Matthew 8:1-4

(Firstly, my apologies in advance. Posting sermons three weeks after they're given means that the quality of the text here, based on three week old notes, suffers a bit. Hopefully, with time, this process will become more streamlined. I also recognize that the ending is a little abrupt; this is my fault, and not the original speaker's.) This message was delivered by Elder Park.

And when He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came to Him, and bowed down to Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and present the offering that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.Matthew 8:1–4

In our human lives, it is easy to become confused between the things that are real, and the images of those things. As an example, consider a lake at the base of a mountain. When the lake is still and calm, the reflection of the mountain on the lake looks exactly like the mountain itself. If it were not that one were upside down, and the other right side up, the two would be indistinguishable, and we would not be able to tell the difference between them. This is only the case, however, when the wind of the physical world is still. When the wind arises, the image in the lake is shattered, and the ripples and waves on the surface of the water destroy the perfect reflection.

In the ancient world, since leprosy was such a terrible disease, with no known cure, and a gradual decay of the body to death, it was viewed as a curse. Lepers had to live in the areas designated for them, and could not be a part of the regular society. Because leprosy was so severe, and viewed as a curse, there were involved and complex rituals in place for anyone who recovered, or was cured of leprosy.

The leper approached Jesus, and asked to be cured, but did not bring anything in exchange. He wasn't approaching Jesus as though He were a doctor who might accept payment, and really, the leper couldn't bring anything. When he approached Jesus, he simply asked to cleansed, should Jesus be willing. The leper recognized that what he needed form Jesus could only be obtained if Jesus were willing, and that the leper himself had nothing that he could offer, even if he wanted to, in exchange. The actions of the leper are much like the still reflection, in that the actual object is reflected clearly.

How often do our actions, though, not mirror so clearly the actual reality of grace. We often act as though we think we have, or will eventually have, something to offer in exchange for salvation. How many people find themselves desiring baptism, but saying, Not yet. Not until I'm ready. They think that they can prepare themselves, and that they will eventually have something better to offer God, and so can, in some sense, earn their salvation, or be worthy of it. We seem to think that we can effect some change in ourselves that will make us better before God.

The leper, however, recognized something that we would do well to take to heart: there is nothing in our power that we can do to change ourselves. We must come to Christ and ask Him to change us if He is willing. We are infinitely fortunate, for He is always willing to change us.

Not only is God willing to effect change in our lives, He really does change us. If we are in a time of suffering or trials, we might be surprised, or perhaps frustrated, when God does not make the changes that we think we might like to see. Rather than change our situations, God may, for our own sake, change our perspectives.

We must try, then, to follow God as he is in reality, and not as He might appear in a distorted reflection. We can only come to Christ recognizing that we have nothing to offer, and that anything He does is of His own will. The world too often distorts this message, telling us that we must bring something with which to buy our salvation, or that before accepting grace and mercy we must improve ourselves. These things, though, are impossible—we have nothing that we could bring to Him, and there is no change that we can effect that would be sufficient. We are saved only though His grace and will, and all we need do is come to Him and ask.