| |
|
|
| |
"PRAISE GOD”
Thanksgiving Eve
November 26, 2008
Luke
17: 11-19
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Let us imagine that we are going back two thousand years. Oh, we can do even better than that. Let us imagine that you, each one of you, is one of the ten lepers mentioned in our Gospel this evening. Which one are you? Well, let us see if we can answer that as we go. So you are one of ten lepers, nine Jewish and one Samaritan. Now, normally Jews and Samaritans do not mix. But I guess you can call leprosy the great equalizer. It strikes rich and poor, noble born and peasant, and everyone in between, men and women, causing disfiguring skin blotches and neuropathy to the point where often people lose the ability to walk or use their hands, it can even damage the eyes. There you are, your only companions are your fellow lepers, you are cut off from your family of origin, cut off from society. In fact, you are not even part of society – if you think of the ladder of society you are so far down you cannot even reach the bottom rung of the ladder. You are obligated to cry out “unclean, unclean” anytime anyone approaches you or if you and your fellows are approaching someone. You often have to ring a bell to let people know you are in the area. No cure, no hope. But you have begun hearing about this man named Jesus. Some call him the Messiah, the Christ, you have even heard that he has claimed to be the Son of God. You do not know about that, but you have heard that he is a wonderful teacher, an excellent preacher, sharing good news of the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven with all who come to hear him. You have heard that he has given sight to those without sight, hearing to those who could not hear, that he has made those who could not walk, walk. Why, you have even heard that he has raised the dead. He seems to have no problem in dealing with Romans, Samaritans, and others. He even eats and visits with sinners – tax collectors and the like! And he can do all these miraculous things from a distance, or by a word. But what has really caught your attention is that you have been told that he has cleansed lepers, and not only cleansed them but actually touched them! Unheard of! And now the ten of you see him, this Jesus, and you approach him. You are full of hope, not an unfounded hope as you have experienced before, but a certainty, that this man, this Jesus, not only can, but will heal you. In a moment of introspection you wonder where this feeling came from, you do not remember thinking about it before but you are sure about this. There he is! You begin crying out “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And Jesus looks toward you, not a look of disgust or even fear. He smiles, a smile that somehow seems to warm you inside, a smile that when you think about it later, seemed to welcome you. And he simply says, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” The ten of you simply turn and head for the priests. You realize that no one argued or objected, you and your fellows are not like Namaan who was angry and stormed away when Elijah told him to bathe in the Jordan River. As you walk, you inwardly marvel that somehow you trust Jesus enough to show yourselves to the priests, but as you walk, you notice a tingling in your toes, your feet, half way up your calves, you are feeling where you have not felt anything for a long time. Your fingers are tingling, you reach up and touch your ears, your nose, you can feel them! Not only through the evidence of your fingers, but ears and nose, previously without feeling, register the sensation of being touched by your fingers. Your skin has cleared up – the disfiguring blotches are gone. You stop, your fellows continue. One notices that you have stopped, and he waves, motioning you to catch up. But you turn around, you began to walk back to where you saw Jesus. You realize that you are not shuffling, you are walking, and suddenly you cannot walk, you are running, crying out “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” Blessing the Lord Almighty “Blessed art thou O Lord our God, King of the Universe!” You see Jesus and you throw yourself prostrate at his feet, thanking him, praising God. And you hear Jesus say “Were not ten made clean? …Was none found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And you hear him say, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has made you well.” You realize that Jesus means more than just your faith has healed you from leprosy, in fact, you think that is not what he means at all. All ten of you were healed, cleansed, but Jesus is really saying, “Your faith has made you whole.” In later days you will realize what Jesus meant, when you hear of his death and his resurrection, when you realize that you have been given a gift of immeasurable value, salvation by grace through faith. And now brothers and sisters, you can return to the present. Which leper were you? Think of it this way, which leper are you? Like the leper of old, you have been cleansed. You have been made free from sin, made clean by the blood of the Lamb. You have been made whole, you have received a gift of immeasurable value, salvation by grace through faith. You have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day, and every day of your life. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! AMEN Rev. Bruce Hannem, Associate Pastor
Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota |
|
|
See the index of our
online sermon collection |