14th Sunday after Trinity + Luke 17:11-19 + September 2, 2018

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

It may be difficult to relate to these ten leprous men. Leprosy isn’t a common disease these days. These ten men outside a certain village have been stricken with this terrible disease in their flesh that is slowly killing them. Each day their flesh decays. They see the white blots on their skin. Their disease is obvious to them. They feel their living death. It’s also obvious to everyone who approaches them. So they are forced to live at the edge of village in the leper colony. When Jesus entered their village these ten men met Him but they “stood afar off” St. Luke says. That was because their disease separated them from life and their families lest the disease spread. It also separated them from God. Being ritually unclean, they are not allowed into the courts of the temple where God’s Word is taught. This disease of the flesh, visible to themselves and everyone who approached them, separated them from others and God even as it caused them to daily die slowly.

This may seem like an unrelatable case to us modern Americans. But you actually have quite a bit in common with these ten men, as do I. Like them, we have a terrible disease of the flesh. But unlike the leper’s condition, which was easily diagnosable by anyone with eyes, the disease in our flesh is different in that it is undetectable to the human eye or a physical examination. There are white spots on your skin or decaying fingers and limbs. Our disease is undetectable to the naked eye. No one knows they have it. It is only be diagnosed by the Word of God. Your very flesh is sinful because you are descendants of Adam and Eve. Your very flesh is contrary to the Spirit of God. St. Paul says: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy ,murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.” That’ is God’s diagnosis. Your flesh is diseased with sin. The disease of sin has all sorts of different outward symptoms, but they all come from the root cause: the flesh itself is sinful. Many scoff at such a diagnosis because they look at themselves and they see nothing wrong with these things. But you have been led to know better. By the light of Scripture you know that you are sinful and unclean, and because you are sinful and unclean, you do sinful and unclean things.

Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lewdness are all external manifestations of this disease. But they all begin in the heart when we covet people whom the Lord has not given to us in marriage. Idolatry and sorcery are crass and obvious sins, but they too begin in the heart. When we try shortcuts to get good things in life, rather than wait patiently upon the Lord, then we have made an idol for ourselves. We tolerate and even incite hateful thoughts towards those with whom we disagree. We behave contentiously, stirring up strife, or taking part in someone else’s strife that they have kicked up. Jealousy rears its ugly head when we are not content with what God has given, while inwardly selfish ambition drives us to get for ourselves what others have, often at their expense. Outbursts of wrath needs no explanation and the list of symptoms goes on. This sinfulness of our flesh may not be obvious to those around us, for this disease blankets all humanity. Our condition may not be obvious to us. But God’s Word diagnoses it for what it is and its end. For after listing the works of the sinful flesh St. Paul delivers the prognosis: “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” This is the extent of this disease of our flesh. It pollutes our thoughts, our words, and our actions so that we are steeped in sin. Our sinfulness, not just our individual sins, separate us from fellowship with God. Like the lepers in today’s Gospel lesson, our flesh is diseased but with a far worse malady than theirs. Theirs was only physical. But ours is spiritual. Theirs ended in physical death. Ours ends in spiritual death, being outside the kingdom of God, standing afar off from our Creator and Lord.

But like the lepers, you have heard the good news about Christ. You have heard in the gospels how Christ is compassionate toward sinners. You have read how Christ is gracious to those who seek mercy from him. You have come to Christ, or rather, Christ has come to you. Christ approached these ten diseased men and in faith they cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And He did. He told them to go show themselves to the priests, for the priests were responsible for examining lepers to see if they were indeed lepers. The lepers took that word and mixed it with faith. They believed that Jesus would have mercy on them so they went, and “as they went, they were cleansed.” Their cleansing came, not from the priests, but by the Word of Christ which they believed. As they went, the white spots of their flesh disappeared. As they went, their decaying flesh was healed. As they believed, so they received. So it is for you and your disease of the flesh. Christ comes near to you and you have confessed your sins. Instead of sending you to the priests of the Old Testament, He speaks His forgiving word directly to you. “As a called and ordained servant of the Word, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” As you believe, so you receive. Like the lepers, you believe the Word Jesus speaks to you, so that you receive that word and believe that by it all your sins are forgiven, your conscience is cleansed from guilt, and you are free.

But do not be like the nine lepers who did not return to Jesus. They received their health and went their way. This is the temptation we generally face once God has granted our petitions and shown us mercy. We are tempted to quickly forget the great mercies He has given. We go back to our lives as if nothing had happened. Like the nine, we see that we are healed, that our sins are forgiven, and we do not turn back to thank Christ and give glory to God. So when one leper, a Samaritan of all people, returns, Christ teaches us what true faith does when it receives His cleansing. You are not to go back to your life as if nothing happened. You are to remain with Christ. Yes, Christ told them to go and show themselves to the priest. But when they saw they were cleansed, only one stopped, turned, and gave glory to God where God could be found. You are most certainly not to willfully return to your sins, since “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” You are to walk in the Spirit so that you do not gratify the desires of your flesh. The desires and lusts of the flesh won’t go away because this life is still lived in the flesh. God allows this so that you might not because proud and think you don’t need Christ. Walking in the Spirit, you will begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit, faith toward God, love toward neighbor, chastity towards yourself. The fruit will be imperfect, but God will be pleased with it nonetheless because it is comes from faith in Christ.

Then go back to Christ in gratitude, as we confessed in the Gradual, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.” The Samaritan understood this by faith and wanted to be where Christ was to give Him thanks and glory. So it is for true Christians. Faith wants to be where Christ is, hearing His Word, receiving His gifts, giving Him thanks and praise for salvation from our own flesh. The Samaritan understood that “a day in your courts in better than a thousand.” So the faithful will seek to be in God’s house, where God’s Word is taught and were His sacraments are administered as Christ gave them. For here we hear again the cleansing word of Jesus which heals our flesh’s disease. Go your way, beloved of God.  Your faith has saved you from the disease of your flesh. Walk no longer according to the flesh but strive to walk by the Spirit whom Christ has poured into you hearts by faith, giving thanks and praise to Christ who has cleansed you of your sins again today. Amen.May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.