed him. Jesus repeated the point stating that the Son of Man had the authority to forgive sins. They knew this would bring a reaction from the educated; this was not part of the accepted interpretation of the Law. Jesus had a point to make with the religious scholars.

Jesus had been teaching many religious scholars, so many that this man could not be carried to Jesus. The scholars physically kept this man from being healed; they also spiritually kept him from being healed. In their thinking the man's paralysis was seen as an indication of the judgment of God against him. They could not offer the man forgiveness; only God could forgive. Jesus needed to deal with what this man had been taught by the religious teachers before He could heal him. The culture kept the man from believing he could be healed.

What the disciples saw was more than another healing. Their religion was built around the issues of sin and guilt, but within their religion there was no forgiveness, only covering. There were no sacrifices for intentional sin. Yet forgiveness is a part of Scripture; David spoke of the one whom God has forgiven. This essential part of faith was not a part of their religion.

But His disciples saw a completely different paradigm. Jesus forgave the paralyzed man because of the faith of his friends. The authority to forgive works in community through faith. Religion can become an obstacle to healing when the religious do not have the authority to forgive. The scholars did not make way for the paralyzed man on a litter to be carried to Jesus; they kept their backs turned to him. Carrying the broken to Jesus was not part of their paradigm; they were more concerned with the important matters of teaching. This broken man's friends had to find a way around the religious scholars to Jesus; they had to deconstruct part of His house to get their friend to Jesus.

His disciples saw the religious become an obstacle to the ones helping a broken man; His disciples saw Jesus give these men what the religion could not.

Religion without authority is an obstacle to the broken.

Demoniacs in the way

When Jesus came to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, two men who were demon-possessed met Him on the road Jesus was taking from the sea. These men were extremely violent; the people of that region knew better than to take that road. Before Jesus did anything, the demons cried out to Jesus, recognizing who He was. Knowing He would probably cast them out, they asked to be sent into a herd of swine nearby. Jesus simply said, 'Begone', and the demons came out and went into the pigs.

The pigs immediately rushed down a steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters. The herdsmen, having seen what had happened to the demoniacs and the pigs, ran back to town. The people of the city came out to met Jesus, and asked Him to depart.

Jesus had come to preach in this region, but He left as the people asked. The demons had driven the pigs into the sea, causing the people in the nearby city to be upset. The people were frightened by what Jesus could do. The demons had worked to prevent Jesus from preaching, even though He had authority over them. These demoniacs had been a barrier on this road leading from the sea to the region. Even when they had been cast out, they found a way to obstruct the path of Jesus in this region. The reaction of the people demonstrated that they had great influence in this area. This Legion tried to keep Jesus from preaching in the region.

The disciples saw what happened, and they saw what Jesus did. Jesus honored the request of the people of that city, even though He wanted to preach in those cities. In a way, the demons had successfully defended the region. The disciples saw Jesus turn back, and return to the boat. He did not preach in this region at this time.

Mark and Luke add that one of the men, out of whom the demons were cast, followed Jesus. When the men of the city came out to ask Jesus to leave, they found him clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus. This man wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus directed him to return to his own home, and tell everyone what God had done for him.

The Legion had kept Jesus from entering, but they did not stop the man whom they had oppressed for so long. This man went into the region proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.

But what the disciples had seen was a confrontation with demons that had tried to prevent Jesus from preaching in the cities of that region. The people of this city were afraid, and had asked Him to leave; He departed as they requested. These people were not ready yet to listen, and Jesus left. The Legion of demons were involved in the fear of the people, but Jesus did not proceed against their wishes. He returned to where the people wanted to listen.

The disciples saw something they needed to see; a door is not open in every place. There is opposition to the message; sometimes the door is closed. Matthew did not add what the man who had been released did; Matthew focused on the one aspect of the story only.

Sometimes the door is closed.

Small faith in a great storm

When Jesus and His disciples were crossing over the Sea of Galilee, a fierce gale came down on the sea. The waves were breaking over the boat, threatening to sink it. But Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat. His disciples came to Him, and woke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord, we are perishing."

Jesus said to the men, "Why are you timid, you men of little faith?"

Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the seas, and it became perfectly calm.

His disciples were amazed that even a storm and the sea obeyed Him. They had seen Jesus heal and perform miracles, but they were surprised when nature, in its grandeur, obeyed Him. Their faith was limited to smaller things.

Jesus asked them why they were afraid. He was not just asking a rhetorical question; His disciples were afraid for a reason.

