Tag Archives: Thankfulness

Cleansed & Thankful – Sermon on Luke 17:11-19 for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

Luke 17:11-19

11 On the way to Jerusalem he 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.” 14When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15Then 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.

Trouble will often create fellowship. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11 our country had a strong sense of unity – at least for a bit. Those of you who lived here during the ’97 flood still have that fellowship. Maybe you’ve noticed having better fellowship with your family when a loved one has gone through lengthy medical treatments or died. Everyone bands together to get stuff done.

One of the reasons Alcoholics Anonymous or other support groups are so helpful is that struggling people can meet others have gone through similar situations. People gain strength and encouragement from others who have had similar experiences and struggles. All those are good examples of trouble creating fellowship. That kind of fellowship produces unity and focus, a renewed sense of purpose and drive, and hope in the midst of sorrow. Fellowship created by and through trouble can have a powerful positive effect. 

But trouble can also create bad fellowship – really bad fellowship. I’ve heard of support groups that morph into a kind of contest where some will try to show how much more pain they have endured than the rest of the individuals in that group. Or, when a group like that only focuses on their pain and struggle, some might start to think they’ll lose their connections if they begin to heal from the pain. So, everyone gets fixated on either being or, even worse, remaining a victim in an effort to not lose that camaraderie.

It seems like that fixation on victimhood is one of the tactics the devil is using to divide our culture today. There is so much conversation about privileged and the underprivileged. The super-rich and those who aren’t. The oppressors and the oppressed. Even if you aren’t initiating those conversations, the natural, knee-jerk reaction to that kind of talk is to view people who are introducing that kind of vocabulary as the enemy, so you put up walls and barriers. Dear saints, you must fight against that urge.

As a Christian, you know that all of humanity is much more united than we are divided. Whenever you have the urge to shove others away – and it doesn’t matter who the ‘others’ are – remember two things: First, you are united with every person you meet by the trouble of sin. We are all under the curse of sin and the sentence of death because of that sin. Second, you are united with every person you meet by the mercy of God that is only found in Christ. You know from the Word of God that every person you meet is someone from whom Christ died (Jn. 1:29; 1 Tim. 2:6). Those two points of unity are desperately needed in our society and culture today.

In this text, the ten lepers were united by the trouble of their disease. Leprosy was a chronic skin disease caused sores, numbness, and the eventual loss of limbs. Because it was so contagious, leprosy also caused isolation from family and friends. Lepers had to live apart from others. But these ten found fellowship with each other because of their common trouble. The leprosy created a tight-knit community of ten that is more remarkable than we might realize. Apparently, most of these lepers were Jewish, but at least one was a Samaritan.

This is remarkable because this community of ten wouldn’t have formed unless they shared this disease. It wasn’t even conceivable. The disdain and divide between Jews and Samaritans was even bigger than between Vikings and Packers or Red Sox and Yankees fans. Or any other divide you want to insert here. But here they are in this little community of the suffering. And they are so united they do something very interesting.

When lepers encountered people who weren’t lepers, they would cry out, “Unclean, unclean” (Lev. 13:45). But that isn’t what these ten holler when they see Jesus. Instead, with a united voice (by the way, the Gk. for ‘voice’ there is singular not plural), these ten lepers cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus tells them to present themselves to the priests, and the only reason a leper would do that is if they had recovered from their leprosy. It’s only as they walk away from Jesus that they are healed from their leprosy. But only one, only the Samaritan, does an about-face and returns to give thanks to Jesus.

Once the leprosy that united them was miraculously healed by Christ, the unity they had was gone, so the group splits up. The Samaritan is now united through faith to Jesus. So, of course, this cleansed Samaritan returns to the One who cleaned him. The saved returns to his Savior. What happened to the nine? Were they just too excited to get back to their families that they forgot to thank the Son of God? Who knows?

