Faith in the magic words
This is the text of the sermon that I gave today at my teaching parish. It's not what I thought I was going to talk about. I thought I was going to give a much more personal sermon, but the more I wrote, the more that didn't feel right. I'll post the stuff I pulled out in a few days, and my readers (all 4 of you) can let me know what you think.
The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, the 17th Chapter (verses 11-19)
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, 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 made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
Grace and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and thanks be to God for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Growing up in Michigan, my parents always wanted me to do the right thing. They wanted for me to behave in the proper way. They wanted me to make them proud. One of the things I was taught was to be polite, to always treat grown ups with respect and always say please and thank you. This parable reminds me to say the magic words, “thank you.”
The lepers were staying away from Jesus, and everyone else, because that was what they were to do as someone who is unclean. It was not proper for the unclean to even speak to anyone. But they heard about this miracle man who was on the way to Jerusalem. This Jesus of Nazareth had made the blind able to see. He cast out demons. He healed lepers and made them clean. They heard even he had brought his friend, Lazarus, back from the dead. Rumor had it Jesus and his followers would be coming their way. So they went where they thought he may come from.
The lepers were desperate. Since contracting their disease (or series of diseases) they were considered unclean. They were cut off, shunned, denied, and rejected. Their friends and family, everyone they ever knew, ignored them and looked down on them. They were unclean. They could not talk to anyone. They would not hear from anyone. They were alone.
I empathize with the lepers. Since coming to Gettysburg in August, I have not seen any of my friends and family. I talk to my parents daily on the phone. I get regular emails from friends and family. I even get the occasional care package. But I miss being able to see them, to be able to pop over to someone’s house, or meet them for lunch. A call or a message is nice, but it pails to a hug, a look or just being there. I have met new people, and made new friends, but there is nothing like being home. But I am here because I want to be, because I should be here. The lepers had no choice. The lepers were isolated because life dealt them a bad hand. They did not get a call, or a message, or a note or cookies. They were alone. They were unclean. But I can imagine how much they longed to return to their previous life.
But they had hope. Maybe this miracle maker from Nazareth, this Jesus, could heal them. He has healed others, even some lepers. Maybe, just maybe, he can heal them. Then they see him; he is coming there way. But they cannot go near him. They are unclean, they cannot go to him. So to get his attention, they break a rule. They keep their distance, but they need his help. This guy might be able to give them their lives back. They speak. Not only do they speak, they yell. They are so desperate they shout, “Jesus, have mercy on us.”
Desperate times call for desperate measures. In a sermon on this lesson, Martin Luther said, “But where faith exists it makes man bold and anxious freely to bring his troubles unto God, and earnestly to pray for help.” We all have had bad times when life is getting the better of us. We are desperate. We have been knocked down by life, and now we are getting kicked while we are down. We feel unworthy of God's love. We are unclean, we cannot go to Him. We keep our distance, but we need His help. We become so desperate we shout. “Jesus, have mercy on us.”
“And they were made clean.” Jesus tells them to go to their priests and show the priests they are now clean. They can go back to their lives and their wives. They can return to their homes, friends, families and jobs. Their long nightmare is over. The ten lepers went home, probably sprinting. They just had their lives given back to them.
And our prayers are answered. Jesus intervened and took care of us. We feel clean. We are given back our lives and our wives. We can keep our homes, friends, families and jobs. Our long nightmare is over. We have just had our lives given back to us.
Someone recognizes this. He knows he was healed and cured. His life is once again his own. Everyone, everything he lost because he was unclean can be his again. He is overjoyed, overcome with emotion. He knows what he had lost has been given back to him. He stops, turns and runs to the Man who did this, the Man who gave him back his life. He sprints, shouting, praising God and he falls a Jesus’ feet, thanking him.
This is the turning point in this man’s life. In his old age, surrounded by his grandchildren, they will ask him, “Grandpa, tell us about when you met Jesus.” He will always remember because in that time, in that exact moment, his life changed. Before, he was unclean, an outcast, rejected by society. After, he can resume his life, he is clean, and he has been healed. Before, he was a leper, the lowest of lows. After, he can be with his family, he can be useful.
It’s not that the other nine were not grateful. They were just following Jesus’ command. He healed them and told them to show themselves to their priests. It’s not that the other nine were not grateful. But they were already thinking about going home, about being home. They were thinking about that first home cooked meal. They were appreciative, but they did not show it. They forgot about the magic words, “thank you.”
