Trinity 14
Beloved. The heart and core of the holy Christian faith is the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. By His suffering and death, Jesus paid the price for the sins of the world. He reconciled lost condemned sinful humanity with the holy God. His resurrection is proof positive that His perfect, holy, once for all sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the sins of the world; that God’s wrath toward sinful humanity has now been changed into God’s favor.
But that raises the question: Since what St. John the Baptizer said of Jesus is true [John 1.29]: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, does that mean that the sins of all people—no matter how wicked and how grievous—are forgiven? Absolutely! That’s why as you talk with people you can say with 100% certainty, “Your sins are forgiven you! Jesus died for your sins. You are reconciled with God.” Does it then follow that all people will be saved, that is, will be body and soul eternally in heaven with our Lord? Absolutely not! There is that tension between the fact that the sins of all have been forgiven in Jesus and that heaven stands open to all and the other fact that in the end not all will be saved but many more will be condemned. Is it Jesus’ fault/ God’s fault that some/ most will end up condemned in hell? Certainly not! St. Paul, for example is perfectly clear [1 Ti. 2.6]: Christ Jesus…gave Himself a ransom for all. Although Jesus died for all, paid for the sins of all, reconciled all people to God, in the end not all will be saved because not all will receive Jesus’ saving work in faith; most will reject it.
We get a bit of a picture of this truth in today’s Gospel. Jesus heals ten men with the dread disease of leprosy. All ten received from Jesus that great gift of healing. But in the end only the one hears Jesus say to him: “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.” There’s a difference here: the other nine were certainly happy and joyful that they were healed, but when it comes to spiritual healing—the forgiveness of sin and peace with God Jesus obtained for all people by His life, suffering and death—most people don’t know or care or think lightly of it.
So long story short, the healing of the ten lepers happens every day: all people enjoy the graces and blessings of Jesus but only a small number—our Lord’s dear Christian—receive them in faith and hear the Lord’s pronouncement: “Get up and go your way [now in life and eternally in the joy and bliss of heaven]. Your faith has saved you.” Said even shorter: although Jesus saved all not all will in the end be saved.
As we examine our text and in particular that one leper, the Samaritan, the foreigner, the one least expected to come back and thank Jesus, we will see a picture of what true worship is. True worship is faith and thanksgiving.
The thing to remember is that faith is the highest worship we can give God. Because what does faith do? It believes God is who He says He is—the holy Triune God and only true God, as we confess in the Athanasian Creed: And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in trinity and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance. Worship is faith saying “yea and amen” to God’s promises to us. Worship is faith receiving the gifts and blessings Jesus won for us and gives us in His word and sacraments. In other words, since faith is at its very heart and core, worship is something passive—it is receiving from the Lord. Notice the focus is on the Lord; it’s not on me and my actions and feelings. This is a far cry from how “worship” is usually defined by much of American Christianity.
We see true worship, which has faith as its heart and core, in our text: When he entered a certain village, ten men with leprosy met him. Standing at a distance, 13they called out loudly, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” These ten men were suffering from leprosy. At that time, leprosy with its lumps, sores and other deformities on the skin and limbs, was thought incurable and the people with leprosy were sent off to live on their own away from everybody else. But somehow, some way, they heard about Jesus and His healings. And by this word that they had heard about Jesus, the Holy Spirit was able to work a true faith in Jesus in their hearts. The Holy Spirit had taught them and faith received His teaching and they recognized Jesus rightly: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” They in faith knew Jesus as the true God, the Lord and the Master over all creation—even over sickness. They expected every good from Jesus and did not doubt that He could/ would help them. Their faith, which recognized Jesus rightly, showed itself in their actions—they went out toward Jesus; they stood at a distance; they called to Him: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Notice their faith—they believed Jesus would heal them and make them whole by His grace. They relied completely on His grace. That faith, that reliance on His grace is true worship indeed. It recognizes and relies on Jesus alone. They make no demands on Jesus. They don’t even say to Him, “Heal us” let alone dictate how He is to heal them. In the highest worship of faith they simply call out to Him. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
May this be a picture of each of us, dear Christian. In all of our needs—both the everyday “regular” needs as well as in times of extraordinary needs/ emergencies —so that Jesus may help us, let us run to Him crying out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” This is worship—faith—recognizing Him as the true God who alone can and does help us and relying on His grace to us to help us in our needs in the way and time that He knows is best for us. And we today, dear Christian, are in a better condition than these lepers were then. We have that glorious promise of Jesus [John 6.37]: All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out and the wonderful assurance from the Apostle [Rm. 8.34]: Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Faith is the highest worship as it seeks mercy: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
And faith does not disappoint as it seeks the Lord’s mercy. When [Jesus] saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they went away they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw that he was healed. What glorious words: When [Jesus] saw them! He saw both their suffering and their faith, that faith which trusts in Him, that faith that wants to receive what He, in His mercy, wants to give them. The same goes for us, dear Christian. As we in quiet, simple, humble faith go to Jesus in our need and rely on His grace—that is, as we worship Him—we know that Jesus sees us and our need; and our faith is not misplaced—Jesus can and does help us in the best way and the best time.
