Sermon – Pentecost 20 – "What Shall I Render To The Lord?" – Luke 17:11-19 – 10/14/07
October 15th, 2007Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
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How are we to respond to Jesus? How are we to respond to His mercy and the new life that He gives us?
I. Jesus Traveled Along The Border of Samaria and Galilee St. Luke writes, "On the way to Jerusalem he was passing between Samaria and Galilee.” It was a travel day for Jesus. For you and me, that seems almost too ordinary to be worth even mentioning. We’re always traveling, going here and there, getting to a meeting, attending a conference, keeping an appointment, classes, music lessons, soccer practice. So, what’s the big deal that Jesus is on His way somewhere too?
Truth is, it’s a very big deal. Back in chapter 9, Luke told us that, “when the days drew near for Him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51). Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem to a meeting with Judas and a band of temple guards in a garden, with the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law at Caiaphas’ house, with Pontius Pilate at his chambers, with the people of Israel at the courtyard. He has an appointment to keep with the executioner. Jesus is traveling to appointments set for Him before the world was made. And all of human history moved in a steady, unstoppable march towards its meeting with Christ and Him crucified.
Jesus was traveling from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south. Now the normal route from Galilee to Jerusalem involved taking a bypass that went around Samaria, like I-495 goes around Boston. This was the way to go, not because the traffic in Samaria was all that bad, but because Samaritans lived in Samaria and they were “sinners.” Samaria was a bad neighborhood.
But Jesus “was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.” We might as well say he was traveling along the border between Iraq and Syria, between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, or between Southern California and Mexico.
Jesus is not about to bypass danger and unpleasantness. He will not move from one peaceful village to another. He crossed the line between the holy and the unholy, the righteous and the unrighteous, heaven and earth. For He comes not for the healthy but for those are sick and who need a physician. He comes to those “living in darkness and the shadow of death.” (Luke 1:79).
“He was passing along between Samaria and Galilee” because He had an appointment to keep with 10 leprous men.
II. The Encounter With The Lepers Luke writes, “As He was going into a village, He was met by 10 lepers…” (Luke 19:12). They see Jesus coming and they cry out to Him. “Jesus, master, have mercy on us.” It’s very important to understand that these men do not understand who Jesus really is. They cry out, “Jesus, master…” Which is not at all the same as saying, “Jesus, Lord…” They’re simply being respectful to a man of some authority. They haven’t a clue what authority He really has. And this really is the point of this entire episode.
I wonder what it was that they expected from Jesus. They must have been accustomed to seeing people turn their heads away from them as they did their roadside begging. Kind of like we do with those folks who sit outside of the Wal-Mart parking lot with their sign that says, “Will work for food.” They pretty well knew what to expect from the ordinary Joe. But you never knew what to expect from the clergy. If you begged a Rabbi you could end up with a coin if you were lucky. But mostly it would just some pious blessing to “be well” or “keep healthy.”
But now there comes this man who doesn’t turn His face or make judgments about how they should never have let themselves get into this situation in the first place. “You got yourself into it, now you get yourself out of it.” No, He hears their cry for mercy and He answers them, and in the most amazing way.
“Go and show yourselves to the priests.” It was a travel day for Jesus and now Jesus had made it a travel day for these 10 men too.
But, His command was very strange. “Show yourselves to the priests.” There was only one reason a leper would ever show himself to a priest.
Lepers were outcasts. That’s why Luke says that they “stood at a distance and lifted up their voices.” They were quarantined off from society, from their families and their children. Maybe worse of all, lepers were cut off from God because leprosy made one ‘unclean’ not just in skin and flesh but in soul and spirit. It was interpreted as being an outward sign of inner sinfulness. Lepers were not permitted anywhere near the Temple to make their sacrifices to atone for their sins.
Before a leper could reenter society, return to his home, his family – and most importantly, the temple, he had to have a priest certify that he was indeed disease free. Since there was no known cure for leprosy, to be cured of this disease was interpreted as being an act of God.
So when Jesus sent these men to see the Priests, He was sending them for a thorough physical that they may be certifiably clean and return to their regular life.
Now, the important thing to notice carefully here is that all 10 men went. For all 10 men, this was suddenly a travel day as they go to find a priest. All 10 men believed the Word and obey Jesus and actually go.
