Epiphany 3 Sermon

 

Epiphany 3 – Matthew 8:1-13 – January 21^st and 22^nd, 2023

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

So, who is this Jesus, who is this God that you worship? Who does He show Himself to be today in our Gospel lesson? Jesus shows Himself to be something profound – He is the God, the Messiah who is for everyone. Jesus is the God who loves even the people whom you hate. Because that's what we see Jesus doing today – we see Jesus healing two people who were flat out hated in His day – a leper and a centurion. Listen.

When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him. And behold, a leper came to Him and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” Strangely, it's easier to preach on this text after Covid. Ten years ago I would have had to try to make a comparison to maybe someone who had AIDS back in the 80s or something, but understand the disgust that would be going on here. There's a crowd, people following Jesus, people who have just heard the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 through 7... and then into this crowd comes a leper. Someone with a horrid skin disease that was contagious, one that if you caught it would mean that you would be exiled and forced to live in isolation until it cleared, if it ever cleared. Alright – think on visiting a store two years ago and there's someone full in the throes of all the Covid symptoms, coughing and sneezing their way unmasked through the place – don't mind me, just getting some Dayquil. There'd be disgust, there'd be anger, there'd be panic. A leper popping up in a crowd would bring up the exact same thing. You are breaking the law, you are violating custom, Moses had said you are to stay away from us, what are you doing here, you idiot, you wretch, you mongrel. That leper is someone whom the crowd would have despized.

And yet, what is Jesus' reaction? And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” Understand that Jesus' action here, what He does, would be horrific. Jesus touches the leper. You just didn't do that – they knew that Leprousy spread by contact – Jesus is defiling Himself, opening Himself up to death and decay by touching this person – leper, outcast, unclean! Here, Covid guy, let me wipe your nose on my sleeve while I grab that Dayquil for you. It would be nuts. Well, except for the fact He's Jesus, He's God Almighty come to Earth to save His Creation, including this leper – well, now actually this former leper whom He has cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. The leprosy is gone – not on this guy anymore. Jesus heals him.

Again, quietly – And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourselves to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” Don't whoop and holler, don't make a scene, anymore than you have – you're going to have to get through a pretty big crowd here and I don't want any more commotion than there is. Just go back home quietly, visit the priest, go through the procedure of being welcomed back into society, and enjoy. Simple, quiet care for this guy – be healed and then be on your way.

Do you see Jesus' love and care for this man, this outcast, this person the world would have hated? His care is quiet, Jesus doesn't draw a bunch of attention to him so no one is going to be mad or filled with disgust. It's all so caring – and for a person that no one in that crowd would have given two cents for. The crowd would have seen a villain, a threat. Jesus shows compassion.

And see, this is where a lot of churches today stop, especially those of the more liberal, woke persuasion – and then there's the finger wagging lecture about how you have to love and accept and praise whatever “protected” group is the hip one we're supposed to fawn over today – because you are an evil, rich oppressor and you can never be sorry enough or accepting enough. See, even there, there's an appropriate group of people to hate – defund the police, hate the oppressor, so on and so forth. But the story doesn't stop just with that leper. We hear this. When [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a Centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” Allow me to expand on what this situation is. So, Jesus enters Capernaum, a Jewish, middle-eastern town – and there is a White, European Oppressor Colonizer Police Officer who comes up to him and says, “My servant – that is, my child slave labor, is paralyzed.” But in response to this, Jesus doesn't organize a march – He doesn't change his background photo on-line; Jesus says something utterly dumbfounding. And He said to him, “I will come and heal him.” Yeah, I'll come to your house and help you, O vile oppressor. Again, do you understand the revulsion that there would be at this? Some of Jesus' disciples were Zealots, a group of people who had sworn their very lives to the destruction of Roman Oppression, and here is Jesus saying he's going to go inside the guy's house. This would be utterly shocking.

