Our Gospel lesson for this evening introduces us to a group of 10 “mystery” men. I say this because we don’t know much about these guys. They may come from completely different backgrounds, be different ages, and for all we know, they may not get along very well. But, they had one common experience that ended up joining them together. They had lived relatively anonymous lives up until something happened. Maybe it started out as a white patch on the skin, or an open sore that just wouldn’t seem to heal properly, but whatever the symptom, they knew they needed a diagnosis So they went to the priest, to determine what was going on, and received a diagnosis no one wanted to hear. Leprosy. In those days, there was no known cure. It was, essentially, a death sentence.
But instead of the patient being placed into hospice care, and be surrounded by family and friends in their remaining time, the law of the day stated that they were to leave the city. They were, in essence, outcasts from society, out of fear that the leprosy would spread and infect others. The fear was so great, that that if someone who was not a leper approached them, the leper was required to cry out “unclean, unclean, stay away!”
Somehow, these ten men who have leprosy are banded together by that common denominator. They may not have otherwise known each other if circumstances were different, but here they are, together, with this dreaded disease, along a lonely, remote border between Samaria and Galilee. Their only hope was to be miraculously cured of their disease.
Suddenly, one day, He appears. They’ve heard the Word about Him. They heard He has the power to do some miraculous things: He’s given the blind their sight, He’s made the lame walk, He’s made the mute shout out for joy and unstopped the ears of the deaf. If He could do all of that, maybe He could help! And He appears to be coming in their direction!
So instead of crying out “Unclean, Stay Away!” which the Law required, they cry out “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And He hears their cry. He sees their situation, and simply tells them to “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” There’s only one reason that Jesus would say that. The priests, the ones who initially declared them “Unclean”, were the ones who had the power to declare them “clean”, offer up the appropriate sacrifice, and allow them to return to their lives.
As they’re headed to the priests, these ten men look and see the white spots and the open sores disappear. It’s true! They’re healed! They’ll be declared clean, and they have their lives back! 9 of them keep running to the priests to receive this gift of new life right away. One of them stops dead in his tracks, turns around, runs back to Jesus, praises God in a loud voice, falls at Jesus’ feet, and gives Him thanks and praise.
It’s astonishing enough that only one of these ten comes back to do this. But this is the part of the sermon where I have to share with you the last thing we know about these 10 lepers that shows you why this is an even bigger deal than it initially appears. Nine of them are Jews, considered to be part of the “people of the covenant with God.” The other, the one who returned to give Jesus thanks and praise, well, he was a Samaritan. Considered an “outsider”, cut off from God’s covenant. Samaritans, you see, descended from Israelites left behind after Samaria’s destruction in 722 BC and included foreigners imported by Assyrian kings. Because of intermarriage between the Jews and the non-Jews that took place over the years since, the Samaritans were not viewed as part of God’s covenant people anymore, and endured being called derogatory names by the Jews such as “half breed” among others, and Jews avoided them every chance they had. Needless to say, long standing, deep-seated hostility existed between Jews and Samaritans. Considering the Jews attitude toward Samaritans, and vice-versa, and the fact that Jesus himself was a Jew, it’s beyond belief that a Samaritan, of all people, would be the one who would come back to give Jesus thanks and praise for this gift of healing.
And what does Jesus say? “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” “Rise and go you way, your faith has made you well.” You see, that last statement has something to say to us. “your faith has made you well.” Jesus sees that this man believes that Jesus has much more than physical healing to offer. He has forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation to give. That’s why this man returns to give thanks and praise to Jesus. He’s so grateful for the gift Jesus has given to him.
The other nine? They have their gift. They believed that Jesus had gifts to give in this life, but when it came to matters of eternal life, that’s a different story. They got what they wanted from Jesus for this life, and left before He could give them more gifts.
It’s important to note here that Jesus doesn’t take away the gift of physical healing from them simply because of their sin of ingratitude. But there is a difference in the healings that take place that day along that lonely boarder. The nine who kept going and never returned were looking for a physical healing, and Jesus gave them that. But, while they may be healed from the disease of leprosy, they still have to face the wages of sin someday. There will come a time when their bodies will start to deteriorate. Perhaps they will contract leprosy again, or it will be some other physical ailment. But eventually, they face disease, and death. The healing they sought will only last for a relatively short time.
