Introduction

This talk was given at St. Peter’s Church on 2 March 2025. Revd. Mark Fletcher explores trustworthy authority through Jesus’ interactions with a leper and centurion, demonstrating how Christ’s selfless leadership contrasts sharply with today’s leadership crisis. Discover how genuine faith transforms isolation into belonging within God’s family.

There is, in our world a crisis of leadership, whether that’s in the church or in our political world. It’s not a new problem, but it is an acute problem right now. Leaders who turn out not to be trustworthy, leaders who seem to simply be in it for themselves. And so an important question we need to ask is, what does trustworthy leadership look like?

Who can we trust? Now, Matthew’s Gospel fittingly is addressing that question here in chapter eight. I dunno if you spotted what the context was, but in verse one, it says, Jesus came down from the mountain. And he has literally just preached the greater sermon of all time, the Sermon on the Mount. But the question is whether his words are matched by his actions and his character.

And Matthew’s gospel is going to tell two stories to illustrate that Jesus offers us a model of what leadership should look like. So the first one is in verse two to four, and the theme here is that trustworthy authority is selfless. So in verse two, a man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

Now you don’t need me to tell you about leprosy. It is an awful condition. It is a bacterial infection, which kills the nerves and the skin, and so people often end up terribly disfigured. And because it was infectious, what was probably worse is that there was a profound stigma attached to it.

So people were terribly afraid and a person who had leprosy would be forced to live alone far from people. So it was deeply isolating. And so you can imagine the scene as this man with leprosy approached people would’ve backed away. They would’ve held their children to themselves to keep them from him.

And as this man kneels down before Jesus, who you note doesn’t shy away as this man kneels down, there would’ve been absolute silence. And the man says, if you are willing, you can make me clean. And what does Jesus do? Did you see in verse three? He reaches out his hand and he touches the man, and there would’ve that at that moment, I think, been a gasp from the crowd, and it’s an astonishing thing to do because I suspect that nobody had touched that man in decades.

Jesus reaches out his hand and touches the man. And I think that picture of Jesus touching the untouchable might be even more significant than the miracle that is to follow. That’s what trustworthy authority looks like. It is willing to risk himself for the sake of others. He wants the best for this man, even at cost to himself.

Jesus says, I am willing be clean. And immediately that man was cured of his leprosy. Isn’t that an incredibly powerful picture of what trustworthy authority looks like? Behold, this is Jesus. Then there’s a really interesting detail and that’s this other picture. Because Jesus works within the authority of the law.

So in verse four, Jesus said to him, see that you don’t tell anybody what just happened, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Two observations on that one, Jesus is not power hungry. He’s not trying to build his own reputation. It is not about him.

And he sends the man, the leper, no longer a leper, to go and to offer the sacrifice within the kind of legal system of the day. And the aim of that is for the man, not simply to be healed of his leprosy, but also to be free of the stigma. That by going and being announced to be clean of leprosy by the priest, he could be reconciled and restored to his family and his community.

You see that Jesus trustworthy authority is compassionate and wise. It enters into our suffering and shares in it. Behold, this is Jesus. Then the second story. And this is the remarkable faith of the centurion, and I think what it illustrates is that trustworthy authority has integrity. So this centurion is a Roman officer stationed in Palestine.

He’s probably a long way from home. He’s man who knows what real authority looks like. He will have seen great leaders and puppet kings. He will have commanded men in battle. He will have seen valor and he will have seen cowardice, and he comes looking for Jesus, and he does so for quite a surprising reason.

The Roman military was notoriously careless about human life, and yet he is seeking help from Jesus, not for his own sake, but for the sake of his servant. Verse five, when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help. Lord, he said, my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.

This Centurion knows that no one can help his servant except perhaps Jesus. And what comes next is a really interesting interaction. Because Jesus agrees of course, and says, yes, fine, I’ll come with you and I will heal your servant. And then did you see that the centurian sort of says, you know what, Jesus, don’t trouble yourself.

You don’t need to come to my house. I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof. I know what authority looks like. I just say the word and the people I come undo it. And I know that your authority far outstrips that. Just say the word and my servant will be healed. Isn’t that amazing? And what is even better than that is?

’cause obviously he can see that Jesus has this real authority like nothing he’s seen before. And Jesus’ authority is not based on his rank or his title, but on who he is. His words match his actions, which match his character. That authority has integrity. But his response provokes what I think is a unique response from Jesus.

I can’t think of another time in the gospel stories when this happens. So verse 10, when Jesus heard this, he was astonished. Jesus is surprised. And you know how that almost never happens? Jesus is always looking into people’s hearts and knowing people’s thoughts, and he’s always ahead of what’s happening.

And yet this centurion surprises him with his astonishing faith. Jesus says, I’ve never seen faith like this and faith like this In an outsider a gentile, the centurion is an example of trusting in Jesus in practice. Faith is not simply belief. It’s not simply believing there is a God or even believing that Jesus is the son of God.

It is putting your trust in him. If Jesus is who you believe he is, then you can trust him with your future, with your life. One other observation, the title that the Centurion uses for Jesus is revolutionary, and I don’t say that lightly. So he calls Jesus Lord. And for a man who comes under the authority of Rome with all of its hierarchy, with the emperor at the top, that’s quite a dangerous thing for him to say.

He sees that Jesus has authority that outstrips all of that. The centurion calls Jesus Lord. And that Jesus authority, though it is so gently held, is unsurpassed. He confesses Jesus as Lord, and Jesus is astonished at his faith. And Jesus says to, since you are in verse 13, go, it will be done to you just as you believed it would.

And the servant was healed at that very hour. What does trustworthy authority look like? Matthew has two stories for us which illustrate that, and it is natural enough not to trust. Our trust has too often been betrayed by those who ask for it, and it is absolutely right that we must be wise and discerning.

We should not trust easily, but when we do find someone who you can trust, someone who is worthy of trust, then do not allow your fear or your cynicism to stop you actually doing that. Actually investing trust in one who is trustworthy. Matthew, in his gospel is inviting you to put your trust in Jesus. To acknowledge with the centurion that Jesus and Jesus alone is Lord.

He is the one who holds the future in his hands, that all true authority lies with and derives from him. And the reason I make that point so strongly is because that faith is transformative. Because in submission to Christ’s authority, you will find a freedom that the world cannot give. And a peace that passes understanding and that is restorative.

Like the leper who is isolated and afraid and alone, and then who is welcomed back into his community. So entrusting in Jesus, we find a new belonging, new relationships with God and with his people. Our fear, our cynicism, isolates us. Faith draws us into the family of God. So here is our benchmark of authentic, trustworthy leadership.

Christ is the model, and if that is how the master is, then the servant should be. Likewise, Jesus shows us what real authority looks like. It is not power hungry or showy. It is selfless. And sacrificial and serving and wise and loving and has absolute integrity, that is the standard that we set. So Matthew’s Gospel invites you to put your trust in the one who is trustworthy with the centurion, to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.

And if you do that. Despite the chaos of this world, you do not need to be afraid for, to glimpse the very final lines of Matthew’s Gospel in Christ. All authority in heaven and on earth is given, or as someone else put it, fear God. And you need fear. No one else. Let’s pray.

Father, this world can seem like a frightening place. It can seem dangerously out of control. Help as we pray, to put our trust in the one who is trustworthy. Help us to declare with the centurion that Jesus is Lord. He is the one who holds our lives and our future in his hands and in that trust, we pray that we might find peace even in the face of the storms of life through Christ our Lord.

Amen.