Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. Luke 17:11-14

“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, with a loud voice glorifying God; and he fell upon his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, ‘Were not the ten cleansed? but where are the nine? Were there none found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger?’ And He said unto him, ‘Arise, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

Lord God, heavenly Father, Who by Thy Son Jesus Christ hast delivered us through Thy Word and Holy Baptism from the dread leprosy of sin, and art pleased daily to manifest Thy gracious help in our every need, we beseech Thee, awaken our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may never be unmindful of Thy benefits, but ever live in Thy fear and perfect trust in Thy mercy, and with a joyous heart thank and praise Thee; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen.

My dear friends, there is no doubt that we are justified by faith. It is by faith in the Lord + Jesus that we are made whole. Through faith in our Lord, we are made whole from sins and transgressions. Our disease of sin is cured wholly and completely through faith in the Lord + Jesus. For by trusting in the Lord we rely on what He has done for us and not upon any work or merit which we do. Our works often fail us. No matter how hard we try, we always end up failing, especially when it comes to keeping the Law of God. The disease of original sin inheres in us. It holds us in a prison. We stand afar off from the Lord God on account of our manifold sins and trespasses. We are so far removed from Him by the sin that inheres in us through the original sin of Adam that we cry out in our pain and misery for Him to have mercy upon us.

It is our faith in the Lord + Jesus; in His innocent suffering and death upon the tree of the holy cross to which we cling to in faith. For by this faith, we know that in Him alone we are made whole. Through faith in Him we are justified, that is, we are made right with the Lord God. By faith we put on the righteousness of the Christ. We bear His merits and works in our flesh through faith. We trust that by His Word we are proclaimed to be His. Indeed, He has placed His very Name upon us. For we who have been gifted with faith and stand before Him justified and made whole have been baptized into the Triune Name, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We bear His Name upon us. Therefore, we bear the Christ’s righteousness, and we therefore are justified by clinging in faith to this great promise.

The ten lepers in today’s Gospel reading from the Evangelist St. Luke are a picture of us in our sins and trespasses. Indeed, they are even worse off than we are, for not only do they bear the same sin and shame that we bear, but they are also cursed with the disease of leprosy. Being a leper is much like being someone cursed with the disease of sin. Something we all have been cursed with through the sin of our first parent, Adam. A leper was not allowed to be near any other person. They were not allowed to come into cities. They were not allowed in the synagogue. They were cursed to be by themselves. Sin does the same thing to us. Only it does it to us with all that is good and righteous. Sin separates us from the Lord God. It separates us from being holy. We are outcasts. We are shamed. We cannot cure ourselves.

Neither could a leper. They were to be apart from everyone else so that not only could they not infect others, but so that they could heal as well. That these ten lepers were found together on the edge of a certain village shows us that they did not listen well. They were not to be together, they were not to be near cities, but here they are. The reason this is the case is clear from the Gospel reading. They had come to find healing from the Lord + Jesus. They believed that healing would come through Him. Therefore, they come together near a certain village and cry out with a loud voice for the Lord + Jesus to have mercy upon them.

How like us when we are weighed down with the disease of sin and transgression. We come to our Lord + Jesus, crying in our pain, for Him to have mercy upon us. Indeed, the entire liturgy is one where we as the people of the Lord God cry to Him for mercy; for healing of our sins and iniquities. We not only cry out repeatedly in the Divine Liturgy for mercy from the Lord, but repeatedly He offers and gives it.

In the Invocation, we remember our Holy Baptism. We remember the Name placed upon us that made us children of the Most High God. In the Absolution we are declared to be forgiven for the sake of the works and merits of the Christ. From the pulpit we hear how our Lord + Jesus suffered and died for us poor, miserable sinners, how He perfectly fulfilled the Law of God and won for us forgiveness, life, and salvation by His death on the tree of the holy cross. We hear from the pulpit that we are given those gifts He won by this Liturgy wherein we are given the Word and Sacraments for our eternal good. Then we receive our Lord’s Body and Blood in bread and wine and receive His mercy and forgiveness once again. The entire Liturgy is a dialogue with our Lord + Jesus, the Christ, where we cry out for mercy, and He generously bestows it upon us.

The Lord + Jesus wants us to be here in this place to receive His gifts, for it is here in the Divine Liturgy where the gifts that He won are bestowed. This is the place where He makes us whole again through the faith that He implants in us through these great gifts.

The lepers in today’s pericope did as our Lord + Jesus commanded. They headed to Jerusalem, to the place where the priests were who could declare them to be free from leprosy. On their way they saw that they were made whole, that they were cleansed of their leprosy. Nine continued on to Jerusalem. One, who was a Samaritan, did not go on with the other nine. In truth, because he was a Samaritan, he would probably not have been welcomed by the priests. He was a foreigner. Like the Samaritan in last week’s Gospel reading, he was an outcast. He was triply an outcast, because not only was he an outcast because of sin, not only was he and outcast because of leprosy, but he was also an outcast because he was a Samaritan and a foreigner. A stranger, as our Lord + Jesus says.

This man had no priest to which he could show himself. No one who could declare that he was healed; that he was made whole. There was only One High Priest to Whom he could show himself. That Priest was the Lord + Jesus. He is the True High Priest, the One Who is both the One offering the sacrifice and is the sacrifice Himself. He is the One Who has suffered and die so that we might be made whole again. This Samaritan, this “stranger” comes to the only One Who could declare him made whole. He has placed his entire faith in the Lord + Jesus. By his faith he is made whole. Yes, he is made whole from his disease of leprosy. But, he is also made whole as a person. He is no longer an outcast, a stranger, the Lord + Jesus declares him to a part of the family of the Lord God. He is a part of the family of the Lord God because the Lord also declares to him that his sins are forgiven. He is justified and made whole through his faith in the Lord + Jesus. He is declared righteous, clean, and a part of the family of the Lord God.

This is what the High Priest does for all those who come before Him burdened by their grief and shame. He declares them to be justified and made whole through faith. He declares them to be a part of the holy family through the waters of Holy Baptism. He declares them to be free from the disease of sins and transgressions because He has paid the price of their sins.

The leper when he realized who his true Lord was, came glorifying the Lord with a loud voice of praise and fell on his face before the feet of the Lord + Jesus and gave Him thanks. In the Divine Liturgy we also come with loud voices of praise before our Lord + Jesus. We sing His praise—sing out with loud voices what He has done for us—and we fall on our knees before Him receiving from Him the forgiveness of our sins. For through our faith in Him, we are justified, and being justified we are declared to be righteous, that is, we are declared to be free from the disease of sin and the shame of being an outcast and stranger. We are now a part of the family of the Lord God.

Therefore, my dear friends, let us come before our Lord and Savior, + Jesus, the Christ, and fall on our faces before Him and sing with loud voices our song of thanks for all that our Lord + Jesus has done for us. For He has rescued us from the disease of sin, and made us a part of His family, and has declared us to be justified by faith. This is most certainly true. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!