"Thanks Be to God!" (Luke 17:11-19)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us’” (Luke 17:11-13).

 

On this eve of the National Day of Thanksgiving, we can see the gravity of the situation. Leprosy was bad; it was really bad. Leprosy wasn’t something that could be cured by any over-the counter or behind-the-counter drug. Leprosy couldn’t be cured by bedrest. 

 

As leprosy would progress, it attacks the skin, peripheral nerves and the mucus membrane. Pain would turn to numbness. The skin would lose its original color and become thick, glossy and scaly. Sores and ulcers would develop. The face could swell to look more like a lion than a man. The voice would become hoarse and grating. If you had the signs of leprosy, and were declared “unclean” by the priests, you could no longer live in your community, you were basically outcasts from polite society, left homeless without the support of family or friends. A leper was an outcast.

 

If there was anything positive, contrary to popular belief, leprosy was not a flesh-eating disease. However, due to the loss of feeling – especially in the hands and feet – people with leprosy could wear away their extremities and faces unknowingly. This horrible disfigurement caused by leprosy made this disease greatly feared.

 

It was so feared that it was the traditional Jewish belief that leprosy was God’s judgment for sin. A leper was considered cursed by God.

 

So, here, on this eve of the National Day of Thanksgiving, we learn of a lonely group of outcasts, ten men who would normally not be together, except for leprosy, standing at a distance, desperate to be once again included in polite society. These men lifted up their voices, or what was left of their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Luke 17:13).

 

They had heard the news about Jesus. Could it all be true? Could Jesus heal them? They saw Jesus as their last chance for deliverance. Mustering all they had left, these ten men begged Jesus to heal them.

 

Across a distance, Jesus heard their cry for mercy. He spoke to them saying, “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (Luke 17:14).

 

Clearly, Jesus did not immediately heal these men, but He commanded them to show themselves to the priests. But why didn’t Jesus heal them all instantly? He had done that in the past and He would do that in the future. But why not in this instance? 

 

It is likely that Jesus was testing the faith of these ten leprous men in His ability to heal them in His time. And Jesus’ command would be an affirmation of the validity of the Law of God. For, by obeying, these men were demonstrating faith and fulfilling their obligation as the Law required. The priests who would receive these men would function as the local health inspectors, and this was an elaborate process, lasting for eight days and involving various examinations, sacrifices and rituals, to determine whether a person was free from leprosy (Leviticus 14:1-32).

 

What’s ironic about this requirement is that these very priests who rejected Jesus would have to validate the undeniable fact that the lepers had been healed. They would be forced to confirm His supernatural power and thus become reluctant witnesses to His deity.

 

Up to this point, these ten leprous men are acting in unison. They all pled for Jesus to heal them; they had all obeyed His command and started their way to the priests. As they walked, they began noticing changes, positive changes. They were healed.

 

I’m sure they were all astonished. They were amazed! I’m sure they were full of joy! I’m sure they were thinking about how their life was about to change. They would all soon be living normal lives! But for some reason one of the healed men turns back, while the others march on to the priests.

 

There is something to note here. The Jews were taught that God was primarily a Redeemer and a Savior. These lepers came to Jesus for the hope of redemption. Could Jesus also be the Savior? Could Jesus be God?

 

Now, so often, we want to jump to the obvious with today’s Gospel lesson, which is to be thankful. And that is why this text is always the Gospel text for Thanksgiving. But let us not oversimplify this message. You see, today’s Gospel lesson is not just about the lepers being thankful or not.

 

Remember, Jesus told the lepers to follow God’s commandment to verify their healing. And as they went, all ten were cleansed. All ten were healed. But only nine of them continued on their way.

 

So, were the nine thankful? Clearly, they were! They were glad as they could be that they were healed. They could soon live normal lives again! Unfortunately, they didn’t fully recognize who it was to be thanked.

 

The unlikely Samaritan grasped who needed to be thanked. Of course, going to the priests was proper, but Jesus was the true source of his healing and every good gift. Jesus said to this healed man: “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19). It was his faith in Jesus that had made him well. It was his faith in Jesus, given to him and to us by the Holy Spirit, that made us well.

