In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Just as our Lord finishes preaching the Sermon on the Mount
and walks down the mountain, a leper approaches Jesus and worships Him. Lepers
were commanded to stand afar off, calling out “Unclean! Unclean!” lest anyone contract
the disease by passing too closely. Yet this leper bolds walks up to Jesus,
falls upon his knees, perhaps even falling prostrate—flat on the ground—in
worship of the Incarnate Lord. After such a provocative approach, the leper
humbly says, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”[2]
Here we see the boldness of faith. Faith makes you more
powerful than the US President and more wealthy than Jeff Bezos. Christ says
faith the size of a mustard seed is capable of moving mountains.[3]
It is by faith that in Psalm 82, God says to Christians, “You are gods, and all
of you are children of the Most High.”[4]
Faith makes you a god among men, a lord over lords, and a mighty conqueror of
this world.
It takes such faith to ask anything from God. The centurion
knows that he is not worthy to have Christ stand under his roof. The centurion
knows that he is not worthy even to be speaking to Christ. Yet faith, given to
him by God, has made the leper and the centurion worthy to stand before the
Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Judge, and Lord of the Universe and dare to ask
for something as trifling as a healthy body.
Yet even such faith as can move mountains is worthless if
misplaced. The leper is able to approach Jesus with such bold faith because he
trusts that Christ is not only powerful but merciful, gracious, and loving.
Faith is not only knowledge in the power of God but trust in His goodness. The
bold faith of the leper is not without humility.
The humility of faith trusts that God is good and will
deliver to you that which is best. You do not have all of the information. You
cannot see through God’s eyes. We are bidden by the Lord’s Prayer to form all
of our prayers according to the Will of God.
When you pray that God would sustain you in right doctrine,
the teaching of the Scriptures, and that he will not cast you away, you can be
certain that the answer to your prayer will be a resounding yes. God has
promised to do these things for you in His word.
But when you pray for something that is good and necessary
for this body and life, but which God has not specifically promised to you in
His word, then the humility of your faith ought to always cause you to ask
according to the Will of God. “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me
clean.” The leper is not questioning the ability of Christ nor Christ’s love
for him. The caveat of “if You are willing” refers to the uncertainty within
the leper if being cleansed is really the best thing for him. Jesus knows what
is best and so the leper humbles himself to the Will of Jesus.
The humility of the centurion’s faith is expressed somewhat
differently. Jesus is ready to come straight to the centurion’s home to heal
his servant, but the centurion stops Him. “Lord, I am not worthy to have You
come to my home. Your Word is enough for me. I know you are the Lord of heaven
and earth. Just as my soldiers obey my commands, I know that all of creation
will obey Yours. Please, just speak a word and I know—I trust—that my servant
will be healed.”
No one is worthy to have Jesus come under his roof.
Historically, the words of the centurion are the words prayed before received
the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. “Lord, I am not worthy that You should
come under my roof, but only say the word and Your servant shall be healed.” We
are not worthy to receive forgiveness, let alone to feed on the Body of God.
Yet in our unworthiness, the Son of God descended into our flesh to die for us.
He took on our humility and shame so that we would be given the faith which
makes us kings and lords.
The humility of the centurion is in his request only for a
word because he believes the Word of God will do precisely what it says. He
believes the Word of Jesus will be good for whomever it is spoken. So too
should you humbly believe that the words which I speak are not my forgiveness,
but the forgiveness of God, your Father. You should humbly believe that what I
give to you in the cup is the Blood of Jesus, not doubting because it doesn’t
taste like blood. You should also humbly believe the Word of God is true simply
because God has said it. If you disagree with it, submit your own will to the
Will of God.
St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “Though I have all faith,
so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”[5]
We see the love personified in Christ while healing the leper. Leprosy is
always a symbol of our sinful condition because it deadens our senses toward
God. We are not only numb toward God but dead. This necrosis creeps throughout
our souls, poisoning us against God and man until we are finally laid in the
grave of our own choosing, fated to spend eternity in darkness, weeping and
gnashing our teeth in anger against a God we refused to know.