We can ask this Samaritan in the Resurrection because, dear saints, you will meet him there. You will meet him because you have also been cleansed from the leprosy of your sin, just as he was. One day, you will join him in giving thanks and worshiping at the feet of your God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Maybe that Samaritan will tell us how he went and witnessed to the other nine and will introduce us to them.

From this Samaritan, we should learn that one of the characteristics of faith is thanksgiving and being a person of thankfulness. It’s interesting when Paul listed the fruit of the Spirit in our Epistle reading (Gal. 5:16-24) that he didn’tinclude thankfulness. But based on this account of the thankful Samaritan, we do see that thankfulness is one of the ways that faith is manifest.

As the Samaritan lies with his face on the ground giving thanks at Jesus’ feet, our Lord says to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has (lit.) saved you” (not just ‘made you well’). In other words, the Samaritan’s thankfulness is the visible manifestation of faith because giving thanks is how he recognizes and acknowledges the Source of his cleansing.

Dear saints, be people of thanks, not just people of gratitude. There’s a lot of talk about gratitude today, and gratitude is good, but thankfulness is better. The distinction between the two is this (you’ve heard me say this before): Gratitude recognizes the goodness of the thing that has been given. But thankfulness goes a step further. Thankfulness recognizes the goodness of the giver. If a daughter asks her mom for a snack and is given a bowl of ice cream, the girl can be grateful, but if mom gives her a few sticks of celery, the kid won’t be grateful because celery is gross. But that same child can be thankful with either a bowl of ice cream or disgusting celery because it comes from her mom who loves her and knows what her daughter needs.

This distinction between gratitude and thankfulness helps us understand 1 Th. 5:18 which says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” Not all circumstances are good, so how can you give thanks? Well, because thankfulness is not gratitude. Through faith you can give thanks whether God sends you joy or sorrow, pleasure or pain, goodness or even evil. Remember Job. After all his property and children were taken from him, Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Even after Job’s health was taken from him and his wife told him to curse God and die, Job said, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). In both instances, Scripture says, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 1:22, 2:10).

In moments of loss and pain, you might not be able to be grateful, but you can be thankful. If nothing else, you can give thanks to God for what He has given, even if He takes it away. Through faith, you can give thanks – even when God takes His gifts from you because you know the goodness of the God who gave and removed those gifts. Through faith, you know that His goodness doesn’t fade or change. Only through faith can you give thanks in all circumstances (1 Th. 5:18).

Dear saints, in this world you have lots of trouble (Jn. 16:33), but even in and through that trouble, God unites you into the community of His Church. Christ has delivered you from your sin by the forgiveness He won and purchased with His blood on the cross. Because of that, you aren’t just united with others by trouble. You are united by something much, much stronger. You are united by His Blood, which cleanses you from all your sin.

Live now as God’s forgiven people, united in giving Him thanks. Your gracious, cleansing God and Savior, Jesus Christ, now invites you to His table to receive that cleansing through His Body and Blood. Come. Receive. And leave here with His thanks and praise on your lips. Let that thankfulness be on your tongue as you go about your business this week and every week because that thankfulness will point others to your Savior, who has cleansed you. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

Children of Light – Sermon on Ephesians 5:1-9 for the Third Sunday of Lent

Ephesians 5:1-9

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 

3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

You’ve probably all heard the phrase, “Nothing good happens after ___ o’clock.” If a news anchor said it, the time might have been midnight or 2 AM. If it was one of your parents, it was probably 10:00. Kids, if you ever hear that phrase from your parents or grandparents, they know what they’re talking about. When darkness falls, it is a lot more likely that evil things are going to happen.

Darkness is the favorite blanket of evil, and we know this instinctively. It’s why kids go into their parents’ room in the middle of the night and cry about monsters under the bed or whatever other impossible things kids imagine. Everyone has a keen sense of vulnerability in the dark. Even adults often have their bleakest thoughts when the world is dark. The thoughts that wake me up at 3 AM are never the best, brightest, or most hopeful ones.

