The basis for today’s sermon is the gospel reading from Matthew chapter 8, where it is written: “2 And behold, a leper came to [Jesus] and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Everyone was astonished by the sermon on the mount. Jesus didn’t teach them like one of their own scribes, it says (7:28-29), but He taught “as one who had authority.” The crowds were right to be amazed – not only His teaching, but also His actions demonstrated His authority. When Jesus spoke, even the elemental things of creation obeyed His Word of command (c.f. the authority delegated in Matt 10:1). By this authority Jesus accomplished many signs, such as calming storms or healing disease or casting out demons or turning water into wine. Why, He could give a word of command and turn pebbles into food, or call down an army of angels on his enemies! The question is not “is it possible for Jesus to do this” but rather: “What will Jesus do?”
That’s the assumption the leper makes. “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27). So he says: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
What does that mean, “if you will”? Here, to will something means to make the determination, and then take action. Human willpower works like that. It takes a will to make a way. On the other hand, you may have noticed that human willpower is itself fairly limited – no matter how great your willpower, you will not be able to walk to the moon. We cannot free ourselves of our own poor miserable sinful condition, no matter how grand our intentions or great our willpower. There’s no shame in that, in being honest, in admitting our weakness or limits. In many ways, we need those limits to keep us grounded, and we need the humility in order to understand ourselves rightly.
God’s will though, is different. He is unlimited. Infinite. Perfectly righteous and holy and good. Just as God the Father is almighty, so also is Jesus Christ His Son. If Jesus wills for something to happen, it will happen, and it will be very good. The question is: What does He will? That makes a world of difference.
God’s will for us is revealed in the work of Christ Jesus. He sent His only begotten Son, Who joined Himself to our human flesh, to suffer in our place under all the judgment of the Law against our fallen human race. If it’s a question of whether God is favorable to you or not, then look no further than Christ Jesus. On account of Christ crucified and risen, God is favorable toward you. This is the steady center of our hope. Jesus paid the price to redeem you, His life for yours, to reconcile you to the Father almighty, to restore you to the kingdom, to guarantee the certain hope of resurrection to the high feast of heaven. Instead of looking to our material conditions as a measure of God’s favor towards us, look to the it-is-finished guarantee of His cross and resurrection. It counts for you.
As a token and foreshadowing of the resurrection of believers on the last day, Jesus heals the sick and restores their conditions in the body. Like we heard about in today’s gospel reading. He was, and is, willing to provide for the needs of this body and life. In His wisdom, He knows what is best for us: it may be that our aches and annoyances are given as opportunities to rely even more fully on the Lord’s providence until He raises up the believers on the last day. It may be that we receive some benefits or relief in this poor miserable life so that we can praise God’s name for others to hear.
Whatever the case, God who created our bodies has not abandoned us. Jesus healed the leper, the centurion’s servant; God even restored the flesh of Naaman the Syrian in the Old Testament reading. These miracles weren’t necessary for the cross and resurrection to occur, but it shows us something about God’s abundant mercy, it’s an epiphany, a revelation of something. He has not forgotten His creation. Soldiers too can be saved. He bears with us in our weaknesses and infirmities.
All three of those who were healed in today’s readings were outsiders. Either they were outcasts because some sickness kept them away, or because they were from the wrong tribe, language, or nation. And yet God is willing to restore those who are cast out, and bring near those who have been separated. His Word of authority is more than enough to reconcile those who are lost. The Leper was able to go be welcomed to the church again, because Jesus had cleansed him. Naaman was able to go home clean, because He had received God’s mighty word of promise combined with water.
So too you. You who have been baptized are welcomed to God’s kingdom, cleansed of the shame and sin that clings so close. In Holy Baptism, God gives us new birth from above, a re-generation in the holy humanity of Jesus. Even though we are not ourselves worthy that He would come under our roof, He is willing. In the Holy Communion, we have a guarantee of His favor, of His willingness to raise up you who are in Christ Jesus on the last day.
Because we know God wills our salvation, we can learn to pray from the leper in today’s gospel reading, or learn from the Centurion who asked Jesus for help. Instead of commanding God how we think He ought to do things, as if we should micromanage God, we can have confidence when you pray, because confidence in God is well placed. A confident prayer lets God know what we need, and then says to Him “let it be unto me as You will, O Lord.” This is more or less what we do in the Lord’s Prayer, when we say “Thy will be done.” … We express our lament and our needs and our desires to the Lord, and then in humble faith leave it up to His gracious will for how all of this will be accomplished. We know He can do it. All He needs do is say the Word.
