Sermon - Trinity XIV 2020 - Luke 17:11-19

Last week we considered how Jesus is like the Good Samaritan, binding up injured sinners and caring for them, how He sets them within the hospital of the church. Today we continue to see how Jesus is like a good physician. Jesus makes sinners well and then sets them on their way.

One day, “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.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.”

Without touching them, without doing anything strange, without even coming near them, Jesus healed these ten lepers. The only things that He did was come into their presence while journeying to Jerusalem and speak to them, commanding them to go to church. Then before they had even accomplished what He commanded, He had mercy upon them and healed them. 

So it is with people like us. We too have been afflicted with a terrible leprosy, a leprosy of sin. Like the disease, sin results in gross deformities, not to the body but to the soul. Sin causes the soul to be curved in upon itself, to constantly be naval gazing and seeing ourselves as the center of everything. Sin, like leprosy, progressively causes nerve damage, so that the longer we remain in our sins the less sensitivity we have to the disease. Sin, like leprosy, forces us to be distant from one another and from God.

Being thus afflicted, Christ mercifully comes into our presence and by the profound power of His Word, He heals us of the leprosy of our sin. The cure for our sin is not insignificant. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t do anything to cure us. In fact Jesus does quite a bit. The key for us is found in the phrase: “On the way to Jerusalem.” Jesus went to Jerusalem in order to procure your treatment for Sin. Jesus went to Jerusalem to be crucified so that by His death and resurrection you would be made well. Saved.

So you are! Jesus has saved you! This is what the Samaritan realized when He returned to Jesus. “When he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.” No longer is this man curved in upon himself, as if he himself were the most important thing in his life; instead He worships God as the most important. No longer does this man suffer nerve damage, being numb to sin and God; now He can’t help but feel overjoyed and praise God with a loud voice! No longer is this man distant and separated from God by sin, but He’s brought near to his Savior, falling on his face at Jesus’ feet!

So it is with us! We with the Samaritan have our whole lives directed towards God! We with him are no longer numb, but we can’t help but feel such joy and love for Christ that we lift our voices in song! With the healed man, we’re no longer distant from God, but we commune with God when His body enters ours in the sacrament! It’s as if Christ said to us “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

We are injured sinners and Christ does bind us up in this inn, this hospital of the church. So long as we are in the world on this side of heaven, we will continue to require intensive care inside of this hospital. Nevertheless, the treatment does work and it makes us well! Well enough in fact that our Physician can say to us “Rise and go your way.” 

But what is this “way” that we’re supposed to go? Once again, look to the Samaritan and see where he went once he was saved. He went to Christ. The way that we are to walk leads to Christ and follows Him to the cross, the grave, and the resurrection. 

We don’t have to question which way we are supposed to go in life, since the path we are to trod in this life has been illuminated by Christ in His word. “I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life... The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”

Christians, you know the way that you are to go in this life because the Holy Spirit reveals it to you through God’s Word. St. Paul said “Walk by the Spirit… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

The only way that you’re going to know the fruit of the Spirit and see the illuminated path, is by following the light of Christ and His Word. This does require that you know what His Word says, that you read the Bible regularly, daily even. Because the Bible is entirely practical, it does show you how to live in this world as a Christian. 

Jesus says, “rise and go your way.” We are to go our way, we are to live our lives by fulfilling the unique vocations God has set us in. I’d like to talk with you about vocation. By vocation I don’t just mean our jobs or whatever we’re doing. Vocation comes from the Latin, vocatio, meaning calling. Your vocation is that which God has called you to do. For example, a couple vocations all of us share is that we’ve been called to be children to our parents, or citizens of our nation. God calls some to be mothers, some to be husbands, some to be pastors, all of us to be Christians. 

So in general, God calls us to be in various relationships with one another. These relationships, callings, vocations are primary for our lives in this world. We go our way and live out our Christian lives when we fulfill our vocations in a godly fashion. To illustrate, a man isn’t called to be a farmer, but he may be called to be a husband and a father and a laborer. Being a farmer may very well help him to fulfill his vocations by providing for his wife and children, and laboring for the benefit of his neighbor, but farming isn’t the vocation. This means that he can quit being a farmer and become a plumber or a carpenter without sinning, because he’s still fulfilling his vocations. But he cannot quit being a father and a husband and a laborer, because to quit those vocations would be to sin against both his fellow man and God by not doing what God has called him to do.

This is all very important to understand. Firstly, because it gives value to all of our lives. God uses us in our vocations to serve one another. We are important to God and we have real, honest work to do. Even if you don’t have a career, such as if you’re retired, a stay-at-home mother, or you lost your job, you’re still doing the important work when you fulfill your vocations. In fact, fulfilling your vocation is more important than the career itself.

This leads us to our second point why understanding vocation matters, because it helps set priorities. Let’s go back to our farmer illustration; his being a husband, father, and laborer are more important than being a farmer. Farming is just the means by which he’s fulfilling his vocation when he provides for his family. His goal isn’t to be a good farmer, his goal is to be a good husband, father, and laborer. If he were to neglect his wife and children for the sake of being a successful farmer, he would be sinning against God and his family.

Thirdly, understanding vocation gives us a purpose and a direction for all that we do in this life. Our whole life is directed towards a greater purpose than the mundane fleeting pleasures of this world. Our whole life is directed towards God. Thus, the reason we’re valuable and our service in our vocations matter is because God ascribes us value. It’s more important that the farmer fulfills his vocation by providing for his family’s spiritual needs than their bodily needs. It’s more important that the father take his children to weekly Divine Service than on extravagant vacations. This is true because God’s calling directs our lives.

Dear Christians, you have been made well by the good Physician of your souls. Through the healing death of Christ, you are made well, you are saved. The leprosy of your sin has been cleansed from you. You’re a new creation abiding in the presence of the living God. Your path, your vocation, has been made clear by God. Go, therefore, in the confidence that your sins are forgiven and that God goes with you in your vocations.