Eighteenth
Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23C)
October
13, 2019
Text: Luke 17:11-19
Lepers
were to stand apart from the crowds and cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!
Do not approach!” In their
uncleanness, the lepers were separated from their community, separated from
their families, separated from their synagogues, and, as was supposed, assumed,
quite logically we might add, separated from God. After all, leprosy made one ceremonially
unclean according to Mosaic Law. Leprosy
symbolized the uncleanness of sin. The
priest diagnosed it. The priest declared
the leper unclean and put him in quarantine.
And if, by some miracle, the leper was healed, which was about as likely
as someone rising from the dead, then there were blood sacrifices to be made,
to atone for the leper.
Starving
for human interaction, human touch, the lepers only had each other. This explains why these Jewish lepers were
hanging out with at least one Samaritan (Jews and Samaritans, as you’ll recall,
hated one another and refused to associate otherwise). And there was another hunger, a ravenous
yearning for divine mercy. Now, we’re
not quite sure which disease or diseases the Scriptures are indicating by the
word “leprosy”. It could be any one of a
number of infectious skin disorders.
Hansen’s Disease is the modern name for the leprosy we most often think
of in relation to the Bible, a skin-eating bacterial infection that also
affects the nerves, the eyes, and the lining of the nose. It’s a pretty miserable affliction, thank God
now treatable and even curable with early detection. It is not the fearsome scourge it once was,
at least here in the Western world. But
you can imagine the suffering, the loneliness, the helplessness, the
hopelessness of these ten men as they stood apart, bewailing their uncleanness.
But
now the ten are lifting up their voices to cry something else. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”
(Luke 17:13; ESV). They had heard about
this Man, that He is able to cure diseases.
Word is, He has even cured lepers and raised the dead. Who knows?
Could it be true? Grasping at
straws, clinging to any shred of hope, the lepers cry, not “Unclean! Unclean!” but “Jesus, Jesus, Lord, have
mercy!” And Jesus tells them to go and
show themselves to the priests, and as they go, it’s a miracle! They are cleansed! The lepers cry out to Jesus for mercy, and He
hears, and He delivers. That’s how it
works with Jesus. Okay, not always a
miraculous healing (pre-resurrection of the dead, anyway), but always, always
mercy. Cry to Jesus for mercy and you
always have His mercy.
Now
this is the Holy Gospel appointed for Thanksgiving, so we’ll hear it again in
just a few weeks. And you know that as a
result, this text is often used to guilt everybody for not remembering to say
thank you to Jesus, like those wretched, ungrateful nine lepers who didn’t have
the common courtesy to turn around and acknowledge the good Jesus had done for
them. The great surprise, according to
this way of preaching the text, is that of all people, the foreigner, the
Samaritan, remembered what his mom taught him and came back to thank
Jesus. Alright. We could all use a lesson in being more
thankful. But I’m not so sure that’s the
main message here. I bet all ten lepers
were exceedingly thankful. I bet they
were leaping for joy and praising God, maybe even singing Psalms and hymns as
they went their merry way. And the nine
who didn’t return were simply doing what Jesus said to do. They were going to the priest. Which is what Moses commanded. They were keeping the Law. Isn’t that a great way to give thanks to God,
by doing what He says? No, no. Here’s the point. What the Samaritan gets that the other nine
don’t is that Jesus is the Priest!
And he’s right. Jesus is the One
who makes the blood sacrifice of atonement, not just for leprosy, but for
sin! And He doesn’t sacrifice a lamb and
some grain, as prescribed in Leviticus (Chapter 14), but Himself as the Lamb of
God who takes away all uncleanness, and will give Himself in the grain, the
bread, to the unclean sinners, to cleanse them, in His Supper. The old sacrifices all point to Him! He is the Priest. He is the Sacrifice. He is the cleansing. He is the mercy. He is the resurrection and the life.
And
there is something else the Samaritan gets that no one else does. He turns back, praising God, and falls at the
feet of Jesus, giving Him thanks (v. 16). For you see, Jesus is not just the
Priest. Jesus is God. Giving thanks to God means giving thanks to
Jesus.
Thanksgiving
is an expression of faith. The Samaritan
has faith in God, which is to say, He has faith in Jesus. And here is what faith receives. Jesus says to the Samaritan, “Rise”… Resurrection!... “and go your way”… Live in this new reality, this life I have
given you… “your faith has”…. Not just “made you well,” as your English
Bible has it, although that is certainly a possible translation. But more to the point, the Greek word is
“saved!” Your faith has saved you
(v. 19)! The cleansing that has taken
place is not just an outward cleansing of physical symptoms, as great as that
is. The other nine received that, and
the priests are able to confirm it and make the appropriate sacrifices. But faith in Christ receives a cleansing that
is much more profound. The Samaritan,
who believes in Jesus, is cleansed not only of leprosy, but of his sins! He is saved.
He has eternal life. Jesus, God
in the flesh, has broken into creation to heal of its brokenness and cleanse
sinners of sin!
As
a general rule, you probably don’t sit around worrying about leprosy on a daily
basis. Thank God for modern medicine. But you were born with the greater disease,
sin. And as a result, you suffer the
symptoms. Actual sins. Sins of omission and commission. Sins that separate you from your community,
from your family, from your fellow Church members, and not just supposedly, but
really, factually, from God. Your
disease isolates you. It makes you
unclean, untouchable, unholy. It eats
away at you. In the end, it will kill
you. In fact, it will damn you. In the meantime, it will wreak havoc on your
body and on your soul. And the cure for
it is as unlikely as a resurrection from the dead.
There
is nothing you can do about this disease.
But here comes Jesus. God in the
flesh is breaking into His creation. He
comes to heal and restore. He comes to
forgive and save. And here you learn
from the lepers. There is nothing to do
but lift up your voice and cry: “Kyrie eleison!
Lord, have mercy!” “Jesus, Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us.” And you know
He will. And He does. He declares you clean. He forgives your sins. He washes you, and you are restored. He places you in a community, the Church, a
family made up only of other healed lepers, and you are no longer
isolated. You are not alone. He touches you… Yes, you, the untouchable. He touches you, His body, the burnt offering,
the grain offering, His blood, the sacrifice of atonement. He is the Priest. He is the cleansing. He is God’s mercy. He is God.
And
you, you turn, praising God, and come right up here to the altar, to fall
before Jesus, eucharisting, giving Him thanks by receiving His Eucharist, His
Supper, His body and blood for your forgiveness, life, and salvation. Jesus did not heal the ten lepers by
accident. His healing was mercy for
them, and it was mercy for you. For
these things are written for your learning.
This is what Jesus does for you.
And
now, having healed you, Jesus says to you, “Rise!” Resurrection.
“Here, have new life. My
life. Real life. Eternal life.
And go your way. Live! Go out, forgiven, cleansed, restored, with Me
in you, and do your life in the world.
Do it joyfully, confidently, with thanksgiving. Love God.
Love your neighbor. Fulfill your
calling. For your faith, your Jesus, has
saved you.”
And
so it is. In the Name of the Father, and
of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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