"Twice Made Whole!" Luke 17:11-19

The Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity                         10-September-2023
Sermon Text: Luke 17:11-19
Sermon Theme: “Twice Made Whole!”

I.N.R.I. Pro 4:10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.” The greatest inheritance comes through your ears. Wise King Solomon teaches his children and children’s children to listen. Listen to God’s Word and Wisdom that he taught and led them to walk in by his example. Today is grandparents day. Solomon taught, “Pro 17:6 Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.” Fathers, your children glory in you, teach them to listen. To listen to the true riches of God’s Word - teach them the Holy Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus’ promise of baptism, absolution, and His Supper. Show them the way as you lead them in the ways of uprightness. Grandparents cherish your grandchildren. Spoil them bringing them into God’s House every Sunday to worship at Jesus’ feet hearing His life restoring Word. Families walk with your children through generations in paths of uprightness - walk by the Spirit - continue in the things you have learned from Christ in His Word.
      Learn today from Jesus’ mercy that in Him we are “Twice Made Whole!” I. Our Hopeless Condition.(vs.11-12). II. The Merciful Master! (Vs.13-14). III. Our Gracious Savior! (Vs.15-19)
I.   St. Luke records the historical eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus had set His face to go to Jerusalem for the final Passover already at the end of chapter nine. He is traveling towards Good Friday - to the cross for sinners who had no hope in themselves.
    Listen! (Lk.17:11) Again Luke chronicles Jesus’ travel to Jerusalem. He has led His disciples into the unpopulated area between Samaria and Galilee. Traveling south east toward the Jordan River valley through that rugged terrain. Jesus takes His disciples away from the noise and the mobs so they can listen finding rest in His Word. Likewise the Master leads us through desolate times of life teaching us to listen - to hear His voice in His written Word alone!
    The quiet is shattered by ten hopeless men. (Lk. 17:12) Entering a certain village, Luke doesn’t record its name, it isn’t needed. What is important to Jesus are the ten men that meet Him. Luke the medical doctor reports that they are full of leprosy.   Leprosy is a degenerative skin disease. It starts out as an innocent white patch, a scab, but soon spreads over the entire body. At first it causes pain, but soon it deadens nerve endings, and those infected don’t feel their body slowly rotting away. Leprosy would consume the soft cartilage. Ears would slough off and the nose would cave in - they looked like the walking dead. The soft pallet on the roof of their mouth would rot away - making it difficult to speak above a gurgle. Their rotting flesh filled the air with the stench of death. There was no medical cure for leprosy in Jesus’ day. It was a terminal illness. These ten men were without hope. Death was their lot.
      What hope do you have in yourself? God the Holy Spirit warns us of the leprosy of sin through the pen of St. Paul. Listen to another translation: Gal 5:19-21 GW Now, the effects of the corrupt nature are obvious: illicit sex, perversion, promiscuity, (20) idolatry, drug use, hatred, rivalry, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, conflict, factions, (21) envy, drunkenness, wild partying, and similar things. I've told you in the past and I'm telling you again that people who do these kinds of things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” We lie to ourselves that we have no sin. Sin deadens the conscience, as we justify our pet sins and condemn other sinners. Honestly look into the mirror of God’s Holy Ten Commandments. Let them diagnose your true spiritual condition. You haven’t feared, loved, and trusted in God above all things. You have not loved your neighbor as you love self. Your condition is hopeless. The good you would, you don’t do - the evil that you try to avoid - you do. Who will deliver you from this body of death - from the leprosy of your sin?
II.   Ten hopeless dying men bound together by the slow death they were dying. Then they hear good news - a Man has come with healing in His touch! Hearing this good news a spark of hope is lit within. Then greater news - this Man is walking through their territory. They hobble to find Him. They cannot draw to close to Him, for they are unclean by their dreaded disease, standing together they raise their plea hoping He will hear. (Lk. 17:13) “Jesus” they call on Him by Name. His name, “Yeshua” means “The Lord Saves.” They call Him “Master” - He has power over disease - He has healed other lepers with His gracious touch. “Have mercy on us!” “Elieson!” “Pity us!” They don’t directly cry out “Heal us from leprosy!” They trust in His mercy! They have heard that He is a merciful Master. They place their health in His hands.
      The Master doesn’t act like they expected. (Lk 17:14a) He stops. Looks their way. He doesn’t run over to their group. Instead He commands them to “Go!” He doesn’t touch them. He sends them to the priests. The priests were also in charge of examining skin diseases to determine if they were leprosy. Their declaration of leprosy declared men unclean and banished them from the community and the Temple worship. Perhaps the ten paused for a moment, wondering why they should go to the priests to be declared “unclean” again - was this a cruel trick of the Master? Trusting in the Master’s Mercy they listen to His Word. They journey towards Jerusalem. Luke the medical doctor reports. (Lk 17:14b) Trusting in the Master’s Mercy they walk to see the priests - a miracle occurs they are “cleansed.” Once leprous flesh is made new again, fully restored, like a newborn’s skin fresh and new.
      Every Sunday a group of people who have no hope in themselves gather. Jesus draws near to where they live. He comes where two or three gather around His Word to hear Him. He has promised to be really present in His Church - the local Christian congregation. Present in His Word. Gathered without hope in themselves they lift up their voices in song, “Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us!” He speaks His Word - “I forgive you all your sins!” and you are cleansed - made new - freed from sin to walk by the Spirit! To walk in the path of the righteous - which shines brighter and brighter in Jesus - the Light of the world.
III. Ten men are healed of their leprosy. They follow Jesus’ Word to show themselves to the priests beginning the two week process of being declared clean. Sacrifices would be made at the Temple at Jerusalem - to restore them to the worship life of the congregation, to their families, and back to their community. They would follow God’s ceremonial Law recorded by Moses in Leviticus 14.
    One man, delays his restoration to the community - Listen! (Lk17:15-16). A man fully healed of his leprosy sees what has happened to his body. New life fills his once dying body. None of the other nine want to journey back with him to Jesus. He does! He comes not with a gurgle, but with a loud voice - glorifying not the Master, but his God! God in the Flesh and Blood of the Man Jesus.   He falls down at Jesus’ feet worshiping Him as his God and Lord. He raising the song of thanksgiving - “eucharisteo¯” in the Greek from which we get the word: Eucharist.   Luke adds the other detail - this man was a Samaritan. He was of the despised peoples who had intermarried with the Gentiles in the days of the Babylonian captivity. The nine Jewish men didn’t mind associating with him as they were all dying, but now restored to the worshiping community of the Jews - they would shun him and his kind.
      Jesus is surprised. (Lk. 17:17-18) Ten were cleansed by His sacrifice. It cost Him to heal them, for He would bear their infirmities and iniquities to the cross in His flesh. He would die to restore them - that is the price of healing - His holy precious blood - His innocent suffering and death. Why did only this foreigner return to give glory to God?