For all this, we have abundant reminders. Consider the expression of Jesus’ royal authority in the introit today: “97:1 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” That Royal authority bespeaks favor to you even today. When the pastor speaks Christ’s word of absolution in the divine service, you are made clean in and by the authority of Jesus Himself. Whatever shameful sin or weight of guilt clings to you, know that Jesus is willing and able to forgive, to cleanse, to restore, to provide. You who believe Christ’s word of Law and Gospel, let it be done for you as you believe. In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

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The basis for today’s sermon is the gospel reading from John chapter 2, where it is written, “11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.””
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Lord Jesus turns water into wine, rescuing the wedding reception and so also the dignity of the bride and groom in the small town of Cana. It was a pure extra, a cup-runneth-over sort of miracle, He didn’t have to do this in order to die on the cross and rise again to forgive our sins and by His atoning blood reconcile us to the Father. And yet this is the first, the chief, the start of His miracles. St. John writes and calls it a ‘sign.’ A sign of what? What does this miracle show us?
The sign shows Jesus’ power, of course, in that He was capable of turning water to wine with just a word. In that, we can see a token of His authority over creation. He created the world in six real days. At His command, the very stuff of nature obeys Him still. By Him all things were made, and He continues to uphold the universe by His Word of power. This is Good and True enough.
What’s Beautiful about this though, is how the miracle signifies the overflowing mercy and love of God for His fallen creation. It has to do with joy. It is significant that the miracle was done at a wedding feast. They were celebrating the gift of marriage, of family, and all the good that goes with it. They were even drinking wine. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but… when used rightly, these things of the created order are a great joy.
And yet in our sin-broken world’s tendency towards immoderation, we are all too capable of abusing the good gifts God gives. Jesus rescues a wedding party, and it seems a scandalous thing: we often find in these an occasion to sin. We poor miserable sinners have a tendency to indulge desires in sinful ways. People eat so much it is unhealthy. We can drink until we are sick. How much pain has been caused by the misuse or abuse of things like wine or feasting far too plentifully, or even worse, the self-serving tendency to treat people – even the people in our own family – only as accords our own gratification? To consider all people who have been hurt, all the people and families that have been broken by human sin, we ought to repent of ever thinking that the Modern world could improve on God’s good order for relationships. God created these gifts and gave them to us, we would be best served to listen to His wisdom for how our lives and homes are best ordered. [οικονομια].1
So it is that where unbelievers might take this as an excuse for even more indulgence, we Christians have a right and holy fear of misusing God’s gifts. We know what we’re capable of. So it shows us something that Jesus rescues this newlywed couple from disaster. Heaven is a feast, not a funeral. The kingdom of God has the quality of joy. Jesus came to suffer and die on the cross, to pay for all our sins, to remit all our guilt. His suffering and blood atonement was not the end goal, but rather the justification for your life. The end goal is the high feast of heaven, where the people of God rejoice to live before Him in holy and happy joy. Your sins, however great the immoderation and however hard the hangover, they are forgiven. Jesus has paid it all. He is renewing you, and He will raise you who believe and are baptized to the blessed life eternal. The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. There, after God has perfectly raised and renewed you who believe, there will be no sorrow in the feast. In heaven, we will be perfectly sanctified, our desires and willpower in perfect harmony with God’s will. God is no [Bacchus, a] party animal, but neither should we think that it will be boring in the resurrection, beholding the glory of God in the high feast of heaven.
“11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”” Until that day, dear Christians, hold fast to the hope of everlasting life, and order yourselves together according to the Lord’s wise commands. Moderate yourselves, as is befitting a person made in the image of God and redeemed by His own blood. “33 … let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”” Do not look to worldly gratification as if that were the end of our sorrows or the source of our joy, but rather look to the superabundant mercy of God, who restores us, His fallen creation. Here and now we need the means of grace, for God to purify us, to cleanse us of our iniquity. The Holy Supper here in time is a foretaste of that blessed feast to come. In this holy feast He forgives your trespasses. In this communion He has something to do with you, He invites you to His own holy supper. In the harmonious confession of faith at this altar, He unites us to Himself, and so also the promised great high feast to come. Just as repentant sorrow is the fitting response to our sin, and reverence is fitting for the One Who is truly present among us in His Body and Blood, so also joy and thanksgiving are fitting responses for the gifts He gives. God grant you holy joy and steadfast faith, for your sins are forgiven. In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

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1[So, we who are born from above… we don’t want to abuse God’s gifts. We know that we are sinners and that we need help. So we might find an unfortunate suspicion appearing occasionally in history, that the only way to approach wine or feasting or family is through complete abstinence. A few crazy monks would get so annoyed in their struggle against sin that they’d say: “Desires are the cause of so much suffering.” This is the root of the tradition where monks would try to become holy by cutting themselves off from anything they desired. As if it were the wine that were evil, rather than their abuse of it. They would abandon their families and refuse to care for them. They would fast beyond the point of bodily training, fast to try to free themselves from any worldly concerns. I am impressed by the self-discipline it takes to fast that much, but the application was foolish, and ultimately ineffective (see: AC XXIII for a historic example). In the days of the Lutheran reformation, one important reform was that monks and clergy were allowed to marry. I’m very thankful for this. This is a case where we need [the third function of] the Law. Jesus shows us that weddings, marriage, are good. Family is good. Wine is good. It is only our sin that has made these things perilous. Heaven is not a funeral, but a feast.]