But then the reply from the Centurion. Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the Word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, “Go,” and he goes, and to another, “Come,” and he comes, and to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it. And Jesus is tickled pink. This is fantastic, this Centurion gets it – Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. The Centurion understands God's authority and the power of God's Word, He gets who I am – this is fantastic – you want Me to say the Word, great! And to the Centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Two people interact with Jesus – a leper and a Centurion. Both would have been off handedly disdained and despised in Jesus' day. Both would have been propped up as emblems of evil by the various factions and political interests of the day. And yet, Jesus is there for both of them. To heal them and care for them. Well, this is a good reminder that our casual disdain of “those people” whoever our particular “those people” tend to be is off base. Anyone you come across, all of us, we're all people stuck in sin and uncleanliness of one sort or another, we all have people that we happen to annoy. That's the reality of life in the fallen world. But where as we so often see reasons to hate or disdain our neighbor – that's not Jesus' approach. What does Jesus see, what does Jesus hear when He comes across these two people, this leper and this Centurion? He sees faith.

Consider again the leper. A leper came to Him and knelt down before Him, syaing, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” What a fantastic statement of faith! The leper kneels – he literally worships Jesus, this is kneeling in prayer – and then he simply speaks truth. You are the LORD, and if You so desire, you are able to cleanse me. It's simple statement of fact, it is a confession of faith as plain and as blunt as the Nicene Creed we will confess together in a few moments. That's not just a leper – that's a faithful Christian. And Jesus cares for him.

And consider the Centurion. You've got authority Jesus – speak and it will happen, just like at Creation when you spoke the World into being. When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who followed Him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” This is what faith looks like – knowing that Jesus is in charge, that He has authority, that He will use His Word to do good. What does Jesus see when He sees this leper and this centurion – He sees faith.

We see many things when we look at the world and the people there in. We can see many things wrong with the people we see. And frankly, that shouldn't surprise any of us – we know God's Word, we know His Commandments, we know what God has said about the power of sin. Why should any of us be surprised at all when we see sin in our neighbor – you know the power of Sin, the hold, the way it will drive its claws into you and twist. You should know yourself how sin attacks you, how sin twists and turns you and tries to make you into someone whom other people understandably hate and despise. We know the power of sin. And we also know that Jesus comes to break the power of sin, death, and the devil. This is what He is doing with His righteous life, this is what He is doing when He stretches out His hands upon the Cross, taking up the guilt and shame of your sin. We see that Jesus is almighty and victorious in His resurrection, in His proclamation of forgiveness and life that He declares in your Baptism, that He declares over and over in His Word.

And so when the Father looks at you, He doesn't see your sins. By faith you are joined to Christ Jesus, so the Father sees Jesus and His holiness, His goodness, His righteousness. Faith clings to Jesus Christ alone, and in Jesus there is forgiveness, life, and salvation for you. And everything you see in life, all those things that you might hate or disdain – it's not about our categories or politics – it's a Spiritual Battle. It's Satan trying to use to sin and anger and wrath to drive people away from Christ – whether it's Satan pulling on the lure of sins to trap and enslave people into vice and greed, or whether it's Satan trying to push you away from Christ via disgust and disdain. All of it is an attack on Faith in Christ – your neighbor being attacked and driven from Christ, and Satan trying to attack your faith and drive you away from Christ.

And Jesus sees this battle. He sees uncleanliness clamber onto you again, He sees your sin and disdain rear its ugly head again – and so He comes to you, He stretches out His hand and takes hold of you, and He speaks His Authoritative, Life Giving Word again, and He says, “I have died and risen for you, I have claimed you as mine, I forgive you, and I will raise you to life everlasting.” And over and against all the sin in the world, all the sin in ourselves, all the very sin that Christ Jesus took upon Himself and carried to the Cross and crucified, we say Amen. That's who Jesus is – the God who has come to love, to redeem, to forgive people, even the people you hate, even you. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World + Amen.