Pastor Mark Loest

Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost
Saginaw, Michigan
Trinity 14 (August 24, 2008)
Text: Trinity Luke 17:11-19
MP3 Audio

 

Luke 17:11-19 (ESV) On the way to Jerusalem He was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, 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 cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

 

 

Think of all the great advances modern medicine has seen.

 

I remember forty years ago my Dad had his gall bladder removed. Back then they cut you from top to bottom. He had a scar that ran across his chest and a very long recovery. But today gall bladder surgery usually requires some small incisions and they are able to get it out. Amazing.

 

Heart surgery, cancer treatment, hip and knee replacements, and all sorts of other help is available to help people with their sicknesses. And vaccinations have nearly wiped out diseases like polio, which sixty years ago was still a reality. But none of our modern medical marvels compare with Jesus healing ten lepers by simply telling them to go—to go and show themselves to the priests and, on their way, be cleansed.

 

Even in today’s science fiction and fantasy movies, in which people are healed by passing a device over them like in Star Trek—or by powerful medicines like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe—no one is simply healed by command.

 

What Jesus does for the ten lepers just by His Word in our Gospel Lesson this morning is a great miracle. But even greater is faith that Jesus creates in each of us by His Word. And He continually strengthens our faith by His Word, such that we thank and praise and respond to him with glad hearts.

 

This healing of the Word is the true healing of faith. 

 

Luke tells us that as Jesus was heading along the border region between Samaria and Galilee, on his way to Jerusalem. And outside an unnamed village ten men stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

 

They were lepers, who had the dreaded, incurable disease that slowly destroyed the skin, the limbs and the body. Jesus had healed other lepers before, and perhaps they had heard about His other miracles. Regardless, they no doubt had heard great things about Jesus from the crowd going with Him, and they came to believe that Jesus could help them.

 

And Jesus’ response? He sees them, and says to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

 

How easy was that? They had lived their daily lives with this dreadful disease, cut off from their family and friends, shunned by society and forced to fend for themselves—with no known hope for a cure—and Jesus appears with great news accompanying Him that He could heal them, and responding with what little hope they have, they beg for mercy, and he tells them to go to the priests: to act as if they were already healed!

 

Who knows what they thought? Did they question this command? Did they argue about whether to go or not? What options did they really have?

 

Whatever thoughts they had, they obviously came to the conclusion that they should go, and they did. And Luke tells us, “and as they went they were cleansed.”

 

Each of us has experienced in our lives a kind of miracle of healing or protection by God. When I was a small boy I had a dreadful blood disease. I was taken to doctors from Mayo Clinic, in our home state of Minnesota to New York, where my mom’s parents lived. There was no cure at that time, except to remove the spleen. My parents refused to accept that and continued to search until through one doctor I was miraculously cured. He prescribed potatoes, grape juice and bananas. Although that was a strange prescription they took his word and it worked.

 

And when I say each of us has been cured or protected physically by God somehow, I know that it is true. Whether through surgery, therapy, treatments, or protected in or from an accident: God heals our diseases.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul,” says the Psalmist in Psalm 103, “and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,” Psalm 103 (ESV)

 

Notice that the Psalmist recognizes that God cures of our sickness, but most importantly: He forgives all our iniquities.

 

When Jesus was on earth He carried a great burden.

The prophet Isaiah says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Isaiah 53:4 (ESV)

 

Jesus relieved the people of all manner of sickness and suffering and shame by taking them upon himself. At times the burden was such that He was made wearied by it. He had to rest—and this was the Son of God!

 

Their ailments—as ours were made even greater because of sin added to them. It is because of sin that we suffer so much and become sick and must die. And Jesus carried this all, including ours to the cross. There he suffered even greater, more horrific things when he was cursed by God—though he had done no wrong and never had sinned—and took on all the suffering of hell itself. He bled and died so that we are forgiven. The lepersy of our sin has been forgiven.

 

In the waters of Baptism we are washed clean of sin. Every day we are found cleansed in the powerful forgiveness of Jesus’ Word.

 

Why heal in this manner? Why heal ten lepers by a simple command? Because Jesus desires to strengthen faith. The men believed Jesus could help them. Now, acting on the Word, the faith they had/ would grow stronger. What their faith needed was more of the Word.

 

The Word of God is like food. Only by eating food will you gain strength; when we trust Jesus’ Word and respond to it trustingly, our faith grows and gets stronger.

 

That was what the one leper did. He heard the Word and responded to it—not that he headed to the priests right away—rather, he received what God had done for him with a thankful heart and praised God for it. The work of faith was complete in him when he was brought to praise God—and that is why Jesus said, “your faith has made you well.”

 

Yet, how many respond to Jesus like the majority of these lepers! They hear a promise of God and are glad for it. They may even recognize God’s goodness to them. Here at Immanuel we have many members with names still on the books but who have not been to the Lord’s house in a very long time. In addressing these spiritual concerns the elders and I have found similar responses, whether from the individuals themselves or from family, or even friends.

 

We are told that Jesus doesn’t judge, so we shouldn’t either. But here in the Gospel Lesson it is quite obvious that Jesus distinguishes between the one thankful leper and the nine that left thankless.

 

We are told that a person may someday come back. However, Jesus also indicates that He expects nothing more from the other nine.

 

It is also pointed out that faith doesn’t depend on church, or a particular pastor. Yet, Jesus sends them to the priests and heals through the Word in connection with the Temple.

 

It does matter to Jesus that we receive His blessings with thanks! Our praise matters to Him. He expects our response. He awaits our weekly return.

 

The lepers were healed to go back to the life they had been cut of, including family, work and church. And the one who returned to Jesus, received another Word of God: that his faith had made him well. This assurance was above all other words, for it promised not only temporal healing—eventually the lepers would die of something—but it also promised forgiveness and life and salvation.

 

We too, know the mercies of God which are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness!

 

And we have the Word and promises of Christ that the faith He gives to us heals. It comforts us in all our troubles in this life—and will at the last bring us to heaven. Amen.