The Samaritan who returns to give Jesus thanks and praise, yes, he has that healing the other nine had. But, he recognizes that Jesus has more to give. He realizes that Jesus is taking His sins to the cross to die for them there, that Jesus has more gifts to give, the kind of healing that will last for eternity. When he realizes this, this Samaritan, the least likely person, comes back to thank Jesus for this gift. That’s why Jesus says “Your faith has made you well.” This Samaritan knows his position. He doesn’t deserve any of this because of who he is. This is all because of who Jesus is. This healing that took place was all Jesus’ work. He realizes that Jesus is the one who will provide eternal healing by winning forgiveness, life, and salvation for all. This Healer is also his Savior. That’s why Jesus says “rise and go, your faith has made you well.” Jesus already gave this man physical healing, but now, He has told this Samaritan, “You believe that I am the one who will give you eternal healing. Go, your faith in Me will make you well for eternity.”
And so, on this eve of Thanksgiving, it’s appropriate to really look at what took place that day on that boarder near Samaria and Galilee. And as we do, we come to realize that, truth be told, we actually have a lot of similarities with the lepers in our text.
First, we are infected with a disease that threatens to separate us from God and from each other. That disease is sin. It eats away at every aspect of our lives, be it our relationship with God, our relationships with other people, and our apparent lack of thanks for what God has given to us. Like those 9 Jews, we have a tendency to look at others as “outsiders.” Those who are of a different nationality or ethnic background from us, those who wish to practice their faith in a way that’s different from us, so that we decide that they are not “really Lutheran” or even “really Christian”, those who were not lifelong members of our churches, or those who don’t ever come to church anywhere. Sometimes, in things that we say and do, we act as if we are the only ones who God has a covenant with, and it’s our responsibility to keep that pure. Or, when we hear God’s Word of Law accuse us of a particular sin, instead of confessing it, we shrug it off or say “yeah, but I’m not as bad as THAT person over there!” Other times, when God gives us good gifts, we ignore the fact that He was the giver of those gifts. We take the credit for ourselves, not realizing that everything we have in life is a gift from Him for us to manage for a time. That’s sin infecting our lives; sin that threatens to choke off our lifeline with God if something isn’t done about it. Like a cancer that’s just ignored and allowed to grow. And just like a patient with a terminal illness for which there is no known cure, like the lepers in our text, we need nothing short of a miracle to heal us.
But while we at times act in ways that are like the nine lepers who didn’t return to give Jesus thanks and praise, you are here in God’s house tonight on the eve of a day of National Thanksgiving. You’re here because you, hopefully, recognize that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the true source of everything that you have. Your job, your family, your home, even this church, everything you have, isn’t really yours. It’s God’s. And He has graciously given it to you to be a steward over, to take care of faithfully as He would have you do so. You recognize, like that Samaritan leper, that on your own, you have no worthiness of anything that God has given to you. But, you cried out “Jesus, Master, have mercy on me, a sinner.” And He took your sin, sickness, and infirmities to the cross, to suffer and die for them there. So that now, tonight, you can hear Your Savior tell you “rise and go on your way, your faith has made you well.”
You may have come here tonight with things on your mind. This Thanksgiving may be the first one without a loved one at the table. You may be dealing with a family crisis, where a family member isn’t speaking to another one over something that happened that caused that relationship to be damaged or outright destroyed. A friend or family member, or perhaps even you yourself may be seriously ill and you don’t know what will happen. You may be worried about a possible job loss, or a reduction of your income, and wondering how you will support your family, especially with Christmas coming up. It may be next to impossible for you to be like that Samaritan leper to be here and give thanks and praise to God, because it might be next to impossible, if not impossible, for you to find a reason to be thankful for anything.
But as you gather here tonight around the means of Word and Sacrament, you know Your Savior, Jesus Christ, your ultimate Healer of body and soul is present here. You know through His Word that is being spoken to you and preached to you, that You hear that He has died for your sins. That He has eternal healing to give to you. That those sins of thought, word, and deed, that would separate you from Him are forgiven! You are set free to live a life of thanksgiving, even in the most difficult of times. You know that even though God has provided you with all you need to support this body and life, you also know that more importantly, He gives you all that you need for eternal life. You know that the suffering you endure in this life is only temporary. And because of that, you can be thankful!
Yes, thankful! We’re thankful that we heard our Savior tell us again this evening that our sins, even our sins of ingratitude for what God has given to us, are all forgiven for the sake of Christ. We’re thankful that in a few moments, we will receive our Lord’s body and blood, given and shed for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. We are thankful that whatever suffering we endure in this life, will only be temporary. We’re set free from living for ourselves, and living our lives in thankful service to others, so that they, too can receive all of the gifts that God has to offer for us, both in this life, and most importantly, for eternal life.
So as you have your Thanksgiving gatherings, indeed, remember, Who it is that gives you everything you need to support this body and life. Remember that where you were once an “outsider” from God, Jesus Christ has lived, died, and risen again, and once again this night, has given you some pretty amazing gifts, so that you will no longer be a stranger and alien, but a redeemed child of God. Indeed, in the words of the 107th Psalm, we rejoice to say “O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.” Amen.
