Epiphany 3

Today’s Old Testament is obviously chosen to connect us to the Gospel: In the Old Testament, Naaman, commander of the armies of the King of Syria has leprosy. And Jesus heals a leper. But it also connects to our Epistle in Romans. Paul says “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Naaman was given victory over Israel in battle, he had an Israelite slave-girl they had carried off in a raid. He is – in every classical sense of the word “the enemy”. And he is helped by the ones he oppressed. The little girl offers the name of the prophet. Elisha heals this man who was an enemy of Israel. And – it comes after our reading, but Naaman confesses the Lord God, as the true God of the nations. He recognizes that it is not the strength of his own Gods that gave him victory over Israel, but the strength of the God of Israel that allowed him victory over them, as a way of disciplining and calling them back to the Lord.

And so we see that Saint Paul is justified in his call to us that we love our enemies – which mirrors what Christ himself has taught us.

The Gospel reading comes from the verses immediately after the sermon on the mount. Jesus just finished teaching the things that Paul repeats in Romans 12 about turning the other cheek, and so on.. The Sermon has ended, Jesus comes down from the mountain ,and he goes back into the world, where the people have great need of him. Jesus mercy works among the people are miraculous – literally. When the church today does mercy works, they are no less honored in the sight of God and the angels. But they are more mundane. We make meals, visit the sick, offer what mortal aid we can. Jesus has God-power, because he is God. And so his work among the people is miraculous. Today we have two miracles – both showing us the great power of God, and also pointing us to the work he came to do on the cross, and to the work of his church until he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. So, let’s hear again that word of the Lord:

When Jesus 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.”

The man says “If you will it, you can make me clean. He asks for no sign. He doesn’t think – as Namaan did – that he needs to wave the hand over it to cleanse it. He would have gladly gone and washed seven times in the Jordan if Jesus had told him. He says “If you will it, you can make me clean.” He recognizes that, as the Son of God, Jesus needs only to will his cleansing, and disease and death and decay are reversed at his command.

But Jesus doesn’t just say “I will it, be clean.” Before he does that, he stretches out his hand to touch him. This is, in some ways, more amazing than if he had just cleansed him with a word. This is more than just a statement of a thing that happened. It’s Jesus, making clear the boundaries and the nature of his kingdom. Last week we talked about the Jewish purification rites. There were some given by Moses. One was cleansing for leprosy. If you had leprosy and then were cured – which basically never happened – you could go and be inspected by the priest, offer a sacrifice, wash, and be declared clean again – You would again part of the worshipping community of God’s people. Until then, you were as good as dead. No one would touch you, you couldn’t go to the temple to pray, you were an outcast.

When it comes to disease we understand that. We don’t face leprosy too often anymore. But we know that some animals carry plague, or rabies in the wild. We avoid them. When we sneeze, our children are taught to sneeze into their crook of their arm, not their hand, lest their hand be unclean. Jesus reaches out and touches someone with a communicable, deadly, incurable disease.

To the people of his day, he is taking that uncleanness on himself. The people would not have wanted to touch Jesus until he showed no symptoms and had cleansed himself. But Jesus can not catch leprosy. When we think of uncleanness, it moves from item to item, person to person. You need a cleansing agent to be clean again. “Use soap” we tell our children. Wash for 20 seconds. Employees must wash hands before returning to work. There must be a cleansing after an uncleanness. And it must involve a washing, and something with the power to cleanse. Soap, some chemical formula, whatever. Jesus touches the man, and instead of the uncleanness moving to him, the cleansing goes out from Jesus to the leper. Jesus is the one who heals and who cleanses. He has the power. Not just to clean up our germs, to wash hands before dinner. He has the power to cleanse from leprosy – which is a stand in for sin. That’s the real cleansing. He is himself unstained with sin, and so he is not afflicted with death – or even sickness leading to death. This is part of Jesus being true God as well as true man. Instead of uncleanness spreading to Jesus, cleansing goes out from him to the leper. He heals the man of the dread disease, cleansing him from his uncleanness, curing him of death.

This is what Jesus does. And the cleanness, the forgiveness, the righteousness moves outward from him. He is the cleansing agent for our sin and the cure for death. And the means he chooses – the Word and Sacraments in his church – are what scripture calls “Most holy”. Holy things are those things consecrated, set apart set apart for God’s use. Baptism makes us God’s holy people. Most holy things are the things that offer cleansing themselves, that spread the holiness and righteousness. In the Old Testament there was the Most Holy Place, the Most Holy Sacrifices. The make things holy. Now, there is Preaching, Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. They are the Most Holy things. They cleanse by their nature and make us holy and righteous, so that we are worthy to come into God’s presence to receive him as he comes to us in his body and blood.

Jesus remedies our sin by his righteous life, by his holy ministry, by his most holy death. We who were unclean in our sin have been made clean by Jesus and his work.

That’s only the first 1/3 or so of our Gospel, but we’ve been also been talking about the centurion this whole time as well. He is a man under orders – under authority. He says go, a man goes. If the centurion is told to go by those above him, he goes. He knows how authority works. Jesus does not need to come into his house, he says. Speak only the word to heal. Jesus has authority over the sickness, authority over death. Jesus speaks, and the servant is healed. Jesus praises the faith of the centurion, who understands the power of Jesus and believes he is the anointed of God who speaks the Word of God.

And so now, Jesus sends his ministers, his pastors into the world to speak that word. To bring forgiveness to all those who believe on his name. We call it ordination when a man becomes a pastor. He is given orders – placed under authority. The pastor is under orders to do a thing – to bring God’s Word of forgiveness to the world, by preaching, by the Most Holy and Blessed Sacraments. And the Holy Spirit then brings faith in that promise as he wills to do so when the word is preached.

Jesus continues working through his church, when we do things according to , His command, His Word. We pour water and speak words, but Jesus Baptizes. It is done in his name. We speak words and do as the words say, we take eat and take drink. Jesus is the one giving his Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins. They are not our work, they are his.

Jesus praises the faith of the centurion. He says those who are of the promise will be as if they were not, for they reject the Son of Man. And those who are not will be as if they were. Why? Is it because of their life and conduct? No. But because of faith. The leper who is healed is told to go offer the sacrifice according to Moses. Such an action was done by him in faith, and so it was received by God as a blessing to him. Just as the centurion, who did not have the law of Moses, believed, and it was also credited to him as righteousness. The leper and the centurion’s servant were both healed, cleansed, brought into the kingdom of God by faith. Jesus as Naaman was in our Old Testament. Jesus didn’t need to have a big speech for the leper about being part of the kingdom. The leper was born and raised in Israel as a child of the promise. He already knows, and it is clear from Jesus word and action toward him, that his faith is blessed by Jesus, he is forgiven his own sins and is a part of Jesus kingdom. The centurion would likely not have known this, without Jesus telling him. And so Jesus explains to him how the kingdom works. It is indeed received by faith, and the centurion is blessed with the gift of faith. He knows he isn’t worthy of Jesus coming to his house – who would be? There is not one who does good, not even one. And yet, by his confession of Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the World, he is brought into the kingdom. Jesus makes clear in both cases, it is about our confession of Jesus as Lord. Jesus lordship is revealed to us today through those miracles. And now, we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. We believe he is the Savior from sin. And so, just as the leper, the centurion, just as Naaman did of old, we receive the forgiveness of sins, we are made part of the kingdom of God according to the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus, who died and rose again that we might have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in his name.

Amen.