In a wonderful way, Scripture repeatedly gives a picture of the Savior as the bright Morning Star (Is. 60:1-3; Mal. 4:2; 2 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 2:28, 22:16). Or, in a similar vein, Scripture says that, when Jesus comes, a new day dawns (Ps. 84:11; Ro. 13:12). In the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, the coming of Jesus is described as the “sunrise from on high” that “give[s] light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,” and His coming, “guide[s] our feet into the way of peace” (Lk. 1:78-79).

Dear saints, the picture Scripture gives us is that all of creation has changed because Christ has come. The darkness has been dispelled, put to flight, and broken up. Jesus hints at this in our Gospel reading (Lk. 11:14-28). Christ says that He casts out demons by the finger of God, and His power to do that is proof that the kingdom of God has come upon us (Lk. 11:20).

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, there is a new day – the day that the Lord has made. Because He has made it, we rejoice and are glad in it (Ps. 118:24). And this new day will never end. Believer, this changes you, and it changes how you think about the world. The fact that today and every other day of your life is the day that the Lord has made, the things in front of you that are ominous, scary, and threatening are all less intimidating. Yes, they are still threats, but you know that they are all defeated threats.

All three of our readings today are about spiritual warfare, about the battle between the kingdom of darkness and Christ’s kingdom of light. It’s obvious in both the Old Testament (Ex. 8:16-24) and Gospel (Lk. 11:14-28). In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells us know how the kingdom of Satan operates, and our Lord comforts us because He tells us how He, our Savior and Champion, has defeated sin, death, and the devil.

And in the Old Testament reading, we heard how Pharaoh’s magicians recognized that the finger of God was at work when they couldn’t replicate the gnats that swarmed throughout Egypt (Ex. 8:18-19). Those evil, demonic sorcerers were able to duplicate the sign God did through Moses of turning his staff into a serpent (Ex. 7:11-12), but they failed to do the smaller thing of reproducing gnats.

The last time these texts came up, I had fully intended to preach about the folly of the kingdom of darkness because that folly is on full display through Pharaoh and his magicians. Their whole country is completely overrun with gnats, but they still try to duplicate the sign done through Moses. That text shows how self-destructive the kingdom of Satan is. “Our whole nation is filled with these gnats.” “I know what we should do; let’s try to make more of them.”

But today, rather than seeing how the kingdom of darkness works or how self-destructive it is, I decided to preach on this Epistle reading because it gives us the strategy of how to fight back against the forces of darkness. Throughout Scripture you are given several ways to fight evil, but this text gives you one simple weapon – thankfulness and thanksgiving.

Notice that v. 3 gives us a list of things we are to not only avoid we aren’t even to name them. That list is sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness. Then in v. 5, that list is repeated when we’re told that the sexually immoral, the impure, and those who are covetous have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

To contrast that twice-repeated list, Paul mentions only one thing here – thanksgiving. The beloved children of God who walk in love as children of light have thanksgiving on their lips, not filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking.

Thanksgiving is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). And thanksgiving is one of your best weapons against the darkness from which you have been rescued. When thanksgiving is on your lips, the temptations and sins you face are much easier to fight because those things become revolting.

Think back to the Garden of Eden and how the devil tempted our first parents to fall into sin. “Can’t you eat from any tree? If you eat from this one that God told you not to eat from, you will be like God. Don’t you want to be like Him?” (Gen. 3:1, 5). Instead of being thankful that God had given all the other trees for food, instead of being thankful that God had already made created them in His image (Gen. 1:27), Adam and Eve coveted (Gen. 3:6). The fruit of the forbidden tree looked good, and it was desirable. Because of that coveting, because of that wrong desire to be more than God had already made them to be, they took of the fruit and ate and plunged all of creation into the darkness of sin and death.