 

On this eve of the National Day of Thanksgiving, we have so much to be thankful for. These healed men were desperate for healing. They could do nothing to save themselves.

 

In our desperation for salvation, Jesus saved us too. We were once lost and condemned because of our sins, but Jesus purchased and won us from all sins, from eternal death, and from the power of the devil. Jesus saved us not by paying for our reconciliation through silver or gold, but instead through His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, so that we may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom.

 

On this Thanksgiving and every Lord’s Day, by faith, Jesus richly forgives our sins. 

 

We have so much to be thankful for. Thanks be to God that He is merciful, patient and loving toward us. Thanks be to God that Jesus willingly went to that cursed tree to die and rise for us, so that sin, death, and Satan would have no power over us. Thanks be to God that He continues to prepare our hearts and minds through Word and Sacrament ministry.

 

We have so many reasons to give our thanks to Christ, our Lord. Chief among them is His forgiveness that He won for you through His atoning death upon the cross. So, may we always give God thanks by coming into His presence each Lord’s Day as He continually serves us, His Church, with forgiveness, life, and salvation through His Word and Sacrament! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Who Can Stand When He Appears?" (Malachi 3:1-7b)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap” (Malachi 3:2).

 

Judgement is coming and it is coming quickly. And this judgement always takes its victims by surprise.

 

Is Jesus really coming? For many of us, maybe even you, we act as if He isn’t coming. We get lost in the daily grind of life. Or we may think that God has forsaken us.

 

For the postexilic Jews, it’s been some 90 years since their return from Babylon to Jerusalem. The re-built Temple is now 65 years old. But Jerusalem is not a very impressive place. It looks very much God forsaken to them.

 

Before the Babylonian exile, Judah was great and powerful. It had mighty kings and an awesome Temple. The glory of the Lord shined. Yahweh’s reign could be seen and touched.

 

But on this side of the Babylonian exile, God has appeared to have slipped away. Now, Persia appears to be the ruler of their world. If the Jews want anything done, they have to ask permission from the Persian ruler. If they wanted supplies, they had to rely on the good graces of the Persians. They had to practice religion under Persian government. They were beholden to the Persians!

 

The mighty deeds of God were of yesteryear. The rebuilt Temple was a mere shadow of what it once was. The walls of Jerusalem were still a wreck.

 

The Jews were troubled. Upon their arrival back to Jerusalem, they had hoped and expected, the glorious and prosperous reign of the Davidic line of kings, but all they see is a wicked Persia prospering. 

 

To many Jews, they began to believe that their God had abandoned them, or He refused to care about them.

 

Jesus says in Matthew 24: “For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27).

 

There is something true about lightning. It always takes us by surprise.

 

Jesus’ coming at the first Christmas took everyone by surprise. Mary, Joseph, Herod, the shepherds, friends and enemies were all surprised when He came. God had promised His Son’s coming from the dawn of the world. Many people had carried that thought and hope with them through all those long years, but what they hoped for, they really did not expect. It caught them by surprise. Will it catch you by surprise at His coming on the Last Day?

 

St. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5: “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3).

 

Where is God? Is He coming? For the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, five of them appeared to give up on the Bridegroom coming, so they refused to refill their oil lamps through Christ’s Means of Grace and went to sleep. But then by surprise, at midnight, there was a cry: “Here is the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him!” (Matthew 25:6). The foolish five were refused entry to the marriage feast. To them, the Bridegroom says: “‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:12).

 

We all desire the Second Coming of Christ, but that day will also surprise us, even though we hope for it and profess to long for that day.

 

The day of judgement is coming all right, but how often do we act like that day is far off? Do you act like Jesus is coming?

 

“Just as in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man,” Jesus says. “They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26-27).

 

When we least expect it, Jesus will come.

 

“Who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears?” (Malachi 3:2a)

 

If we truly examine ourselves, no one can endure; no one can stand. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This is you and me. We are all poor, miserable sinners. We sometimes act as if sin has no consequences, but sin has eternal consequences, because God cannot partake in sin. Since none of us are as pure as the wind driven snow, what do we do? What can we do? Sadly nothing. 

