The Collect for the Third Sunday after The Epiphany
Almighty and Everlasting God, mercifully look upon or weaknesses, and in all dangers and necessities stretch forth Your right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle, Romans 12:16-21
16 Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The Holy Gospel of St Matthew 8:1-13
8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans Chapter 12, Verses 16-21.
In this portion of his Epistle St Paul continues to give very specific commands to the Roman Christians on how live as followers of the Lord Jesus.
As in last Sunday’s Epistle Reading, we again see St Paul, after having vigorously proclaimed that Salvation from God’s Judgement is by faith, and faith alone, in the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus, further instructing the Roman Christians on how to show that faith in their daily lives.
Their faith is not to be a purely academic acceptance of the Holy Gospel, but a lively and dynamic faith reflected in their lives and relationships with other people.
St Paul begins this portion of our Epistle Reading by attacking the most deadly of sins, conceit and pride:
“16 Do not be conceited.”
Conceit, driven by pride, is at the heart of all sin. It seeks to place us, in our own estimation, above all others and in its most extreme manifestation it can make us feel superior to God in how we assess others, and how they ought to relate to us.
St Paul exhorts us to live at peace with all others, as far as we are able, in whatever the prevailing circumstances:
“17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
We are then told not to seek revenge, which only fuels any hatred in us, and in so doing, will have us doing the work of Satan.
St Paul then declares God’s commandment on the judgement of evil persons:
“19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”
God will avenge the evil done to us by others.
To “avenge” is to punish evildoers, by a judicial code, and bring justice to those who have been wronged.
To take “revenge” is motivated by the evil desire to pay back.
To avenge is a judicial action of judgement within the law, while revenge is an action, on an individual's part, to seek gratification, based on their evil desire to inflict hurt in retaliation.
St Paul’s teaching on God as the Avenger comes from many Old Testament Scriptures, such as these passages found in the Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 32, Verses 35 and 42:
“35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them.”
“42 Rejoice, you nations, with his people,
for he will avenge the blood of his servants;
he will take vengeance on his enemies
and make atonement for his land and people.”
St Paul then gives an unexpected command on loving our enemies, just as the Lord Jesus forgave those who persecuted and crucified Him.
“20 On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
St Paul is quoting almost word for word from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs Chapter 25, Verses 21-22:
“21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.”
We as followers of the Lord Jesus must not seek revenge on others. We must do all that we can to show them love and forgiveness, and in so doing bring honour and glory to the Lord Jesus.
Who knows, our love and forgiveness might bring about repentance on the part of our enemy and lead them to Salvation through the Holy Gospel.
St Paul concludes this portion of our Epistle Reading with an explicit command:
“21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
This may seem an impossible command to always keep in our daily lives, but we must remember that the Holy Spirit is with us always and is always willing to help us triumph over evil.
We must remember that the Lord Jesus has already defeated Satan, and his followers, through His Holy Gospel.
We must patiently await the Great Day of Judgement when all that has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus, will be fully revealed to all creation.
May God give us His Grace to live as those who are Redeemed by the Free Gift of the Holy Gospel and never seek to repay evil with evil, but rather to forgive our enemies and so show forth the Love of the Lord Jesus, and the Truth of His Holy Gospel. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St Matthew Chapter 8, Verses 1-13
In this portion of his Holy Gospel, St John records the Lord Jesus’ encounter with a man suffering from leprosy:
“8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Leprosy was a contagious, and much feared, disease in the First Century AD, as there were no antibiotics in existence, then, to cure the affliction.
It was not until the advent of Penicillin based antibiotics in the 1950s, that leprosy was finally conquered.
In the time of the Lord Jesus, lepers were forced to live out the remainder of their lives in total isolation in leper camps, or colonies, which were located outside a city’s walls.
The leper who approached the Lord Jesus obviously knew of the Lord Jesus’ power, and His compassion in healing the sick, and he was not afraid of meeting the Lord Jesus face to face to seek His mercy and help.
The leper exhibited a very strong faith in the Lord Jesus’ Nature, Ability, and Willingness to heal him, as he displays his reverence by kneeling before the Lord Jesus to make his request.
Kneeling signified worship, and the Lord Jesus did not rebuke him for giving worship.
The leper made a statement of faith which showed his belief, and deep trust in the Lord Jesus, as he simply said “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
The Lord Jesus immediately responds to the leper by granting his request and showing forth His Power over illness, and His compassion to those suffering, by reaching out and touching the man.