Coveting is a sin, but it is a sin that rarely registers in our conscience. We pass off coveting as nothing because we think it doesn’t hurt anyone else. That is so wrong. Here coveting is equated with idolatry (Eph. 5:5). Coveting is the first step into sin. To put it another way, every time you sin, you first covet and idolize yourself. Coveting is basically saying, “God, you got it wrong. You messed up. That thing over there,” whatever it is, “should be here. It should be mine.”

Whenever you sin, you break at least three commandments. Every time you sin, you first covet which is nothing less than idolizing yourself. Then you commit adultery, steal, lie, take the Lord’s name in vain, etc. The way to fight against this is to give thanks instead of coveting and having those false desires.

Imagine for just a minute if thankfulness had replaced Adam and Eve’s coveting. They would have realized, “We aren’t hungry; the entire world is our pantry! Thank you, God. We are already created in God’s image and are exactly what God wants us to be. Thank you, God, that we are created in Your image and that you have declared that we are ‘very good’” (Gen. 1:31).

Dear saints, Scripture gives you several ways to fight against the devil and the darkness. But today, you children of light, this text gives you one simple, specific weapon to fight back against the forces of evil, and that is thanksgiving.

You husbands, the next time you are tempted with lust, pause. Take a moment to give thanks to God for your wife. Thank God for uniting the two of you in the bond of holy marriage (Mt. 19:6). You wives, the next time you are tempted to complain to someone about your husband, take a moment to give thanks to God for him and all the ways he cares for you and your family. Children, the next time you are tempted to disobey your parents, take a moment to give thanks to God for all that your parents provide to you and how they protect you.

Dear saints, the light of Christ has shined upon you, and because of that you are now children of the light. You used to be darkness, and notice the way Eph. 5:8 says that. It isn’t just that you were in darkness. No. You were darkness itself. But now that you are God’s children, you are light in the Lord, so now you walk as children of the light. And as children of the light, you produce the fruit of light which is found in all that is good and right and true.

You give thanks to God for all the good He has given you. You give thanks to God, and it is right to do so because He has truly blessed you because He has given Himself up for you as a fragrant offering and sacrifice.

God has forgiven you (Eph 4:32). He has made this new day of light and has shined His light into you. So, rejoice, be glad in this day, and give thanks. And as you give thanks, the darkness flees. Amen.

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

The Worship of Turning Back – Sermon on Luke 17:11-19 for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

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.

In my opinion, this is the third weirdest miracle Jesus does. If you want to know which two top it, you’ll have to ask me after the service.[1] This miracle is weird because of how Jesus heals with a hidden promise, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” In saying this, Jesus instructs the lepers to do what the Law required after being cleansed from leprosy (Lev. 14:2-32), but when Christ tells them to do that, they are still leprous.

I don’t know what it is with this text, but I have a lot of questions about it. Maybe I have these questions because Jesus Himself asks a lot of questions in it. One of my questions is when the ten lepers ask Jesus to have mercy on them, what exactly are they asking for? They have the obvious need of being healed from their leprosy, and Jesus had healed lepers before (Lk. 5:12-16). So, maybe they knew Jesus could cure their disease and wanted Him to do that. It could be that the lepers were asking for something different than healing. Maybe they wanted food or some other form of charity.

Another question I have is why does Jesus heal the lepers this way? Back in Luke 5, a leper came to Jesus saying, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” And Jesus says, “I am willing; be clean,” then Jesus says, “Go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” Why wouldn’t Jesus do that again? Why not say, “Sure I’ll give you mercy. Be cleansed and go, show yourselves to the priest”? Why does He skip the first part?

Another question I have is how far did the ten go before they were cleansed? Was it after they walked for a couple hours, or was it ten or fifteen minutes and after they got outside the village? Or, possibly, was it as soon as they pivoted away from Jesus and toward Jerusalem? It’s unclear in English, but the Greek verbs can legitimately be interpreted to suggest that it happened more or less immediately. Jesus’ question, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” could be a direct rebuke of the unthankfulness of the nine that they heard with their own ears. Something along the lines of, “Hey, are you nine going to ignore what I have just done for you?”

