February 11, 2012. Epiphany 6. Jesus is willing.
Most people get satisfaction in being “well-rounded”, or able to do many
things. Some men are capable of building an entire house by themselves. A
mother caring for children is able to do many things.
In our inter-connected world, some people are able to make a scratch cake,
but it is easier to buy one from Hy-Vee - so they aren’t always willing. Quite
a few men here are able tear apart & rebuild an engine, but such a project
might not be worthwhile. I have a few things in a box that I keep telling
myself I am able to fix, but I’m not willing to spend the effort. Just because
you are able to do a task, doesn’t mean you are willing to do it.
Today’s Gospel text tells us about God in the flesh, Jesus. He is able to
do all things as God, and He is willing to heal us of sin, deeath, and disease.
Mark tells us a man with leprosy was looking for Jesus. The man searched
for Him.
Leprosy in the Bible can mean anything from a regular, bad skin illness to
the deadly kind we call Hansen’s Disease. The local priest was trained to know
what it looked like. If a person had a skin rash, the priest would either send
them to a leper colony (Lev 13:46) so the leprosy wouldn’t spread, or pronounce
them clean.
Leprosy was an object lesson of what sin does against God’s people. The
root word in Hebrew has the idea of strike-down or curse: people felt God was
punishing them for a particular sin. Nobody wanted lepers around, or to be
near them. Some people treat HIV that way today. No person would willingly
touch a leper. Religious leaders would not even talk to a leper. Lepers were
banned from the Temple. Elisha sent a servant to meet Naaman rather than speak
what God said directly to him (2nd Kings 5:1-14). Only after Naaman was clean,
THEN Elijah talked to him.
But one leper found Jesus. He spoke. He begged. He went to his knees in
worship. Jesus was more than a man. Only God could heal directly. Jesus, as
God, IS ABLE to do all things: even heal leprosy.
But is Jesus WILLING?
I think that is a question for you to think about. Many of us face a
variety of difficulties, issues, and hardships. Loved ones ill and in crisis;
lack of money; in need of a friend; loneliness; pain; anger; facing unforgiving
hearts; depression; business in trouble; working at a lousy job or maybe no job
at all. This list is long; very long.
All of these I mentioned, and the many more you and I face, are like
leprosy. Yes, we may be able to deal with skin symptoms, but the genuine root
cause never goes away. You are an outcast. Not from society; since you live
among fellow lepers. But your terminal condition makes you an outcast from our
holy God’s presence. It’s called sin.
You might cover up your leprosy of sin with your own goodness, but the
putrid Old Adam remains. You might excuse your leprosy by feeling you aren’t
as bad as others: but you will still die. Many ignore sins’ leprosy, just
live with it, or try homemade remedies: all fail; all die.
But, where are you now? You have come to Jesus. You know He is God. You
know He is able to do a miracle. But your faith has a question. “IF You are
willing You can make me clean.” Is He willing?
What does the Bible say? “Filled with compassion, His gut wrenching over
what sin does, His same that reached out to save Peter on the stormy sea, to
raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and rescued the Children of Israel from
Egypt touched the man then He said, ‘I am willing. Be clean.’” In touching
the untouchable first, Jesus reveals the heart of our LORD God to us.
If you are well, and hang around people who are sick, do sick people catch
your health? No. Schools and PSA’s and others tell us to wash hands often and
stay home when we are sick so others won’t get the flu. Diseased people spread
disease. Healthy people can’t spread health that way.
By extension, we sinners spread the misery of sin all too often. Rather
than trying to live as children of God, loving others - including enemies,
giving unselfishly, or building up fellow Christians: you and I “catch”
ungodliness and filth from people around us on top of our old natural sin, then
we spread it to others. It’s like having cancer as well as influenza A & B,
then catching flu on top of that. You or I can’t “spread” holiness. It has to
be given from outside.
Our Great Physician of Body and Soul touches this man in compassion. His
clean touches the dirty and unclean; and God gives cleansing to him.
That leper who was healed eventually died. His flesh was fully restored
as Christ commanded, “Be clean!” But that same flesh fell apart again in his
grave. All the other people who were healed in the Bible also enjoyed those
miracles for a limited time. And every one of them, like this leper, also
eventually died.
Curing the incurable, even raising the dead? Jesus can do this. Doing
miracles was not a waste of His time or talents or efforts. But Christ came
most of all to stretch His hands out for sinners on Calvary. He came to heal
the root cause of why we are unclean, separated from God and unholy. Jesus was
ready, able, and He was willing, to sacrifice His own perfect life for you. As
Hebrews 12 proclaims: for the joy set before Christ, He willingly endured the
cross, shedding His blood to cleanse us from all sin (as First John one says.)
Yes, we are poor, miserable lepers afflicted with terminal sin. God
touches us in Holy Baptism so we are born again. He touches us in our mouths
when He gives His body and blood to commune with us. He touches you in the
Holy Absolution. He touches your soul every time you hear the Holy Gospel, the
Good News of God’s redeeming, saving compassion for you in Christ. He heals
you, pronouncing you clean and forever forgiven.
The greater miracle of Christ’s death and resurrection for your sins will
never go away! Christ’s cross is God’s promise for your life. He gives you
gifts that never go away. There He forgives your sins. There He heals you for
eternity. There He promises you a body that can never die.
Unlike the man in the text, you are under no order not to speak about
Jesus. How you live and treat others might draw others to Christ, but only His
touch in the Gospel heals.
As for our problems today? We lepers still do the same. Confidently
trusting in God’s mercy and compassion, we go to Him in prayer. “If You are
willing”, or, perhaps said: “Thy will be done,” or, “let it be done according
to Your will” - that is how we pray.
God may give you healing, usually thru the means of medicines. Or God
gives you perseverance, character, and hope to endure tribulations, &
strengthen your faith by His promises. God, Who did not spare His only Son,
but freely gave Him up on a cross for us all, is able and He is willing to
generously give to each of us what He knows is best for us.
God is willing. He can make you clean. In Christ, you have more than
clean skin, a new heart, or a few more years. You have eternal life. Amen.
In His Service,
Pastor Michael Harman
Called to St. Peter – Newell, Iowa
and, according to the good folks in St. Louis but not Article XIV:
First – Fonda
Immanuel – Pomeroy
more audio and text at:
http://stpeterlutheran-newell-iowa.weebly.com/downloads.html_______________________________________________
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