Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on October 14, 2007
(Proper 23, Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Ruth 1:(1-7)8-19a
Psalm 113
2 Timothy 2:(3-7)8-15
Luke 17:11-19

Wasn’t that Gospel passage the most amazing story you have ever heard? Imagine, a blind man regaining his sight! You can almost imagine John Newton writing the first verse of his famous hymn after hearing this story. You know how it goes: Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see!

Now before you start thinking the priest has lost his mind or at best, read the wrong Gospel passage before writing his sermon, let’s look at the words of this story carefully.

Luke tells us that Jesus was passing through a region on the borders of Galilee and Samaria on his way up to Jerusalem. As he entered a village, he was approached by ten lepers. Now according to Levitical law, they would have had to maintain a downwind distance of about fifty yards and called out, "Unclean, unclean!" so that Jesus or anyone else would know that they were lepers and contagious. Luke tells us that they kept their distance but instead of calling out their warning, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" This indicates that they have prior knowledge of who Jesus is or at least have heard of his healing ministry. By calling him Master, they acknowledge his authority concerning their plight and are appealing to him for a cure.

Luke then writes, "When he saw them." Now the Greek word for seeing is a very thorough word. It means to perceive, discern or discover; to pay close attention to or observe that which is before you; to inspect, examine or to behold: to obtain a knowledge so deep as to experience the state or condition: and to ascertain what it is that must be done. When Jesus focused his eyes on these ten lepers, his stare was so penetrating that he knew everything about them. Not just that they were lepers but what had caused their leprosy, and more. It was an instantaneous diagnosis and prognosis with just a glance. It was a glimpse of his divine power, if you will.

So he gave them instructions according to the Levitical law to go and show themselves to the priests… as if they had already been cured. Now this is truly incredible. He didn’t touch them at all, he just said, "Go." And they went. They still had leprosy but they did what he told them to do. Their belief in him and hope was so strong that they all left as commanded with no argument. If only we all obeyed God’s will so quickly.

So they went away, and as they were going, they were made clean. Just like that! Their leprosy had vanished. By the time they got to the priests they would actually have something to show them. Although none of them noticed except one. They were so excited that they were going to be able to enter into society once again that they failed to see that their skin had been made clean. Except one man; a foreigner, a Samaritan, the one guy in ten who wouldn’t be running to a Levitical priest because Samaritans were outside of the Levitical law. They were outcasts!

But Luke tells us that he saw that he was healed, and praising God with a loud voice, he prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.

Now this is a loaded sentence. First of all, it says he saw. Again, this is the same Greek word that was used earlier, which is so totally encompassing of the situation at hand. But instead of it being a glimpse of divine power on his part, it was a glimpse of divine revelation!

He saw that he was healed. The Greek word for healed means not only was he cured of his disease but that once again he was made whole. He was not only free from his debilitating condition; he was free from all of his errors and sins that had plagued his life up to this time. He was a complete human being experiencing salvation; he had been delivered from that which had bound him for so long.

He saw this so vividly that he threw himself face down at the feet of Jesus. This was an act of complete, humble subjection as that of one before a king; acknowledging a power greater than himself, a power of not only healing disease but a power of authority over life and death.

He saw with his own eyes that this was his Lord and his God. And he thanked him. In the Greek, it says that he offered eucharist, which means he offered his thanksgiving; he was grateful.

So in the blink of an eye, an instance of removing a speck or a tear which had prevented his clear vision, he perceived that he had been made anew by and through the grace of his Lord and Savior for which he was most thankful.

And to confirm this perception, Jesus said to him, "Get up and go your way." Now the Greek word that is translated as "get up" is the same as the word used later on to describe Jesus’ own resurrection. It means to Arise, raise up! Jesus is saying, "Be resurrected! Continue on your journey and order your life accordingly to what has happened. You once were considered an outsider; a foreigner, worshipping God in an incorrect manner but now you are born again. You have been transformed! So live your new life in the proper manner, which in this case means go present yourself before the priests so that you may be integrated back into this world, and then spread the Good News of which you have experienced. It’s your faith which has made you well. Your new-found vision, recognition, and belief in me as Lord have put you in a right relationship with God, and it is this which has saved you and made you whole.

So you see, this really is a story of a blind man having his vision restored. There were ten lepers cured of their leprosy but only this man gained salvation.

How often in our lives do we ask God for help? Probably more than we would admit. How often do we pray to God and have our prayer answered? Always; and some times the answer is no or not yet. How often do we pray to God for His gracious blessing, and then give Him thanks when it has been bestowed. This should happen every day but quite often we forget because we misguidedly believe that we accomplished whatever it was we asked for on our own. But if we were as honest as the leprous Samaritan, our eyes would be opened and we would perceive that everything that we have in this life is a gift of God’s grace; our families, our homes, our wealth, our health, our ability to think, our ability to work, the freedoms which we have by living in this country including the freedom to worship, and to pray, and to give thanks to God, to offer Him Eucharist every week or every day. Even the breath of life is a gift of our loving, merciful God; the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And if we see that vision of total and humble subjection to and dependence on, and belief in Jesus Christ, the Lord of our lives, then by that faith will we be brought to completion and we will live eternally in the Presence of God on earth and in the world to come.

There is nothing that anyone can say or write to improve upon John Newton’s wonderful hymn, Amazing Grace. However, this Gospel passage has been so insightful that a new verse has come to me. Now Lord knows that poetry is not my forte, so I can only imagine that the Holy Spirit has been working within me, probably in a moment free of all brain activity. So in all humility, I offer this verse to share with you:

O cleansing grace! How pure thy breath! That raised me from the earth!

By your authority, my wholeness was obtained; from death to new rebirth.

Gloria Patri