Trinity 14 + Luke 17:11-19 + September 17, 2017

Order of Holy Communion - Pg. 15
Opening Hymn # 36 Now Thank We All Our God
Sermon Hymn # 569 O Lord, I Sing With Lips and Heart
Closing Hymn # 398 Renew Me, O Eternal Light

Introit
O GOD, || behold our shield, and look upon the face of Your a- | noint- | ed. *
           For a day in Your courts is better | than | a | thou- | sand. (Psalm 84:9–10a)
|| How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of | hosts! | - *
            My soul longs, yes, even faints for the | courts | of | the | Lord;
|| Blessèd are those who dwell in Your | house; | - *
            They will still | be | prais- | ing | You
|| I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my | God | - *
            Than dwell in the tents | of | wick- | ed- | ness.
|| The Lord will give grace and | glo- | ry; *
            No good thing will He withhold from those who | walk | up- | right- | ly. (Psalm 84: 1–2b, 4, 10b, 11b)
|| O God, behold our shield, and look upon the face of Your a- | noint- | ed. *
           For a day in Your courts is better | than | a | thou- | sand. (Psalm 84:9–10a)

Collect for the 14th Sunday after Trinity
Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual mercy; and because the frailty of man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Readings
Jeremiah 17:13-14
Galatians 5:16-24
Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1)         2 Kings Chapter 5 tells the story of Naaman, who was the commander of the army of the King of Syria. The Lord had blessed Naaman’s military career with countless victories. The king of Syria held Naaman in great honor because of his many successes. It is written in 2 Kings 5:1, “He was also a mighty man of valor,” similar to the mighty men of valor who had fought beside King David generations before. But Naaman had a problem. A big problem. For all his success and prestige, for all his outward might and prowess, “he was a leper.” This terrible and unrelenting disease would one day steal away his position, his prestige, and even his life. In the house of Naaman there was a young Israelite girl whom he had captured on one of his campaigns in Northern Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife and the girl lamented, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” This information gets passed on to Naaman. The Syrian king grants Naaman leave to go immediately to Samaria where this prophet lives. He arrives at the Prophet Elisha’s house, expecting a great salvation. Instead of meeting the man of God himself, he is met with Elisha’s servant, who tells him, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean” (2 Kings 5:10). Naaman becomes angry. This wasn’t why he had travelled the distance from Damascus to Samaria. As he huffs off in a fit he says, “Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.' Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” (2 Kings 5:11-12). Naaman wanted to the show. He expected to see the prophet and have the prophet do something extraordinary. Instead, he’s told by a prophet’s proxy to go wash seven times in the local river. He came all that way and got only a word.

2)         It was a good thing for Naaman that he had servants who were more level-headed than he was. Several servants calmly confront him and say, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” (2 Kings 5:13). Their point is fair. It was as if they had said, “If the prophet had told you to do something burdensome or difficult, you surely would have done that. If you were ready to do something difficult to get rid of your leprosy, why not take the prophet at his word when he wants to you do something so meager?” The servants urge Naaman simply to believe the word of the prophet because it is the word of a prophet and not just any man. “So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and was clean” (2 Kings 5:14). The water of the Jordan didn’t have healing properties in and of itself. It was not the water that did this, but the word of God which was in and with the water, and Naaman’s faith which trusted the word of God in the water. Without the word of God the water was simple water. But with the word of God it was a divine washing, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration for the man’s flesh. At first Naaman was repulsed by the idea of simple water being worth anything. But when he was reminded that the prophet had attached the Word of God to that water, Naaman believed the Word of the prophet and that faith healed him.

3)         That faith trusted in God’s Word attached to the water and so that faith received what was promised. Then that faith moved Naaman gave thanks to the Lord for His gracious salvation. He goes back to Samaria, back to the prophet’s house and says to Elisha, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant” (2 Kings 5:15). Naaman renounced his idolatry in that moment and confessed the God of Israel as the only truth God. In joyful gratitude he offers gifts to Elisha, which the prophet won’t accept, for the thanks belonged only to the true God who had healed him through water combined with His promise. Naaman goes back to Syria, rejoicing in the health of body and soul that God so graciously gave him. He even takes a load of dirt back to Damascus so that he offer thank offerings to the God who healed him on Israelites soil. Faith believed the prophet’s word to be God’s Word. Faith received as it believed. That faith made him well, made him whole, and saved Naaman.

