The authority of Christ and the power of His Word

Sermon for Epiphany 3

Romans 12:6-16  +  Matthew 8:1-13

What do we learn about Jesus in today’s Gospel? Let’s consider His two encounters, with the leper and with the centurion, and see what the Holy Spirit has to teach us.

Jesus has just finished preaching the famous Sermon on the Mount. He’s coming down from the mountain, and as He’s coming down, a man is waiting for Him there, a man suffering from leprosy.

I think you know what leprosy was, but just in case, let me explain it briefly. Leprosy was a skin disease, one that the Law of Moses specifically addressed. If someone in Israel was found to have leprosy and was officially diagnosed with it by the priests, according to the descriptions given in the Law of Moses, that person had to live apart from the rest of Israel. According to the Law, they were to be considered perpetually unclean, ceremonially contaminated, until such time as their skin cleared up, and the priest certified their healing, and they performed the rituals prescribed by the Law to be declared “clean” again. Leprosy was not a spiritual problem. It was a physical, social, and ceremonial problem. But God used that particular outward uncleanness in some to reveal the spiritual uncleanness and contamination that’s present in all.

Well, this man with leprosy has heard the word about Jesus, how good and kind He is, that He has been preaching the good news of God’s promise to restore sinners through faith alone in Christ Jesus, and that He has been healing people’s diseases, one after another. And now the leprous man has, incredibly, become convinced that, Jesus has the power to cleanse him of his leprosy. And, just as incredibly, he believes so strongly in Jesus’ compassion and mercy that He is willing to approach Jesus, which was a bold move for a leper, because it was forbidden for an unclean leper to approach a clean person. Not only that, but he is completely humble before Jesus, not demanding, not even asking to be healed, but leaving the matter entirely up to Jesus. Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.

And Jesus was willing. I am willing. Be cleansed! He spoke a word, and the man’s leprosy disappeared. But before healing him, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. That seems like a small thing. But there’s something to it that we should note. Normally, if a person who was ceremonially clean touched a person or a thing that was unclean, the clean person became unclean for a time. The Jews tried very hard to avoid becoming unclean, because it kept them away from the temple and the worship of God. But ceremonial uncleanness was only there in the first place to teach the people of Israel that you have to be sinless and holy in order to approach God, according to the Law, and it was impossible for anyone to remain clean, because it was impossible for them—for any of us—to be sinless, according to the Law. So Jesus, the Holy One, the sinless One, cannot be made unclean. Instead, when Jesus, the sinless One, comes into contact with an unclean person, that person becomes clean in God’s sight! That’s what the Gospel is all about.

We need to remember that, just as the physical uncleanness of leprosy pointed to the spiritual uncleanness of sin, so Jesus’ willingness and ability to cleanse outward uncleanness is really intended to reveal His willingness and ability to make us clean on the inside, through the forgiveness of our sins, through our “contact” with Him, which happens by Baptism and by faith. So learn from this account of the healing of the leper. Learn to approach God through Jesus, to approach Him humbly but boldly, acknowledging your sins and your sinfulness and your need for His healing, and then trusting in Him to make you clean before God. He is willing! And He will do it. And if you’re clean before God through the forgiveness of sins, then you can worship Him rightly. Then you can trust in His promises to help you through all the troubles of this life, because His willingness to help never goes away.

In the second part of our Gospel, we see Jesus’ interaction with the Roman centurion, where we see Jesus perform another healing miracle. But this time, He doesn’t do it by touching the sick man. He does it from afar. Because Jesus’ healing isn’t a matter of proximity. It’s a matter of authority.

The centurion came to Jesus, asking Him to heal his servant, who was suffering terribly. And immediately Jesus, knowing the centurion’s faith, says, “I’ll come and heal him!” Notice how different this is from another time, when a Jewish nobleman came to Jesus and begged Him to come heal his son. On that occasion, Jesus, knowing the nobleman’s weak faith, refused to go, in spite of the nobleman begging Him repeatedly. In that case, Jesus wanted to stretch the nobleman’s faith, so that he would be content with only a word from Jesus, with a healing from afar. And, eventually, the Jewish nobleman got to that point and believed the word Jesus spoke.

But in this case, the Roman centurion’s faith is already right where it needs to be. It doesn’t need any stretching or testing. Jesus offers to go to his house and heal his servant, and this time, it’s the centurion who “refuses.” He says, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. Just like the man with leprosy, the centurion shows great humility before Jesus. But unlike the leper, the centurion has many fewer earthly reasons to be humble! The leper was sick and seen by everyone as lowly and despised. But a Roman officer was a man with power, prestige, a man who was used to giving orders and being obeyed. The Romans generally considered themselves far superior to the Jewish people. But not in this case. The centurion doesn’t consider himself worthy to have the Lord Jesus enter his house. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

Then he goes on to explain why he believes this. As a military officer, the centurion understands very well how authority works. The one with greater authority gives commands to those who are under him, and they must obey. They have no choice. Once a commander has given a command to those under him, he doesn’t have to go and do the job himself. He speaks, and what he has spoken is done, because he speaks with authority.

It’s absolutely incredible that a Roman army officer, stationed in the land of Israel, would just matter-of-factly believe that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, had such authority over humanity that He could simply give a command to a sick body, anywhere on earth, to be healed, and have that command obeyed. But he does believe it. And he acts on his faith. Incredible!

Even Jesus thought it was incredible. It says that He “marveled” and said to those who followed, “Truly I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not even in Israel.” Now, if the Lord Jesus, who has all knowledge at His disposal, marvels at something, then you and I should certainly also marvel at it. How could a centurion have such a solid faith in Jesus? That’s the power of God’s Word. It was God’s Word about Jesus that the centurion had heard and that had broken through all his inborn skepticism and hostility to God to turn the centurion into a marvelous believer in the authority of Jesus, who looked like just an ordinary man, but whom the centurion recognized to be the Commander in Chief of all things.

Note the contrast here between the unquestioning faith of the Roman centurion and most of the Jews whom Jesus encountered during His ministry. The Holy Spirit wants us to see that contrast. He wants us to see that, it’s not necessarily the people you would expect who end up coming to faith in Jesus and clinging to His Word. Often those who should have a strong faith—lifelong Christians, religious leaders, pastors, theologians, those who have no excuse for doubting God or His Word—are the very ones who doubt it the most. While children, or grown-ups with a childlike, simple faith, are the ones who so readily say, “I believe it, because God says so.” That’s the faith that Jesus praises here in the Gospel.

And He informs His Jewish followers, even now, early on in His ministry, that their place in heaven wasn’t secure just because of who their ancestors were or because they belonged to the “right” race. No, He says, I tell you that many will come from the East and the West and will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A place in heaven, a place in God’s favor, isn’t achieved by being a member of the right race, or by being born into a religion. It’s given as a gift to those who believe in the Lord Jesus.

We see in today’s Gospel, God is working, even now, to create a faith in you like the faith of the leper, like the faith of the centurion, a faith that seeks deliverance from no other but Christ, a faith that demands nothing, and knows that it deserves nothing, but that is bold to seek help from the Lord Jesus, no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, and to trust in His power, in His authority, and in His willingness to help, because God the Father has actually given Him all authority in heaven and on earth. And He wants to use that authority, above all, to speak to you the word of cleansing, that is, the word of forgiveness, and eventually, the word that will heal all your ills and raise your body from the dead, and bring you safely and forever into the presence of the Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the saints in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.