They were at sea in a small boat in a fierce gale, with waves breaking over the sides. The boat would soon sink because of the water. Matthew describes the sea as covering the boat; Mark and Luke describe the sea as filling up the boat. Some of the men in the boat were experienced fishermen, who had worked on this sea for years. Their expectation of perishing at sea was reasonable.

Jesus was with them, but He was asleep. They were afraid of what was around them, and they knew Jesus was not paying attention. They assumed they could perish in the sea while He was asleep. They were afraid because He was not awake. Their faith was in what Jesus did; while He was asleep, He was not doing anything.

But the disciples saw Jesus sleeping in this storm, resting in the stern of the boat on a cushion. He was in the same boat in the same storm, yet He found rest.

When He awoke, He rebuked the wind and the waves; and then addressed the faith of the men with Him. They were afraid because their faith was small. Their faith was in this Man asleep in the boat; their faith was in what they had seen in Him. While He was asleep, their faith had nothing to hold on to. Yet Jesus had faith in this same storm, for His faith was not in what He could do, but in His Father. The small wooden boat, in the midst of a violent storm at sea was in the hands of His Father. He could rest in the hands of His Father. His disciples saw Him do that.

A day would come when the disciples of Jesus Christ would not see Him with them; they would face the violent storms of life without seeing Him with their eyes. Their faith needed to rest in the hands of the Father; they needed to rest in the trials of life, knowing that underneath were the everlasting arms. Jesus showed them this faith as He slept in the boat in a violent storm.

Disciples need to see a faith that can rest in storms of life, and can quiet those same storms.

The costs of discipleship

As Jesus went about preaching, the crowds continued to follow Him. Seeing the crowds, He told His disciples to cross over the sea in boats. Crossing the Sea of Galilee would take his disciples eight miles across the water, but over a day's walk from home.

A scribe, an educated man who could read and write, came to Jesus saying that he would follow Him wherever He went. Jesus answered the man, saying that even though foxes and birds have places for the night, He did not have any set place to rest at night.

Another man, who had been following Him, asked Jesus to allow him to stay with his father until he died. Jesus answered this man, saying to let the dead bury their own dead.

Matthew does not record what choices these men made; neither does Luke. Matthew only records the brief interchanges. Whether these men chose to go with Jesus across the Sea, we do not know. We only know that they had to choose.

The scribe said he would follow, but his training as a scribe would indicate that he did not work outdoors. He may not have been rich, but he must have had some financial means to afford an education. Jesus chose to make it clear to him first that following may mean sleeping on the ground at night. Jesus did not try to convince the man to stay home; He simply wanted the man to willingly choose hardship, not just accept it later.

The disciple who asked to go back to his father did not communicate a pressing need, but rather a desire to hold on to family relationships. The answer that Jesus gave him implied that Jesus knew there were other family members to care for his aged father. Jesus wanted this man to willingly choose to leave family, not just try to be a disciple while holding on to family.

In both cases, Jesus wanted those who followed Him to have consciously counted the cost of discipleship. The scribe may have had difficulty on the road; the son may have had difficulty leaving family ties. But it was better to choose to follow wholeheartedly than to follow with misgivings.

Jesus did not answer these men out of a hard heart; He wanted these men to follow, but He understood that they needed to let go. Making their choice clear to them was a good thing to do.

These men may have been following Jesus, listening to what He said. In their own mind they may have seen themselves as disciples of this Jesus. But when Jesus wanted to cross over the Sea that evening, they had to choose to get in one of the boats or not. While Jesus was going about Galilee preaching, they could follow without getting in the boat. Most of those who were following were probably not fishermen; most would have been uncomfortable in a small boat on the sea at night. But Jesus was crossing the sea that night; they had to choose to get in the boat or not.

Jesus wanted to separate His disciples from the crowd. Using the boats to cross the sea made a distinction between those who would follow and those who came to watch. It turned out that Jesus did not stay on the other side very long; He soon returned to Capernaum. But He had separated His disciples from the crowd; they would know that they were disciples after crossing the sea that night.

Discipleship should come from a clear, conscious choice.

An inconvenient guest

At one point Jesus came into Peter's house in Capernaum. (Both Mark and Luke relate that Jesus had just come from the synagogue where he had cast out a demon.) When Jesus entered the house, He found Peter's mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. Jesus healed her, and she got up and waited on those who had come in.

When evening came, many gathered at the door. (The Sabbath was over when the sun went down.) The people brought many who were afflicted by unclean spirits; Jesus cast out the spirits; He also healed all who were ill. Peter's house became a very crowded place.