 

So, God will do everything! “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me” (Malachi 3:1).

 

God sends John the Baptist to prepare the way for His Son by “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). We are all called to confess our sins as we recognize our inability to stand before God because of our sin. And where there is confession, there is forgiveness. 

 

After that preparation, God sends the Messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought the new covenant through His blood.

 

You and I cannot be 99 percent clean. We must be 100 percent clean. We must be pure. To be clean and pure, Jesus enters in.

 

Through His suffering and shed blood on the cross, Jesus is “like a refiner’s fire and like a fuller’s soap” (Malachi 3:2b). Upon that cross, as He suffered and died for you and your sins, Jesus is making you and I clean and pure. Jesus is not only the Purifier but also the Purifying agent. He is not only the Blacksmith but also the Fire. He is not only the Cleaner but also the Soap. 

 

Jesus refines us through His heat. He cleans us like a launderer by rubbing, kneading, and beating to make us soft, clean, and pliable.

 

God the Father sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ because He desires a pure product. On our own and by our own merits, we could never be made holy, but it is only God who has the power to make us holy. Our purity is only made possible through the blood of Jesus – the very Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

 

Christ scrubbed us clean through His death and resurrection. Today, He comes to keep us clean through the preaching of His Word and in His giving of forgiveness through His Sacraments. 

 

As forgiven sinners, by grace through faith in Christ alone, we have nothing to fear, because through Christ’s work, we are seen as holy and blameless before God the Father.

 

So, “Who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears?” (Malachi 3:2a). We can! God’s people can! We endure as we receive through faith the forgiveness of sins won for us at the cross and offered to us freely in the Means of Grace. God is faithful and Christ will return. But now His return is not fearful for us, since Christ has atoned for all of your sins. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for Lent 3: "The Gift of God" (John 4:5-30, 39-42)

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Exhausted from His journey from Judea to Galilee, Jesus sits beside a well. There, He awaits His disciples return in bringing back food from the city. It was about noon with the sun beaming down upon Him. A Samaritan woman comes to draw water from the well. Jesus says to her, “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7).

 

Now, Jews and Samaritans weren’t exactly on speaking terms. In fact, it was customary for Jews when they traveled between Judea and Galilee to totally avoid Samaria. Not only did they not want to talk to each other, they also did not want to even see each other. Though traveling through Samaria would be the shortest route, Jews typically crossed over the Jordan River and then traveled through the Trans-Jordan territory, and then eventually cross back over the Jordan into Galilee. But Jesus and His disciples did not do that.

 

Instead, Jesus and His disciples did what was not customary of Jews: they traveled through Samaritan territory. This too, shocked the Samaritan woman. But Jesus is passing through Samaria for a specific purpose, a specific objective, which is that salvation is from the Jews, but is not only for the Jews, but for the whole world. But how would the whole world know of salvation, if they were never told?

 

Animosity is how it’s been between the Jews and the Samaritans. This hostility went way, way back. When the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, they carried away most of the Israelites into exile. To replace the population, the Assyrians brought in their own people from various provinces to occupy the land. While most Israelites were exiled, many were allowed to remain. This is what caused the division. Those who remained continued to worship the true God, but they also blended in the worship of the heathen gods. So, as 2 Kings 17 says: “The [Samaritans] feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children – as their fathers did, so they do to this day.”

 

The Israelites were commanded to follow only the one true God, Yahweh. But the Samaritans gave in to the prevailing culture of the Assyrians. Instead of remaining ethnically and spiritually pure, they became a mixed people with a mixed religion. They once were with God, but now due to their false teachings, they had become lost.

 

So, it was indeed shocking to the Jewish people to hear that when Jesus cleansed the ten lepers, that the only man who gave thanks to Jesus was a Samaritan (Luke 17:16). That was unheard of. Samaritans had no dealings with Jews, and Jews had no dealings with Samaritans.

