A man with leprosy came to (Jesus) and begged Him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached and touched the man and he said, “Be Clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

We think we deserve more

Jason was excited to get a ball glove. When he took it out of the old, rumpled paper bag his mother had put it in he smiled. It wasn’t new but it was his. It wasn’t signed by a big leaguer but it was a ball glove. It seemed to be an answer to his prayer. He couldn’t wait to show it to the other boys in his class. That night he had dreams of all the big league plays he’d make with his glove.

The next day at school he walked down the hall, despite his ragged tennis shoes and hand-me-down coat with his head a little higher. He couldn’t wait to show the other kids that he too had a ball glove.

Before he could pull it out from under his coat, he saw that everyone was gathered around Jimmy. Jimmy had a new glove too, only his was really new. Even from outside the circle he could smell the new leather, and he could hear Jimmy pounding a pocket in the glove. Jimmy pointed out that it was signed by some big leaguer. All of a sudden Jason’s glove didn’t seem so special. What had seemed to be the answer to a prayer didn’t seem worth showing anyone else at all, at least that is how he felt. He was let down in what he had received. His glove didn’t seem like much of a gift anymore.

How often does the world seek to rob us of the gifts we are given with comments or attitudes that say: “Is that all you received?” “You deserve more or better than that.” “What you have is not a gift at all.” Messages like this seek to rob us - like they did Jason.

Who could be behind such a crime? Satan, that is who. For it is written, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1st Peter 5.8) He devours us with doubts and discouragements. He is the one who whispers to you: “You deserved more than this or better than this.” “Is this all that God has for you?” or worse yet, “God has turned His back on you. He doesn’t care about you.” Satan would have us look at what we don’t have in our lives compared to others or look at the hardships we are facing and cry out to God, “Is this all there is?” “Is this all I get.” I

n Christ we get what we didn’t earn and don’t deserve.

Our Gospel uniquely speaks to the question “What if all you received was…” secondhand or used; what if you get a disease when others get good health, or you get heartache when others get happiness. “A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged Him on his knees, “If You are willing you can make me clean.” To have leprosy was to be at the bottom of the barrel. In his day there was no cure short of divine intervention. I can only imagine a person with leprosy crying out to God, “Why me?” “This is so unfair.” “This is too hard to bear, take it from me.”

Yet, in our text we have a leper who comes to Jesus and saying, “If You are willing, you can make me clean.” This line reveals a whole lot we need to understand in order that our faith, too, may be strengthened. In Matthew’s Gospel the leper addresses Jesus as “Lord.” In a position of submission, on his knees that man says to Jesus, “You can make me clean.” “You can” acknowledges that Jesus has the authority and power to heal. Most of us find ourselves in times of crisis admitting God could intervene but rather than requesting His intervention we demand His help! “Jesus, take this cup of suffering or hardship from me. You can do it, God; do it!”

But look at the other part of the verse, “If you are willing.” What the leper is saying is, “Lord, Messiah, Savior, not my will and wants be done but Your will be done. If it be your plan that I am to remain a leper then so be it.” “If all I ever receive in this lifetime is the forgiveness of my sins then that will be enough.”

This leper understands the difference between temporary gifts and eternal gifts. He knows that even if he is healed he will still one day die, but if he has received the forgiveness of his sins then he has the gift of eternal life. This life of leprosy with all its hardships will be over soon enough but the crown of life in heaven will never fade or pass away.

In God given faith, the leper has been brought to understand that God can have work for us in the midst of our suffering and hardship. Sometimes God can use our struggles to draw us close to Him and even refine us. Sometimes God uses us as His good witness to others in the midst of struggles. Other times He says to us trust Me, you can’t see the big picture and how I am using you. The Psalmist writes, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him and I am helped.”

I have a question for each of us, “What if all you ever received from God in this life was the forgiveness of your sins. Would you be content with that?” Would that be enough?

Let us look at that forgiveness. In forgiveness we receive what we didn’t deserve - adoption. God claims us in baptism. There He washes away our sins, pours out the Holy Spirit on us and makes us members of His family, no longer slaves of sin but heirs of His family. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16.16) In forgiveness we receive what we didn’t earn - the merits of the cross. The Psalmist writes, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him.” (Psalm 32.1) By His death on the cross and His glorious resurrection Jesus earned for us the forgiveness of our sins. In forgiveness we receive what we often don’t understand - His presence. He is present in communion. There He comes to us who are unclean because of our sin and He touches us in a real way, making us clean. Whoever eats of this bread and drinks of this wine of communion believing the words of the Lord has exactly what His words say, “Take and eat... take and drink…. for the forgiveness of sins.”(Matthew 26.26-28) In the forgiveness of sins Jesus has promised to remain with us. “Remain in Me and I will remain in you.” (John 15.4) Jesus promises to walk with us all the days of our lives. There is not a struggle that He will not see us through, a storm He will not help us to weather, nor a darkness that the Light of the World will not dispel… even in leprosy, cancer, accidents, illness, hard times, and all manner of disappointment and uncertainty. “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13.5) In the forgiveness of sins we receive what we don’t recognize - the countenance of God. God turns His face toward us and really listens to us in prayer. He acts on our behalf, and He speaks to us by His Holy Word that we might be reassured and encouraged. By His Word He shows the way to go through this life, the places to find real rest, and the assurance that He has over come this world for us.

The leper understood all this as He knelt before Jesus. Jesus could use his present circumstance for his good and the good of those around him. Did he want healing? Yes, but he was willing to travel whatever route, healed or not, that Jesus set out for him. If it meant being a leper then he’d be a leper who witnessed for the Lord. He understood he’d already been given the greatest gift - forgiveness of his sins, the gift that would one day see him home to heaven. The world might seek to rob him of peace - to tell him that God owed him more, but the leper understood he had already been given everything in the forgiveness of his sins.

All around us are people who have lives that look pretty rough, ragged, and second hand. Like Jason’s used glove, their lives may not look like much. The world may be trying to tell them they were shortchanged and that God owes them better. We need to tell them not to be deceived by appearances. The Psalmist writes, “Many are the woes of the wicked but the Lord’s unfailing love will surround those who trust in Him.” God through the Son has given us the greatest of gifts in the forgiveness of our sins, and where there is forgiveness of sins there is life and salvation, no matter what our or their circumstances. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Amen.