“2 Kings 5:1-15a”

Epiphany 3

Romans 1:8-17
St. Matthew 8:1-13

GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE BE TO YOU FROM GOD OUR FATHER THROUGH OUR LORD AND SAVIOR,

JESUS CHRIST.
AMEN.

Last week we heard two passages about submission and love. In Ephesians 5, Paul wrote, “Wives, submit to your own husbands as you do to the Lord” (Eph. 5:22). Our Gospel from John 2 showed Mary submitting to Jesus at the wedding in Cana. Even though Jesus was initially harsh, Mary turned to the servants and said, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). For Mary, submitting to Jesus was not difficult because she knew and trusted that her Lord was gracious and kind. And, of course, Jesus responded magnificently, far exceeding Mary’s expectations. That was His first miracle, the first one recorded in John’s Gospel. 

Our reading today is the first miracle recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. Coming down from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encountered a Jew and a Gentile, a leper and a centurion. Each of these men needed healing: the leper needed healing for himself, the centurion needed healing for his child. Both submitted to Jesus’ authority, trusting that He was gracious and kind, able to give far more abundantly than they could imagine. In many ways, this story is the same as last week, but now the stakes are higher. If Jesus hadn’t provided wine, I think all the wedding guests would have been alright. The bridegroom’s reputation would have been marred, but at least everyone would still be alive. But if Jesus refused the requests of the leper or the centurion, then death would have come shortly. This difference from last week’s readings draws our attention today. 

Both the leper and the centurion approached Jesus with profound humility. You would think that people on death’s door wouldn’t be so polite. “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” (Matt. 8:2). Remember, this was a leper. He was separated from friends and family, unable to join in the hymns or sacrifices at the Temple or synagogue. COVID lockdowns were child’s play compared to this leper’s daily existence. He would die a slow, painful, and lonely death if Jesus were unwilling to heal him. 

That was a very real possibility. The leper approached Jesus half expecting Him to be unwilling. Notice that the leper never doubted Jesus’s ability. He didn’t say, “If you can,” but “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” The leper knew God’s authority and power, but he didn’t know God’s will. 

The leper is very different from us. Quite often, when we suffer from sickness or disease, we pray half doubting both God’s ability and His will. Why? Because we’ve seen so many people waste away and die from cancer, Parkinson’s, or some uncurable disease. We’ve been forgotten by grandparents and friends with dementia and Alzheimer’s. We’ve been to enough funerals of people who didn’t receive divine intervention despite all their prayers. Someone once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. So, if I’ve prayed for healing so many times to a silent heaven, am I insane? We doubt because we trust more in the false god of experience rather than in Christ the life of all the living. For this, we must repent and listen to Jesus. He shows God’s will by speaking the word. 

So what does Jesus say? What is God’s will? “And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, ‘I desire it, be clean’.” (Matt. 8:3). You might notice that these words were echoed in our Collect today: “Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities and stretch forth the hand of Your majesty to heal and defend us.” The will of God is always something scary until you hear the Gospel, until you hear of God’s mercy, until you learn that Jesus comes with healing. What is God’s will for your life? That you cling to Jesus and trust in His work, His love, His mercy. 

Great! Now what? How does that change how I live my life? One author put it this way: “We misconceive mercy if we imagine that to receive mercy is to be absolved from duty… The object of mercy is not to save us from the trouble of doing right, but from the trouble of doing wrong. Mercy is to be the motive of obedience, for Christ came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it [Matt. 5:17-20]; not to save us in our sins, but from our sins; not to make sin safe, but to make us safe from sin.”

So how do we live rightly now that Jesus has died on the cross? Jesus told the leper to go and offer the gifts commanded by Moses. Should we offer those same gifts from Leviticus 14 whenever we recover from sickness or are forgiven sins?

The short answer is, “No.” Jesus has offered the eternal sacrifice for all your sins. He gives you His gifts freely in His Sacraments. God doesn’t need your gifts. 

But your neighbor does. So God calls you to faithfulness. Consider, then, your place in life, your vocation. Are you a husband or wife, a father or mother? Are you an employer or and employee? Are you a student or a teacher? Look at all the places in your life where you can show God’s love and mercy.

For the centurion, that involved interceding for his child. We aren’t told any details, only that the child was paralyzed and suffering greatly. The child could not speak for himself, so his father spoke for him. 

We also have an opportunity and an obligation to speak up for children. Fifty years ago today – January 22nd, 1973 – the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision for the famous (or, infamous) Roe v. Wade case. Their decision legalized abortion from coast to coast. Eleven years later in 1984, Ronald Reagan established this weekend of January as the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Faithful Christians continued to pray for an end of legalized abortion. After so many years of prayer with no change, surely they seemed insane. Then last year with the Dobbs decision, the issue of abortion was sent back to the states. As Kansans, we have an opportunity, and as Christians we have the obligation to speak up for these children, to intercede so God might save them, to confess that life begins at conception and continues until natural death. As part of this, I invite and encourage each and every one of you to attend the March for Life this Tuesday in Topeka. If not this year, then next year. Put it on your calendar. Let us follow the example of the centurion and pray for these children’s lives. 

Jesus healed the centurion’s child, just like he healed the leper. Both came seeking God’s will and submitted to whatever it might be. They left with joy, I’m sure, but we never really hear what their lives were like after the miracle. Did this leper follow Jesus for the next three years? Was this centurion the one who stood at the cross as Jesus died and said, “Certainly this man was innocent?” (Luke 23:47) We don’t know. Very seldom in Scripture do we hear an epilogue. The few times we do, its not pretty. The blind man who Jesus healed in John 9 was kicked out, excommunicated, from the synagogue because he confessed Jesus as the Christ. Pharisees sought to kill Lazarus after Jesus raised him from the dead in John 11. If the leper and centurion remained faithful after the miracles (and I think they did), then their lives as Christians were likely met with some difficulty. Finally, by natural death or martyrdom, both the centurion, his child, and leper all died. 

So the ultimate point of these miracles, just like last week, is that Jesus reveals, manifests, epiphanies his love and authority. Last week, Jesus did this at the wedding in Cana. He showed love to people at a time of joy. That points to the joy of heaven, to the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom. This week, Jesus revealed His love and authority to two people on death’s door. He showed love to people in a time of suffering. That points to God’s love for you today. Jesus comes with magnificent healing, and that mercy calls you to faithfulness. So show God’s love in your own vocation. Speak up for those who can’t. Intercede and pray that God will heal them. Our God is gracious and kind. He will do far more abundantly than we can imagine. 

Now may this peace that passes all understanding guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. 

Amen. 

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Pastor Schultz
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
 

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