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21st Sunday after Pentecost, 10/09/2016
Sermon on Luke 17:11-19, by Ryan Mills
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well someone once said that there are really only two prayers in the Christian life, just two prayers: the first prayer is “Please,” and the second prayer is “Thank you.” “Please” and “Thank you”; and today in our gospel lesson we are told the story of the 10 lepers who came to Jesus saying “please,” and the 1 who returned to say “thank you”.
We’re told this morning that as Jesus was entering a village ten lepers approached him, keeping their distance, calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Leprosy, or as it’s called today Hanson’s Disease, sounds kind of comical to us, but millions of people around the world still suffer from it, including a few hundred every year in the U.S. Without treatment leprosy causes large bumps that disfigure the skin, destroys the extremities of noses, fingers and toes, and any sense of feeling in the skin. It results in terrible weakness of the feet and hands, so they become like claws or clubs, and there’s pictures up at Yale Divinity School of lepers being treated by medical missionaries, and the scariest part is not the limbs or the skin, but is the faces, is the look of absolute hopelessness and loneliness in their eyes. The Bible itself in Leviticus lists severe public health regulations for people who come down with leprosy. They must leave their spouses, their families, their homes, their town, and live totally alone far away from everyone. They may not come to the temple, or join others in worshipping God. They could not come within 50 feet of any person, they could not even duck their head into a building or a home, and so it’s not a surprise that many families would hold funeral services for a loved one with leprosy--they were as good as dead.
Now I don’t know if those words the lepers say this morning ring any bells for you, but for a couple thousand years Christians have begun worship by calling out the same words that the lepers say this morning, “Lord, have mercy,” “Jesus, have mercy,” “Lord, PLEASE, have mercy” we sing. We may not have skin issues, but the loneliness, the hopelessness, the desperateness of the lepers we can relate to. If the illness of leprosy affects only some, well the illness of sin affects us all, and we know what it is to feel rejected by those we love, to feel unworthy in the presence of God, to be isolated from others, to watch our own lives decay away and to helplessly contribute to it. We sometimes have the leper’s heart, in that we have no hope for ourselves, and even wish we were dead. Yes, the leprosy of sin is alive and well in each of us, and so there’s nothing for any of us to do but to cry out this morning, “Lord, have mercy, “ please God, please.
See, these lepers cry out today because they’ve somehow heard about Jesus. Maybe like us they’re at their wit’s end, they don’t know what else to do, but they’ve heard of the Lord’s power and of his mercy, and so they call out in faith this morning. They’re not too proud because they have no other options, for we really learn how to pray when that’s the only thing we have left, and in trust this morning, with their faith perhaps as little as a mustardseed, maybe in spite of themselves, maybe in the quietest voice, maybe in the weariest groan, they cry out in faith to Jesus today, trusting that he can work it out, that he is able, that it’s in his hands, that he can bring them the healing they’re desperate for.
So Jesus tells them this morning, “Go and show yourselves to the priests,” that is, go show your skin to the official who will certify that you’re clean, that you’re cured, that you can be admitted back to society, back to church, out of the walking dead, and back into the land of the living. A simple thing, an easy thing to do, that just depends on trust, on the mustardseed of faith, on trust in the Word and in the promise of the Him who sent them. And as the lepers obediently went on their way, as they went off in faith, they were made clean. Made right. Made whole. Made pure. Made guiltless. Their skin soft and smooth like a newborn’s. We may object, “how many times have we prayed for cures and not seen them happen!” But how many other times have we prayed for someone, or have others prayed for us, and even if a technical cure does not take place, a healing does. For Christ offers healing, and wherever he is he heals, and this morning he makes whole in your life what is broken, he makes clean what is dirty, he makes right in your life what you have done wrong. And if in this life we don’t always get a cure, we trust that no matter what Christ is present and powerful to offer us healing, until the day when he finally restores these mortal bodies in glory and makes all things new.
All 10 lepers go on their way this morning, all 10 ex-lepers who were healed this morning. And 9 go on to do whatever they had dreamed about during those long nights alone, 9 have the attitude of “what have you done for me lately?!” They’re busy making plans already, maybe the 9 think they were entitled to what had happened, or thought they somehow deserved it. The 9 were healed, their skin smooth and beautiful, but deep-down they still kind of remained lepers, stuck in themselves, trapped alone and isolated again.
But one leper, when he saw he was healed turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he knelt down right at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
That’s what a Christian is. That’s what the Church ought to be, that’s what we can be! That one leper, that one leper who turned back. God is good to so many, he makes rain fall on the just and the unjust, everybody out there today walking by our church is given blessings from God whether they want to admit it or not, but right here this morning, we’re the one leper. For when we could go on our merry way, thinking we’re entitled to it all, we’ve turned back. When we could be smugly silent thinking we’re earned it, we cry out with a loud voice, “Lord, have mercy.” When we could be far off we’re kneeling right here down at his feet. When we could say, “thanks for nothing, I earned it myself,” instead we say that second prayer of Christians, “thank you, Lord, thank you, thank you.”
See, the “thank-you” recognizes the relationship, the thank you brings a kind of healing that’s more than skin-deep. The other 9 are still stuck in themselves, still lepers deep down; but this leper who turned back, he’s no longer a leper in any way, his whole being is freed, he’s brought out of himself, he’s connected to Jesus in faith, he’s reborn, totally alive, he is totally free this morning, and by our offering thanks to God, recognizing his blessings, naming them, crying out, saying “thank you” makes us who we’re supposed to be: reborn children of God who can only say thank you to our Heavenly Father.
Jesus seems to be surprised this morning, “10 were healed and just 1 turned back, and he’s a Samaritan?” A Samaritan, the most ungodly of people, God doesn’t care what we’ve done or where we’ve been or how we’ve become unclean; he’s at work to bring healing, he’s busy making us whole, and our responding in faith and in thanks is how we receive!
Somebody once did a huge favor for me, for which I’m still grateful. I asked how I could thank them, or pay them back, and they said, “You can just pay it forward.” We can’t give God anything except our thanks for all he’s done, but we can pay what he’s done forward. We can go on our way in faith, showing our thanks, living it, putting it into action, living for our neighbor, sharing our gifts with others. When we’ve been healed, and made right, there’s nothing we want to do more than pay it forward in any way we can.
For “please” and “thank you” are the only prayers we really need. As we began our worship saying, “Please, Lord, have mercy,” so now in a moment we’ll gather around this altar in the Great Thanksgiving, the Great Thank You, around Him who on the night in which he surrendered to betrayal and death, took bread, and gave thanks. We’ll sing, “that it is right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places offer him thanks and praise.” And kneeling down at his feet, we’ll receive his broken body for the healing of our broken bodies, and we’ll share here in his terrible death for us on the Cross, knowing that he shares with us the healing power of his gift of life.
And then we’ll hear his words to all who turn back to give him thanks, to all who leave this place to go and pay it forward, “Get up, go in peace, your faith has made you well.” Please, Lord. And thank you.
And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.