Third Sunday after Epiphany - 01-25-09

The Church Season of Epiphany
The Third Sunday after Epiphany
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (January 25, 2009)
One Year Series

“FAITH AND LOVE”

Readings:

Psalm 110:1-4
2 Kings 5:1-15
Romans 1:8-17
Matthew 8:1-13

Sermon Form: Deductive

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Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel lesson from the 8th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verses,

Matthew 8:1-13 (NIV)

1 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus had just finished an extended sermon and came down from the mountain with a large crowd following Him. And during this journey down from the mountain top to the City of Capernaum, Jesus was met by two different men. One was a man who stricken with leprosy and the other was a Roman Centurion whose servant was suffering terribly. One of these men came to be healed of a personal affliction and the other was concerned about his servant. Yet, both of these men had come to Jesus because they trusted that He would be the one who could cure what was affecting them. When each of the men did come to Jesus their ills were indeed cured and both of their stories reflects the compassionate giving nature of a savior. So both of these stories records of,

“FAITH, TRUST, AND LOVE”

In this lesson we hear of two wonderful and marvelous works. One man is cured of an incurable disease, the servant of another was paralyzed and enduring terrible suffering. The leper asks for mercy and he is healed. The centurion asks for mercy upon his servant and for his servant is healed. Both the leper and the centurion had great faith and their faith was rewarded. The leper had so much faith in Christ that he broke all the rules. For the rule was that lepers were not to approach or draw near to anyone. The rule was that they were to separate themselves from others and should they see another, they were to announce that they were sick, by stating that they were unclean. Yet this leper obviously did no such thing, he followed Christ. He trusted Christ. The leper spoke to Christ in a completely unassuming manner. Because the leper did not ask Christ to heal him. Rather he broke the rules. In trust he came close to Christ without announcing his condition. In faith, he knelt before Christ and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”(v. 2) And in His love Christ healed this man.

In the same way the centurion came to Christ and pleaded for his sick servant. The centurion knew he was unworthy. He knew he could do a lot of things because he had assumed great authority. But this self proclaimed undeserving centurion trusted Jesus enough to ask for His help. And Christ said that this faith, this trust, was not equaled in all of Israel(v. 10.) And because Jesus saw the great faith, and trust of the centurion the servant in love Jesus healed the servant.

It would be easy to hear of the faith and trust of these people, the leper and the centurion, and get a whole lot wrong. It would be easy to say I am afflicted too. The world around me is upside down, there is sin, evil, death, and sickness everywhere. There is so much going on around me, so much going wrong that I can’t trust or have faith in anyone. In our daily lives it is all too easy to wonder if there is anyone that we can put our faith in to make things right. It would be easy to think or say I have a lot of faith in God, so why doesn’t He make my world right? Why doesn’t He make my life right, cure my sickness, why doesn’t he make all my problems right? Why doesn’t He take my pain away? Why doesn’t He give me a reason to trust in my fellow man? Why doesn’t He make everything right? I’m trust in God, and I have faith. If he did what that leper wanted and did what that centurion wanted why doesn’t he do what I want? I have all this faith and trust but where is His love for me?

If you’ll recall from the Old Testament, there a man named Naaman who felt that very same way. He had incurable sickness too and he was a pretty influential man of his times, had a lot of money. And when he heard there was man who could heal him, who could make his world right, Naaman placed all his faith, trust, and money to get himself healed. He had faith that he would be cured, but you know, he was wasn’t cured right away. And when a second man, Elisha, asked to see him, Naaman again piled up all his faith and trust and went to Elisha. And the Prophet Elisha, told Naaman to go to the Jordon river to cleanse himself. That made Naaman mad. He, “went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me.”(2 Kings 5:11) Naaman was mad because he had faith, but he didn’t get his way, the way he wanted. Naaman was disappointed because he trusted in Elisha, but it seemed to him that his trust was broken and that sent him into a rage. But when he relented and went to the waters of the Jordan he was healed and he was told to go in peace.

Our faith, our trust for our world, ourselves, our families, our sickness, our challenges seems to misplaced. It has been said that, “Our will is of a wavering mind-set and unreliable. But God’s will is peaceful and reliable. That’s why we are unable to achieve true peace of mind until we immerse our wavering-minded will in God’s calming will.” Our will is to trust in ourselves, our faith is in what we have and we expect that by some combination of faith, trust, and money we will get our way. And when we don’t, we get mad, we get disappointed, and we wonder if God really loves us at all.

Repent. For proclaiming faith, and trust and then expecting God to wave His hand upon you because of all you have done is really placing your faith and trust in yourself. And when you place your faith and trust in yourself, you will always be disappointed, you will always be mad, you will always be left wondering if God loves you at all.

When we repent we see that God does love us. And whether we approach Christ on bended knee begging for our own mercy, or whether we come to Him asking for mercy for another, a repentant heart asks in faith, and trusts that God’s will be done.

Luther said, “It is faith’s rightful art to be moved to trust the Word with the whole heart, as the one and only treasure and hope, never doubting the “yes” and “amen” to what the Word promises. Though I am not worthy of it, I accept it being unworthy; though I have not merited it - for I know nothing in myself by which I deserve it - yet will I take it as gift. That, indeed, is true faith and genuine humility when a person fears because of his unworthiness and yet does not despair.” You need not worry if you have done enough, for Christ has done enough for you. Christ placed His trust in God His Father, then placed Himself upon the cross to win salvation for you. Christ cleanses your sins in the waters of your baptism. Christ free’s you from the worries, pain, and strife of this world, and He does so by giving you forgiveness in His true body and true blood in Holy Communion.

When you are disappointed in yourself and others and you say to Christ, “I am unworthy,” Christ lovingly says to you, “Be clean.” When you place your faith and trust not in man, but in Christ He says to you, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” For Christ loved you so much He died for you on the cross and in that very hour you were healed for all eternity.

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