Luke 17:11-19

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance ¹³ and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” ¹⁴ When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Leprosy wasn’t simply a skin disease. Scripture repeatedly equates leprosy with punishment for sin and a sign of God’s wrath. In Dt. 28(:15, 27) Moses says, “If you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God,… [He] will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with scales and [leprosy] of which you cannot be healed.” We see this happen several times in the Scriptures.

When Moses’ sister Miriam spoke against Moses (Num. 12:1-10), she became a leper. David’s general, Joab (and later Joab’s descendants), were struck with leprosy after he unjustly killed Abner (2 Sam. 3:29). After Naaman was healed from his leprosy, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, took a bribe from Naaman and became leprous (2 Kgs. 5:20-27). King Uzziah of Judah contracted leprosy when he offered incense in the Temple even though he was not a priest (2 Chr. 26:16-21). The rabbis in Jesus’ day taught that leprosy was never contracted by people who lived moral lives. (I don’t think we can or should go that far, though.) There is little doubt that these ten lepers concluded that their condition meant they were being punished by God.

In desperation, they cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us.” What were they asking for? Did they know that Jesus had cleansed lepers before, so they were crying out to Him for healing? Did they want food or money? Honestly, we don’t know, and it’s possible that the lepers didn’t know themselves. Notice, they don’t call Jesus ‘Lord’ as many other people do when they call out to Jesus in faith. Instead, they call our Lord, ‘master,’ which opens the door to all sorts of possibilities. Jesus simply responds, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

Now, this statement from Jesus was probably not received well by the lepers. They already knew that the priests were supposed to examine people with skin diseases and declare them to be clean or unclean, and, since these ten have leprosy, they are unclean. Going to the priests would be a pointless exorcise for lepers. The best-case scenario for a leper being examined by a priest would be for them to be declared unclean again. Because we know the end of the story, we know that Jesus has a hidden word of promise here. We know that their leprosy would be gone by the time they got to the priests. But some have argued, and I think convincingly, that these lepers heard the opposite. Instead of hearing the hidden promise, they heard a hard, “No, I won’t help you,” from Jesus.

Let me explain. I frequently and regularly get phone calls and people coming in to the church asking for help. I listen to their story and ask questions to discern how we as a congregation can best help them. Nine times out of ten, the individual is simply looking for one more excuse to continue some type of sinful, destructive behavior.

A few years ago, a man came here telling me that he was homeless and wanted money to buy food. I listened to his story, prayed with him, offered him some godly advice, and told him, “We have some food I can give you in the basement.” (And just so you know it was perfectly good food that I ate a couple days after he came.) But he didn’t want what we had, so I told him that he could go to Northlands Rescue Mission or to the Food Shelf because we support those ministries monthly, but he wasn’t interested in that either. He wanted money to get something from the store. I simply told him, “Listen, we are happy and willing to help you. You can have this food here, you can get a meal at Northland, or you can get something from the Food Shelf.” He became very upset, and as he left he yelled at me, “[Bleep] off.”

I’m very glad that we, as a congregation, send monthly support to different ministries in our community that can assist probably 95% of the people who come to our congregation asking for help. Those ministries serve as a clearing house to make sure people aren’t abusing the generosity of Christians and can come along side of people to help teach them to make better decisions. And I want to be clear, we still help many who need assistance through our Deacons’ Fund, but some people refuse to receive the help they actually need.

I think the nine lepers were like that man. He was offered three ways to get food, which is what he said he wanted. But he only heard the refusal to give him money as a refusal to help him. These lepers probably heard Jesus’ statement, “Go and show yourselves to the priests,” in a similar way. It was as if Jesus was saying, “I’ll only help you if you are declared to be clean by the priests.”

The other thing we have to consider is the timing of all this. When were these lepers healed, and when did they discover that they were cleansed? I’ve typically imagined that the ten lepers start marching off to Jerusalem, and after they had walked for a couple hours, discover that they were healed. Nine of them continue journeying to the Temple, but the Samaritan hikes his way back to the village, back through the streets, back to Jesus’ feet where he falls down and gives Him thanks. The thing about this is that the text doesn’t actually supply any of those details. It’s certainly possible that it happened that way, but the grammar that Luke uses actually seems to imply something different.

