In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Beloved, it has pleased the Lord Christ to make Himself manifest with healing in His hands and life in His Words. By His deeds we know Jesus' will for us. As the Lord God, the King of the Universe, His will for us is life, and so the faithful leper is cleansed and the centurion's servant is healed.
These see Christ and expect mercy from Him. They look at a Man and see the Lord of life. Great crowds follow Jesus as He comes down the mountain. But even so, the leper comes. For him to come near to the great multitudes is forbidden. He should stand far off and shout, "Unclean! Unclean!" lest any come near and be afflicted with his leprosy.
But the leper cannot do this. To stay away from Christ would be to continue in the death that his flesh reflects and confesses. No. He cannot stay away! He comes to his Lord and falls down on knees steeped in decay and prays to the Man from whom he expects mercy, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."
The leper comes in the stench of decay. He sees in his own flesh the just reward for the world's sin. He knows he deserves no better than he has. But he believes. He trusts. He looks to Christ and knows that from his Savior only life can come. His rotting flesh cannot obscure what his faith knows to be sure and certain. The Lord of life is coming down from the mountain. "If He is willing, He can make me clean!"
We might say that because of his great faith, the leper deserves to be healed. He, a faithful Jew, has heard the Torah, and knows that Messiah has come. But the faith that trusts Christ was given by Christ. He deserves nothing on account of the gift of the faith he did not merit in the first place.
He expects mercy. His faith sees only His Savior, and so the crowds cannot swerve him from his way. Stabbing pain saturates every limb.
"I am willing; be cleansed!" The leper receives what he expected. The former leper, now a whole saint of God, continues to kneel. He is not surprised.
With the centurion we find a similar faith, but from a man who is already whole. He confesses his faith twice. First, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented" and later, "I am not worthy that You should come under my roof."
We know that the centurion has seen in the servant the effects of the sin that has sent the whole world into the bondage of decay. We know also that the centurion has seen in Christ the restorer of life, the One who must by His very being conquer death.
The servant does nothing. He has merited the gracious favor of neither his master nor of the Master of all. We do not know if he is a Christian. But the centurion is. Jesus has not seen such great faith, not even in Israel.
And before the centurion even confesses his faith, Jesus has said to him, "I will come and heal him." Jesus is as Jesus does. He does mercy. He does life. He does healing. It is only after Jesus announces His gracious intention that the centurion confesses his faith more plainly. "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed."
And so He says to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." A leper and a centurion have come before Christ in faith and received life. But unfortunately, you are often more like Naaman. The waters of Damascus are surely better than the waters of Jerusalem.
With the lips of Elisha, Jesus says to Naaman. "Oh yes! The waters of Damascus are fine waters indeed, for I have made them. In fact, I will sanctify all waters by my own Baptism. But the waters of Damascus are not those waters by which I wish to heal you. I have given my word that these, the waters of Jerusalem will heal you, and empowered by my Word, they will." And so Naaman washed and was cleansed.
You are sometimes told that you can be a good Christian by being a good husband, father, wife, mother, son, or daughter.
Surely if you do these things Jesus will deal with you as he did with the leper and the centurion. You will have earned it by being a good Christian. No! When you speak in this way, you are not a little Christ at all. When your cause for peace is your own deeds, it is a little Satan you have become.
When pride swells your chest, you are not the faithful leper or centurion, but in unbelief you languish. You expect good things from yourself, from your own efforts. Instead, you merit just what your deeds have earned. Death, Hell, eternal condemnation. Unbelief wins you these prizes!
Repent! Cast off the filthy rags and clothe yourself with Christ. Come before Jesus with all that you lack and be filled with all He has. See His arms extended for you upon the tree.
Your faith is perfect, blameless, and without defect. It is the perfect gift of the perfect Father. He has begotten you of His Spirit and united you with the flesh of His Son. You have been brought before His font with your body born for death. As a newborn babe, you rise from the waters a child of incorruptibility. Forever you will live, joining the Risen One.
Come before the Lord with your decaying flesh, and say: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive Thee unto myself, but say the Word and Thy servant will be healed!" Hear from His lips: "I will, be clean!" as you eat His Holy Supper.
Today you feel pain, but you will feel pain no more. Today you feel your body die, but death has no mastery over you. Today your stomach churns with pangs of hunger, but you will receive the food that nourishes you for eternity.
Christ has manifested His will to you. He has taken your sin into His body and destroyed it on the tree. His life is your life, and He is forever.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