But one, the one who realized his life was given back to him, lies flat on his face thanking the one who healed him. He is a Samaritan. He is a Jew who is not a Jew, a foreigner in his own country. He is of a people who are separate because of ancient differences, jealousies and rivalries. He comes back and thanks Jesus for His mercy.
Jesus wonders where the other nine are. Were their healings not worthy of praise? Could they not even have yelled “thanks,” as they began to run home? Could they not even give the half-hearted “thank you” you give when you get socks and underwear for Christmas instead of the toys you wanted? The other nine are off to return to society, while the Samarian now former leper lies prostrate on the ground in front of Jesus.
The Psalm we read earlier today, Psalm 111, begins “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord.”
How do we act when God answers our prayers? How do we act when God helps us when we beg him for help? How do we act when he bails us out of the jam we got ourselves into? How do we act when He takes over because we know cannot do it by ourselves? When we are given a gift, do we thank God?
God has richly blessed me. He has pulled me out of more than one fine mess that I have gotten myself into. God has put me where He needs me to be. I can not stop saying “thank you.” I can not run out to the Hallmark store and buy a thank you card. I cannot send a nice fruit basket. But I daily thank God. I thank Him for wonderful, loving parents who have taught me so much and teach me more each day by how they live their lives. I give thanks for supportive family and friends. I thank God for a home church that supports and prays for me.
I thank God for putting me at LTSG. I thank Him for professors who are fountains of knowledge, wisdom and support. I give thanks for my fellow students, who help, support and encourage me. I thank God for sending me to this teaching parish full of open and inviting people.
I thank God for all of the good things He gives me before I even think to ask. I thank Him for putting so many people in my life to guide me to where He needs me to be. I give thanks for moving me to want to share the Gospel of salvation through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now the story is not over yet. We are just getting to the good part.
Jesus tells the man who lies flat on the ground to go home because your faith has healed you. But that’s not exactly right. In my limited studies of Greek, I have found a difference in some translations. In the last verse, Luke used the Greek word, sozo, which can be translated as "heal" or "save." All ten lepers were healed, were made clean, so something extra happened to the Samaritan. He was not just healed, but by giving thanks, he was also saved. In one day, in one moment, his life was changed. In one day, in one moment, he was healed. In one day, in one more moment, he was saved.
How do we act when God answers what was not in our prayers? How do we act when God helps us before we can beg him for help? How do we act when he keeps us out of the jam we were getting ourselves into? How do we act when He takes over because we cannot do it by ourselves? When we are given a gift we did not ask for, do we thank God?
Because they asked, Jesus healed the ten lepers. Because of his faith, the Samaritan leper was saved. It was faith that caused the thanksgiving. In the letter to the Hebrews (11:1), it is written “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I think a line from my favorite band, U2, says it better “It has to be believed to be seen.”
The Samaritan leper was not saved because he was thankful. It was not because he told Jesus how wonderful He is. God does not need to be praised so that He knows how great He is. God is omnipotent. He knows how great He is. God needs to be praised so WE know how great He is. We so often take all of our blessings for granted. We really do not see all the good things we have because we get focused on what we do not have or what we want. We may not have everything we want, but we have everything we need. We have been given everything we need. We only have to believe it to see it. In one of the most well known verses in the Bible, John 3.16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
We have the gift. We have been given the gifts. We will have salvation from all of our sins and eternal life. We accepted them when we were baptized. We accept them when we receive His body and His blood during communion. Our faith and our giving thanks is our acceptance of these gifts. But when our faith waivers, when we feel unclean and not worthy, when we get too caught up in our lives to notice the gifts that are sitting right in front of us, the gifts stay there, waiting for our return. As we heard in our second lesson (2 Timothy 2:11-13) “If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.”
It is because we asked, Jesus heals us and answers our prayers. It is because of our faith, we are saved.
I would like to close with a portion of a poem written by one of my professors, the Rev. Dr. Mark Vitalis Hoffman. He wrote this poem, as part of a sermon, on this parable.
So, I'd be thankful, but would it then be too late
To thank the person who had done for me something so great?
The point is: we shouldn't have to be told to say, "Thank you!"
The best thanks come naturally; don't you think that's true?
For so many things we fail to stop and thank our God,
Yet God keeps giving us stuff. Now that's a little odd,
And I guess the only way to explain it, though I cannot understand,
Is that God loves us so much that he keeps holding out his hand
We can't begin to count all the ways that God has blessed us.