    We are often like the nine. We come to Church only when we need something from Jesus. When that prayer is answered we walk away from Him to get on with life. 22 years ago, tomorrow, our nation paused as terrorists turned airliners into flying missiles attacking the twin towers of the world trade center in New York City, the Pentagon, and were forced to crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The next two or three Sundays people returned to their local congregations crying out “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Then they no longer returned to give thanks.
    Maybe only one out of ten followed the healed Samaritan - returning to fall down at Jesus’ feet. He is present here in His local congregation in His Word preached and sacraments given. They rejoiced to come to the feast of thanksgiving - the Eucharist - feasting on His living flesh and blood in bread and wine which restores them by His grace.
    They rejoiced to be twice made whole! (LK.17:19). Jesus calls this man to stand. His faith wasn’t only in a merciful Master, but in HIS JESUS! His Jesus has made him well - for Jesus alone was the object of his faith. He saw that Jesus was the great High Priest, the Sacrifice, the Temple - God with Us - to redeem and restore us. His Lord calls him to “journey” onward - inviting him to follow Jesus to Jerusalem - to the cross - to the grave - to His joyful resurrection and victory for him.
      Dear parents and grandparents - those who lived through 9/11 - as death suddenly came 22 years ago to 3,000 people - the only treasure that rescued them was Jesus! His Mercy! His Word! Holy Spirit given Word sustained faith in Jesus as Savior - twice made them whole - sealing to them the promise of victory over death in Jesus. Amen.