Sermon/Epiphany 3—St. Matthew 8:1-13

When he 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.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 

When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “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.” 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. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 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.

Jesus has just preached His Sermon on the Mount in which He has said among many other things: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt.5:2) —meaning, blessed are those who recognize their need of God’s grace; they’re the ones who’ll have it by faith. It wouldn’t be surprising if we learned that the two people Jesus meets in our text had heard Him say those words. Certainly they have come to understand them, and to exhibit the truth of those words in their own lives. One man has leprosy, and the other is a centurion. These two have in common that both demonstrate great faith in prayer (or in their asking things of Jesus in our text). We want to note from this message that we pray believing in Jesus, and entrusting ourselves to Him.

“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” No question: those words from the leper are the words of a believer. 

• For him to even be saying them to Jesus is a demonstration of his belief. He doesn’t say a lot of things to lot of other people, because he has a condition that people are scared of (there are laws against him getting too close to people, even). But even though he has that obstacle he comes to Jesus and asks Him for help.

• And He comes humbly. He doesn’t come with a resume’ of qualifications that he thinks makes him worthy of Jesus’ help. He doesn’t talk like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, about his frequent fasting or his tithing or anything like that. He doesn’t even insist that Jesus heal him as if he were deserving of it. He sees himself as the poor in spirit that Jesus talked about in His sermon, as someone whose sin precludes him from demanding anything from God. And he knows that seeing himself that way, he too can be among the blessed whom Jesus talks about in that statement.

• Perhaps on this occasion, he’s thinking: maybe this one who has brought God’s grace to me, Who gives me a clear conscience before God will even see fit to relieve me of this burden I carry, of leprosy.

• He puts it entirely in Jesus’ hands. Do you notice that? “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” He’s open to the possibility that it might not be Jesus’ will. We don’t know the mind of God. The man lets his request just sit out there like that. If you will, you can make me clean. He’s saying it; so he hopes it’s Jesus’ will. He certainly knows it’s within Jesus’ power to heal him. He knows Jesus is gracious and kind (otherwise he wouldn’t even have come). And Jesus responds, “I will; be clean.”

Another man comes to Jesus. He’s a centurion; so he’s a Roman soldier—the commander of maybe as many as a hundred soldiers. He’s a Gentile. So he’s another guy who comes to Jesus having transcended obstacles (he wouldn’t have been welcome among many of the Jews, for one thing). But he comes demonstrating that Jesus is someone he knows. Again, he had either heard Jesus’ sermon or heard others speak the good word about Jesus. 

• And the way he presents his request to Jesus is similar to the way Jesus’ mother Mary presented her request about the wine in last week’s text. He doesn’t even make a request in the usual way; he just declares that there’s this problem that needs solving. The problem is that his servant is paralyzed. He’s suffering terribly. Like Mary in last week’s text, he isn’t just passing along some information. He’s putting a prayer before the all-powerful God. And Jesus immediately responds: “I will come and heal him.”

• But then the man says something kind of confusing. He says, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. [Here’s the confusing part:] 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.” You might wonder what he’s talking about with all of this, right? What do all these soldiers and commands and all of it have to do with him wanting Jesus to heal his servant’s paralysis?

• It’s like he hears Jesus start to say He will come there and do what the man has asked; and the man very modestly, almost embarrassed at the thought that Jesus would go out of His way like that, says, No, no, no, no, no. You clearly have authority in these matters. Please, only do like what I do when I’m dealing with the men under my authority. Just say the word and it will be done. I don’t have any business having you come to my house. There isn’t any need for you to trouble yourself any more than simply saying the word, if indeed you would be so willing as to help me in this matter. This is very pronounced humility. It’s humility demonstrative of the poor in spirit. And to Jesus it is a demonstration of great faith. He even says, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

Remember what we said this message was going to be about. We pray believing in Jesus, and entrusting ourselves to Him. The men in our text certainly believe in Jesus. The first gets down on his knees before Him and declares that Jesus is the one who can meet his need. If his need will be met it will be upon the word of Jesus. The centurion also simply states his need. When Jesus offers to go with him he too, declares that it’s only Jesus’ word that he needs, nothing more.

Maybe it’s surprising to us that Jesus is so impressed with this, especially as it transpires with the centurion, with Jesus declaring that He hasn’t even seen such faith in Israel. Of course this means that He often sees something…else. He sees people coming to Him who aren’t willing to just entrust themselves to Him, to desire to have His help in whatever way He chooses, in whatever timeframe He determines, to whatever extent, whether or not they might agree with Him about what help He offers and how quickly He does so. 

Do you find yourself thinking, Oh, how nice it would be to think that I’ve always thought of myself as the poor in spirit, coming humbly before Jesus without presumptuousness or insistence that He bend to my will and whim? But the truth is, I have approached Him in arrogance, unwilling to tolerate any suffering or sacrifice that might be His will for my good. I have thought of myself as deserving of His evident response in prompt agreement with what I have determined is best for me. I am among the ones Jesus refers to when He talks about the lack of faith in Israel. If you’ve thought like that, then confess this sin and put yourself among the poor in spirit. To you, then, also comes the blessing of forgiveness in the One Who in the Garden of Gethsemane, while sweating what appeared to be drops of blood over the anticipation of dying and being forsaken by the Father, said, Not as I will, but as you will. He has done perfectly what you’ve failed to do. His flawless humility is the remedy for your arrogance, His sacrifice the remedy for your insistence on being relieved of the same. He has done it for you. 

He declares it to you this morning at His Table: “This is My body which is given for you…this is My blood which is shed for you.” With those words He puts away your sins and puts His arms around you as His own. He is your solution just like for the leper and for the centurion. 

Prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father, who of great love and mercy gave us Your Son to be made man and die on the cross for us: put Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, that we may confide wholly in Your Son alone, and by Him believe as firmly in the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life as the centurion believed that He would save his sick servant with a word. We have His word that whoever believes in Him will not perish. Grant therefore, dear Father in heaven, that we may believe it with a resolute heart and remain steadfast in it until our final end. Amen.