Peter had brought this Jesus home; Jesus healed his mother-in-law who had been suffering from a high fever. But a crowd soon gathered at the door, bringing every diseased and possessed person in Capernaum. Jesus was not a convenient guest.

Matthew made it clear that this was prophecied of Jesus: "He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases." This is what Jesus was intended to do; Jesus would never be a convenient guest.

Both Mark and Luke relate that Jesus got up very early in the morning, and went out to pray. In the morning everyone in the city was looking for Him; when Peter and his companions found Him, Jesus told them that He must go preach in other cities, for He was sent for that purpose.

Peter brought Jesus to his home; perhaps Peter thought that this Jesus could stay in his home. But it became quickly clear that He drew the oppressed and hurting. Peter's family was probably relieved in the morning that Jesus left to preach in other cities, taking Peter and the others with Him.

But His disciples saw what happened when Jesus stayed in Peter's home for one night; his house was overrun with the possessed and the sick. This was difficult for everyone in the house. These same people came to Jesus as He went about preaching, but at least it was away from their homes.

This is the point: Jesus cannot just be a convenient guest, healing only the residents of the house. We say we want Jesus to heal us, and to work with power among us. But if He did, we would find the same problem; the oppressed and hurting would overrun our nice church. Jesus has work to do; if we want to be a part of it, things are going to get bumpy.

Jesus saves the lost, the hurting, the oppressed. Do we really want them in our church?

A centurion's faith

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion sent word to Him, requesting Jesus to heal his servant, lying paralyzed at his house, suffering great pain. Matthew relates the event without clarifying that the centurion did not come himself to Jesus, but sent word by some Jewish elders. Luke includes this detail, telling how these elders also told Jesus how this centurion loved the Jewish nation, and had even built a synagogue for them. Jesus agreed to come heal the centurion's servant.

But when the centurion was told that Jesus was coming, he sent his friends to Jesus to ask Jesus to just say the word. The centurion believed that Jesus did not need to physically enter his house, and physically touch his servant to heal; instead he recognized that Jesus had the authority to command what He wanted.

The centurion saw in Jesus what was a normal part of his life. If Rome sent word, the legion would go. Caesar did not need to come to give his orders in person; what Caesar said would be done. The centurion was under authority, and knew that he would obey his orders. The centurion had soldiers under him; they would obey him in what ever he said. The centurion recognized the miracles that Jesus did came from the authority of another kingdom, a kingdom greater than Rome. Jesus had preached that the kingdom of heaven is near; the centurion believed it was. His servant would be healed if Jesus commanded it.

Jesus heard what the centurion said, and was amazed at his faith. Jesus pointed out this man's great faith to His disciples, as He told the centurion's messengers that it would be done as he believed. The servant was healed in that same hour; when the messengers returned with word, they found the servant already healed. The authority of the kingdom of heaven had healed the servant when Jesus spoke; it did not wait for them to return.

The centurion's faith provided a contrast to the leper's faith. The leper assumed that Jesus had to touch him in order to be heal; it is what everyone understood to be necessary as they watched Jesus healing. So the leper stopped before Jesus, bowing down, not knowing if Jesus would be willing to touch an unclean man. The centurion recognized what Jesus did to be the result of authority, not physical touch; he saw a kingdom at work. The centurion did not want to trouble Jesus to enter his house, knowing that a Gentile's house would be unclean to the Jews. The leper needed Jesus to touch what was unclean because his faith needed that point of contact. The centurion did not need Jesus to touch what was unclean because his faith did not need that point of contact. Both the leper and the Roman centurion were outsiders to the Jewish community; both had faith that Jesus could heal. But the Roman centurion had a greater faith, not needing the outward point of contact.

Jesus used this event to teach His disciples; briefly, as the friends of the Roman stood before them, Jesus told His disciples that many shall come from the nations to sit at the table in the kingdom of heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His disciples had seen Jesus begin to walk to a Roman army officer's house; He had already touched a leper, now He was going to enter the house of a Roman soldier. His disciples watched as Jesus did the unexpected, not restrained by their cultural barriers. But when Jesus turned to them, telling them of this Roman soldier's great faith, greater than anyone in Israel, they knew they were included in those who had lesser faith. When Jesus said that many will come from east and west to sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they knew that the kingdom of heaven was not just a Jewish kingdom. Everything that they had assumed about the kingdom of heaven was shaken; the kingdom of heaven was open to all nations. When He said that the sons of the kingdom would be cast out into outer darkness, they knew that it was not enough just to be Jewish.

