Note: Our church will host Japanese guests this morning. I am using a sermon text familiar to our Japanese friends.

Scripture reading: Philippians chapters 3:17-4:1: 17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. 4:1 Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Sermon text: Matthew chapter 8:1-13: 1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 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.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Introduction

The term “kingdom” seems strange to Americans because of our history. While America began as part of a kingdom, we became an independent nation over 200 years ago. From our beginnings as an independent nation, America has lived as a democracy.

This is not the case in many parts of the world. Actually, most civilizations in the world began as kingdoms; even the Greek democracies and Roman Republic were ruled by kings at one time. Kings and emperors continue to rule, at least officially, in many parts of the world today.

In Jesus’ time, the term “kingdom” fit rather poorly in first-century Judea and Galilee. Officially, Rome did not have a king; it had an emperor. Judea had once existed as a kingdom, but at the time of Jesus’ ministry the nation was ruled by a Roman governor, not a king.

However, the Jews — the people descended from Jacob, or Israel, and who followed the law given to Moses in 1446 B.C. — had always expected a kingdom. These people believed their God would create a kingdom and would rule this kingdom through a descendant of their greatest king in history, David. This kingdom would never end, unlike the kingdom the Jews had enjoyed centuries before. This kingdom would rule over all the area of Judea, but it would also rule over all the world. The Jews, of course, expected this kingdom to include only Jewish subjects who would rule over everyone else in the world.

Then, a man descended from David came onto the scene. This man spoke with authority. People came to Him for wisdom and for teaching. People came to Him to be healed. This man was Jesus, and the story today tells us a lot about Him.

The story tells us not only about Jesus; it also tells us about what He called the “Kingdom of God.” When the Jews heard Him speak of the Kingdom of God, they thought they knew what He meant. We see today that Jesus meant something far greater than a simple human kingdom in a small area; He intended to begin a kingdom that would rule not just the world, but the entire universe. Jesus’ kingdom will rule over everything ever created.

Sermon

Jesus demonstrated His rule in dealing with the leper. People with leprosy were considered “unclean,” meaning they could not live normal lives. When someone was diagnosed with leprosy, the person had to leave society and live with other lepers. Lepers could not live with their families; they could not experience the joy of hearing their children say, “I love you.” Lepers could not hold a job, so they had to beg for a living. When they entered a town or city, lepers had to cry, “unclean! Unclean!” so everyone would know they were there. No one touched a leper because this disease was contagious.

Leprosy was also deadly. Because the disease attacked the nerves in the human body, its victims did not feel pain as we feel pain. Some people believe it would be good to not feel pain, but this is not so. Pain warns us of injury. Lepers did not have this warning and often lost parts of their bodies as a result. Eventually, the leper would die, usually of infection caused by an injury the leper never knew he suffered.

Even worse for Jewish lepers, leprosy prevented its victims from worshiping their God in the Temple. No one with leprosy could enter the Temple area. When the festivals came, the lepers had to watch everyone else celebrate in the Temple. When the singing began in the Temple, the lepers had to stand outside and listen to the music as it came over the walls and spilled into the streets of Jerusalem. Anyone who has ever wanted to join a celebration knows the pain of feeling left out of the joy experienced by everyone at the celebration.

I find it interesting that in every culture, every civilization, people express a desire to worship something greater than themselves. Every culture established rules for worshiping a god or gods. Many cultures also believed in a life after death and that worshiping their god or gods would help them to have that life. Something in every human wants looks at the beauty of our world and wants to thank someone for that beauty. Something in every human experiences joy at times and wishes to thank something or someone for that joy. Imagine having that desire but finding you cannot join others in expressing that desire in worship.

It seems that people in every culture also feel guilt or shame for the wrong they do. Something within us wants to say, “I’m sorry” to someone when we do wrong. We also want to hear someone say, “you are forgiven.” The joy and relief we feel when we hear we are forgiven for our wrongs adds to the joy of our worship in life.

