14th Sunday after Trinity + Luke 17:11-19 and Galatians 5:16-24
Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We know the story of the ten lepers well. We hear it every year on this Sunday and most years we hear it on the National Day of Thanksgiving as well. Jesus passes through Samaria and Galilee, the areas north of Judea. As He enters a village ten leprous men confront Him. Standing far off from civilization so as not to infect others, they cry out with a loud voice, “ Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! ” And of course He does, for Christ did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. He tells them to go show themselves to the priest because according to the Law of Moses the priests were the public health officials. They examined people for leprosy. If they didn’t have it the priests declared them “clean;” if they had contracted leprosy they were declared “unclean” and cast out. Jesus sends these ten men to the priest to be declared “clean” according to the Law. “ So it was that as they went, they we...