Go and do likewise, with faith and thanksgiving

Sermon for Trinity 14

Galatians 5:16-24  +  Luke 17:11-19

Last week, we heard the parable of the Good Samaritan who treated with such kindness that man who had been mugged and left for dead on the side of the road. This week, we hear of another good Samaritan, not in a parable, but in his actual encounter with the Lord Jesus. And just as we were instructed by Jesus last week to “go and do likewise,” to go and show the Samaritan’s kindness to our neighbor who needs our help, so we are guided by the Holy Spirit in today’s reading to “go and do likewise,” to show the kind of faith, and the kind of thankfulness, that the Samaritan showed in the healing of the Ten Lepers.

First, why does Luke include all these accounts with Samaritans? Samaritans lived in between Judea in the south and Jewish Galilee in the north. They were essentially foreigners, as Jesus calls the Samaritan in today’s account. But that’s exactly why Luke includes them, and why the Holy Spirit guided Luke to include them. They teach a very important lesson to the Jews who thought of themselves as the VIP’s in God’s kingdom, who thought that their race, that their ancestry automatically made them acceptable to God. Now, there were certainly advantages at that time to being a Jew. But there’s nothing automatic about being acceptable to God. You don’t gain God’s acceptance by having the right parents or the right genes. The only way to gain God’s acceptance is by trusting in the One whom God sent to make us acceptable.

Now, on to the story itself. There were ten men (including one Samaritan) with the disfiguring disease called leprosy. Even in the secular world, showing signs of leprosy often forced people to quarantine away from the healthy people. But in the Old Testament Law given by God through Moses on Mt. Sinai, lepers were strictly prohibited from interacting with Jewish society, including the synagogue, including the temple. It was a lonely, lonely life.

God was teaching Israel a vital lesson in how His Law dealt with lepers. God’s Law absolutely insisted that a person had to be “clean” in order to be acceptable to God. Clean and unclean were themes throughout the whole Old Testament. There were many ways to become ceremonially unclean, and specific procedures for becoming clean again. Leprosy was the ultimate form of uncleanness, a disease that couldn’t be cured, that couldn’t be washed away, because it was an ugliness that infected the skin and the body. Leprosy didn’t really have a cure, but if a person did somehow recover from it, God’s Law specified a very elaborate process, involving the priests, for examining the person and then performing the rituals needed to pronounce the person ceremonially clean.

Now, the outward disfigurement of leprosy that affected a small minority of people symbolized the inner disfigurement of sin that affects all people. There is a deep-seated uncleanness that infects us all. We call it original sin. And it’s ugly in God’s sight. Every time the Israelites saw a leper, they were to remember, that’s what I look like on the inside, unclean and isolated from God! That’s why I need the spiritual cleansing that my God provides in the sin offerings, and, ultimately, in the promised Messiah!

The promised Messiah, Jesus, has a very brief but meaningful encounter with some of these lepers in our Gospel. Ten of them had heard the word that was going around about Jesus. That He had come from God. That He was able to heal all kinds of diseases. That He was kind and merciful and ready to help anyone who came to Him. They heard it, and they believed it. And since they believed it, they called out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

And just like that, without requiring anything of them, Jesus replied, Go and show yourselves to the priests. He didn’t need to spell out for them what that meant. They knew that the priests were the ones who had to examine lepers and pronounce them clean. They understood exactly what Jesus implied: “I have mercy on you. By the time you get to the priests, you will already be clean!”

So they went on their way. We don’t know how far they got before they noticed that their leprosy was gone. They had believed what they had heard about Jesus. They had asked Him for help. He had spoken to them a cleansing word, a promise to cleanse them of their leprosy. And they had believed that promise and had acted on it. And now the promise had been kept.

Then what? They all celebrated their cleansing. They never thought it was possible, until Jesus came along. And now their hopes had come true. Their faith in Jesus’ promise had been confirmed. But then something terrible happened. Nine of them forgot about Jesus.

