Our Old Testament reading for today is the beginning of the story of the life of Ruth, the Moabite. In this reading we are encouraged to cling to our Lord as Ruth clung to Naomi and her God. In the Epistle reading for today, Paul encourages us as he encourages young pastor Timothy to endure with Christ. Last week we were reminded that we live in a world of temptation and sin and now we are encouraged even more to cling to our Lord who will help us endure through temptation. Our text for this morning is the Gospel reading and actually it is the usual text for Thanksgiving Day. This text is also a word of encouragement to us. Yes, we are very much like the lepers in that we are in need of healing, each one of us. Sometimes we are in need of physical healing, but always we are in need of spiritual healing. We need healing from sin. We come here every Sunday and cry out to our merciful Lord that He would have mercy on us and heal us, that is forgive us. And every Sunday we hear those most beautiful words of absolution, that our sins are forgiven. And we know that as we hear those words of absolution, that is exactly what we are given, forgiveness, and along with forgiveness, life and salvation, for where there is forgiveness, there is life and salvation.
Our text begins at verse eleven, “11On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us’” (v. 11-13). One day Jesus was on His way from Samaria to Galilee. He did not go around the city which is what He was supposed to do, remember, Jews were not allowed to associate with the inferior Samaritans, even though they were their half brothers and cousins. On His way ten men who had leprosy met Him. A leper was a person who had a skin disease that was so bad and so infectious that they had to live outside of town. The person with leprosy was literally rotting to death and for the safety of others they must yell “unclean, unclean,” when anyone came near, in order to warn them to stay away lest they might get this dreaded disease. Certainly these lepers lead very lonely, deary lives.
Interestingly enough, we do not know if these lepers were all Samaritans or not. It is implied by Jesus words concerning the one who returned that perhaps some were Jews and some were Samaritans. I guess sometimes our common ailment trumps our cultural diversity. People come together for many and various reasons and in this case, the common ailment and legal separation from the rest of society brought these people together, Jew and Samaritan. Something else that is interesting is the fact that these people too, knew who Jesus was, that is at least they had heard of Him or heard about Him, perhaps hearing of His ability to cure and bring them healing. Perhaps they had stood at a distance and heard Him preach or seen Him do a miracle. The fact of the matter is that they did believe that, at least, He could give them physical healing. Yet, this does not mean that they believed He was the Messiah or that He could grant them eternal healing and salvation.
Our text continues, “14When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed” (v. 14). Their cry was a cry for mercy, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus’ response was to have mercy, but His response was in no way an overt response. Notice that Jesus does not wave His hands. He does not put His hand on their head and push them over. He does not say, “Be healed (said in a deep “faith healing voice). Instead, He simply instructs them to have their healing verified. He says, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” According to Levitical Law, the priest was the one who could announce that they were clean and no longer infected with leprosy. In the hearts and minds of the lepers was perhaps the question of should they go? Did they believe that Jesus healed them? Please do not misunderstand or try to put conditions on Jesus healing power. It was not their going which healed them as if they had to demonstrate their faith through such obedience. It was Jesus who healed them. His words of instruction were not meant as proof of faith, but rather as proof of healing. Let me say that again so we do not misunderstand. Jesus words of instruction were not meant as a proof of faith which brought healing, but were words of instruction to show themselves so they might hear words from the appointed priest of proof of their healing.
We pick up at verse fifteen, “15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well’” (v. 15-19). On their way they are healed, all ten of them, but only one man notices. He notices and returns to Jesus to give Him thanks. When he gets to Jesus, he throws himself at Jesus’ feet, a sign of unworthiness and our text adds that “he was a Samaritan,” that is, he was a foreigner. Jesus asks (rhetorically) “where are the other nine?” And He tells the man that his faith has saved him, saved him as in healing him and saved him for eternal life. This man had faith, saving faith. It appears that the other nine believed more in the healing than in the healer. Certainly what was intended by Jesus to give and strengthen faith, that is that Jesus did miracles to show Himself to be the Messiah, but here in this instance it appears that His miracle was only understood by nine to mean that He could do earthly miracles and healing, not necessarily heavenly miracles and eternal healing.
