Sermon: Trinity 14 (Salem) – 2024

1 September 2024

Text: Luke 17:11-19 

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Luke records an incident in the life of Jesus that sounds like a parable.  Although it is an actual event, Jesus uses it to teach us about what it means to be a Christian.

Ten men suffered with leprosy.  It is a terrible disease.  It is painful.  Parts of your body fall off.  Your skin rots away.  For face becomes disfigured.  Worst of all, people can catch it from you, and there is no cure.  The Old Testament laws of Israel protect the people by requiring lepers to be cast out of the cities, to live apart from their families, to cover themselves and yell “unclean” if a healthy person comes near. 

You can see why they pray to Jesus for mercy.  They have faith that He has the power to heal them.  They pray, just as we do: “Lord, have mercy!”  And by means of His Word, Jesus shows them mercy and heals them.  Now, all that they need to do is to be examined by the priests (also from the Old Testament Law) to be declared clean, so they can return home.

Of the ten, only one: a Samaritan, a foreigner, “saw that he was healed” and “turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks.”

Jesus asks: “Where are the nine?”  It’s not an actual question.  Jesus isn’t asking the crowd to tell Him what cities or towns these men have gone to.  He is asking His hearers – which includes us – to reflect on the fact that they aren’t here with Jesus.  They are not here with the grateful Samaritan, not praising God and worshiping Jesus with thanksgiving.  “Where are the nine?” Jesus asks. 

Being in my twentieth year at this parish, I’ve seen a lot of people experience the grace of God, but leave.  I’ve seen faithful grandparents replaced by lukewarm children, followed up by indifferent grandchildren, whose own children will probably never be baptized.  Instead, they’ll cheer for the right college team and they’ll learn all of the world’s rituals.  Where are the nine?  There they are.

I’ve seen faithful people, even in the church’s leadership, be lured away from the church because there is something they want more than living in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ who healed them from the leprosy of sin.  But usually, falling away is less dramatic.  It’s more often gradual, as other things just become more and more important over time.  Where are the nine?  There they are.

I encounter people in our community who will boast about their grandparents who “built that church” or how they are related to this famous Gretna name or that, people who once filled these pews, maybe even just a few years ago - but now those names are just memories carved on plaques and recorded in the old records written in German.  Where are the nine?  There they are.

There have been many young people that I confirmed, communed once, and never saw again.  Judas Iscariot also communed once, dear friends.  Sometimes people who have long since quit the church will be sure to tell me, “I made my communion there!”  What they really mean is, “I was healed of the leprosy of sin, cleansed by Holy Baptism, and sustained by the Word of God in Christ Jesus, I was made well by my faith, but I decided to not come back and give praise to God.”  That’s really what they are telling me.  “Where are the nine?”  There they are.

Sometimes the “nine” are like our Lord’s most vocal opponents, who thought their ethnicity or their superficial dedication to the Law was enough.  They didn’t need Jesus, because they were children of Abraham, because they were seen as “good people.”  Jesus told them God could raise up children of Abraham from the stones.  He also called them hypocrites and tombs full of dead men’s bones.  Often it was the outsider, the “Samaritan,” who heard the Word of God, the leper who was cleansed, the tax collector, the prostitute, and the “sinner,” who followed our Lord, while the “lifelong Lutherans” whose grandfathers “built that church,” whose names are prominent at the cemetery – who have long since left and never returned.  Where are the nine?  There they are.

Dear friends, today’s Gospel is both a warning and encouragement.  It is a warning not to become ungrateful, like the nine: to take the grace of God for granted, to forget just how bad leprosy is.  When we confess that we are “poor, miserable sinners,” these aren’t just words in a book.  It is the reality that we are falling apart and disfigured.  We are dying.  We desperately need Jesus.  That’s why we pray “Lord, have mercy” at every Divine Service.  That’s why we keep coming back here.  It has nothing to do with your ancestry or what your grandfathers did.  God doesn’t care about that.  He cares, rather, about you, about all of humanity for whom Christ died: saving, healing, and calling to a life of humility, of joy, and of gratitude.

When we are suffering, we call upon the name of the Lord.  We aren’t proud.  We aren’t living as if God doesn’t exist, as if Jesus never suffered on the cross for us, as if the true body and blood of Jesus weren’t here for you, as if the Gospel weren’t proclaimed for your benefit each and every week in this sacred space.  When we are in need of healing, we don’t forget to pray.  When meals are hard to come by, we don’t just eat them without giving thanks.  When we know the danger of sin to our bodies and minds and souls, we don’t just do whatever feels good at the moment.  Where are the nine?  Often, we are the nine.

But there is good news, dear friends.  Jesus invites us to turn back, to praise God with a loud voice, to fall down at Jesus’ feet, to give thanks.  It’s not just about going to church; it’s about being the church.  We worship together here, and we worship with our families at home.  We worship when we wake and when we go to sleep.  We pray, praise, and give thanks.  We don’t boast to God about our grandfathers or even our own deeds.  Rather, we see ourselves as lepers, as poor, miserable sinners in light of the Holy Scriptures.  We pray for mercy.  We are given healing and restoration by Jesus.  And we hear Jesus say, “Your faith has made you well.”

For this lesson from Jesus isn’t just about what we do on Sunday, but how we live every day: living as cured lepers, grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus and for His Word, filled with gratitude for our baptisms, and for the opportunity to hear the Gospel, be forgiven, and give praise to the one who “breaks the darkness.”

Let us pray as Jesus taught is to pray: “Lead us not into temptation.”  Let us also pray “deliver us from evil.”  Let us not become complacent and entitled.  Let us not become bratty children who have been given everything but show no gratitude to our Father.  Let us not push Jesus to the margins while we pursue things in life that we have learned to prioritize: sports, entertainment, teaching our families that other things are more important than learning and living the faith.  Let us hold one another accountable, encouraging our family members to keep coming back to fall at Jesus’ feet. 

For Jesus keeps coming back to give us His gifts, to forgive us again and again, to restore us to health and wholeness and to give us the faith that makes us well: faith that will sustain us forever.

It makes no difference if you are a “life-long Lutheran” or a recent convert.  It makes no difference whether or not you are German or French, or if your ancestors came from somewhere else.  It doesn’t even matter if you have been a member of the nine for many years.  All that matters is the grace and mercy of Jesus.  He welcomes all of us to just come back.  Just come back, dear friends, every day, every week, your whole life, and even unto eternity.

“Rise and go your way,” says our Lord.  “Your faith has made you well.”  That indeed is what it means to be a Christian.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.