This leper, however, had heard of a man who could heal him. This leper had heard that Jesus had healed lepers and allowed them to live normally again. Healed lepers could rejoin their families: hug their wives, laugh with their children, and eat at family gatherings. Healed lepers could work again at jobs they loved. Even better, those lepers Jesus healed could rejoin the joy of the celebration when the people gathered to worship in the Temple. They could enter the Temple area and eat with other worshipers, sing with other worshipers, and hear the priests tell them they were forgiven for the wrong things they had done.

So this leper did what he knew he had to do: He went to Jesus.

When the leper met Jesus, he knelt down before Him as he would a king — or his God. “Lord,” he said — and the word for “Lord” in the Greek language tells us this man recognized Jesus as a king — “if you will, you can make me clean.”

Look what Jesus did: He touched the leper! No one touched a leper! Jesus did not fear leprosy. Jesus cared too much about the leper to worry about leprosy. Jesus knew He could heal the leper and restore his body. Jesus said, “I will; be clean.”

And then He touched him.

Everyone around would have been shocked at Jesus’ actions even more than at His words. No one touched a leper and expected to live! No one touched a leper anyway because touching him meant the person could not worship until he had undertaken a ritual to cleanse himself. Yet, Jesus touched the leper, as a doctor touching his patient; then, the leper was cleansed.

Jesus told the leper, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” Jesus sent the leper to the Temple. The Temple would be the first place the leper went after his cleansing. The leper’s first action as a normal person would take him to the Temple to worship his God, the God who loved him and healed him.

This story shows us something about the kingdom Jesus, the descendant of David, would create. In this kingdom, the sick matter. In this kingdom, the King will risk Himself to heal His subjects. In this kingdom, the King will do anything necessary to help His subjects worship the God who loves them.

Then, we see more about the kingdom in the story of the centurion. A Roman centurion was an army officer in command of 100 soldiers. This centurion was not like many people in armies; he cared about his soldiers and his servants. When his servant became sick, the centurion did not send someone to ask Jesus to help his servant; he came himself. The centurion’s actions mean more to us when we realize that, as a Roman, the Jews would not have expected him to ask Jesus for anything. Romans were not welcome in Judea; many Jews thought the Romans would not be welcome in the kingdom they expected.

However, Jesus again showed He cared about people considered outcasts to the Jews. Jesus offered to go to the centurion’s home, even though He knew many Jews would consider Him a lawbreaker for going to a Roman’s home.

The Roman centurion did not want Jesus to come to his home; he believed that if Jesus merely said so, his servant would be healed, regardless of where Jesus said it. While the Jews always wanted Jesus to come where they needed him, the Roman believed Jesus could heal his servant from anywhere. The Roman centurion believed in Jesus’ ability to command sickness to leave.

This takes amazing faith! In the dictionary, we see faith is defined as “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” The Bible goes farther, saying that faith is trust in something we cannot see. The Roman centurion had never seen Jesus simply speak the word and a person be healed; he had only heard that Jesus touched a leper, and the leper was healed. How did the Roman believe that Jesus could heal someone without touching him?

Jesus was amazed at the Roman’s faith. Then, Jesus surprised the Jews by saying, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” All the Jews believed that only Jews would live in the kingdom. Now, Jesus told them that many from outside the Jews would live in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus told the centurion, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” The centurion believed his servant was healed; the servant was healed “at that very moment.”

What does this story tell us about the kingdom? Why did the Jews miss Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of heaven?

This story tells us that when the kingdom of heaven came to earth — and, as we shall see, it is already here in a sense — Jesus did not limit the kingdom to only Jews. He did not limit it to only Greeks; He did not limit the kingdom to only Europeans or Americans. St. Paul the Apostle said to the Galatian churches, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” When someone — anyone — believes in Jesus as their king, they are welcome into the kingdom.

