Why Jesus Healed Ten

Trinity 14

September 9, 2012

Why Jesus Healed Ten

Luke 17:11-19

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Why did the Holy Spirit inspire St. Luke to record this multiple healing? Before I tell you why, let me tell you that it wasn't to make you feel guilty.

Our thanksgiving is always incomplete, imperfect, and mixed up with our selfish desires. A prophet who preached Christ 700 years before Christmas, St. Isaiah, is blunt: “All our righteous acts (including our thanksgiving) are like filthy rags [to God]” (Isaiah 64:6).

So don't try to measure yourself up to the Samaritan. Your mother may compare you to others, but you shouldn't. You shouldn't try to compare yourself to others in regard to how good you are or in regard to how thankful you are to God's goodness.

Here's the thing. Jesus healed all ten lepers. He did not re-leperize the other nine after the Samaritan showed up to give thanks. He knew before He healed them who would return. But He healed all ten because of His great mercy.

Jesus quotes St. Hosea, another prophet who preached Jesus' advent before He arrived, and said: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

Jesus desires mercy, but always rejoice that He is the source and the One who sustains all mercy. St. Paul says in Romans 9: “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (v. 16).

God's mercy is why those ten lepers were made whole. And when they were told to go to the Temple, Jesus gave them the faith to obey Him. And they were rewarded for Jesus' mercy.

And the Samaritan came back. Here's the rest of the story: he couldn't go to the Temple with the rest of the newly-healed Jews. If he had gone to the Temple, he would have been stoned to death. Jews could not allow non-Jews into their holy place.

So instead of going to the Temple of the Old Testament, of Moses and the Ten Commandments and of the Law, the Samaritan went to the Temple of the New Testament, Jesus.

Jesus is the New Temple. We know this from the Gospels. After Jesus had driven the money-changers from the Temple grounds, St. John tells us:

Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. (John 2:18-22)

The Samaritan had nowhere else to go. Jesus had created the faith in this man, so that this man trusted in Jesus. His faith was a gift and it clings to Jesus.

Thanksgiving that the world, and the Law, and you expect is measurable. Look at how we treat Thanksgiving Day: “Well, at least I'm going to church today. All those other people who are home watching parades and the football pre-game aren't thankful like me. If more people were thankful like me, than this country would be going to pieces!” That attitude is pride and is sinful.

Let's take it for granted that we take things for granted! Let's stop trying to measure how thankful we are.

Thanksgiving based on the Gospel is all about mercy, not measuring our level of sacrifice. The highest worship, praise, and thanksgiving is simply receiving the mercy that Jesus gives us!

In the Lord's Supper, also known as the Eucharist (Thanksgiving), you receive Christ Himself. You receive the forgiveness of your sin. He makes you whole for the very same reason He healed all ten lepers: His mercy.

In the name of the Father of the + Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen.