Proverbs 4:10-23; Galatians 5:16-24; St Luke 17:11-19
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear saints in Christ, last Sunday you heard a parable about a Samaritan who showed mercy to one in need and you were instructed by our Lord Jesus to go and do likewise. For this love and compassion upon the neighbor is the fulfilling of the Law. Which is the holy will and Word of the Lord your God who rejoices in your good deeds performed according to faith active in love. Now today you are given another example by another Samaritan, who offers right praise and thanksgiving to God. Which is also commanded and desired by the Lord your God according to the Decalogue.
Likewise according to the holy Law of God these lepers, who encountered our Lord as He journeyed toward Jerusalem and His Cross and Passion, were commanded to be separated from the community; cut off from their families and friends as long as they have the disease. It is written, The leper shall live alone. He is unclean. His dwelling shall be outside the camp (Lev 13:46). Moreover, their disease not only cut them off from family and neighbor, from their community, but their leprosy also cut them off from God; from entering the Temple and participating in the sacrifices and fellowship.
For these reasons leprosy was long considered an allegory for sin. As leprosy cut off the leper from fellowship with both God and community, so sin cuts off the sinner from fellowship with the blessed Holy Trinity and in the community of the faithful. But as leprosy was not merely a flesh wound, so the allegory goes deeper.
Leprosy was a degenerative skin disease that not only caused boils and lesions, but deadened the nerves so that the body and mind cannot feel the pain. Lepers would loose fingers and toes, noses and ears and not even be aware that the flesh of their bodies was destroying itself. Leprosy makes one so sick they don’t even know how sick they are.
So it is with sin. Not only does it separate us from God and neighbor, but sin deadens our consciences to its effects, such that we may not even feel them. We don’t know how sick we are. Habitual, besetting sins callous the conscience, hardening it to the penetration of the Law, which serves to bring you to repentance. You see this most especially with sexual sins. Not only sex outside of marriage or homosexuality, but the “less conspicuous” sexual sins which St Paul mentions in today’s Epistle. What is rendered in our text as sexual immorality is sometimes translated fornication. But I think the Greek drives home the point even more: porneia. Porn.
The problem of pornography in our culture today is rampant. And its effects are devastating. To spouses, to families, to how we view and interact with members of the opposite sex. It is a leprosy that enters the soul through the eyes and not only blinds us to true and godly beauty, but also deadens the heart and mind to the effects of such immorality.
Some sins, like pornography, isolate and separate, hide one in the cover of darkness for the works are evil. Other addiction, other leprosies such as drugs or alcohol can push outsiders together to form their own sort of weird community; not unlike the ten lepers in our Gospel. We learn at the end that one of them is a Samaritan. Presumably the other nine are Jews. Ordinarily such men would not associate with one another, but its not only that misery loves company, but that sin gives birth to sin. A new community, a false community is formed in which all members feed off of and encourage one another’s sin-sickness.
This isn’t only the scandalous, “hard” sins. But is true of the little pet sins you nurse, too. To whom do you run or call when you have the latest bit of juicy gossip? When you feel the need to vent and complain? Among the gross sexual sins St Paul lists the “minor” ones of strife, jealousy, anger, rivals, envy. The truth is that in the depth of sinfulness we don’t even recognize our need. We don’t know what’s good for us.
Learn from the lepers, beloved. Cry out to Jesus. Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. And this is the cry not only of the Church’s Kyrie, but also of the Litany. That great Prayer of the Church petitioning our Lord Christ for all manner of things. For deliverance from sin, error, evil, from the crafts and assaults of the devil, from famine and pestilence, from war and bloodshed. To help in all tribulation and prosperity, in death and judgment. To rule and govern the holy Christian Church, her pastors and people. To give peace to all peoples. To strengthen and keep all sick persons and young children. To forgive our enemies and graciously to hear our prayers.
For fight as you do against sin, yearn as you do for a good conscience, a clean conscience, this, beloved, this is what faith does: it looks to Jesus, its Author and Perfecter. It cries out to Him for mercy for our leprosies, in all its various forms, blatant and obvious, subtle and hidden.
And what does our Lord Jesus do? When He saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” That is, get you to the Temple, to Church, to My Word. Does your conscience afflict you and not give you a moment’s peace? Then go and show yourself to the priest, the pastor, the man whom Christ has sent to preach the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins into your ears and heart. Are you troubled by doubt and hate your leprous flesh? Then go and show yourself to the Altar of our Lord’s Body and Blood, the Sacrament of His Abiding and Sustaining Mercy.