 

Equally shocking was Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Only a Samaritan cared for the half-dead traveler, who was earlier robbed, stripped of his clothing, and beaten. You would expect the priest and the Levite to help their fellow Jew, but they just passed by the half-dead man. It was the unlikely Samaritan who had compassion for the Jew as he bound up his wounds, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

 

Jews despised Samaritans. Samaritans despised Jews. They each thought their side was right and the other was wrong. Yet, we find Jesus – a Jew – sitting beside Jacob’s well in Samaria. Jesus is worn out. He’s exhausted. Soon, a Samaritan woman comes to draw water.

 

For this woman, she likely thought that this was all rather odd. A Jew asking her for a drink? As odd as that may be, why is this woman coming to the well at high noon? Why would anyone come to draw water at the hottest time of the day when the sun is beating down upon you? Could it be that she wasn’t welcomed to be there when the other women of the village showed up?

 

So, when she came up to the well, she may have been relieved to see a Jew there, because she likely thought that she would not have to deal with Him. She could just draw her water and go. But that is not what happens. Jesus speaks to her, “Give me a drink” (John 4:7). This was just a request for a simple act of kindness.

 

She was suspicious. Why is this Jew talking to me at all? Rather than give Him a drink, she says: “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (John 4:9) She’s thinking, something isn’t right here. We aren’t supposed to have any dealings with each other. We ignore each other. We don’t talk to each other and especially, we don’t ask each other for favors.

 

Jesus replies: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

 

Much like Nicodemus, this woman thought Jesus was speaking in riddles. But Jesus is using His words carefully. He is being precise in His language. He wants to give her “living water.”

 

But the water is deep and Jesus has no way to draw the water! She thought Jesus was speaking of fresh, spring, bubbling water. She desired this living water.

 

Yet, Jesus was speaking of the sort of water that brings forth eternal life. But she was stuck on the water from the well. Where are you getting this water? You have nothing to draw water! Is this water in your pocket? Where are you getting it from?

 

Now, Jesus is not sitting at Jacob’s well by accident. Yes, Jesus thirsted for water. But He is sitting beside this well for a reason. As much as Jesus is thirsty, He would like to reverse this order and offer this Samaritan woman a drink. And not just any drink, but a drink that becomes a spring of living water welling up to eternal life.

 

As we will soon learn, this woman had a lot of baggage. She had a lot of shame. Without ever realizing it, she is quenching something, and it isn’t the water from the well. She was quenching forgiveness, since she knew she was living in sin. Instead of drawing water at a more convenient time of the day, here she is coming to draw water at the hottest time of the day. She was full of shame for what her life had become. So, when she heard that she may not ever have to do this again in the heat of the day, she was enamored. Tell me more!

 

But Jesus, knowing her heart says to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here” (John 4:16). She likely stiffens up as she admits that she has no husband. Then Jesus astounded her as He said, “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are now with didn’t even bother to marry you.”

 

She immediately responds, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Where is the proper place to worship? On this mountain, or in Jerusalem?” In other words, let’s not talk about me and my life and my aches. I can’t deal with that, so which is it, Jerusalem or here?

 

She attempted to hide the whole truth. She wanted to deflect the truth by changing the subject. We are just like her. We want to hide our wrongs, our faults, our failings, our shame. But God sees our whole mess. He sees our every sin. He doesn’t care how dark our life is, but He comes to seek us out in order to forgive us and make us His.

 

Even though we quench forgiveness, we would rather hide our sins – as if we could hide our sins from God.

 

Instead of exposing her on changing the subject, Jesus gladly answers her diversion. “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth” (John 4:22-24).

 

What Jesus is saying is this: “You firmly believe that true worship is upon Mount Gerizim, but you are worshiping the unknown. Jews worship what is known. Despite that, the Father is seeking you. He is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. It doesn’t matter the place. What matters is true worship.”

 

Like the woman at the well, we, too, are also parched. Like her, we may not always realize it, but we are thirsty and quench for righteousness. This is what we really need. We need forgiveness for our sins.