4)         In today’s Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus Christ passes through Samaria and Galilee, the same area through which Naaman would have travelled. Entering a certain village He is confronted by ten lepers. Like Naaman, they have no hope or future. Like Naaman, this terrible disease eats away at their flesh and slowly works to bring about their deaths. As Naaman heard the report about the prophet Elisha and cried out to him, so these ten lepers had heard the good report about Jesus and when they saw him, seized their chance, crying out to him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” This is what faith does. Faith believes the report about Jesus, that He is merciful and kind, that He is compassionate and gracious to those who cannot help themselves out of their disease and decay. Faith flees to Jesus, and because it believes that Jesus is merciful, it is bold to pray and ask for mercy. Like Naaman, the ten lepers are sent away, not to water that has the promise of God’s Word attached to it, rather they are sent to the priests. The Law of Moses stipulated that only the priests could examine leprous men and declare them to be clean from their leprosy. Jesus tells them, “God, show yourselves to the priests.” It was a simple word, but a word that some might find difficult to believe. After all, they weren’t to leave their leper colony. Leviticus 13:45 said that the leper’s “clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!’” so as not to infect others. But at this word of Jesus, all that is gone. He tells them to go to the priests. Faith believes the Word of Jesus, just as Naaman believed the Word of the prophet.

5)         As Naaman’s faith in God’s Word healed him of his leprosy, so the faith of these ten lepers healed them. St. Luke writes, “And so it was that as they went, there were cleansed.” When one, a Samaritan, realizes this, he stops in his tracks and goes back to Jesus, and “With a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.” After Jesus points out the other nine’s lack of gratitude, he says to the Samaritan, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Like Naaman, this Samaritan believed the Word of Christ and he received what his faith believed. That faith healed him physically and cleansed him of his leprosy. Faith in Christ also saved him, for the man saw in Christ One who was God Himself, for only God can accomplish impossible tasks with a word. And like Naaman, this Samaritan’s faith in Christ’s Word causes him to return and give thanks to Christ for his merciful compassion. The other nine were indeed cleansed. They, too, believed the Word of Jesus. Ingratitude does not void the gifts of God or impede the power of His Word. But in this Samaritan, like Naaman, Jesus shows that a mature faith believes that it receives what God promises and then rejoices it in, not taking it for granted.

6)         Now to you and to me, these two healings demonstrate how God wants to heal us from the leprosy of our sin. Sin is a loathsome disease which infects us from our conception in our mother’s wombs. Sin is a leprosy which causes our flesh and hearts to decay and that inner decay works itself out in our many sins that we commit on a daily basis. Like Naaman and the ten lepers, there is no cure for this debilitating disease of sin that is within our reach or power. Many try to self-medicate through trying to be better people, by trying to do good things to offset their selfish deeds, or by ignoring the decay. Sin is like leprosy in this regard though, you cannot feel it in your flesh to its full extent. Sinners cannot have any idea how bad their condition truly is unless it is diagnosed by the law. But all attempts at self-medication will fail. Like Naaman and the ten lepers, the only chance of spiritual health and restoration is faith in the Word of Christ. As it was for Naaman, so it is for us. Christ attaches His Word of promise to the simple element of water in Holy Baptism. “It is not the water indeed that [forgives sins and regenerates sinners], but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is simple water and no baptism. But with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost,” as Dr. Luther says in the Small Catechism (IV.3). Like Naaman, we believe the Word of God attached to Baptism so that each day we trust that the promises made to us in Holy Baptism are still good for us in spite of our many sins. Like the ten lepers, the Lord heals the leprosy of our sin with a simple word spoken through his servant, “I forgive you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,” just as He promised after His resurrection from the dead when He said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them” (John 20:23), and “He who hears you hears Me” (Luke 10:16). That Word, like the word to Naaman and the word to the ten lepers, does what it says, so that your sins are forgiven before God in heaven. Faith trusts that word of God and believes it and receives as it believes.

7)         When you hear that of Christ Jesus Word spoken into your ears, confidently receive it because it is the Word of God. Belief in that word cleanses you from the leprosy of your sin. Then, because your sins are forgiven through faith, rejoice like Naaman and the Samaritan. Such thanksgiving is not only meet, right, and salutary, but it protects the heart from pride and presumption. Such thanksgiving is expressed with the lips and the life, body and soul. So we thank Him with our words but also with our deeds, walking by the Spirit and suppressing the desires of the sinful flesh. Rejoice! Believe that word spoken to you today again in the absolution and that Word given to in the Sacrament of the Altar which forgives your sins and creates in you a new and clean heart, free of all sin, wrath, and condemnation. Then “arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Amen.

May the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.