1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. Matthew 8:1-13

How should we pray? Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).

In Matthew 21:21-22, after the disciples saw a fig tree which Jesus had cursed wither away, Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

James writes (James 1:5-8): “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

But what is it to pray in faith? Today’s Gospel provides two excellent examples.

In Matthew 8:2-3, we read: “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

In this first example, we see the faith of this leper in the person of Jesus and in His power to heal. He had confidence that Jesus, if He was willing, could cleanse him of his leprosy.

This reminds me of the words of Jeremiah in chapter 32, verse 17: “Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” Jeremiah prayed with the confidence that the God who created the heavens and the earth could certainly answer his prayer.

And thus we pray in faith, not that God will grant our every desire and request but in the confidence that God is able to do so and will as a loving heavenly Father answer our prayer in a way that is best for us.

We ask this in the Lord’s Prayer when we pray: “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). We pray in the confidence that God hears and is able to grant our requests but also trusting that God’s perfect will is best for us.

It could have been God’s will that the man with leprosy not be healed, and the leper was willing to accept that. He prayed in the confidence that Jesus’ will was best for him — “not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Consider the Apostle Paul who prayed three times that God would remove his thorn in the flesh, and God’s answer to him. He wrote: “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:7-9).

There are, however, many things for which we need not pray, “If thou wilt,” for we already know from the Scriptures that God desires such. This is true when we pray for God’s mercy and forgiveness, for stronger faith, that God would keep us in the true faith through His Word and Sacraments, etc. And, since Jesus gave to us the Lord’s Prayer, we can certainly pray each petition in the confidence that we are praying in accord with God’s perfect will.

Then, in Matthew 8:8-9,13, we read of a Roman centurion who prayed to Jesus on behalf of his servant: “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. … And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”

The centurion, though he was praised and counted worthy by the Jewish leaders in Capernaum, recognized his unworthiness to come before Jesus, the eternal Son of God in human flesh. He sent elders from among the Jews to Jesus to request His help (cf. Luke 7:1ff.) and then, before Jesus arrived, sent friends to Jesus acknowledging his own unworthiness and professing faith that Jesus could just say the word and his servant would be healed. “And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”

So also, we are unworthy sinners. We deserve nothing but God’s wrath and eternal punishment (cf. Rom. 3:23); and yet, for Jesus’ sake, God hears and answers our prayers.

Jesus made full atonement for our sins when He suffered and died on the cross and, through faith in Him, we have God’s pardon and forgiveness (Rom. 3:21-26). We are counted righteous and holy and acceptable in His sight (Col. 1:19-23; Eph. 1:6-7; 1 John 1:7 — 2:2). Through faith in Christ Jesus, we become God’s children and can come before Him with our prayers and praises (Gal. 3:26ff.; Heb. 10:19ff.).

Dr. Martin Luther, in his Small Catechism, explains the introduction to the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven,” in this way: “God would by these words tenderly invite us to believe that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children, so that we may with all boldness and confidence ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.”

John writes in his first epistle: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him ” (1 John 5:11-15).

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, grant that we hear Your Word and learn of You that we might acknowledge our sinfulness and trust in You as our Savior and pray to You in faith and with confidence. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]