For as this Samaritan returns to Christ while the others run off to the Temple, we learn that Jesus is the New Temple, not made with hands, the dwelling of the Most High in the Flesh of Man. And He who took up your flesh, also took up your sin. Not as inherited from Adam, as it is for you, but as He willingly took up in His baptism, fasting, and temptation, as you say in the Litany. Christ became Sin for us.
He became the pornographer and adulterer, the drunkard and the addict, the gossip and the busy-body. Jesus became the leper, cast away from God, cut off from His presence in the Temple, thrown outside the city alone and isolated. He cried out for mercy, but His pleas were not answered. For His suffering is for your good. His isolation means your fellowship. His abandonment means your adoption. His being cut-off means that you are grafted in. He who became your Sin bestows upon you His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21).
Elsewhere it is written, The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Tim 1:5). As our Lord Jesus said to the once-leprous Samaritan, Rise and go your way, your faith has saved you. For this is faith that comes by the hearing the Word of Christ, pressed into your ears, penetrating your heart and mind, creating and sustaining a lively trust in His sure and certain Word of forgiveness and life.
This is faith the brings with it the Holy Spirit and ingrafts you into the Vine of Christ and His true Wisdom. Therefore you produce the fruits of the Spirit as St Paul lists: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Which are in accord with the Decalogue, the Word and will of the Lord.
This is why Jesus remarks as He does concerning the return of only the one. Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Our Lord expects praise and thanksgiving to flow from our hearts and lips in joyous gratitude for all He has done for us. His blessing is not conditional upon it, though. All ten were healed. All ten believed. As soon as the other nine got what they wanted, faith vanished. But the Samaritan received not only healing from his physical leprosy, but also his spiritual. He received the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
And such faith which freely obtains God’s mercy because of His Word, bursts forth into praise and thanksgiving, as you see not only in the Samaritan, but in the hymn you just sang. “Oh for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise . . . See all your sins on Jesus laid; the Lamb of God was slain. His soul was once an off’ring made For ev’ry soul of man.” (LSB 528:1, 6). You cry out for mercy and then sing the Gloria. You plead for a clean heart and right spirit and then you receive the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus given and shed for you. What could be any better?
You know, Luther once quipped that evangelism is merely one beggar telling another beggar where to find food. Perhaps it is also merely one leper telling another leper where to be healed.
Come, beloved, eat the Bread of Righteousness and drink the Wine of Peace. Be attentive to the Word of Christ, His word of forgiveness. Keep it within your heart. It is indeed life and healing.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear saints in Christ, last Sunday you heard a parable about a Samaritan who showed mercy to one in need and you were instructed by our Lord Jesus to go and do likewise. For this love and compassion upon the neighbor is the fulfilling of the Law. Which is the holy will and Word of the Lord your God who rejoices in your good deeds performed according to faith active in love. Now today you are given another example by another Samaritan, who offers right praise and thanksgiving to God. Which is also commanded and desired by the Lord your God according to the Decalogue.
Likewise according to the holy Law of God these lepers, who encountered our Lord as He journeyed toward Jerusalem and His Cross and Passion, were commanded to be separated from the community; cut off from their families and friends as long as they have the disease. It is written, The leper shall live alone. He is unclean. His dwelling shall be outside the camp (Lev 13:46). Moreover, their disease not only cut them off from family and neighbor, from their community, but their leprosy also cut them off from God; from entering the Temple and participating in the sacrifices and fellowship.
For these reasons leprosy was long considered an allegory for sin. As leprosy cut off the leper from fellowship with both God and community, so sin cuts off the sinner from fellowship with the blessed Holy Trinity and in the community of the faithful. But as leprosy was not merely a flesh wound, so the allegory goes deeper.
Leprosy was a degenerative skin disease that not only caused boils and lesions, but deadened the nerves so that the body and mind cannot feel the pain. Lepers would loose fingers and toes, noses and ears and not even be aware that the flesh of their bodies was destroying itself. Leprosy makes one so sick they don’t even know how sick they are.
So it is with sin. Not only does it separate us from God and neighbor, but sin deadens our consciences to its effects, such that we may not even feel them. We don’t know how sick we are. Habitual, besetting sins callous the conscience, hardening it to the penetration of the Law, which serves to bring you to repentance. You see this most especially with sexual sins. Not only sex outside of marriage or homosexuality, but the “less conspicuous” sexual sins which St Paul mentions in today’s Epistle. What is rendered in our text as sexual immorality is sometimes translated fornication. But I think the Greek drives home the point even more: porneia. Porn.
The problem of pornography in our culture today is rampant. And its effects are devastating. To spouses, to families, to how we view and interact with members of the opposite sex. It is a leprosy that enters the soul through the eyes and not only blinds us to true and godly beauty, but also deadens the heart and mind to the effects of such immorality.