In this deadened state of leprous sin, the Word of God comes
to us. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.[6]
Having heard the Word of God, faith is kindled in our dead hearts. Our flesh
begins to move and having faith, we are bold to pray, “Lord, if You are
willing, You can make me clean.”[7]
We, like the leper, already have faith. He is not praying to
be converted. If that were the case, his actions would lead to salvation. No,
he has already heard the Word of God and now prays that this forgiving Word
would act upon his body. He prays that Christ would give to him that which is
best for him. So too, we pray for food and drink, house and home, health,
money, possessions, a pious spouse, pious children, good government, good
friends, peace, discipline, honor, and the like.[8]
In so doing, we also pray to be made holy. We pray that
Christ would relieve us of the temptation to sin. It ought to be the desire of
every Christian to live without sin. No sin should please us who would be like
Christ. Praying to be cleansed with the leper is to pray that sin would cease
its clinging to our conscience. While the temptations of the flesh will never
cease on this side of glory, prayer for relief from sin is certainly biblical,
practical, necessary, and pleasing to our Father in heaven.
The centurion himself is an example of love. He comes to
Jesus not for his own healing, but the healing of his young servant. He pleads
to God on behalf of another. This is love. The centurion must have traveled
some distance, though not necessarily a long distance. This takes time and
resources and for what? A slave? A young slave? He does this out of love. At
some point, perhaps during the Sermon on the Mount, the centurion heard the
preaching of Christ. The Word of God replaced his heathen heart of stone with a
heart of flesh and now the centurion desires to live in service to his
neighbor. Faith makes you a lord of all, but love makes you a servant of all.
Faith without love is dead.[9]
So too, should we follow the centurion’s example of faith
working out in love, the greater being a blessing to the lesser. No one can
provide for every need of everyone they meet. But you can provide for the needs
of those God has given into your care. You can sacrifice your own comfort for
the sake of another. You can humble yourself so that your children, your less
fortunate friend, your sister, or even your destitute mother may have more than
the bare minimum in life. To sacrifice yourself for the needs and wants
of another is the definition of love.
Such faith and love will be rewarded. Both the Jewish leper
and the Gentile centurion will be seated at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.
They shall dine with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for all eternity. This feast has
also been prepared for you, beloved in Christ. The blood of the Jewish leper
and the works of the Gentile centurion did not secure their invitation to
eternal bliss. The Word of God, which delivered the very faith by which it is
apprehended, moved their souls to repent of their sins and trust in Christ for
salvation. This faith is then shown forth in love for their fellow man.
Your faith too is shown forth in love, even when you don’t
realize it. You cannot help but show love toward your neighbor so long as you
have faith. The act of changing a diaper is not worthy of salvation but the act
of changing a diaper is the showing forth of love born by faith. It is the
blessing of the helpless child by the capable mother.
So too are your prayers heard and answered no matter how it
may seem to you. Faith means trusting that Christ knows what is good for you
and will deliver that which is good. If your prayer is not answered the way you
wanted it to be, then realize that you do not know what is best. God does. It
would be worthwhile to practice praying like the leper and the centurion.
“Lord, if You are willing, You can deliver me from pain. But
I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. Only say the Word, and Your
servant shall be healed.”
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
[2] St. Matthew 8:2.
[3]
St. Matthew 17:20.
[4]
Psalm 82:6.
[5]
1 Corinthians 13:2.
[6]
Romans 10:17.
[7]
St. Matthew 8:2.
[8]
A summary of the Small Catechism on the 4th Petition of the Lord’s
Prayer.
[9]
James 2:17; 1 Corinthians 13:2; Galatians 5:6; Colossians 1:4; 1 Timothy 1:5,
14; 1 John 4:20.
No comments:
Post a Comment