76. Third Sunday after Epiphany. I.
Lord Jesus, let the cleansing
and healing power of thy blood
come upon us. Amen.
Gospel Lesson, Matthew 8, 1-13. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
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Both these men, the leper and the centurion, had humble hearts. They judged themselves unworthy of all grace and honor; it never occurred to them that they were destined to become great and win undying fame. Though the hand of God is heavy upon him, the leper does not repine; and he is willing to continue to bear his affliction, if it be the Lord’s pleasure. And the centurion; — what a keen sense he has of his own littleness! Yet, moved by his love of the word of God, he had built the synagogue in Capernaum, and had always been diligent in doing good. But this does not make him great in his own eyes. He feels his heathen origin and his sinful condition with deep humility, and he is entirely sincere in declaring himself not worthy that the Lord should come under his roof.
Both these men are also remarkable for their faith. The leper does not doubt that the Lord can make him clean, if he deems best. No human being can cure a leper; but still, this leper feels certain that Jesus is able to do it. He had heard of his power and grace; and the word had found lodgment in his soul, which by means of his affliction had been opened to receive it; and he now firmly believes that the Lord can heal him. And now, the centurion! How must not the Lord himself marvel at the childlike faith of this man! There is beauty in the speech of the leper: “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole.” But still more beautiful are the words of the centurion: “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” He has unbounded confidence in the word of Jesus. “For I,” reasons he, “am but a man, a man of little worth; yet even my word has power over my servants. What, then, must the power of thy word be! If thou but sayest to the disease that it shall be gone, and to health that it shall come, they will at once obey thy command.”
Beautiful twins are these: Humility and Faith. Submit willingly, O thou soul, to the Lord’s discipline. Know your poverty; in truth, you are both sinful and diseased, and of no account, but deserve to be thrown out and lost. Admit this truth; confess in your innermost heart that the Lord is right; by his grace you can do this. Then you have in his own word the power to believe. Jesus says to your sin, “be thou wiped out, and cast into the depths of the sea;” and he commands death saying, “be thou annihilated.” And it is as he commands. In like manner he says to you, “live, and be saved;” and it comes to pass. He is Lord of life and death. Even as your servant obeys your order, so must sin and death give way, and life and salvation come at the Lord’s command. Do you not believe this? Is not Jesus able to do this? Surely, you do believe it. Then, though the Lord may not have occasion to marvel at the greatness of your faith, yet he shall not quench the smoking flax. But you shall marvel in all eternity at his lovingkindness to the upright of heart, and at the power of his grace over the weak, as well as the strong, in faith.
Dear Lord Jesus, thou who alone givest all good things; give us humility, and give us faith, that we, also, may experience thy power to save, that we may be sanctified in spirit and soul and body, and live with thee forevermore. Amen.*
For thou art our salvation, Lord,
Our refuge and our great reward;
Without thy grace our life must fade,
And wither like a flower decayed.
To heal the sick stretch out thine hand,
And bid the fallen sinner stand;
Once more upon thy people shine,
And fill the world with love divine.
[TLH 63, LSB 344, ELH 106; listen here]
77. Third Sunday after Epiphany. II.
O that my ways were directed
to keep thy statutes, my God!
Epistle Lesson, Romans 12, 17-21. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves; but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
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Christ has saved you, Christian believer, from sin, death, and the devil; has healed and cleansed you; and this should appear in your conduct. By the power of his grace in your heart you shall obtain victory over the evil influences which tempt and entice you from within and without. The strength to do this you have in your God; now make diligent use of it in faith.
If anyone does you wrong, you must by no means repay him in kind. To do evil is the business of the devil and his servants; to you it is given of God to do good toward all men. In the heart of God you have an unfailing well from which to draw. Make generous use of it; enjoy in full measure the goodness of God, and make some return by practicing without stint deeds of kindness to all men. The most covetous miner cannot be as diligent in burrowing for gold as you should be in doing good to all men. No sower has a field so fertile and seed so precious; and your diligence should, therefore, more than equal that of the most tirelessly industrious husbandman in the busy springtime of the year. And now, is it to be so in your case? It is a good resolution, and by the grace of God it should be carried into effect unceasingly. — When justice or the true welfare of your neighbor demands it, you must willingly bear his enmity; you are not to live peaceably with any, if this works harm to him or to others, or if it curtails the honor of God. But in matters of merely personal concern it is neither right nor necessary for you to stir up a quarrel. If you really wish to live peaceably, you will find it possible to do so. Suffer injustice, and remember that, in the end, you will be the gainer by it. If any man who has wronged you be in trouble, come to his assistance. If your neighbor be angry with you, quench the fire that makes him so unhappy; quench this fire from hell by doing good to him out of a good heart. Shall not your love be stronger than his hate? Shall not your gentleness, which is of God, gain the victory over his anger, which is of the devil? To the heathen way of thinking it is a mean and pitiful thing to bear an insult or injury without seeking revenge. But viewed in the proper light, it is pitiful to be the slave of one’s own anger. In Christ we are free and able to forgive our enemy, disarm the wicked, crush anger out of existence, and shame the devil. Let no Christian allow himself to be overcome. Jesus says: “Love your enemies, and bless them that curse you.” Thereby he has done with our anger what he did with the leprosy of the leper and with the palsy of the centurion’s servant. When he has said it, shall it not come true? Have a care, that you make use of the strength which you have in his word, and you shall not be shamed; that which is evil shall not make you evil, but your love shall make the evil men good.
My God, how sweeter than honey is thy instruction, and how great are thy power and grace! Give me a deep and overpowering knowledge of sin, in order that thou mayest melt my soul in love and make me a victor over all wickedness.*
We give thee but thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be:
All that we have is thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from thee.
May we thy bounties thus
As stewards true receive,
And gladly, as thou blessest us,
To thee our first-fruits give.
[TLH 441, LSB 781 (listen here); or ELH 445 (listen here)]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.