The Third Sunday after Epiphany - January 23, 2011

The Church Season of Epiphany
The Third Sunday after Epiphany
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (January 23, 2011)

“MERCY”

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

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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 [Jesus] 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.

In today’s reading we hear of a man who was an outcast, left behind and outside of society.  What this man had was catching, and at that time incurable by man, it was loathsome to view, a slowly degenerating body of a person.  Outside of life, outside of contact, no where to go, no one to turn to.  And if you think about it this man was ridden with mental and physical pain he had only one certainty, that was he was certain of Christ’s power. Yet, it would seem he doubted Christ’s willingness, whether or not Jesus would come to help or shrink away from one so unclean.

Yet Christ’s heart was moved by mercy, Jesus uttered words of encouragement, “I am willing.” And from the God-man Jesus came an act of mercy that endures forever. Jesus did not slink away, nor did He find an excuse.  Jesus did not assign the task to look at this man to a committee, nor did He say this isn’t my job, or I’ve done it before so let someone else do it, nor did he say I’ve never done this before.  No, Christ did not, and will not ever restrain His mercy.

What a contrast to us.  While our bodies might not be literally melting away from the horrid disease of leprosy, we are just as disgusting and unpleasant when we turn away from providing mercy to our fellow men.  Not only that we turn mercy on its head, by misconceiving what mercy is.  Meaning we think if we’ve received mercy then we are absolved from duty of providing mercy. We think if we provided mercy at some time in our lives then it is no longer our duty to provide mercy anymore, rather let someone else take their turn at it.

It was the duty and obligation of the leper to himself to the priests, to the health officers, and then to offer the customary gift. The object of mercy is not to save us from the judgment of God, rather mercy is as a result of obedience to God’s desire for us. 

All the diseases of the human body reflect our sinful human nature and our fallen human spirit. Sin is the leprosy of our corruption, actually leprosy is much kinder than our sin, for our sin starts with Adam, and is part of our entire our lives.  And how does Jesus respond to us? Christ still has mercy, our Lord still has mercy, Christ still has mercy to deliver us.

The manifestation, the epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ’s mercy toward that leper reveals God’s love for all sinners, a love that He brought with Him to the Cross. It is this mercy of Jesus Christ in which we have faith and so we are also obligated to love one another to have mercy on our fellow man. 

Today, we remember the death of Jesus Christ and we celebrate Him and proclaim Him by eating and drinking His Body and Blood together with the Bread and Wine in the Holy Sacrament. Our bodies come to Communion riddled with the leprosy of sin.  Christ does not turn from us, rather He turns to us and offers Himself up as a sacrifice to make us well. 

We have heard it read to us from the scriptures that, “God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The leper doubted that Christ would have mercy on, and love for, a such wretched creature that he was. We have doubt that Christ packs mercy in this Holy Supper when we make light of what this supper means.  Can you imagine actually saying out loud, ‘No, no thank you Jesus Christ, I know you died and all that but, you know, I’ve already had all the mercy I need for this month, nope no thanks I don’t need or want anymore.’

When we take stock of ourselves, and that is exactly what God’s Holy Word tells us to do before receiving communion, it is then that we feel our sin.  We feel and realize our sin has disturbed every relation between us and a pure and Holy God. We are given the gut punch, we driven to our knees, how in the world could we ever expect God to love us?

We can’t expect God to love us yet He still does for Jesus Christ died for us! God has proved His love for you because Christ died. God so loved the world that He sent His Son to stand in our stead to pay for our sins. God showed His love in that Christ died for us. Christ’s death proves God’s love because it is for you. 

The death of Jesus Christ is the revelation of a love that is not called forth by any lovableness on our part.  Were we to reveal our sin,  the skeletons of our sin would no longer be hidden away in our closets.  Yet Christ still sees that in us and yet He still died for us. That my friends is the Gospel for you, to know we are sinners, yet mercy and salvation is sill freely given for us. 

In the Holy Supper of our Lord which we receive this morning we receive God’s undeserved grace.  And from that overflowing cup of God’s grace we are obligated to show our reaction to God’s mercy. We cannot receive this mercy and shrivel away from the people around us who need our mercy.  We cannot turn from those people who people who do not look like us, or have the stature or gifts we have.  We cannot  tell those who need mercy to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.  We must have mercy, there is always more to do.  Not having mercy is like being touched in the head.  Rather we must recognize that God in Christ Jesus has touched our hearts. 

The leper said, “Lord if you are willing.”  Jesus was willing for that one man, and Jesus is willing to cure all mankind.  In fact, Jesus cures all that faces you, no matter if it be the physical or mental, no matter what Satan has in store for you, Christ has already healed you.  He gave you your faith, His grace, and His mercy and He healed you immediately as the water combined with God’s Word was poured upon you in you in you baptism.  And because Jesus Christ was and is willing one day you will kneel down before your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and when you close your eyes you will immediately be in His hands.  Amen.

+SDG+