This sermon was delivered Gordon McCulloch to the congregation at Holy Trinity in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 13th October 2019; Holy Trinity is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c Psalm 111 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Luke 17:11-19
“Please join me in a short prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
Introduction
Throughout my life, I am very grateful to certain people who went out their way to help me or even to try and help me … and I think the person, who has tried to help me the most is my wife, who has put up with me over the years and whom I am very grateful, but the person who completely changed my life around was the Lord Jesus himself. He turned me upside down, turned me inside out, twisted me all around and said, “right, now go on your way”.
So you can imagine that I have quite a time of it through the years … but it worked, and I am certainly not the person I once was. … Ok I still get many things wrong, and I still upset people, (but never on purpose), and certainly not in the manner that I once did. … That old person has gone, and even better, I am so ashamed of how I once was, and there is no way I could ever think that way again. … I therefore thank God that he changed me, and that is why I love doing these services; it gives me the chance to talk to others about Jesus, and how he dramatically changes lives, and give us all hope, for the future.
And throughout the Gospels, Jesus did exactly that. … Wherever he went, lives were dramatically changed in all sorts of ways.
In this morning’s reading … we read about 10 lepers, men who suffered from leprosy … and by the time Jesus passed them, everything for them, (and their families), changed, as they were all healed. … And I believe Jesus is still doing that today, if we only knew, and if only we have the faith to believe that … but the point being, Jesus does not only heal people physically, he turns their lives around in a very dramatic way … and I will show you this starting with verse 11.
Ten lepers came into contact with Jesus
“And it came to pass ... as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:” … Notice, that as Jesus passed by, there was ten lepers, and they stood far off, because there is more to this verse than meets the eye, let me explain:
Leprosy is a horrible disease.
First of all, leprosy is a horrible disease and we all know that … it was the worst diseases of the time. … Now as you know, I am no doctor and I am sure I will be corrected, but Leprosy is a disease that begins with little white spots appearing on the skin. … Those spots become sores and begin to harden and turn from white to pink to brown and become very scaly. … Those sores then spread all over the body, afflicting the face first; changing its appearance, and these sores then would begin fill with puss and totally consume that body.
There would also be a foul odour radiating from them, making it difficult for anyone to approach them. … Their eyebrows would fall out, and then the hair would turn white … basically a person with Leprosy is someone who is literally rotting away. … Fingers and toes would fall off, and other parts of the body would be eaten away … and worse, Leprosy lasted an average of about 9 years until the victims virtually disintegrated. …
Now although this is a gruesome physical description of the disease, it is also a good illustration of a spiritual disease called Sin … where those embroiled in Sin, are also eaten away by this disease we call sin.
Lepers were also outcasts.
And did you notice too that these ten lepers, stood far off, and we not surprised by this, with the smell and everything, but it was really bad for them, because they were social outcasts as well.
Why outcast? … Because Leviticus 13 deals with the “Law of the Leper”, which says the lepers were to be banished from their village. They were to leave their friends and families … and go and live some distance away. … Their families however, were allowed to bring food, clothes and provisions to them, but they were not allowed to touch them … in fact once leprosy had been diagnosed, the person afflicted was regarded as dead, or as we have heard before, the living dead.
And they appeared dead as well, because they were required to wear cloths over their heads, hiding their faces, so they wouldn't spread the contamination. … If anyone without leprosy came into contact with them, they were required to cry, "Unclean! Unclean!
These lepers had heard of Jesus.
And so with the pain of the disease and the isolation we can fully understand verse 13 which says, “And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”. … Poor souls, they cried out to Jesus … because they could not go near him ... it was unlawful for them to come within 50 feet of a person who was clean … and if was a windy day, the rule changed to 200 feet.
Somehow they had heard of Jesus and the miracles that he had performed … and these lepers obviously needed a miracle … in the same way fallen man with his disease called sin, needs a miracle, as sin is a far worse disease … because sin is a disease that affects the soul, affects the body, and everyone associated with that person … and like leprosy, it is a disease that only gets worse, and eventually consumed the individual with disastrous end result.
In fact the bible says in Ephesians 2:1 that we were “dead in trespasses and sins” … the living dead, just like those lepers … and just like the lepers, we cannot help ourselves … and we too need to cry out on the name of Jesus for our healing as well.
Now I have tried to paint a horrible picture of leprosy this morning so show how bad it was, how impossible it was to cure, yet Jesus, “when he saw them” said simply in verse 14 “go and show yourselves unto the priests. … And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed”. That is all he did, it was so easy for him.