I often wonder if these men hadn’t known the story of Naaman the Syrian who had leprosy. A servant girl told him of a prophet in Israel who could cleanse him. He should travel to Israel to see this prophet. At first, Naaman had resisted his servant’s advice. It seemed to Namaan to be too far fetched and impossible. But others convinced him that he had nothing to loose, why not give it a try. And so he went and showed himself to the prophet Elisha and bathed in the Jordan River. And sure enough, he was cleansed.
I know that some of you little to no interest in being in bible study and learning all of those bible stories from the Old and New Testaments. But it’s important that we know these stories. For these stories are the way that God prepares us to be ready for how we will respond when He meets us in our need. They prepare us for what God is about to do and has done in and through Jesus Christ who has traveled along the border between earth and hell to find you and heal you of your worst disease.
And St. Luke writes, “as they went, they were cleansed.” All ten were cleansed. All ten, while they journeyed, were cleansed. The leprosy somehow disappeared, and miraculously, as they went, new, scabless, scareless, wrinkle free skin appeared, all pink and smooth as a baby’s bottom.
It happened, “as they went…” Before they got to the priest. The connection is obvious. At least to us it is. The healing came from Jesus. They cried out to Jesus for mercy and Jesus had mercy upon them in a miraculous way. He had mercy in a way that only God can have mercy. He cleansed them of their disease and restored to them their life.
Please understand this. Their faith didn’t cleanse them. Jesus, by the power that is His from the Father cleansed them. By their faith they believed His Word and went. By their faith, they received the gift Jesus gave to them. All 10 received the gift of mercy from Jesus through faith.
But wait a minute. Before we even have time to uncork the champagne and celebrate the new life that Jesus has give these 10 blessed, men, all of the glory turns to heartbreaking disappointment.
But “one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.” And at this, Jesus’s dissappointment with the other nine is so palpable that, for at least a moment, we wonder if it isn’t now going to be Jesus crying out with a loud voice to the other nine for them to have mercy upon Him. “Were not ten cleansed?” Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
It was for all 10 men that Jesus was on His journey to Jerusalem. For all 10 men, He would be cut off from His family, His friends, His world…, and worst of all, His God. The sacrifice of atonement prescribed in the book of Leviticus for the cleansing of their leprosy would be carried out with His blood. Their cleansing along the border between Samaria and Galilee was just a foretaste of the greater cleansing He was about to bring to pass in Jerusalem. His blood poured out from the cross would cleanse them of all of their sins that eat away at their body and their soul.
And not just theirs but yours too. By His blood shed for you, He has healed your every physical disease. By His blood poured out for you, He has cleansed your soulful iniquity. By the power of Jesus Christ, the fully divine God / the fully human man, your flesh and your soul has been renewed in the salutary bloodbath of Holy Baptism.
Now go. Show yourself to the heavenly Father. Go in faith, knowing for sure and without doubt that as you travel along that road from earth to heaven, all of the old will pass away and all things will be made new.
“One, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God and giving thanks to Jesus.” To “turn back” is to repent. To this one who repented, Jesus says, “Your faith has made you well.” All ten were healed of their leprosy but only one was well. Nine went on with their life ready to look Jesus up again if they should ever needed His help. One could go no further with His life but turned back and fell at the feet of the One who gave him his life back again.
How do you respond to Jesus? How do we respond to the His mercy and the new life that He has given to us. It’s the Psalmists’ question, which he asks for all of us. “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? And then the answer. “I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord. I will take the cup of salvation and will call on the name of the Lord.” (Ps.116:12-13).
In other words, I’ll turn and come back for more. Jesus has traveled across that fault line between heaven and hell to be cure the for your disease and the cleansing for your soul. He has taken all of your leprosy upon Himself and gives you His pure flesh and holy blood to eat and drink for the cleansing of your soul.
What greater thanks can we render to the Lord for all of His benefits to us than to repent, “turn back” to Him, again and again, and call upon His name over and over, and take the cup which He holds out to your lips and drink time after time.
It is for this that He set His face to go to Jerusalem.
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» Sermon Index – Lutheran – LCMS
» Sermon – Pentecost 23 – "Give To God What Belongs To God." – Matthew 22:15-22 – 10/19/08
» Render To God The Things That Are God's – Matthew 22:15-22
» Sermon – Pentecost 6 – "Predestination" – Ephesians 1:3-14
