THE IMPACT OF OUR FAITH

The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

29 January, AD 2012

TEXT: St. Matthew 8:1f

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

“Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” (St. Matthew 8:8).

        During this season of Light, we have seen and experienced many manifestations or revelations of Our Lord; from His manifestation to the Gentiles in the person of the Magi from the East; the Finding of the boy, Jesus, in the Temple where He confounded and amazed the Teachers of the Law, and finally as the Lord of Creation, when He turned water into wine at a marriage of Cana in Galilee. Today, we see and experience Jesus acting in a very familiar way – bringing God’s healing touch to people who believe.

        St. Matthew’s Gospel presents us with a typical picture of Our Lord’s ‘epiphany’ in His acts of healing, today; one, a Jew; another, a Gentile. The healing of these two very different men are not a result of some editorial accident or mishap. These occasions of healing are very significant, for they show both the universality of Jesus’ saving mission to a hurting world and the peculiar reaching out of the “Good News” to the unfortunate and outcast of society. The leper was so feared and avoided by other Jews that in the mindset of that time, his disease was obviously God’s punishment for some sin which he had committed. He was completely cut-off from human interaction and sympathy and lived on the edge of starvation in his miserable existence. On the other hand, there was the Centurion, a despised and hated Gentile, a heathen without benefit of the Covenant of Moses and a representative of the hated Roman oppressors. Each man, in his own condition, was an outcast, someone to be avoided at all costs; someone, though, who was hurting and in need, who needed, specifically, the salvific hand of God to raise them or their situation up so that they would be made whole again.

        So it is, that when Jesus came down from the mountain, that is, from whence He just delivered the Sermon of the Mount, a leper approached him, knelt and said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” He didn’t say, “Jesus”, he called Him Lord. Some say that this honorific title was just that, but others say, that because of his faith, the leper knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt who Jesus was and addressed Him in the context that would manifest not only Jesus’ Messianic Old Testament background, but His Deity as well. Without recoiling before this man’s incurable disease, Jesus stretches out his hand and touches him and says, “I will. Be thou clean.” And we are told, “. . . and immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

        The Old Testament contains many laws and specific guidelines concerning those with leprosy. This, among other reasons, is why Jesus told the man, “See that you say nothing, but go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” Only the Jewish priest could pronounce a leper, clean. After which, the cleansed person was to offer gifts of thanksgiving to God, as set forth in Leviticus. But Jesus, not concerned with the gifts, except to keep the Law, wants this man to go to the priest to show him his healing as a proof, as evidence that the Messiah had arrived and the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom was truly present in this world; here and now. From the moment the leper addressed Him as Lord to the moment Jesus sent him to the priest, the leper’s faith made him a whole manifestation of God’s Grace to this world. For Jesus doesn’t want people to believe in the miracles or have faith in them only; they are but the manifestations of the Messiah. The proof and the source of these miracles lie in Jesus, Himself, as the Messiah! It is He in whom they must believe if they are to have Life!

        Secondly, we come to the healing of the Centurion’s servant. After Jesus entered Capernaum, a Centurion approaches Him and says, again, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” Jesus says to him, “I’ll come and heal him.” The Centurion responds, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you even to come under my roof; only speak the word and my servant will be healed.” He then acknowledges Jesus’ authority by saying, “For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go’, and he goes. And to another, ‘Come.’, and he comes. And to my servant, ‘Do this.’ and he does it.” The Centurion seems to instinctively understand what no one in Israel understood, that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah! The Scriptures tell us that Jesus marvelled at the Centurion’s words and said to those who were around Him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. For I tell you, many will come from the east and from the west and will recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Jesus then said to the Centurion, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. Again, before our eyes, we have witnessed both a manifestation of faith in the long-distance healing of the Centurion’s servant and heard with our ears what a lack of faith will result in by Jesus’ censuring of national Israel. Faith, as we have seen, brings Life and wholeness in God’s Kingdom. A lack of faith brings darkness and oblivion.

        In these two manifestations of healing and wholeness, St. Matthew emphasizes a universal theme in his Gospel in that Jesus’ message, the Good News of Salvation, is available to everyone. The Old Testament Prophets knew this. The Apostles and Disciples of Jesus knew this. The Jews heard this, but many chose to reject it. The choice now comes down to us. Each individual has to choose to accept or reject the Gospel; to have faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour or to reject Him.

        It’s no accident that the impact and importance of our faith is trumpeted again and again, each time we participate in the Sacrament of Our Lord’s Body and Blood, the Mass. Both the Priest and People speak the same words that the Centurion said to Our Lord as we all gaze on His Body and Blood before we receive the same. In that one phrase, “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.”, our faith is made manifest. Not longer are we speaking about a servant, but our immortal soul! For sin, just like leprosy and paralysis then, is also an incurable disease and we all have it. Only Christ’s healing touch through the Sacrament of His Body and Blood miraculously takes away our sins and restores us to authentic and real Life. But we have to realize our inability to cure ourselves and reach out for Christ’s saving help through our faith. Therefore, what we say with our mouth and hear with our ears should call back into this present time the impact and importance of our own faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour. Say the leper’s and Centurion’s words today as if you are speaking to Jesus as they did, because you are. They are words, which like the leper and Centurion, make us whole. They are words which heal us and call us to remember that it is not this world that is our ultimate and final destination, but the next. They are words which, because of our faith, bring Life; a Life both in this world and the next which is never-ending and more abundant than we can ever imagine or comprehend. They are words which bring the living and Resurrected Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour into our soul and make us living members of God’s Kingdom, wherein we will dwell with Him for all eternity. Finally, they are words which bring into clear focus the great manifestation of the revelation of God’s Love for each one of us as we leave this Epiphany season and journey onward with God for all eternity. Thanks be to God!

And now, unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost be ascribed all might, majesty, power, and dominion as is most justly due this day both now and forever; world without end. Amen.

                                                   SOLI DEO GLORIA - JEU +