But the greatest gift is our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
For while God deserves our thanks for supporting the human race,
Eternal life deserves eternal thanks for God's gift of loving grace.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, 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 made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
Grace and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and thanks be to God for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Growing up in Michigan, my parents always wanted me to do the right thing. They wanted for me to behave in the proper way. They wanted me to make them proud. One of the things I was taught was to be polite, to always treat grown ups with respect and always say please and thank you. This parable reminds me to say the magic words, “thank you.”
The lepers were staying away from Jesus, and everyone else, because that was what they were to do as someone who is unclean. It was not proper for the unclean to even speak to anyone. But they heard about this miracle man who was on the way to Jerusalem. This Jesus of Nazareth had made the blind able to see. He cast out demons. He healed lepers and made them clean. They heard even he had brought his friend, Lazarus, back from the dead. Rumor had it Jesus and his followers would be coming their way. So they went where they thought he may come from.
The lepers were desperate. Since contracting their disease (or series of diseases) they were considered unclean. They were cut off, shunned, denied, and rejected. Their friends and family, everyone they ever knew, ignored them and looked down on them. They were unclean. They could not talk to anyone. They would not hear from anyone. They were alone.
I empathize with the lepers. Since coming to Gettysburg in August, I have not seen any of my friends and family. I talk to my parents daily on the phone. I get regular emails from friends and family. I even get the occasional care package. But I miss being able to see them, to be able to pop over to someone’s house, or meet them for lunch. A call or a message is nice, but it pails to a hug, a look or just being there. I have met new people, and made new friends, but there is nothing like being home. But I am here because I want to be, because I should be here. The lepers had no choice. The lepers were isolated because life dealt them a bad hand. They did not get a call, or a message, or a note or cookies. They were alone. They were unclean. But I can imagine how much they longed to return to their previous life.
But they had hope. Maybe this miracle maker from Nazareth, this Jesus, could heal them. He has healed others, even some lepers. Maybe, just maybe, he can heal them. Then they see him; he is coming there way. But they cannot go near him. They are unclean, they cannot go to him. So to get his attention, they break a rule. They keep their distance, but they need his help. This guy might be able to give them their lives back. They speak. Not only do they speak, they yell. They are so desperate they shout, “Jesus, have mercy on us.”
Desperate times call for desperate measures. In a sermon on this lesson, Martin Luther said, “But where faith exists it makes man bold and anxious freely to bring his troubles unto God, and earnestly to pray for help.” We all have had bad times when life is getting the better of us. We are desperate. We have been knocked down by life, and now we are getting kicked while we are down. We feel unworthy of God's love. We are unclean, we cannot go to Him. We keep our distance, but we need His help. We become so desperate we shout. “Jesus, have mercy on us.”
“And they were made clean.” Jesus tells them to go to their priests and show the priests they are now clean. They can go back to their lives and their wives. They can return to their homes, friends, families and jobs. Their long nightmare is over. The ten lepers went home, probably sprinting. They just had their lives given back to them.
And our prayers are answered. Jesus intervened and took care of us. We feel clean. We are given back our lives and our wives. We can keep our homes, friends, families and jobs. Our long nightmare is over. We have just had our lives given back to us.
Someone recognizes this. He knows he was healed and cured. His life is once again his own. Everyone, everything he lost because he was unclean can be his again. He is overjoyed, overcome with emotion. He knows what he had lost has been given back to him. He stops, turns and runs to the Man who did this, the Man who gave him back his life. He sprints, shouting, praising God and he falls a Jesus’ feet, thanking him.
This is the turning point in this man’s life. In his old age, surrounded by his grandchildren, they will ask him, “Grandpa, tell us about when you met Jesus.” He will always remember because in that time, in that exact moment, his life changed. Before, he was unclean, an outcast, rejected by society. After, he can resume his life, he is clean, and he has been healed. Before, he was a leper, the lowest of lows. After, he can be with his family, he can be useful.
It’s not that the other nine were not grateful. They were just following Jesus’ command. He healed them and told them to show themselves to their priests. It’s not that the other nine were not grateful. But they were already thinking about going home, about being home. They were thinking about that first home cooked meal. They were appreciative, but they did not show it. They forgot about the magic words, “thank you.”
But one, the one who realized his life was given back to him, lies flat on his face thanking the one who healed him. He is a Samaritan. He is a Jew who is not a Jew, a foreigner in his own country. He is of a people who are separate because of ancient differences, jealousies and rivalries. He comes back and thanks Jesus for His mercy.