The way the verbs work seems to suggest that the healing happened more or less immediately, or at least while the ten are still within earshot of Jesus. Imagine if their cleansing happened immediately, basically just as they turned away. The Samaritan, unlike the nine, turns back and praises Jesus with a loud voice. He recognizes both his healing and the source of his healing – which came from the Word of Jesus. In faith, given by the Holy Spirit, the Samaritan believes that Jesus is the good God who has good things for him. He receives the gift of healing, but even better, he believes in the healing Savior, who also gives salvation and eternal life, which is exactly what he gets. Those last words of Jesus in our text are better translated, “Your faith has saved you.”

In the end, the nine ungrateful lepers didn’t expect God to be good to them. And Jesus’ statement, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” would be a direct rebuke of them – something along the lines of, “Are you nine going to ignore when I have just done? I’ve given better than the mercy you asked for, and I have even more to give you.” But even if that isn’t the case, when the nine are healed, they refuse to recognize their Healer. The fact that they are cleansed is a wonderful thing, but it is only temporary. Their skin is restored, but their souls were still leprous in sin. They are the embodiment of the un-thankfulness that Jesus talks about in Mt. 5:45 where He says, “[God] makes the sun rise on the evil and on and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Dear saints, how often does our merciful God gives good things to draw us to Himself, but we fail to recognize it?

But the Samaritan sees God’s goodness and comes back for more. He returned to Christ from whom all blessings flow.

It’s one thing to be grateful, but it is a different thing to be thankful. There is little doubt that the nine lepers were grateful that they were better, but they didn’t recognize how they had been healed. But the one, the Samaritan, the doubly outcast, was thankful. He was not only happy for the gift of healing; he was also thankful for and to the Giver of the gift. That is why he returns to Jesus and gives Him thanks and praise.

I’m going to abruptly change gears here, so bear with me. The church has commonly used Psalm 116:12-13 as a prayer before receiving the cup during Holy Communion. Here’s that prayer: “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord,” which fits perfectly with what this Samaritan leper does. Jesus is good to him by healing him. So, what thanks and service does he offer to God? He goes back and receives more. He receives the salvation of his soul which is even better than being cleansed from leprosy.

So, let’s bring this to us today. Too often, we are like the nine. We see and feel our suffering and think that God has forsaken us. We pray and ask God to remove whatever crosses we bear, but in our impatience, we think that any delay of relief is a hard, “No,” from God which makes us doubt God’s goodness. As that sinful doubt creeps in, we grow less and less thankful, and even when God does remove that suffering, we do not recognize His goodness and mercy. May we repent.

Dear saints, even in our most difficult times, we can wait on the mercy of God. Yes, we suffer in this life, and “Our sufferings are not trivial, but neither are they eternal” (Rev. Petersen). We can wait on and trust in God. We can praise Him even in times of sorrow because He has bought us with His blood and will never leave nor forsake us.

And from this Samaritan, let us learn to always return to Jesus. When Jesus tells him, “Rise and go,” He doesn’t give him any direction. The man can go wherever he wants. But notice where he did go after being healed, he went back to Jesus, back to the goodness of God for more. And the interesting thing about Jesus’ command to ‘go’ is that the Greek word is a little ambiguous. At its root, it means ‘journey’ which means that It doesn’t necessarily mean, ‘go away,’ it could also mean ‘come with me.’ And it doesn’t make much sense if Jesus praises the man’s faith and tells him to go away. Faith always returns to Jesus in thanks to receive more of what Jesus has to offer. That is why Ps. 116 answers the question, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?” with, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”

Dear saints, we can expect God to be good wherever we journey. And we always desire to come back to Christ because He has more good things to give to us. Faith wants to be with Jesus and continue to receive His gifts. He is our Temple. He is our Priest. And He is here now to cleanse us and freely give us His forgiveness.

God has given you every good thing. So, what will you do to repay Him? Come and get more. Come now to His table and lift up the cup of salvation. Come, eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ for the salvation of your soul. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.