But this is all Jesus said about this as they walked in Capernaum that day. His disciples did not hear an elaborate thesis on the Gentiles from the Scriptures; Jesus did not discuss the mechanics of faith. But the disciples would remember what happened; later they would understand. Again, this is "see one, do one, teach one". They would need to deal with the issue of the Gentiles themselves soon enough.

His disciples saw Jesus give love to an "enemy", this Roman officer who acknowledged the greater authority of the kingdom of God.

Disciples must see faith in the inward, apart from the outward biases of culture.

Cleansing a leper

After Jesus came down from the mountain, crowds of people continued to follow Him. A leper came to Him, in front of many people, seeking to be healed.

Leprosy was an incurable disease of that time, appearing first in the skin. But it was more than a disease, for the leper was required to live apart from others, in isolation. The Levitical law addressed leprosy, stating that the leper was unclean. Specific instructions were given in Leviticus for the priest to examine skin conditions and declare a person either clean or unclean.

The leper who came to Jesus was unclean in his own eyes, and in the eyes of his culture. He wanted to be cleansed from what made him unclean.

This man must have heard how Jesus had healed all who came to Him; he came to Jesus believing that Jesus could heal him just as He healed others. But what he had heard was that Jesus healed through His touch.

So when this leper came to Jesus, he said "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." He believed the touch of Jesus would heal, but he did not believe that Jesus would be willing to touch him. No one else would touch a leper.

This is what His disciples saw: a man, unclean in his own eyes, bowing before Jesus, wanting to be cleansed, but not knowing if Jesus would be willing to touch him. His disciples saw Jesus stretch out His hand, touching the leper and telling him "I am willing, be cleansed." The visible signs of leprosy were immediately cleansed. The man was cleansed, but not clean.

This man was unclean because he had been declared unclean by the priest in accordance with Leviticus 13. In order to re-enter society, the priest needed to declare him clean. Jesus directed the man to go to the priest, presenting the offerings according to Leviticus 14 for one who has been cleansed. Jesus could cleanse the man from leprosy, but the priest needed to declare him clean. Jesus did not take the place of the priest, but directed the man to go to show himself to the priest first.

(Mark adds that the man did not do this, but immediately began telling everyone. Because of this, it became even more difficult for Jesus to enter any town or city.)

The disciples watched Jesus touch a man who was unclean according to their culture and their religion. Jesus did not say anymore about it; the disciples did not ask. But this is "see one, do one, teach one". What they watched Jesus do, they would need to do themselves.

Disciples touch the unclean.

Seeing the kingdom at work

Jesus began His ministry preaching the kingdom of God, and healing those who came to Him. As He made disciples, He began to teach them. As His disciples followed Him, they watched Him as He dealt with individuals. What they saw as they watched Him was essential in discipleship. The Word needs to become flesh; teaching needs to be illustrated in life.

Matthew gives a number of separate events of what the disciples witnessed between the Sermon on the Mount and when Jesus sent out twelve apostles. Mark and Luke record some of these as well; the account in Luke is probably more chronological for that was Luke's intention. Matthew usually begins each account with "and when"; Matthew is relating events, not necessarily the chronological order of the events.

These events gave the disciples a working understanding of the kingdom of God; this is what prepared them to be sent out and preach. A physician commented that during his training in surgery the rule was "see one, do one, teach one". He was shown once how to do a particular procedure, then he was expected to perform that procedure, and then he was expected to be able to teach that procedure to another. These events were the "see one" step in the lives of the apostles.

These events also address significant issues, but instead of a lengthy explanation which could be misunderstood, the disciples witnessed the practical application. The memory of the event would endure better than a explanation. When the disciples were ready to understand the concept, they were already familiar with the application.

Matthew records 15 separate events between the Sermon on the Mount and the choosing of the apostles. These events were part of how Jesus made disciples; in many of these events Jesus gave a short teaching as He acted.

These events deal with issues of theology: the will of God, the work of salvation, free will, power, prayer for others, relationships in the world, traditions, healing, and ministry. But His disciples were not listening to a lecture in a classroom, they were simply following this Man. Everything they witnessed was a work of God in life; they were being taught applied theology.

This is an essential part of discipleship. This is how Jesus made disciples; this is how we are to make disciples.

We are making disciples of ourselves every day in one way or another. Every choice we make and every thing we say is communicating something. We may not be communicating what we would like to, but we are communicating who we actually are. Those who are part of our life are learning; we are teaching one another. We may be teaching how God works in life or we may be teaching how we try to make things work.

The disciples of Jesus Christ became like Jesus Christ. They could say "Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ." They had followed Him; they had witnessed what He really did and how He really acted. Discipleship is imitation.

Our disciples will become like us.