When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him. And behold, a leper came to Him and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched Him, saying, “I will; be clean.”
What do you want?
As you consider the bodies and souls of the people around you and the ones you love, what do you want for them?
As you consider your own body and soul, what pain do you want gone, what thing do you want better?
Do you want more a stronger marriage? A marriage in the first place?
A better job? A job in the first place?
A little more time, a little more energy, a little more joy, a little more laughter, a little more sleep, a little more money or a lot less suffering and sadness and loneliness and struggling and despair and temptation and conflict coming your way and the way of those you love?
I think sometimes we know what we want. Often times, we may exactly know what we want.
There are stories in Scripture in which Jesus asks this very question, “What do you want?” (Mark 10:51; Mark 10:36)
You can say what you want to God.
Christian prayer is an amazing gift. God actually wants to hear what we want. He’s interested. He cares what you want because He care about you. He loves you. We can assume that.
And as we pray, we can assume about God what these two men in our Gospel reading assumed.
Jesus can do it.
Jesus is able.
Jesus is powerful.
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
…Only say the Word and my servant will be healed, says the man who has authority to say “Go,” and they go, and “Come,” and they come, and “Do this,” and they do it and believes that Jesus has a lot more authority than that – all authority in heaven and earth. (Matthew 28)
Christian prayer assumes that He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. (Eph. 3:20)
But the foundation of prayer is not, “What do you want?”
The foundation of prayer is faith.
Faith like the leper in our text.
There’s no doubt that he wants no longer to be a leper, diseased, isolated, lonely, sick. He doesn’t want that anymore. No doubt.
And there’s no doubt that He knows Jesus can.
And yet He prays in faith and teaches us to pray, Lord, if you want, you can make me clean.
That’s faith. Faith that knows that if Jesus wants to, then that is good. And if Jesus doesn’t want to, that is good.
Jesus wants this leper clean. That’s good.
But there’s the other times like when Paul prays three times that a thorn in the flesh be taken away and our Lord says, “I don’t want to do exactly what you want, but My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
So, how can we know what Jesus wants for us? We’re all different and unique – the body of Christ, yes, but also individual members of one another.
So, a Christian sermon should primarily focus on the thing that Jesus wants for us all, that helps us all in our different and unique lives in our cirucmstances and that is this:
Jesus wants you to fear, love and trust Him above all things.
All throughout this text regarding these two men, one with leprosy and one with a servant who is paralyzed and suffering terribly, Jesus shows us that He wants us to believe in Him. To trust in His power and authority and to trust in His mercy and favor.
Luther writes about this text saying that “nothing pleased our Lord God more than that we believe and trust in Him from the heart…it isn’t in the beautiful temples or the splendid, shiny works but rather the inner devotion of the heart – that is faith.”
Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith –
Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.
Faith is the foundation of prayer.
Faith is the foundation for worship.
Faith is the foundation for works.
Faith is the foundation of hope and love in the midst of not getting what we want.
And faith can be summed up this way: What Jesus wants is good. What Jesus desires is beautiful. What Jesus wants will not destroy me.
Faith can summed as saying, “I trust what Jesus wants. I want what Jesus wants. I desire what Jesus desires.”
It doesn’t mean it has to make sense to us. Naaman was told to wash in the Jordan River seven times and his leprosy would be cleansed, but the Jordan River was dirty and small.
Naaman didn’t believe the word initially because it didn’t make sense to him.
But God had attached his promise for Naaman to the water in the Jordan River.
So if Jesus says it, then want that. It is good.
When you are praying the Lord’s Prayer, God is changing your wants to line up with what He wants.
That’s good.
We often want and desire for ourselves and the ones we love to be happy, but we need to remember that we are often very poor judges on what actually makes us happy.
We need to be reminded often that God has to constantly be changing our wants because we are soiled with sin. What we want is often wrong and tainted with sin and it might even hurt others if we got what we wanted.
Instead, pray, indeed for the things you wants in this way,
Lord, if you want, you are able.
And be strengthened today that Jesus wants things to:
And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.”
This word that is translated as “will; want; desire,” has an assumption behind it that if Jesus wants it, He will do something to make that happen.
Jesus wants and the leper is clean.
Jesus wants and you are clean because of His Word (John 15).
He did something to make you clean – like take on your dirt and shame and filth and received the wrath of God.
He did something to you clean – like baptize you, and give You His Word and His body and blood that begin to create in you a clean heart.
And there’s all these beautiful promises in Scripture that reveal to us what God wants:
Like it’s God’s good want and will to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth, so God did something to make it happen. (Ephesians 1:10)
Jesus came from heaven to earth to die on a cross, making peace with between God and man, heaven and earth. Glory be to God in the highest and on earth peace good will toward you.
God has good will, good desires, good wants toward you.
Jesus wants you to believe that! Especially during the times when you aren’t getting what you want.
God wants you to be strengthened here, today!
This place, where we hear that again that heaven and earth is united in Christ.
The Heavenly Father, Son and Holy Spirit is here, in this earthly place to bring you heavenly blessings and heavenly peace and heavenly joy and heavenly strength and the promise that you are gathered together with the heavenly angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.
That’s what Jesus wants.
When your sins are forgiven here in the Church by this earthly pastor, it is just as valid and certain even in heaven as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.
That’s what Jesus wants.
When you eat and drink this food, you are eating the Bread from heaven, Christ’s body and blood.
That’s what Jesus wants.
God desired heaven and earth to be united in Christ, and so He did and does something to make that happen.
And you have a great responsibility as a Christian who hears God’s Word. You know what God wants you to believe and wants you to do. Love your neighbor as yourself.
So, do what Jesus wants you to do. It pleases your Lord.
And remember that Luther quote,
“nothing pleases our Lord God more than that we believe and trust in Him from the heart…it isn’t in the beautiful temples or the splendid, shiny works but rather the inner devotion of the heart – that is faith.”
So, what do you want?
Pray what you want for yourself and those you love and those you don’t like.
Pray. Jesus wants you to. Jesus is able.
And, above all, trust God and love Him, Lord if you will, you can.
His will is good. His desires are beautiful. He also can change what you want to line with what He wants. And that will be good and beautiful, too.