Now, we don’t know if the lepers were healed immediately or not. And we don’t know for sure what happened to the nine. Maybe they went to the Temple, were declared clean by the priest, offered the sacrifices, and went back to normal life. I’m sure the nine lepers were grateful for their restored skin and the fact they were able to be regular members of society again. But they were not thankful.

Whatever happened to them, it is a reminder of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, that God “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Mt. 5:45). God is good to all mankind. Anyone can be grateful for a sunny day or a rain shower that provides what we need to eat. Unbelievers can be grateful for all the blessings God gives through creation, but they can’t be thankful because they don’t know whom to thank. Only believers can be thankful to the God who gives good gifts.

There is a difference between being grateful and being thankful, between gratitude and thanksgiving. The two are, certainly, related. But to use a distinction by a pastor friend of mine,[2] gratitude looks at the goodness of the gift while thankfulness looks back behind the gift to the goodness of the giver. Let me give an example:

My first year of Bible College, I was on a choir that went on a tour in Eastern Europe. One church that hosted us was in the Czech Republic, and the church ladies prepared a meal for the entire choir and the chaperones (around 40 people). For them, this was a monumental task and huge cost. We all sat down at the tables as we waited for the ladies to serve us, and out they came with plates loaded with steamed sauerkraut and dumplings. That was the meal. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like sauerkraut, but I like it as a side – not the main dish. But we could tell that those ladies were proud of the meal they had set before us. So, we all did our best to eat as much as possible. Some, of course, ate more than others. I don’t think anyone was grateful for a meal of sauerkraut, but everyone, even those who only choked down a few bites, was thankful to the ladies. After our concert that night, I went to my host family and had a massive spread of food put before me that included several different baked goodies, sliced meat and cheese, fruit, and vegetables. There was more than I could eat. There, I was both grateful and thankful for the food. But, in both instances, those who served the food were good and generous and deserved thanks.

Back to the healed Samaritan leper. I’m sure he was grateful for the healing, but only he was thankful to Jesus, the Giver of the healing. Notice, he “turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks” (Lk. 17:15-16). Now, there is something important here. There are some pagans who say Jesus never claimed to be God. It’s complete nonsense and ignores the totality of Jesus’ sayings and what the Scriptures teach.[3] But look at what Jesus says while this Samaritan is worshipping at His feet, “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Right there, Jesus is identifying Himself as God. Dear saints, God has feet – human feet that were pierced for you.

Yes, this text is about thankfulness, but more broadly, this text is about the worship of thanks. Worship is always about turning back. Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” So, one act of worship is repentance. Repentance is nothing more than turning back, turning back from a life filled with sin and the consequences of sin and turning toward God. Another act of worship is thankfulness. Thankfulness is receiving God’s gifts and not just going on to the next thing but turning back to give thanks to the God who gave the gift.

To be thankful, this healed Samaritan leper has to literally turn back to Jesus. And it is the same for us. To offer God the worship of thanksgiving is to first receive God’s gifts and turn back in thanks. Now, I’m using this sermon to prepare us for what we will hear Jesus say in next week’s Gospel lesson (Mt. 6:24-34) about worry and anxiety. This text puts us in the right orientation to hear what Jesus has to say about the future and worry. We can face the unknown future with confidence when we first look back and give God the worship of thanks. You can’t thank God for things in the future because God hasn’t given them yet. Yes, we can look to the future with hope, but even that hope comes through faith, and faith is another form of worship that requires looking back to the promises God has already given us. With those promises in our pocket, we can face the future without fear. Worry and anxiety come by looking at the unknown, bad things in the future. The worship of thankfulness turns back to God who has been faithful to us in the past and given us good things.

