Luke 17:11-19
Trinity 14
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit
As Jesus entered a village, He was met by ten lepers. Now already most of you know exactly what’s coming; even Sunday school drop-outs likely remember this story. We know how leprosy is a debilitating and contagious skin disease. We know that whenever Jesus encounters diseased people, there’s a fairly good chance that He will heal them. And we know that only one guy does the right thing here and says “thank you” to Jesus. And so we can be tempted to tune out because we figure we’ve got this one down.
So in order to avoid that, let’s come at the narrative this way: What if the lepers had just kept quiet? You have to admit that this entire account would be vastly different if the lepers had not voiced their collective cry for mercy. What if they were too depressed to pray? What if they figured that Jesus already knew what they needed, so why go to the trouble of spelling it out? What difference would it make? What if they didn’t think Jesus would listen to their prayer or even acknowledge them? (They were unclean, quarantined outcasts, after all.) Safe to say, if the lepers had not voiced their prayer for mercy and called on the name of the Lord, there would have been no healing, no cleansing, and no praise or thanksgiving.
This account teaches us, first of all then, the importance of prayer and calling on the name of the Lord who alone has the power to help. It’s unthinkable that those desperate lepers might have kept quiet. Yet, we do it all the time. We fail to pray. We refuse to lift up our voices to the Lord Jesus and simply pray. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that we Christians often spend more time talking about prayer or saying that we’re going to pray for someone than we spend actually praying.
So let me emphasize to you again that while prayer is indeed a gift and a privilege, it is also a commandment of God. Martin Luther in the Large Catechism reminds us that God requires us to pray; He hasn’t left it as an optional thing. Prayer is our duty and obligation. If you aren’t praying daily, if you have no time scheduled or set aside to speak to God, then you are failing to do one of the most fundamental duties of the Christian life.
But so that you might not fail to pray—so that you might be encouraged and drawn into a life of prayer—God gave the ten lepers to lead us, particularly in this prayer: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!
The lepers’ prayer is something of a surprise. They don’t specifically ask to be cured of their leprosy. They don’t specifically ask for healing, but for mercy. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. That is the kind of thing you pray when you’re helpless and powerless. Lord, have mercy. It’s what we pray here in this place at every service. We may pray those words thoughtlessly at times. But there was nothing thoughtless about this prayer shouted from the cracked lips of lepers.
When you pray “Lord, have mercy,” you’re asking for God’s help. But like the lepers, you’re leaving the details of your deliverance in God’s hands; you’re leaving the specifics up to the Lord. You’re trusting Him for help; but you’re leaving the methods and the timing in His hands. So when you pray, “Lord, have mercy,” that’s no insignificant request. For when you say those words, you are aligning yourselves with the lepers—helpless and festering with sin and its effects.
Jesus will not ignore this prayer. When Jesus heard their prayer, He gave attention to it and spoke only one statement to the ten: Go and show yourselves to the priests. On the surface that doesn’t sound like much. Notice that there was no explicit healing from Jesus, no “fear not,” no guarantees. Jesus just gives them an implicit promise hidden beneath the words: Go and show yourselves to the priests.
In the book of Leviticus it says that you’re supposed to show yourself to the priests after you have been cleansed of leprosy. The priests would verify your healing and offer a sacrifice to God to mark the occasion. Jesus’ words make perfectly good sense for someone who had already been cleansed of leprosy. Except that these ten men had not been cleansed of leprosy. Their skin was still infected! They were still outcasts! Nothing had changed! The only real difference–and this was the key thing–was that now, sounding in their ears, were the words of Jesus, words that had healing implicit within them.
And it’s just at this point that Luke takes us to the heart of the miracle. It is written: And as they went they were cleansed. Hear it again: As they went they were cleansed.
If I had been one of those lepers, I think I would have needed to see at least some evidence of healing before I set off. “Seeing is believing.” We want tangible proof. But not these blessed lepers. All they had were the words of Jesus—and they were good to go. And as they went they were healed.
This is a great illustration of the Christian life. We’re just like the lepers. We’re helpless and hopeless and so sick with sin that it’s killing us and cutting us off from those we love. Our situation is dire and desperate. But then a loving Savior passes our way (right here in this place!); and we can’t do much of anything except to lift up our voices and pray the prayer of those desperate lepers: Kyrie Eleison. Lord, have mercy.
That loving Savior then puts His words into your ears. He declares things that you can’t necessarily see yet: “I forgive you all your sins. By my wounds you are healed. I have called you by name; you are Mine. I will never leave you or forsake you.” You are called to believe that it’s true, even without the tangible evidence and experiential proof that might want to have. He says, “Go show yourself to the priests. Confess your sins; receive My sacrificial body and blood for the forgiveness and your cleansing.” And then He also says, “Go and love me above all other things in your day to day life. Go from here and serve your neighbor. Go and love your spouse; honor your parents. Go and forgive those who sin against you. Go and pray without ceasing. Go and take up your cross and follow me.” And as you walk that path, clinging to His promises, Jesus gives healing and cleansing. Along life’s way, as you just place one foot in front of the other, Jesus provides the help and the strength and the mercy you so desperately need. As you follow His words, you begin to see how He is working life for you and in you.
So the question is, will you go? Which is to say, do you trust Jesus? Will you walk with the lepers and journey in faith–even though you have no evidence of deliverance, even though your life is still infected with sin? Will you go? Will you walk by the Spirit with confidence and faith, expecting and believing that Jesus will fulfill every promise—even though right now, at this moment, things may look grim?
Our Lord knows what it’s like when things look grim. His own journey led to death by crucifixion. He was sacrificed as your substitute. The One who laid down His life for you is the same One who will carry you through this life in faith—all the way to the life of the world to come.
If those lepers had decided not to go—if they had stayed stuck in their despair—if they had decided to do the safe thing and stay put—this story would have ended far differently. The promises were from Jesus. The healing was from Jesus. The miracle was from Jesus. But the Spirit-worked faith of the lepers enabled them to receive that promised healing. As our Master says, “Your faith has made you well.”
That’s the same faith God gave to you way back when you were cleansed at the font. That baptism is the reason you can indeed go when your God says “go.” That baptism means that you have cleansing and healing from every sin. That baptism means that Jesus’ perfect, sinless life counts for you. It means that He’s already died your death, so that the life you live today—you live for Him, and in Him.
As they went they were cleansed. They moved forward in faith trusting in and following Jesus’ words. Today, your feet have carried you forward in faith to this place and to this altar. Although we could also say that you’ve walked backward in faith, like the Samaritan leper who returned and fell down at Jesus’ feet. Here at the Eucharist, we continually return and come back to give thanks and glorify God for the healing and the cleansing He gives in this holy meal. We praise Him that by His body and blood, we are given the strength to keep going, walking by faith in the Holy Spirit.
You are being cleansed. True, your life is probably messy and complicated, riddled with anxiety and weariness, but don’t miss what’s really happening. You are being cleansed by Jesus. You are being healed. You are being saved and delivered from death. This is how your God operates. He cares for you more than you can know. No detail of your life is too small or insignificant. You are holy and precious to Him—as precious as the blood of His Son and as holy as the perfect life of Jesus, our Savior.
This is why we pray, praise, and give thanks. Your faith has made you well. And this is why–every day–we join in the litany of the lepers: Lord, have mercy on us.
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit
(With thanks to the Rev. Michael Henrichs)