But one of them, the Samaritan, didn’t forget. He remembered the source of his cleansing, and his heart was filled with gratitude. So he turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. And he fell down on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him.

Now, Jesus wasn’t surprised that the man had been healed. What surprised Him, or at least what clearly disappointed Him, was that only one out of ten came back to give glory to God. Were not all ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give glory to God except for this foreigner? Some of the nine, maybe all of the nine, were Jews who should have known better, whose first thought upon being healed should have been acknowledging the God who had healed them. Instead it was a foreigner, a Samaritan, someone who had no ancestral claim to God’s acceptance, who demonstrated both faith and the thankfulness that flows from genuine faith.

And so Jesus both commended him and assured him: Rise and go. Your faith has saved you. And the clear implication is that everyone who reads this account, everyone who hears it, should “go and do likewise.” Believe as the Samaritan believed, and give thanks to God as the Samaritan gave thanks.

Outwardly, the Samaritan began as a leper. Inwardly, spiritually, you and I all began as unclean lepers, with that “flesh” that St. Paul talked about in today’s epistle to the Galatians, that flesh that lusts against the Spirit, that flesh that is opposed to the Holy Spirit, that flesh whose works are obvious: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, murders, drunkenness, debauchery, and things like these. Not only did you begin that way. But here’s the hard thing to hear: Your flesh is still that way, eager to engage in works like those the apostle mentioned. There’s no “cure” for the flesh, as long as we still live in this world.

But there is a cleansing before God. There is a way to be accepted by God, and it has nothing to do with your ancestry, or with your works. It’s hearing the word about Jesus, that He came from God, that He is the very Son of God, that He is kind and good to all who come to Him for cleansing. It’s hearing the word about Jesus, that He suffered and died for your sinful flesh and for the works that have come from your sinful flesh. And then it’s hearing and believing the promise He now makes: All who believe in Him are cleansed before God. All who believe in Him receive the forgiveness of sins, are made acceptable to God, are given a status that is clean and new and beautiful. The Samaritan leper believed the promise of Jesus, and his faith saved him. That is, his salvation came as a result of faith in Jesus. You should believe it, too. Go and do likewise!

Not salvation from leprosy, though. Not salvation from every illness, or from poverty, or from tragedy. Jesus hasn’t promised salvation from those things during this lifetime. What He has promised is salvation from sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. Believe that promise, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and your faith will save you, too.

But faith ought to be accompanied by thanksgiving, as it was with the Samaritan in our Gospel. If it isn’t, then there’s something wrong. And you can all think of times when you’ve received a wonderful gift from God that you went on to enjoy without actually thanking Him for. Let today’s Gospel lead you to repent of that inborn thanklessness and to follow again the example of the Samaritan leper.

And as you do, notice that the Samaritan didn’t just stop where he was on the road and say a silent prayer to God in heaven. No, he returned to where Jesus was present for him, to where Jesus made Himself available to people. You can do something similar. Jesus isn’t located in this place or that place since His ascension into heaven. But He has promised to be present in a special way where Christians gather together in His name, to hear His Word and to receive His Sacraments. He’s here among us today in that way, and He gladly hears and accepts your prayers of thanksgiving, whether sung or spoken. He gladly accepts the thanksgiving you bring as you come to His holy Supper, the Eucharist. And as you kneel, in humble thanks, to receive the very body and blood that He gave into death for your sins, just as the Samaritan once knelt at Jesus’ feet, He speaks to you, just as He spoke to the Samaritan, Rise and go. Your faith has saved you.

The Samaritan came to Jesus with His uncleanness and sought His help. He believed in Jesus’ word of cleansing and returned to give Him thanks. Go and do likewise, over and over again, with faith and with thanksgiving. Having been cleansed of the works of the flesh, make it your daily purpose to put to death the works of the flesh, to walk by the Spirit, and to produce His fruit in abundance, with thanksgiving. Amen.