Dear saints, you have a giving God. God’s love language is gift-giving. So, the best way to worship a giving God is to come back and receive more of His gifts like this Samaritan does. He receives healing from Jesus, comes back, and receives salvation. The last words of Jesus in this text are literally, “Your faith has saved you.” God is like a grandma. You know how grandma invites you over for a huge meal and stuffs you full of her excellent cooking. The best way to praise and thank your grandma after such a meal is not to help with the dishes. No, the best way to praise grandma is to take another helping of her special green-bean casserole.

Dear saints, God gives you every good thing. He has given you a new day to live and receive His gifts of parents, children, siblings, friends, food, clothing, house, etc. And here, in God’s house, you have received God’s gifts of forgiveness, absolution, His Word, faith, eternal life, and fellowship with your blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus has won all of this for you through His death and resurrection and freely gives it all to you. And He has more for you.

We will continue to worship. We worship our Savior by receiving all these gifts He has already given and we will turn back to fall at the feet of our crucified and risen Savior. And Jesus raises up from His feet to sit at His table where He continues to give us more gifts. The gift of His life-giving Body and Blood in His Supper. Amen.

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

[1] The two stranger miracles are the healing of the deaf and mute man in Mk. 7:31-37 and the two-part healing of the blind man in Mk. 8:22-26

[2] Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller.

[3] Many of Jesus’ own statements are clear about Him being the Son of God, but those statements can only be understood in light of the Old Testament.

On the Road Again – Sermon on Luke 17:11-19 for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

Listen here.

Luke 17:11-19

11 On the way to Jerusalem he 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 H-68 Trinity 14 (Lu 17.11-19)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.

This text is so full of movement, it’s like a carousel. Jesus is traveling on His way to Jerusalem between Samaria and Galilee. Jesus tells the ten lepers to hit the road and travel to the priests and the Temple. The Samaritan leper turns back interrupting his trip to the priest to make his way back to Jesus. And Jesus tells the thankful Samaritan to go his way in health and salvation (more on that later). This is a moving text in more than one way.

Now, the first verse of our text is what the commentators will call a “travel notice.” We tend to skip over these travel notices when we read because we aren’t that familiar with the geography of Israel in Jesus’ day, but they are important. However, describing where places are on a map doesn’t work well in a sermon. The important thing is this: Back at the end of Luke 9, Jesus foretells His death and resurrection (9:44-45) then Luke gives us an important turning point in his Gospel. Luke says, “When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, [Jesus] set His face to go to Jerusalem” (9:51). In other words, this miracle takes place while Jesus is on His way to the cross.

The interesting thing is that Jesus isn’t taking the direct route. Instead, Luke mentions is that Jesus is traveling between the regions of Samaria and Galilee which mainly east-west instead of from Galilee in the north directly south toward Jerusalem. Instead, He is taking His time to preach, heal, and minister to the needs of as many people as possible with His mercy and grace.

As Jesus enters a village, He is met by ten lepers. Now, leprosy still exists today, though it is commonly called ‘Hansen’s disease.’ There are actually cases of it in the US today, but it is treatable by modern medicine and not easily transferred anymore. But in Jesus day, leprosy was a terrible problem. The disease makes your skin rot away while you are still alive. Leprosy would make the nerve endings of the effected areas grow numb. A leper could have oozing blisters all over their feet, cut their arm, or burn their hand and they wouldn’t even now it. This is why, so often throughout the history of the church, sin is described as leprosy. Our sin makes us so sick, we don’t even realize how wounded we are.

Now, in Jesus’ day, leprosy was highly contagious. So, lepers had to live apart from everyone else. If you had leprosy and somebody got near you, you would have to yell out, “Unclean! Unclean!” so they wouldn’t get near you. Because of this, lepers would form their own communities to help take care of each other, and that is what we see in this text. These ten lepers have formed a little community and, because of their common disease, it was a very inclusive community. Most of these lepers are Jews, but at least one of them is a Samaritan. Normally, the Jews and Samaritans didn’t deal with each other at all (Jn. 4:9). For a Jew to eat with a Samaritan made the Jew unclean. But these ten lepers formed a little community of the desperate.

