Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Without a Doubt, You Have Drawn the Better Hand
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. In today's Gospel,
A leper came to [Jesus], imploring Him, and kneeling said to Him, "If You
will, You can make me clean." Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand and
touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy
left him, and he was made clean.
Dear Christian friends,
If you spend too much time thinking about it, you could probably end up
feeling jealous of this man who once had leprosy. It did not take this
fellow very long to get what he wanted from Jesus-and he got exactly what he
wanted from Jesus. All he had to do was pray the Third Petition of the Lord's
Prayer and it was done for him as he requested. No patience; no repetitious
pleading; no wondering whether Jesus even heard his prayer. Just a simple
request, "If You will, You can make me clean," and it was a done deal.
"Immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean."
Jealousy, indeed: Why doesn't it work the same way for you? It isn't like
you haven't prayed! Or waited. Or believed. But your wife still died. Your
health still worsens. Your habits still win. Your hardships still beat on
you like you might be an old rug hanging over the back fence.
Take another look at today's Gospel, dear saints. Do not feel jealous of
this man who came to Jesus and was immediately healed of his leprosy. Feel
bad for him. Think of this man as getting the raw deal and the short end of
the stick. This guy got one little miracle from Jesus and then it was all
done. Jesus "sent him away at once." By comparison with this cleansed leper,
you get much more than one tiny, point-in-time miracle that shall not be
repeated for you. Unlike this man who gets only one Word and one miracle
from Jesus, you have been given an overflowing fountain of miracles! This
man certainly had his skin clear up for a while, and he probably felt pretty
good. But then he died and his skin rotted, anyway. By comparison, you
continually receive the great and many sin-cleansing miracles your Lord
Jesus continually performs for you through the preaching of His Word and
through His Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion-and these miracles will
end only with your entry in eternal life.
"Moved with pity"-that is to say, "moved with compassion" (NASB) or "moved
by a deep, self-sacrificing love"-Jesus cleansed this man of his leprosy. It
is not necessary for you to think of Jesus having an unexpected burst of
emotion in this Gospel, as if His pity and love were suddenly triggered by
this leper's sorry condition. Jesus is the God of Compassion (Psalm 86:15)
and the God of Unfailing Love (Psalm 51:1). Jesus was moved by deep,
self-sacrificing love and pity from before the foundation of the world.
These Words in today's Gospel, "moved with pity" or "moved with compassion"
do not so much describe how Jesus happened to feel toward this one man in
this one moment. These words describe the eternal disposition of your God.
Compassion is the gasoline in your God's engine, so to speak. Mercy is His
addiction and His desire. The words, "moved with pity," describe the way
Jesus equally feels about you, just as they describe how Jesus felt about
this man in this Gospel.
Think about that when you pray-and when your prayers do not get
answered the way you would like. Jesus removed this man's bodily
affliction-and Jesus allows you to continue carrying yours-for one and the
same reason: He is "moved with pity" toward you, "moved with compassion"
concerning you, "moved by a deep, self-sacrificing love" for you, for your
family, for your fellow Christians in this congregation, and for the whole
world. Stated another way, Jesus has the same love for you that He had for
this leper. Jesus shows His love to you, just as He showed it to the leper
in today's Gospel.
So why do you still feel the weight of your hardship while this
man in today's Gospel goes skipping away with his skin restored? <<
Suppose a child at school carefully completes all of his
assignments, maintains good attendance in class, and studies diligently for
every quiz or test. But one of the child's classmates never completes any
homework, rarely shows up to class, and still the teacher hands him a
passing grade on his report card.
One way to handle such a situation is to say to the hard-working child, "Do
not feel jealous, son. This other student got exactly what he came for-he
received a grade on his report card and now he is done and soon none of it
will matter. You, on the other hand, have received something much more
important than a grade. You have been given the gift of knowledge, you have
received training in self-discipline, and these are things that no one can
ever take away from you again."
Perhaps it would be helpful for you to think of the leper in today's
Gospel as being somewhat like that classmate in school who got his grade and
then it was done. "A leper came to [Jesus], imploring Him, and kneeling said
to Him, 'If You will, You can make me clean.'" Kaboom: a passing grade, so
to speak. Jesus said, "'Be clean.' And immediately the leprosy left him, and
he was made clean."
Now compare your frustrated requests and your seemingly unanswered
prayers with that hardworking student. You have diligently prayed, you have
patiently waited, you have believed as deeply as you are able to believe-yet
the leper is the one who gets what he wants. Do not let yourself feel
jealous of this man. He got what he came for and he was happy to have it.
Then the man died, and the benefits of Jesus' miracle for him died with him.
Not so with the miracles Jesus continually performs for you! There
was only one Word and one miracle for this man in today's Gospel. Meanwhile,
every Sunday is for you a cornucopia of God's Words and miracles, poured out
richly for you and for everyone around you. While the miracle Jesus gave to
this leper served him well for a season, God's overflowing miracles to you
shall carry you into life without end. Jesus said to this man, "Be clean,"
and "the leprosy left him, and he was made clean." But that miracle only
swabbed off the surface of things. Where Jesus said to this man, "Be clean,"
He says instead to you, "All your sins are forgiven you." The benefits of
these Words to you go far beyond the surface of your skin. Jesus' Words of
forgiveness to you penetrate "soul and spirit, . joints and marrow" (Hebrews
4:12, NASB).
Your Lord Jesus treated this leper in the way He treated him
because Jesus was "moved with pity" toward him. Jesus treats you the way He
treats you for exactly the same reasons. It may truly seem that your prayers
feel tedious and unanswered. Don't believe it! Whatever the state of your
health, you are in this present state because Jesus is "moved with pity"
toward you. It may be that you need to limp your way to Holy Communion. You
go right ahead and limp! Here you are receiving gifts that are much better
and much more beneficial for you than the mere strength of your body. Here
your Lord has pity on you, serving you a miraculous meal of forgiveness, and
with that comes life and salvation.
___________________________________________________________________________
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