 

And like this woman, Jesus loves you too. He has come to give us living water, which is a new spiritual life that comes to us through Holy Baptism. Like ordinary water, this “living water” in Baptism is necessary for all people since it quenches our spiritual thirst forever. We need drinking water to survive. We need living water to have eternal life. We, like the woman, were dead in our sins, but it is Jesus who is offering eternal life.

 

This is why we are here today and every Lord’s Day. We are here to be given His gifts, His goods! Word and Sacrament! 

 

Jesus began His conversation at the well saying, “If you knew the gift of God.” Jesus is the gift of God. He suffered and died for the sins of the whole world. He paid for every sin. Jesus is the gift and God the Father is the giver of this gift. So, receiving what God has given is true worship. True worship isn’t at a particular place – Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem, but wherever Jesus seeks the lost.

 

Jesus exposed the sin in her heart and tells her that the Father is still seeking her, despite knowing all her story, to be His worshipper. Could it be? Could this man be the Messiah who is coming? “I who speak to you am He” (John 4:26).

 

She believed! In faith, she left her water jar to proclaim to her townsfolk: “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29)

All she said was “Come and see!”

 

She was spiritually lost, but now is found. Her fellow townsfolk were lost, but they also came to believe. Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the whole world. 

 

Now, the sinful world teaches that we ought to solely judge people by the color of their skin. The world teaches that in order to end racism, you must be racist. This is the doctrine of Critical Race Theory, or CRT. But how does Jesus judge? He doesn’t judge by outward appearances.

 

For in Christ, there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, Samaritan nor Galilean, white or black, yellow or brown. Everyone is a human being, created in the image of God. He has come for everyone, because everyone needs living water, which He can only give.

 

Because of this, we don’t see our neighbors as the world sees them. We see them how God sees them – a sinner in need of salvation. All God wants is to bring back the lost, the erring. He wants to give all the penitent “living water.”

 

Though we don’t deserve it, Christ offers us “living water.” You see, He doesn’t just leave us in our sins as the world does, which results only in eternal death. Christ offers us all forgiveness of sins. He gives us atonement through His death on the cross, so that all who believe in Him have eternal life. 

 

Like this Samaritan woman, we know the Gift of God. We know Jesus. We know that He gives living water freely that wells up to eternal life. From one woman’s testimony, a Samaritan town was converted to believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world, so there is a missional aspect to our text today as well. Through the working of the Holy Spirit in us, we are Christ’s instruments in spreading the good news. So, let us be like this woman as we are also led to proclaim the Gift of God to our friends and neighbors! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. 

 

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for Pentecost 18: "Clean and Forgiven" (Luke 17:11-19)

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: 

[Intro]

 

The cleansing of the ten lepers is about giving thanks. Ten were healed, but only one returned to give thanks. Actually, this is more than just about giving thanks. Our Gospel reading from Luke is also about leprosy. It is about sin. It is about healing. It concerns forgiveness. It is about saying thank you to God and about praising God. 

 

With good reason, we stand far off, away from Jesus. Now, leprosy was an individual and social disease. It infects the body. It brings hideous disfigurement. It rots the flesh. It eventually destroys the voice. Leprosy isolated one from others. Both social and religious purity codes demanded that lepers keep their distance. And lepers were regarded as one who was already dead, since there was no known cure for this disease.

 

Sin is also an individual and social disease. Sin infects us individually. Sin ruins our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. Results of our sinfulness are short tempers, impatience, and rash reactions. Likewise, cool and calculated deceptions are results of sin too. 

 

Like leprosy, sin isolates us from others. Gossip, jealousy, unkind words weaken or destroy friendships. Self-centeredness, power struggles and adultery ruin relationships. Disrespect, distrust, insecurities cause rifts between children and parents, and other family and friends.

 

But most importantly, sin isolates us from God. So, we are like those lepers standing far from Jesus. Our sin of thought, word, and deed separates us from God. And if left untreated, sin would separate us from God forever. We would be left to our own merits to justify us. And because we are sinners, we deserve the wages of sin: eternal death apart from God and His goodness.