And what was the best way and time that Jesus helped these ten lepers? “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they went away they were cleansed. Jesus didn’t heal all that needed His healing in the same way. Some He touched, some He spoke to, some He made a means like mud from His spit. Here He simply told them to follow the Law of Moses and show themselves to a priest. According to the OT Law of Moses, a person who thought he/she was cured from leprosy was to go to a priest who would then “verify” it. So what happens here? Jesus doesn’t heal them so their skin is clear and then send them off. Instead, He tests their faith. While still with leprosy, they were to make their way to the priests. The ten then worship Jesus as by faith they believe Jesus’ word—which is a promise: you will be healed by the time the priest sees you—and they go to the priests. The ten going to the priests is an act of faith. They don’t see the miracle but believed it would happen. Here, As they went away in faith they received the gift of healing. Here, As they went away, they by that worshipped Jesus, in faith believing His word and acting on it. Notice, their worship of Jesus was faith—in Him and His word—and they received Jesus’ promise to heal them of leprosy. The highest worship is faith, which receives God’s word, promise and blessings.
Precisely that faith is the highest worship because it takes and receives God’s word and promise and says “Yea and Amen” to them. Just like here, what makes faith, faith, is that faith doesn’t see its object but believes the word and promise of God. We don’t see the forgiveness of our sins—it’s not like a mood ring that changes color when we are forgiven; faith believes God’s word in the absolution and receives it. That’s worship. We hear the words of the sacrament: this is My body, this is My blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins; faith believes it and receives it. That’s worship.
As they went away they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. The worship/ the faith of the lepers was confirmed as being correct. This led the one, the foreigner, the Samaritan to return to Jesus to thank Him. By faith, which is the highest worship, he had rightly recognized Jesus as the true God and his only help, sought mercy from Him, believed His word, and acted on it. And now he was healed. That’s how gracious and merciful God is—we worship Him but our worship is really us receiving His gifts to us.
But, like the healed Samaritan leper, we cannot remain silent! Where there is faith, there is thanksgiving to God for His graces and mercies toward us. What does Jesus say to him at the end of our text? Then he said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.” The point? A deeply rooted faith is full of genuine appreciation and thus thanksgiving for the mercy that our gracious God and Savior shows and that was the faith of this Samaritan, this foreigner, Jesus healed.
Really, thanksgiving is confession—a confession of faith! Look at this Samaritan. He was glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. By this he was confessing before one and all that Jesus is the true God. He recognized and confessed that Jesus is the true God that had healed him. His faith was correct! He received God’s gift and now He in thanksgiving confesses Him. Again, that’s the essence of worship—what we do here on Sundays as we gather around our Lord’s holy word and sacrament. Our highest worship is faith—receiving the heavenly gifts of forgiveness of sin, life, salvation, peace with God etc.; receiving Jesus’ very body and blood and being united with Him and each other—He in us and we in Him. And receiving these glorious heavenly gifts, we respond with our prayers and hymns of joy; we glorify God with a loud voice [and we fall] on [our] face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. How can we but respond this way? These gifts and blessings are our salvation! How can our faith then not flow into thanksgiving and the confession of faith. And in fact, Jesus expects it. What does he say to the one returning healed leper? “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” Confession of faith is vital. Did the nine have to return? Couldn’t they have exalted God’s goodness without going back to Jesus? The nine neglected this chance to place themselves on Jesus’ side. Especially as Jesus was and is much spoken against, He should be recognized and confessed for who He really is.
That’s why worship is a priority for Christians. The highest/ greatest worship of God is faith, that is, receiving/believing God’s witness/ testimony of who He is and the gifts Jesus won for us on the cross and now gives us in His holy word and sacrament. That faith which receives these gifts and graces is full of thanksgiving that overflows into praise which is the confession of faith. INJ