Now, that is a nice story and a nice story to remind us to be thankful, but how do we relate to this story? In a very real way we are like the ten lepers. We are full of sin, enemies of God, leading lonely, dreary lives. We are spiritually dead, spiritually blind and enemies of God. We are rotting in our sins. We know we are in need of healing, sometimes physical healing, but always spiritual healing.
We know Jesus. We know even more than the lepers knew about Jesus. We have hind sight. We can look back and know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior. We know that He did live perfectly, that He did take all our sins upon Himself, that He did suffer and die the eternal death penalty of hell for us in our place, that He did rise and ascend into heaven, that He does send His Holy Spirit to be with us to give us faith, to strengthen us in the faith He gives, to guide and lead us in life. We are continually reminded of all that Jesus did for us and still does for us as He comes to us through the means of grace. As we read His Word we meet Him. As we make regular and diligent use of His means of grace, the Word, reading our Bibles, coming to make confession of our sins and hearing those most beautiful words of Absolution, that our sins are forgiven; and as we make regular and diligent use of the sacraments, remembering our Baptism, and partaking of the Lord’s body and blood in His holy supper, He does what He says He does through these means that is He gives us faith and forgiveness, He strengthens faith and gives life and salvation.
Jesus comes to us daily and weekly through His means of grace. Daily we are confronted with the question, do we believe? The temptations of the world are to put our trust in the creation rather than the Creator. Do we put more faith in the medicines the Lord provides or in the Lord? Do we put more faith in our own possessions and property or in what the Lord provides? Do we see Jesus’ hand in all things in life? Do we notice His good gifts and blessings? Each new day, the rain, the ability to work, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the roof over our heads and so on all these are indeed gifts from our gracious loving, generous Lord.
Are we the one about whom Jesus asks “where are the others to whom I have given life?” Or are we the one who came, throwing ourselves at Jesus’ feet in unworthiness and thanking Him for all His good gifts and blessings? Do we live for the creation or for the Creator? My prayer is that we are all like the foreigner.
Our text for today reminds us to be like the leper who returned to give thanks, but not just at Thanksgiving, which is when I said this text is usually preached, but all year long. As God has given to us, we respond, with His help in giving thanks to Him. We respond by speaking and singing words of thanks and praise. We respond by giving of our time, talents and treasure, as we are moved by the Lord to do so. We respond by simply offering ourselves and our lives to the Lord and living our lives to His glory.
We must admit, especially according to our sinful nature, the words “Thank you,” are not naturally in our vocabulary. I remember as a child, and now that I have I children I am again reminded of that constant reminder, “what do you say?” “Thank you.” Our text for this morning serves again to remind us that it is God who provides and we who are provided for. Our text reminds us that our Lord provides for the righteous and the unrighteous, for the just and the unjust, for the believer and the unbeliever. Our Lord graciously provides for all the needs of all people, both physical and spiritual needs. And He continues to provide whether we recognize and acknowledge this by giving thanks or not. Our God gives and we are given to.
Most importantly, our Lord gives us healing, spiritual healing. Yes, we are conceived and born in sin (as King David reminds us in the Psalm, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me). Yes, we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. Without our Lord, without Jesus paying the price for our sins we would be eternally lost. Everything that is expected of us, perfection, we cannot do, that is why our Lord really does not expect anything from us and has already done everything for us.
This morning we are reminded once again that Jesus is the Christ, that is He is the Messiah. He shows Himself, continually to be the Messiah and we are so thankful that He has and continues to send His Holy Spirit to work in us so that we might respond to all His good gifts and blessings and say, “Thank you Lord.” Our Lord wants us to pray to Him. He wants us to pray to Him in the day of trouble, and He promises that He will hear and deliver us. He also wants us to call on Him in every situation, praying, praising Him and giving Him thanks. And He helps us to do just that. Thanks be to God. Thank You Lord and to You be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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