They cry out to Jesus, but instead of yelling, “Unclean! Unclean!” they cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They pray the Kyrie just like do each week. But Jesus’ response to their cry for mercy isn’t to wave His hand over their bodies and speak them clean. He doesn’t make mud with His spit and put it on their diseased skin to heal them. Jesus simply tells them to go show themselves to the priest.

Now, as lepers, this is something they would have done when they first contracted their leprosy. Through Moses (Lev. 13:2ff), God commanded that people who had a problem with their skin to go to the priest. The priest would examine the effected area, and, if it was indeed leprosy, the priest would declare them to be unclean. Then, if the area would clear up, the person was to go back for a second appointment with the priest and be declared clean (Lev. 14:1-32) so they could go back and live with their family and return to work. But here, Jesus simply tells them to go show themselves to the priest.

Think of that for a minute. Before anything has changed, while their skin is still rotting, Jesus tells them to go to the priest. Now, they wouldn’t be let into the streets of Jerusalem let alone be allowed into the Temple. But in this command of Jesus, there is an implicit promise. And by leaving Jesus, they act in faith.

There is a little lesson here for us about prayer. Probably most of our lives as Christians, we are waiting for an answer to a prayer. How often do we pray for something and are left to wait? But, Christian, take heart, God will answer. As these lepers journey to the Temple, they are cleansed.

Now, presumably, the nine lepers do continue to Jerusalem. They make their way through the streets to the Temple. They find the priest and are declared to be cleansed of their disease and allowed back into their families and community once gain. But only one of them actually obeys Jesus.

ten-lepersThis Samaritan who returns to the true Temple and true High Priest. He returns to Jesus to give thanks. Did you catch what Jesus said there, “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” In other words, the nine went onto the Temple and God’s house, but God wasn’t there. He was walking in the flesh between Samaria and Galilee where the Samaritan falls at His human feet giving Him thanks. Some people will read the Gospels and say that Jesus never claimed to be God. Well, sorry, they are wrong. He does right here.

And this Samaritan receives from God, from Jesus, not just a declaration of cleanliness from his flesh-eating disease, but from his leprosy of sin. Jesus’ final recorded words to this man are, “Rise and go your way, your faith has saved (σῴζω) you,” (not just ‘made you well’), “your faith has saved you.”

The Samaritan is more than just a cleansed man, he is now our Christian brother. In fact, he shows the fruits of the Spirit that we heard about in our Epistle lesson (Gal. 5:16-24). He has love for God, joy in his healing, and peace that only comes through faith in Christ. He exhibited patience as he walked away from Jesus with the promise of healing. We can imagine his kindness toward the other nine who might have thought he was silly to go back to Jesus instead of going to the Temple in Jerusalem. His goodness is visible. Jesus encourages his faith. His has gentleness and self-control can be seen in his thankfulness to God; let me quickly explain that.

The word that gets translated ‘gentleness’ is a noun and has the idea of being humble or meek. Jesus uses the same word as an adjective in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Mt. 5:5). The Samaritan humbles himself in meekness before Jesus falling at His feet. And instead of running off to his restored life, the man exercises self-control to turn back and first give thanks to God, to Jesus.

As we, like this Samaritan, rise from here and go on our way, let us turn back to give thanks to Jesus. Thankfulness requires a turning back. If we are thinking of what is going to happen next, we can’t give thanks. If we are always thinking about the future, we cannot give thanks because there is nothing there to give thanks for – at least not yet. We don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Jesus could return before we get to our cars to leave. As long as we’re thinking about tomorrow, we can’t give thanks.Blessings from the Cross

Instead, turn back. Turn back to what Jesus has done for you. Most importantly, He has died and risen for you. Because of His blood shed for you, He has declared you free and forgiven of all your sins here and now. Dear saints, rise and go your way. Get on the road again in thankfulness for what Christ has done, your faith has saved you. Amen.

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