 

Yet, we – with the ten lepers – cry out to Jesus, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13). The lepers did not presume to rush up to Jesus or grab Him and demand healing. They were humble by acknowledging their distance, their leprosy. They plead, cry out, and beg Jesus for healing.

 

[The Liturgy of Mercy and Forgiveness]

 

We, as sinners, do the same. We also come before our Lord, acknowledging our sin. We do not presume or demand anything or try to earn mercy from God. We just beg and cry out for mercy. The Divine Service is a weekly living example of this. What comes first in the liturgy? Distance! We acknowledge that we are far away from our Lord. We confess our sins and ask God for His forgiveness. 

 

It is only through the forgiveness of sins that we enter into the life of heaven. To confess our sins is to speak the truth about our lives. God seeks the truth in the heart and on our lips. To confess our sin is to say “amen” to God’s just verdict that we have sinned against Him and thus deserve only eternal death and hell. 

 

This truth of our sinfulness is answered by the truth of God’s forgiveness for the sake of the suffering and death of His Son. From the lips of the called and ordained servant of the Word, we hear God Himself speaking absolution, that is, the forgiveness of sins. To that forgiveness, faith says “amen,” which means “this is most certainly true.” “Amen” is the great word of worship; it indicates that the gift has been received.

 

Having received the Lord’s forgiveness, we are glad to enter into His courts with praise and thanksgiving. This entrance is made using the Lord’s Words in the Introit.

 

As we come to the Kyrie, we sing the same words spoken by the lepers: “Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.” Like the lepers, we come before the King of Mercy seeking mercy for our salvation and for peace.

 

How does Jesus react to our cries for mercy? Does He keep His distance? Does He run away? Does He attempt to avoid defiling Himself so He would not catch the dreaded disease?

 

No, leprosy and sin do not push Jesus away from us. He cleanses them as He cleanses us. Jesus speaks words of healing: “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (Luke 17:14). What this means is that these lepers will be cleansed. And they soon were. As they walked toward Jerusalem, they all noticed all at once that their disease was gone. Their skin was completely healed. They had no more disfigurements.

 

To us, Jesus gives words of absolution: “I forgive you all your sins.” You see, sin doesn’t push Jesus away from us. Sin is what separates us from Him. Sin is us pushing away from Jesus. Jesus comes and He keeps on coming. He comes and takes away our sin, no matter how disgusting it is, no matter how disfigured it has made us. He takes our sin and bears our sin. He dies for our sin. Our sin does not push Him away. That is why He came in our human flesh in the first place. He came to take away sins by calling us to repentance and faith in Him. Jesus truly wants us to give Him our sin and cry to Him in confession, so that He may forgive us.

 

[Joining the Samaritan]      

 

Each Sunday, Jesus gives us an invitation to come close to Him so that we would be clean and forgiven. But our text ends with only one cleansed man turning back in thanksgiving and falling at the feet of Jesus in worship. And who returns? A Samaritan. A man from a mixed race with a mixed religion. Only he turned back praising God with a loud voice giving thanks to Jesus as his Lord.

 

Jesus commends this man saying, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:18)

 

Even for this foreigner, this Samaritan, the distance is gone as it was taken away by Christ’s words of healing. We can imagine this cleansed man, who was an outcast from Israel, even by his nationality, grabbing hold of Jesus in profound worship and love.

 

It was only a Samaritan who fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks, acknowledging in his faith that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is God, that Jesus performed this healing miracle.

 

Now, “were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” Jesus asks. You see, Jesus expected them all to turn back to Him, even though He knew the outcome. For Jesus, He knew reality would not match His expectation. But didn’t Jesus tell them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (Luke 17:14)? Well, yes, He did. And they all trusted Jesus’ command. So, what did they do wrong? They didn’t recognize where the cleansing came from.

 

You see, Jesus is the fulfillment of all the commands that God had given. It is all about Jesus. The Temple is Jesus. He is the priesthood. If the other nine had understood who it was who spoke these healing words to them, they would have naturally turned back to give thanks to Jesus.

