Sermon - Trinity XIV 2021 - Luke 17:11-19

The Healing of Ten Lepers, James Tissot, 1894

It’s a painful realization when you discover that you’re helpless to resolve a given situation. Chronic illness, permanent disability, death, terminal illness, natural disaster, all these things are terrifying because try as we might, we can’t fix them, we’re helpless. Ultimately this is why the covid crisis over the past year and a half has been so unsettling in many ways: it’s a problem we can’t fix.

We 21st century Americans tend to believe that we’re at the height of civilization, knowledge, and technology. There’s nothing we can’t accomplish if we set our minds to it. When we compare ourselves to our forefathers just 100 years ago, we’ve changed so much! Many people lived without electricity, indoor plumbing, automobiles, and modern medicine. But look at us now! We can fly across the world in hours, perform heart transplants, access the world’s libraries from a palm-sized device, and live comfortably whether the temperature is -20 or 100!

But covid kind of sobered us all to the reality that we can’t fix everything. Something so small and miniscule, microscopic even, can beat us. Try as we might, we just can’t prevent a virus from spreading and killing. We attempt all sorts of mitigation, but people still get sick, and we can’t really figure it out. Those most cautious and careful to avoid getting sick can still get it, while others who aren’t cautious in the least don’t get it; we can’t figure it out. Sometimes old and unhealthy people get it and survive just fine, other times young and healthy people get it and don’t survive; that doesn’t make any sense. We develop an injection to prevent the virus from spreading and hurting people, but then sometimes those people still get it, spread it, and suffer. What gives!

Ultimately this virus has led us all to the realization that I and others I love will die sooner or later, and I’m helpless to prevent it. I know we say we’re not afraid of death, just afraid of the process, but I don’t totally buy that. Death is terrifying and that’s okay because death isn’t good. God didn’t design us to die, but to live. Death isn’t natural, rather it’s the consequence of sin; I’m going to die because I’m a sinner, so are you. We don’t put on silly hats, decorate with party streamers, and dance when someone dies, instead we cry when someone we love dies. That’s okay. It’s a good and healthy thing to realize our profound helplessness. Because when we realize our helplessness, we’re brought nearer to our Lord to receive His mercy.

This is precisely what the ten lepers realized. “As Jesus 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.” Leprosy was absolutely demoralizing. It was a type of usually incurable skin disease which caused your body to rot while you were alive. Additionally, it was rather contagious, so you lived apart from society in a leper colony so as to prevent spreading it to others. If you got leprosy you lost everything and everyone you ever loved, and you were helpless to get it back.

Since these lepers realized their supreme helplessness, it brought them to Jesus. They had nowhere else to go, so they approached the Lord of the universe and begged Him quite simply for mercy. Without any ceremony whatsoever He simply told them to go, “and as they went they were cleansed.” Out of God’s abundant mercy He healed the ten lepers! 

These ten men, who realized their utter helplessness, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. They didn’t even explicitly ask for healing, they just begged for mercy, because whatever mercy they received from Jesus would’ve been enough. Their sense of helplessness helped faith to grow in their hearts so that they trusted Jesus would give them what He knew to be best for them. In this case He healed them bodily by cleansing the leprosy, and spiritually by sending them to the priests. 

God treats us the same way as these ten lepers. When we realize our helplessness and cry to Him for mercy, He looks upon us with love and comes to our aid. Very often we simply see the bad that happens in our lives and we ignore all the good that God fills us with. But God loves us and He does answer our prayers. He has given us life today and has protected us for many years; every day, every moment, only happens because God preserves us. We may complain about the timing, but God does send us rain; every single grain in the field is a gift from God. He does heal us; how many times have you gotten sick and then recovered? This doesn’t even take into account all of the things that God has saved us from which we don’t know about because God prevented them from happening! Constantly God is answering our prayers for mercy.

What’s more, God’s greater work of healing isn’t found in the body, but is found in the soul. It’s a miracle that these ten lepers were cleansed of their illness, but it’s a far better miracle that one of these men returned to Jesus and was healed eternally! “Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.” All ten were healed and all ten eventually died, but one was given eternal life.

The healing of the flesh that truly matters isn’t just that we’re saved from a bodily ailment, but that we’re saved from the sinful desires of our flesh. “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit… those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Sin and eternal death are the great ailments which God saves us from. Our Lord Jesus has healed us of the sinful desires of our flesh and given us the desires of the Spirit simply by speaking to us.

We’re helpless to fix this horrendous problem of our flesh, and so Jesus alone heals us of our leprosy of the soul. Upon the cross Jesus carried this leprosy and crucified it for all time. Now He speaks to us and declares that illness forgiven. The word of God is just as powerful today as it was when He spoke it to the ten lepers. “My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.”

God’s word attached to the waters in Baptism washed you clean of all your sin. God’s word attached to the bread and wine, the body and blood in Communion, cleanse you from the inside out. God’s word as spoken by the pastor in confession and absolution cleanses you from all guilt and shame. God’s word as you read it in the scriptures cleanses your mind and fills you with the fruit of the Spirit. 

This great healing that God showers upon you in the blood of Jesus Christ, through His Word, is your hope and your salvation. In the midst of feeling helpless, lost, and frightened, God fills you with hope because He is the one who shows you mercy. When you’re faced with all manner of trials and tribulations, when you realize there’s nothing you can do to fix the problems, when you’re helpless and despairing, look to Christ and seek mercy from Him. He is kind and gracious; He forgives your sins and speaks tenderly to you. You know that He loves you since He’s already died for you. He will shower you with mercy forever.

Many people just want temporary relief from their suffering, nothing more, like the nine lepers. While Jesus does give us that temporary relief very often, there’s so much more that He wants to give us: He wants to give us His eternal kingdom! All of the terrible tragedies we face in life don’t even compare to what God gives us. That’s what the one Samaritan leper realizes: God offers more than mere temporary relief, He offers eternal salvation, and that is far more desirable; that’s why he returns to Jesus.

In conclusion, let us learn helplessness like the ten lepers and seek mercy from the Lord alone. But better yet, let us learn faith and thankfulness like the one leper, and so receive the Kingdom of God. We who are gathered here today are like the one leper, we’ve returned to Jesus in faith. God bless you to remain in this faith.