As we begin our reading in Chapter 8 we move into a comparatively different section of Matthew, in which the King reveals His power. Matthew brings a group of ten miracles together to prove to his readers that Jesus Christ possesses the power of the King that the Old Testament promised the Messiah would have. We see in these verses that Christ has power over disease, as we read of the healing of the leper. Leprosy was one of the most dreaded diseases in Jesus' day. There was no cure for it; yet Jesus touched the leper, thus defiling Himself. His touch did not mean contamination for His body, but healing for the leper.
A note of interest here is that the healing was through the Word. Jesus said to the leper, "Be thou clean." It is through the Word of God today that we are cleansed. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Jesus gives eternal life through faith in His finished work on the cross; but it is abundant life as we live day to day through the power of His precious Holy Spirit.
MEMORY VERSE FOR TODAY: Man now can be: Redeemed. Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.