 

Now, some – all too many, in fact – are like the nine cleansed lepers by missing or ignoring the invitation to be close to Jesus in the Lord’s house of worship. You see, for the other nine, Jesus had so much more to offer them. He offers Himself on behalf of the whole world in His coming suffering and death on the cross. Through His death and bodily resurrection, He offers forgiveness of sins, which begets eternal life and salvation. Here in the Divine Service, Jesus shares with us His good gifts as we hear His Word and partake in His Body and Blood at this altar for the forgiveness of our sins.

 

But how many of us ignore these gifts of God’s grace? What a shame when we instead go on with our business by not expressing thanks to God. What a shame when we forget to worship. What a shame when we mumble through our prayers. What a shame when we choose recreation and sports as more important than God’s Word and His Sacrament.

 

As Children of the heavenly Father, from whom we receive every good thing in our earthly lives, we ought to turn back to Christ and join the Samaritan praising God with a loud voice!

 

Still, we, too, can get close to God when our sins are forgiven through repentance and faith.

 

The distance between us and Jesus is removed by His cross and His words of forgiveness. But we still have that invitation to come to Him in praise and thanksgiving and worship, with no boundaries separating us.

 

Today’s Gospel lesson is for us. This is our story. The one cleansed leper who returns is, by the grace of God, who we are called to be. This Divine Service, this liturgy that we take part in, is a liturgy of thanksgiving and praise for the Lord’s healing words spoken to us that remove the leprosy of sin. Each Lord’s Day, we leave this place with our faith strengthened and our sins forgiven. We leave knowing that we will return to where Christ is – in the Divine Service – to receive more of what we are thankful for: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. By God’s grace, we are clean and forgiven! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

 

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for the Day of Thanksgiving: "True Gratitude" (Luke 17:11-19)

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

[Intro]

We have so much to be thankful for on this Day of Thanksgiving. We ought to be thankful at all times and all places because the Triune God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – has truly blessed us.

He has given us clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children, land, animals, and all that we have. He richly and daily provides us with all that we need to support our bodies and lives.

Not only that, but He also defends us against all danger and guards and protects us from all evil. Because of His love for us, it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.

But have you ever thought about the proper way to give thanks to God? Today, on this Day of Thanksgiving, the Holy Spirit works through an unexpected man – a Samaritan – as He teaches us the proper way to give thanks to God.

[Cleansed by Faith]

As we say in the explanation of the First Article of the Creed, one of the ways we give thanks to God is by obeying Him. Now isn’t this what all ten lepers did? Jesus told them: “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (Luke 17:14). But why would Jesus want these lepers to show themselves to the priests? First, Jesus is fulfilling the Levitical Law. But more importantly, Jesus wants the temple priests to confirm that this miracle had taken place. This miracle will also confirm that Jesus is who He says He is: the One who cleanses humanity of sin.

Immediately, without any hesitation, the ten lepers obeyed Jesus and went on their way toward Jerusalem.

At the same time, these ten lepers must have been surprised at Jesus’ reaction to their plea for mercy. But they trusted Jesus. There is no doubt that they had heard about previous miraculous healings of lepers as the result of Jesus. It is also likely that they expected Jesus to speak a word that would produce healing at once, but their trust in Jesus was strong enough that they didn’t listen to their voice of reason, they did just as Jesus commanded.

As these ten lepers were making their journey toward Jerusalem – all at once – they noticed their rotting flesh had healed. In their awe, they spoke with full voices. They were cleansed! They were cleansed because they all had faith in Jesus.

But as it is with faith, not every person grows at the same pace. In the Parable of the Sower, the Sower sowed his seed everywhere. “Some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold” (Luke 8:5-8a).

Each former leper had faith, but only one, after the cleansing, was willing to give glory to God – God in the Person of Jesus. And the chief irony of it all is that the one who gives glory to God is a Samaritan – a man from a mixed race and a mixed religion. He is the one who has actual faith in Jesus as the Divine Savior.

This Samaritan turned back and began praising God with a loud voice. He returned to give thanks to Jesus for this miraculous healing.