Some sins, like pornography, isolate and separate, hide one in the cover of darkness for the works are evil. Other addiction, other leprosies such as drugs or alcohol can push outsiders together to form their own sort of weird community; not unlike the ten lepers in our Gospel. We learn at the end that one of them is a Samaritan. Presumably the other nine are Jews. Ordinarily such men would not associate with one another, but its not only that misery loves company, but that sin gives birth to sin. A new community, a false community is formed in which all members feed off of and encourage one another’s sin-sickness.
This isn’t only the scandalous, “hard” sins. But is true of the little pet sins you nurse, too. To whom do you run or call when you have the latest bit of juicy gossip? When you feel the need to vent and complain? Among the gross sexual sins St Paul lists the “minor” ones of strife, jealousy, anger, rivals, envy. The truth is that in the depth of sinfulness we don’t even recognize our need. We don’t know what’s good for us.
Learn from the lepers, beloved. Cry out to Jesus. Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. And this is the cry not only of the Church’s Kyrie, but also of the Litany. That great Prayer of the Church petitioning our Lord Christ for all manner of things. For deliverance from sin, error, evil, from the crafts and assaults of the devil, from famine and pestilence, from war and bloodshed. To help in all tribulation and prosperity, in death and judgment. To rule and govern the holy Christian Church, her pastors and people. To give peace to all peoples. To strengthen and keep all sick persons and young children. To forgive our enemies and graciously to hear our prayers.
For fight as you do against sin, yearn as you do for a good conscience, a clean conscience, this, beloved, this is what faith does: it looks to Jesus, its Author and Perfecter. It cries out to Him for mercy for our leprosies, in all its various forms, blatant and obvious, subtle and hidden.
And what does our Lord Jesus do? When He saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” That is, get you to the Temple, to Church, to My Word. Does your conscience afflict you and not give you a moment’s peace? Then go and show yourself to the priest, the pastor, the man whom Christ has sent to preach the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins into your ears and heart. Are you troubled by doubt and hate your leprous flesh? Then go and show yourself to the Altar of our Lord’s Body and Blood, the Sacrament of His Abiding and Sustaining Mercy.
For as this Samaritan returns to Christ while the others run off to the Temple, we learn that Jesus is the New Temple, not made with hands, the dwelling of the Most High in the Flesh of Man. And He who took up your flesh, also took up your sin. Not as inherited from Adam, as it is for you, but as He willingly took up in His baptism, fasting, and temptation, as you say in the Litany. Christ became Sin for us.
He became the pornographer and adulterer, the drunkard and the addict, the gossip and the busy-body. Jesus became the leper, cast away from God, cut off from His presence in the Temple, thrown outside the city alone and isolated. He cried out for mercy, but His pleas were not answered. For His suffering is for your good. His isolation means your fellowship. His abandonment means your adoption. His being cut-off means that you are grafted in. He who became your Sin bestows upon you His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21).
Elsewhere it is written, The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Tim 1:5). As our Lord Jesus said to the once-leprous Samaritan, Rise and go your way, your faith has saved you. For this is faith that comes by the hearing the Word of Christ, pressed into your ears, penetrating your heart and mind, creating and sustaining a lively trust in His sure and certain Word of forgiveness and life.
This is faith the brings with it the Holy Spirit and ingrafts you into the Vine of Christ and His true Wisdom. Therefore you produce the fruits of the Spirit as St Paul lists: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Which are in accord with the Decalogue, the Word and will of the Lord.
This is why Jesus remarks as He does concerning the return of only the one. Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Our Lord expects praise and thanksgiving to flow from our hearts and lips in joyous gratitude for all He has done for us. His blessing is not conditional upon it, though. All ten were healed. All ten believed. As soon as the other nine got what they wanted, faith vanished. But the Samaritan received not only healing from his physical leprosy, but also his spiritual. He received the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
And such faith which freely obtains God’s mercy because of His Word, bursts forth into praise and thanksgiving, as you see not only in the Samaritan, but in the hymn you just sang. “Oh for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise . . . See all your sins on Jesus laid; the Lamb of God was slain. His soul was once an off’ring made For ev’ry soul of man.” (LSB 528:1, 6). You cry out for mercy and then sing the Gloria. You plead for a clean heart and right spirit and then you receive the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus given and shed for you. What could be any better?
You know, Luther once quipped that evangelism is merely one beggar telling another beggar where to find food. Perhaps it is also merely one leper telling another leper where to be healed.
Come, beloved, eat the Bread of Righteousness and drink the Wine of Peace. Be attentive to the Word of Christ, His word of forgiveness. Keep it within your heart. It is indeed life and healing.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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