Jesus wonders where the other nine are. Were their healings not worthy of praise? Could they not even have yelled “thanks,” as they began to run home? Could they not even give the half-hearted “thank you” you give when you get socks and underwear for Christmas instead of the toys you wanted? The other nine are off to return to society, while the Samarian now former leper lies prostrate on the ground in front of Jesus.
The Psalm we read earlier today, Psalm 111, begins “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord.”
How do we act when God answers our prayers? How do we act when God helps us when we beg him for help? How do we act when he bails us out of the jam we got ourselves into? How do we act when He takes over because we know cannot do it by ourselves? When we are given a gift, do we thank God?
God has richly blessed me. He has pulled me out of more than one fine mess that I have gotten myself into. God has put me where He needs me to be. I can not stop saying “thank you.” I can not run out to the Hallmark store and buy a thank you card. I cannot send a nice fruit basket. But I daily thank God. I thank Him for wonderful, loving parents who have taught me so much and teach me more each day by how they live their lives. I give thanks for supportive family and friends. I thank God for a home church that supports and prays for me.
I thank God for putting me at LTSG. I thank Him for professors who are fountains of knowledge, wisdom and support. I give thanks for my fellow students, who help, support and encourage me. I thank God for sending me to this teaching parish full of open and inviting people.
I thank God for all of the good things He gives me before I even think to ask. I thank Him for putting so many people in my life to guide me to where He needs me to be. I give thanks for moving me to want to share the Gospel of salvation through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now the story is not over yet. We are just getting to the good part.
Jesus tells the man who lies flat on the ground to go home because your faith has healed you. But that’s not exactly right. In my limited studies of Greek, I have found a difference in some translations. In the last verse, Luke used the Greek word, sozo, which can be translated as "heal" or "save." All ten lepers were healed, were made clean, so something extra happened to the Samaritan. He was not just healed, but by giving thanks, he was also saved. In one day, in one moment, his life was changed. In one day, in one moment, he was healed. In one day, in one more moment, he was saved.
How do we act when God answers what was not in our prayers? How do we act when God helps us before we can beg him for help? How do we act when he keeps us out of the jam we were getting ourselves into? How do we act when He takes over because we cannot do it by ourselves? When we are given a gift we did not ask for, do we thank God?
Because they asked, Jesus healed the ten lepers. Because of his faith, the Samaritan leper was saved. It was faith that caused the thanksgiving. In the letter to the Hebrews (11:1), it is written “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I think a line from my favorite band, U2, says it better “It has to be believed to be seen.”
The Samaritan leper was not saved because he was thankful. It was not because he told Jesus how wonderful He is. God does not need to be praised so that He knows how great He is. God is omnipotent. He knows how great He is. God needs to be praised so WE know how great He is. We so often take all of our blessings for granted. We really do not see all the good things we have because we get focused on what we do not have or what we want. We may not have everything we want, but we have everything we need. We have been given everything we need. We only have to believe it to see it. In one of the most well known verses in the Bible, John 3.16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
We have the gift. We have been given the gifts. We will have salvation from all of our sins and eternal life. We accepted them when we were baptized. We accept them when we receive His body and His blood during communion. Our faith and our giving thanks is our acceptance of these gifts. But when our faith waivers, when we feel unclean and not worthy, when we get too caught up in our lives to notice the gifts that are sitting right in front of us, the gifts stay there, waiting for our return. As we heard in our second lesson (2 Timothy 2:11-13) “If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.”
It is because we asked, Jesus heals us and answers our prayers. It is because of our faith, we are saved.
I would like to close with a portion of a poem written by one of my professors, the Rev. Dr. Mark Vitalis Hoffman. He wrote this poem, as part of a sermon, on this parable.
So, I'd be thankful, but would it then be too late
To thank the person who had done for me something so great?
The point is: we shouldn't have to be told to say, "Thank you!"
The best thanks come naturally; don't you think that's true?
For so many things we fail to stop and thank our God,
Yet God keeps giving us stuff. Now that's a little odd,
And I guess the only way to explain it, though I cannot understand,
Is that God loves us so much that he keeps holding out his hand
We can't begin to count all the ways that God has blessed us.
But the greatest gift is our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
For while God deserves our thanks for supporting the human race,
Eternal life deserves eternal thanks for God's gift of loving grace.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
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