You see, this joyous gratitude in the heart of this healed leper could not be contained. He praised God with a loud voice. He believed that God had healed him through Jesus. He then fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. He thanked Jesus believing that Jesus was in fact the Divine Messiah. He believed that if he was to thank God for his healing, he must thank God Himself. He thanked God through worship. His worship confesses his faith, the conviction about God in Jesus. He believed the place to give thanks for his cleansing is wherever Jesus is.

For the other nine, it is implied that they were Jews. They certainly obeyed Jesus and they had faith in Jesus, but their faith was not a saving faith. Their faith withered as they didn’t come to the same conclusion as the Samaritan that Jesus is the Incarnate God.

Now, we don’t know what happened to the other nine. They may have come to saving faith later in life, but on this day, only a Samaritan had come to saving faith.

For his faith, Jesus says to this Samaritan, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19). What Jesus is saying here is “Your faith has made you well, now come and follow Me,” for which this Samaritan did.

[True Gratitude]

As I began today’s sermon, I said that this Samaritan through the work of the Holy Spirit would teach us the proper way to give thanks to God. So, what then is the proper way to give thanks to God? Did you catch it? Is it us saying, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”? Not exactly. Now, this Samaritan did say thank you. But God doesn’t need our appreciation, since He gives daily bread to both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). You see, this Samaritan man did even more. He returned to Jesus to worship Him.

So, how do we give thanks? We give thanks to God as we come together in the Divine Service to receive more of what we are thankful for.

But what does being thankful really mean? We can’t be thankful for nothing. So, we should stop and think about what really matters. True thankfulness is being content, since the Lord will provide.

Here in the Divine Service, the Lord provides. You see, this is the place where Jesus is found! He is found in His Word that is preached and in the Sacrament that is administered for us!

If we look closely at the worship of the Samaritan, we see that he resembles our own worship. We first meet him – and the other nine – as he says, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13). Does this not sound like the words of the Kyrie that we say? “Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.” For centuries, Christians have offered this simple prayer as we come together. In this prayer, we ask our Lord to hear us and help us in our necessities and troubles.

After the Kyrie, only one remains – the Samaritan. Jesus questions him saying, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17) For Jesus had so much more to offer them. He offers Himself on behalf of the whole world in His coming suffering and death on the cross. Through His death and resurrection, He offers forgiveness of sins, which begets eternal life and salvation.

On this Day of Thanksgiving – and every Lord’s Day – God provides His grace and mercy as He serves us in the Divine Service. He serves us in the Means of Grace, His Word and His Sacrament.

But how many of us ignore – or even despise – these gifts by ducking out early, choosing the “shorter” service, failing to show up at all, or being otherwise unfaithful in our attendance at the preaching of His Word and the reception of the Lord’s Supper? How many of us fail to acknowledge that Jesus is present here with us – where two or three are gathered – where His Word is proclaimed, where we celebrate His supper? As children of our heavenly Father, from whom we receive every good thing in our earthly lives, we ought to turn back to Christ and join the Samaritan praising God with a loud voice!

As the Samaritan fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks, acknowledging in his faith that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is God, that Jesus performed this healing miracle and also saved him from his sins. We too, confess the same in the words of the Nicene Creed saying, Jesus is “very God of very God … who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven … and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.”

Then in the liturgy of the Sacrament of the Altar, we again fall at Jesus’ feet as we are in the presence of the crucified and risen Christ, who gives His Body and Blood in a meal where His Divine cleansing is for all who, like the Samaritan, are saved through faith. We hear and reply again on how it is always truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to God. Holy Communion is received in thanksgiving by Christians. This is the act of thanksgiving. So, the way we observe Thanksgiving is by receiving the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

We give thanks to God as we come together at each Divine Service to receive more of what we give thanks for.

We come to be in the presence of Jesus knowing that we are sinners in need of mercy and Christ provides as He says to us, “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19). We leave the Divine Service with our faith strengthened and our sins forgiven. He strengthens our saving faith in Him. We leave knowing that we will return to where Christ is – in the Divine Service – to receive more what we are thankful for: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. We return since true gratitude proceeds from a heart sustained by faith. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T