​Matt 3:15a ... Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.””
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Father in His merciful wisdom sent His Son Jesus Christ to us, for us men and for our salvation. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. By His birth on Christmas morning, it was revealed that the Son of God had united Himself to our humble human flesh – He had taken into Himself our own human nature, every bit of it except for our sinful quality. Throughout this season of Epiphany, Jesus demonstrates the implications of His incarnation by His teaching and miracles and life and work. For example, when the gentile wise men from the east visit, it’s a glimmer that God’s plan of redemption is offered to all nations. By uniting Himself with the human nature, and not one particular race, Jesus’ death and resurrection is sufficient to redeem the sins of all humanity. God does not reduce us to our race or country of origin, but rather loves us individually, having joined Himself to our common humanity.
So also then at the Baptism of Jesus, we see our Lord uniting Himself to you in another, further way. He did not need to be baptized for His own forgiveness, but rather went through with it for your sake, for your forgiveness. He was baptized so that we could be baptized. The Holy One put Himself into this promised washing, that we might be renewed in His holy humanity. He put His righteousness into the baptism, so that we who are baptized receive it therein.
Water, by itself, is plain water and no baptism. But with God’s Word of promise attached to it, plain water becomes for us the holy baptism, life-giving water, rich in grace. A washing of new birth in the Holy Spirit. Ordinarily, water is simple and effective: it is nourishment for the thirsty body, it can cleanse us of dirt, it can water the earth and cause it to bring forth and sprout. We can’t have life without water. Yet God perfects water in this – He joins His Word to it. When used for Holy Baptism, God uses this water to connect us to Christ Jesus. It connects us to His atoning death on the cross, it connects us to His glorious resurrection from the dead. It communicates His righteousness to us. It confers adoption to us as God’s children, heirs of heaven’s kingdom, inheritors of paradise. Eternal life comes through this Word and Water.
Where our sin and subsequent exile from Eden separated us from God, by Jesus’ incarnation and baptism, He is restoring us to union, communion, with the Holy Trinity. Ephesians 2[:12-13] reminds us to remember that once we were: “12b separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” What restores us from our alienation? Christ Jesus. How? Through His promises, as we heard today the promise of Holy Baptism that sticks with us. Again it is written in Hebrews 4[:16] “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
So think about this: the Lord Jesus who unites Himself to our frail human nature, is still united to it. Jesus is, right now in heaven, both God and man at the same time still. Through holy baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection, there can be human beings like us in the presence of God the Father almighty. So also, God the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to renew and sanctify you who are human, who believe and are baptized. Baptism is not a one time event, but rather the beginning of a life-long restoration of our humanity.
Jesus took on a human nature to restore our human nature. When we sin, or when we are broken and grieved by the sins of others, this makes us poor and miserable. Sinners captivated by their sin are enslaved, being reduced to some part or portion of their animal nature. It often feels like we’re not very good at being human. But Jesus is here to restore us to our humanity, into the pure human nature that we were created and intended to live in. By this new birth from above in Holy Baptism, He is restoring you to the full and free humanity. His perfect humanity, bestowed upon you. Because He was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness,” His righteousness is now bestowed, declared, imputed, and being renewed in you. So raise up your heads, you who are poor and miserable, look to Him, you who are sinful, for your sins are forgiven. The Son of God and Son of Man has forgiven your sins, and is restoring you even today. When the accusations of the Law or temptation’ dire hour strikes, remember Who God is making you to be, Whose family He adopts you into. God the Father is well-pleased with Christ Jesus His Son, and since you who believe and are baptized are united to Him, on His account, our Father in heaven is likewise well pleased with you. In the name of + Jesus. Amen.