Matthew 8.1-13
Third Sunday after Epiphany
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus manifests His glory—His divine glory as the eternal Son of God—by healing a leper and a paralytic. The leper approaches Jesus after the Sermon on the Mount. He bows down before Jesus and says, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” The leper heard Jesus’ preaching and through His preaching believed that He was the Son of God, able to do all things, even things impossible for men. He also believed that Jesus was kind and that He wanted to help those who come to Him. The leper bows before Jesus and acknowledges that Jesus has the power to cleanse his flesh of its loathsome disease, while also humbly acknowledging that Jesus’ will is far better than his own. So, he asks, “If you are willing, You can make me clean.” “Thy will be done.” Jesus stretches forth the right hand of His majesty, touches the leper, and says, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Since Jesus had not yet fulfilled the law of Moses by suffering and dying, He tells the formerly leprous man to show himself to the priest and offer the sacrifices commanded by Moses. His offering at the temple would serve as a testimony of Christ to the priests and all who saw him.
Jesus then enters the town of Capernaum, when a centurion came to Him and said, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” He does not ask Jesus to come to his home and heal his servant, but Jesus responds that He will come to his house and heal the man. But the centurion, a commander of around hundred soldiers, stops Jesus. “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus hears this, He marvels at the centurion’s faith. The centurion—a gentile Roman—believes Jesus can heal a paralyzed man, and not only that, but heal him with a word, from a distance. The centurion sees Jesus’ authority. Just as he commands his soldiers and they follow his orders, he recognizes Jesus as the Son of God who has authority over all things, all people, and all situations, so that all He needs to do is speak and what He speaks is accomplished.
This is great faith, so great, in fact, that Jesus marvels at it and holds the centurion’s faith up before all to see. He says to the crowd, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The centurion’s faith—the faith of a gentile—outshines the faith Jesus has encountered among the Jews. He even says that many more gentiles will come from east and west who will believe with such faith, so that on the Last Day they recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom—the Jews—will be cast out into the outer darkness of eternal punishment—Hell—where there is only weeping and gnashing of teeth. For although they are the sons of the kingdom, if they do not believe in Him as this gentile centurion believes—that He is the eternal Son of God in human flesh who has all the authority of God the Father, whom they should hear and heed—they will not attain the kingdom of heaven. Jesus turns to the centurion and answers His prayer. “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And it was so. The centurion’s servant was healed from that very hour by the word of Jesus.
Jesus manifests His divine glory, that He is truly God from God, Light from Light, very God from very God, the eternal Son of God, now in human flesh. He reveals His authority over all things, all people, even their bodies, and all situations. He reveals—even as He did last week by changing water into wine—that the word He speaks is active and powerful to accomplish what He wills because He is true God, even though He is also true man. He reveals His glory, what St. John calls “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14), showing us His kindness, mercy and willingness to help those who come to Him in sincere faith.
Just as Jesus manifests His glory by healing these two men, He also reveals what sincere faith looks like and does. The leper teaches us that Christ is to be approached for help, no matter the hopelessness or impossibility of our situation. Leprosy is something that, to this day, cannot be healed by medical intervention. Yet the leper knew that the Son of God has authority over all things, so He brought His petition before Christ. The leper teaches us humility by bowing before Jesus in humility and humbly asking, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” He teaches us that whenever we ask for earthly things—everything the Small Catechism calls ‘daily bread’—we ask according to God’s will. That includes health and healing. There are times when it is God’s will to heal our sicknesses and diseases, and when He does, we give Him thanks and praise. But there are other times when His will is not to heal us. He allows us to suffer the effects our sin and the sinful world in our bodies, in our situations, and in our lives, not because He is petty or arbitrary or unloving, but because He wants to exercise our faith, giving us opportunity to trust that His will for us in only good and gracious. He teaches us in His word, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb 12:6). Whenever we ask for the things of this life, we ask as the leper did, “Lord, if You are willing,” even as we believe that the Lord will give us what is best for us, especially what is best for our faith and bringing us safely to our heavenly home.
The centurion also teaches us humility before Christ. He understood that Jeus has authority over all things, all people, even their bodies, and all situations. Although a gentile, he understood that there is nothing outside of Christ’s authority. He understood what Christ will tell His disciples after His resurrection, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Mt 28:18). Believing Christ to be the Son of God in human flesh, the centurion also teaches us that Christ exercises His authority by His Word. His word is active and powerful, accomplishing the purpose for which He sends it. The centurion understood this and relied solely on Christ’s word. In fact, all he wanted was Christ’s word. Trusting in Christ’s word, the centurion understood that he had all he needed.
As it was for the leper and centurion, it is for us, though Christ does not speak directly to us as He did to them. He speaks to us through His Word in Holy Scripture. That Scripture is God’s word, Paul says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Ti 3:16) and Peter says, “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pe 1:2). Because it is God’s word, not only Scripture true, but it is living and powerful to accomplish what it says in us. By His word read from the page and preached from the pulpit, God creates faith that justifies in His sight, faith that prays, faith that trusts God amid trials, and loves neighbor. This is why the devil, the world, and false prophets attack Scripture, denying that it is God’s word on one hand, or arguing that it is insufficient and doesn’t contain everything God wants us to know on the other. The centurion reminds us that faith will not let itself be separated from God’s word and Christ. For those who believe, Scripture is God’s very word to us by which He exercises His authority over us and gives—and sustains in us—faith that receives the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, new life, and eternal salvation.
The Holy Spirit recorded these miracles in Holy Scripture so that we would know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, for these miracles reveal His divine glory. The Holy Spirit also recorded them to reveal to us the nature of faith, how it is content with God’s will because it trusts the word of God that tells us of Jesus, who is kind and merciful, and who is willing to help all who sincerely come to Him. This faith is what makes one a true “son of the kingdom,” so that whether one be from east and west, whether one be of Jewish stock like the leper or gentile stock like the centurion, they will recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven forever. May God grant such faith to us all. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.