And it make us think, that just as the lepers could not help themselves, we can neither help ourselves, but Jesus can, he heals us physically and spiritually, internally and externally with a word, and he desires to do that still if we only but call. … Jesus cares for us; that is why he went to the cross, in order that we might be saved from this world of Sin and death.
How does Jesus view this situation?
Now to move on, let us now look at what He did for these lepers and what he can do for us today. … First of all let us consider the fact that these lepers were outcasts, it was therefore miracle that they had the opportunity to cry out to him in the first place … or then again did Jesus go looking for them? … I don’t know, I just know that there seems to be no coincidences in the bible.
Jesus looks at our heart.
Anyway, when Jesus saw them … he saw their leprosy … and he also saw the condition of their hearts … Jesus desire was ultimately to cleanse their souls … because he knew that their inner condition was far worse than their outer condition.
Jesus knows the condition of our souls, and that is frightening … because he knows the consequences of our sin … whereas we do not, unless it is something obvious like alcohol or drug related. But do we love the Lord or God with all our hearts, and do we love our neighbours as ourselves in the way he wants us to, yes we try, but I think not, but Jesus does cares enough to do something about it, if we only we will let him. … Jesus is the only one who knew no sin … but he became sin for us, he became sin instead of us … so that our sin maybe forgiven and dealt with.
Jesus sent these lepers to the priests
What did Jesus do with these lepers, he said, “Go and show yourselves unto the priests”. … Why go to the priests? … Well because Leviticus 14:1-9 gives clear instructions for those seeking ceremonial purification from leprosy. … If a leper was ever healed, the priest was expected to examine them outside of the camp … and if he found that they were healed he would perform a purification ceremony, and I don’t think this ever happened, but the priests did know about this ceremony, although they never expected to perform it.
But Jesus had healed these men, and I am sure he had a smile on his face when he told them to go to the Priests, and get them to perform that ceremony ... that would put the cat amongst the pigeons. How where they going to get out that one? … .
Anyway, Jesus won’t send us to any priest, Jesus is standing with outstretched arms right now saying “come unto me”, he is our high priest according to the book of Hebrews, and when we do, we will be healed, just like the lepers in verse 14 which says, “and it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed”.
The lepers lives were totally changed
To move on, and now that these lepers are healed … can you imagine how their lives, (and the lives of others), were transformed … they no longer suffered the physical afflictions … they were no longer outcasts of society … they could return to their friends and families … and with hope, their whole outlook on life would be different. … They may not have been very nice people in the first place, but now I am sure that they became different or new or changed people.
Only Jesus then has that has that power to cure disease ... he has the power solve our problems ... he has the power to save our souls ... and free us and cleanse us from our sins. ... I know I am preaching to the converted again, but he truly has the power to change lives … if we only but ask.
The conversion of the gentile leper
Finally lets us examine the response of these lepers to this miracle, to their new found freedom. … Verse 15, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God … And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan”. … There were 10 lepers, who received that freedom, yet only one returned to thank him … and he was a Samaritan, and not a Jew.
The release when the gentile leper knew he was healed.
Did you notice something about this healing ... it seemed to me that it was immediate? … This ex-leper looked down and realised that he had been healed … can you imagine the joy and excitement that he must have experienced. … And it was even better for him, because he was not required to go to the Temple and see some priest. He was a Samaritan, and the Jewish law had no authority over him. Maybe that is why he came back to thank Jesus.
Anyway, when he saw that he had been healed, that his life was now transformation, he just had to come back and thank Jesus for what He had done for him.
Now, I do not understand the other nine lepers, were they not grateful also … or were they simply going to see the priest as was commanded, and get that ceremony performed on them … or were the simply heading home in a rush to see their families. We just don’t know for sure, (I find the bible a bit unclear here), but we do know that when Jesus free us for our sin and our problems related to a sin ... it will be immediate also … but we also know, it takes us a little time to take it in, and acknowledge that we are free.
The conversion of the gentile leper.
Anyway, only one leper returned and thanked Jesus … he humbled himself before the Jesus … and I am sure he continued to rejoice and thank Jesus the rest of his life … but this miracle did not end there for this man, because verse 19 goes on to say that Jesus replied to him saying, “Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole”. … Ten lepers received new bodies, but this verse tells us that one for sure received a new heart as well, and this new heart further changed his life.
From the gloom and doom of leprosy, we have Jesus changing lives for the better … he is the one who is really in charge, and he is the one we are following today, and he is the one who will change our lives for the better. Amen
