Third Sunday after the Epiphany

St. Matthew 8:1–13

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

Jesus does two miracles in today’s Gospel. He heals a leper and He heals a centurion’s servant. And there are surprising things about both miracles. First, the surprising thing about healing the leper is that Jesus touches him. Under the Law of Moses, the disease of leprosy made someone ritually unclean. They could not enter the Temple or participate in the Divine Service there, and they were required to live apart from the rest of the Israelite community. And any clean person who came in contact with a leper was also made unclean. But Jesus touches the leper. And the leper does not make Him unclean, but the opposite happens: He makes the leper clean. Jesus restores the man’s health physically and He restores the man to the fellowship of God and His holy people.

This is related to the surprising thing in the second miracle. The surprising thing about healing the centurion’s servant is that Jesus was willing to go into a Gentile’s house. All Gentiles were considered unclean according to the Law of Moses. A centurion was an officer in the Roman army—normally in charge of 100 men, hence the name, centurion. So, this man was some kind of Roman, certainly some kind of Gentile—not a Jew, not a member of the Israelite people. So, he, as well as his home, would have been considered ritually unclean. And if a clean Israelite had dealing with a Gentile and entered his home, then he would also be made unclean. But Jesus is willing to go there. These miracles don’t mean that Jesus doesn’t care about the Law of Moses. It means that Jesus is greater than the Law of Moses. He is the source of all true cleanliness and holiness—He is the holy Lord who purifies a people for Himself and makes them His holy people.

But then there comes a third surprise, not from Jesus, but 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.” He does not pretend to be worthy of Jesus’ help. He does not claim any rights or fair treatment. How many of us don’t give a second thought to Jesus coming to our homes? The Bible sitting unused week after week, the Catechism or hymnal gathering dust on the shelf. Or we march up to the altar where the Lord comes under the roof of our mouths—and we are proud, thinking we deserve it, or we are not thinking at all, taking it for granted. This centurion is different from many of us who have all the blessings of the kingdom and claim to be God’s children. He has true humility and faith. He confesses his own sin and unworthiness. As a Gentile, he does not deserve to be a part of God’s people, and as a sinner, he does not deserve God’s love. But he also confesses his faith in Jesus’ authority and goodness. He believes that Jesus has the authority to heal his servant, just by speaking a word. And He believes that Jesus will heal his servant because Jesus is good and His mercy endures forever.

God grant us to have such humility and faith. What this centurion said even made Jesus marvel—I don’t think that happens very often! Jesus said, “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.” So, being a child of Israel, being in the in–crowd, having the rights and privileges of the community, being a Jew by blood, that won’t save you in the end. Jesus says that while many Gentiles will be saved and will get to eat at the heavenly banquet with the fathers of Israel, many Jews, the sons of the kingdom, will not.

And this shouldn’t be all that surprising. It was always intended that Gentiles would be included in the kingdom of heaven. An example from the Old Testament was in our reading today. Naaman gave us a foreshadowing of both miracles: he was a leper who was healed, and he was a Syrian, a Gentile, who came to faith in the one true God.

St. Paul, the Lord’s appointed apostle to the Gentiles, also said as much in our Epistle reading: I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Paul is writing to a mostly Gentile congregation in the capital city. And he makes it clear that the Gospel is for all people: not only Jews, and not only Greeks, but even for the barbarians, you know, all those uncivilized people in Britain and Germany and Africa. The Good News of Jesus Christ is for them.

So, Paul goes on: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:14–17). The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Yes, it came to the Jews first, in the promises of the Old Testament and in the person and work of Jesus, but then also to the Gentiles. Because salvation is not a matter of bloodlines or ethnicities, and it’s not a matter of doing perfectly the works of the Law, keeping the rituals, or even giving your best shot at moral improvement. Salvation is a matter of faith in Jesus Christ, in His atoning death, His victorious resurrection, and His forgiving Word. As both the old prophets and the new apostles testify: The righteous shall live by faith.

And this leads us to a practical point as well: the Church is bound to be going about missionary work. St. Paul wasn’t unique in wanting to preach the Gospel in Rome. He was simply carrying out the command given by the Lord to His Church: make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them (Matt. 28:19). And the little Israelite servant girl, enslaved in Syria to work in Naaman’s household, she didn’t do anything particularly extraordinary when she told her mistress about the prophet in Israel. She was just speaking of the wonders that the Lord, the true God, could do.

So, it is important that we as a congregation, fellow-believers with saints around the world, contribute to the mission of the Church—to sending and supporting missionaries, to training pastors and teachers in the Word of God so that they can teach others. And it is important that we as Christians do “missionary work” right here in our own town and in our own households, like that little Israelite servant girl—inviting, encouraging people to make use of the Means of Grace, to come and receive what the Lord so richly gives here in His Church, and teaching the children of our congregation so that the Word of God can be passed on to the next generation. In doing all this, we follow our Lord Jesus Himself, who ministered to the Gentiles and rejoices to see them enter His kingdom.

And still, we must always be careful that we don’t turn into those sons of the kingdom who will be thrown into the outer darkness. We must watch that we don’t neglect the Lord who is already in our midst, already here at our church and in our homes. We have so many blessings in being members of the church, maybe even life-long members. We must be on guard that we don’t take those blessings for granted, and become self-satisfied with our condition and stop seeking the Lord, or count on our works in the church organization to make up for our lack of faith, or, in our missionary zeal to reach the lost, we make an idol out of “missions”, and neglect our own souls and the souls of those closest to us. We are only saved by faith.

So, we must always be coming back to Jesus like that leper, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then hearing Him say, “I am willing; be clean… I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And always coming to Jesus like the centurion, saying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the Word, and Your servant, will be healed.” Then hearing Him say that Word: “Let it be done for you as you have believed… This is My Body. This is My Blood… given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” And so, He does come under the roof of your mouth, unworthy though you are, and He heals you. He grants you the medicine of immortality, in order that you might be raised up and included in that great congregation, who will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Artwork copyright (c) 2010 Edward Riojas. Used by permission.