These 2 stories tell us much more about the kingdom. Christians believe that Jesus had already done more than merely touch a leper when He lived here on earth. Christians believe, and in some ways our hearts tell us, that we all want to worship something larger than ourselves; we all, in our hearts, believe we are here for a purpose. If we are here for a purpose, we must have been created for that purpose, and if we were created for a purpose, then Someone created us. Christians believe, and our hearts tell us, that we have all done wrong against someone in our lives. The Bible tells us that when we do wrong against someone else, we do wrong against God, our Creator. Doing wrong against God breaks our relationship with Him.

Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth to live among humans. The Bible tells us He was born of the Virgin Mary, fully God and fully human. Before Jesus touched a leper, Jesus had already touched a sinful world where everyone had done wrong. Touching a leper was the least Jesus could do; He had already lived among humans who had done wrong every day of their lives. Jesus, however, did no wrong to anyone; He lived a perfect life.

Jesus’ perfect life angered the Jewish leaders and the Romans: The Jewish leaders because they expected Him to set up their version of the kingdom, and the Romans because they had no intention of letting anyone set up any kingdom at all. Therefore, when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Passover in A.D. 33, the Jewish leaders turned Him over to the Romans, who crucified Him — killed Him.

If Jesus were killed by the Romans, many thought, the “kingdom talk” of this man would come to an end. However, Jesus’ disciples told exciting news only 3 days later: Jesus was alive again! Jesus had been raised from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection told His followers that the kingdom had come. You see, just as Jesus had touched the leper to save him from leprosy, Jesus died to save humans from death, an enemy far worse than the sickness of the Roman centurion’s servant or the leprosy of the leper.

From that day — the day Christians celebrate as Easter — Christians believed Jesus taught His disciples more about the kingdom of God. 40 days later, Jesus returned to heaven, leaving His followers here as witnesses of His resurrection. Then, on the day of Pentecost, God sent the Holy Spirit to live with Jesus’ followers and to help them tell others about Jesus’ good news of a kingdom that would never end and that would accept everyone.

Look around you today. In our congregation today, we have people from many places in the world who have believed in Jesus’ resurrection. St. Paul told the Roman church later that anyone who confessed, “Jesus is Lord,” and believed that God raised Him from the dead, would be “saved,” or forgiven of their wrongs. These people, like the Roman, have believed that Jesus can do what He said He would do. Jesus said that, as God our Creator, He would forgive us of the wrongs we have done against others and against Him. As St. Paul said, everyone who believes in Jesus, who will accept Him as Lord of their lives, will be accepted into the kingdom of heaven.

To accept Jesus as Lord means that we accept Him as king. The Church is, after all, a kingdom, not a democracy. We live as Jesus leads us to live through the Bible, the word of God. We show others through our lives how Jesus wants everyone to live. We also forgive others and love them as Jesus loved us. Christians must love everyone, even those who have wronged them. For centuries, Christians have forgiven and loved others, even those who have killed them for believing in Jesus’ kingdom.

Christians also believe that Jesus will return to earth one day and establish the full coming of His kingdom. Christians have lived for centuries with the realization that, in some ways, the kingdom is not yet fully here; people still do wrong, people still get sick, and people still die. When Jesus returns, He will give us new bodies that will never grow old or sick; they will never die. Everyone who lives in His kingdom will live forever in perfect joy and peace.

Conclusion

The leper was healed; the Roman’s servant was healed. Both men needed healing, and both received it from Jesus. Both needed acceptance into the kingdom, and both received it.

If you know you have done wrong and you have wronged your Creator, you need healing today in your heart. Believe in Jesus, and you will receive healing. You will receive acceptance into the kingdom of heaven. Even better, you’ll serve a King who cared enough about you to do more than touch a leper; He loved you enough to die for you and experience death that you might live forever. Our King cares about His subjects. Come to the kingdom of heaven and experience true joy and peace, with God your Creator and with other Christians. Any trouble you may face in this life becomes joy when you come into the kingdom of heaven ruled by Jesus Christ, the conqueror of death and the one who loves you more than anyone in your life.