“3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.”
Under Jewish Law and customs nobody would willingly touch a leper as it might mean infection, and certainly made a person ritually unclean, and so excluded them from Jewish worship and social life, for a prescribed time.
The Lord Jesus overrode the Jewish law forbidding the touching of lepers, as the Lord Jesus being God in flesh, had authority to do what he willed, especially the healing of one of His subjects.
The Lord Jesus then tells the man not to tell anyone about his cure so as not to cause them to focus on the healing, as if the Lord Jesus were a magician, and so fail to consider the faith of the leper as a most important factor in the miraculous cure:
“4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
The Lord Jesus was most careful to instruct the healed leper to go and show himself to the priest, to verify his cure, and offer the gift that the Law of Moses commanded as a sign of thanks to God, and as a sign to the religious leaders, of the man’s obedience to the Law.
The Law of Moses was powerless to bring about a cure to the man’s leprosy, The man’s faith and the Lord Jesus’ Power and Authority combined to do what the Law could not.
Belief in the written Law of Moses can only bear witness to a problem, or condition, while Faith in the Living Word of God, the Lord Jesus, can achieve all things.
The Law of Moses was given to identify sin and highlight the need for forgiveness.
The Love of the Lord Jesus, shown forth in His Holy Gospel, cleanses a person of their sin by their acceptance of the Holy Gift of the Precious Blood of the Lord Jesus, Shed on the Cross of Calvary, to pay for the removal of sin from the believer.
A Christian Believer is forever Clothed in the Holy Righteousness of the Lord Jesus, and as such, is most pleasing to God.
The Lord Jesus then journeyed on to Capernaum, and on entering the city met a Roman Centurion (a Roman Army Officer commanding 100 soldiers) who requested the Lord Jesus’ help for a valued servant:
“ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
There were a number of Roman soldiers who had accepted the Jewish Faith while serving in the Roman Provinces in the Holy Land.
Many of these Roman soldiers were highly respected by the Jewish people.
St Luke reveals this respect to us in Chapter 7, Verses 1-6 of his Holy Gospel, in his account of the same healing of the Centurion’s servant:
“1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.”
St Luke adds extra details of the Jewish deputation being sent to the Lord Jesus, by the Centurion, to ask His help. It may be that the Centurion sent emissaries to gauge the Lord Jesus’ willingness to come to heal his servant. St Matthew’s more brief account may be of the Lord Jesus' actual meeting with the Centurion near his home.
The Lord Jesus poses the following question to the Centurion:
“7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
The Centurion makes an unexpected reply:
“8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Roman soldiers knew all about loyalty, authority, and duty. It was the foundation on which the Roman army was built and a major ingredient of its success on the battlefield.
Rome, through its military, became the greatest empire the world had ever known.
The Lord Jesus marvelled at the Centurion’s answer:
“10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
What the Lord Jesus was really saying was that the Centurion’s faith was of more value than all the ceremonial worship that the Jews practised, with their outward show of obedience to the Law of Moses.
The Lord Jesus was also foretelling of the day when the Gentiles would share in God’s Eternal Kingdom, and many descendants of the Jewish Patriarchs would be excluded from God’s Kingdom by their lack of faith God’s Holy Word, and their rejection of the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus honours and rewards the Centurion’s faith, by healing his sick servant, by His Word of Command alone:
“13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.”
The Holy Word of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. At Christmas, we celebrate this miracle of God entering into our world, and taking humanity into God's very being.
The Centurion’s servant was healed by the Power of God’s Word, in response to the Centurion’s humble request and great faith.
The Healing of the Centurion’s servant was another important example of the the Epiphany, or revealing, of the Lord Jesus to the Gentiles.
There would have been many Gentiles associated with the Centurion, his subordinate officers and the the many Roman civilians that provided support to the Legion.
All of these people would have witnessed the power of the Lord Jesus’ Words and it is highly likely that many of them, like their commander, would have become believers in the the Lord Jesus and so received forgiveness of their sins, and became fellow inheritors, with the Jewish believers, of God’s Promises.
God’s Word will bring about any event, or achieve any outcome by its own inherent Power, irrespective of time or distance.
Let us all take comfort and peace knowing that we are the adopted children of God and are clothed in the Holy Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are held secure, and protected by God, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Bishop Ian