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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. (Amen.)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving—wait, we are not in Canada. Happy Indigenous People’s Day—wait, the closest observance of that day that I know of is at the Texas State Fair in Dallas tomorrow. Happy Columbus Day—wait, while President Trump last week declared a federal observance of Columbus Day, Texas reportedly is not observing the holiday. Happy Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost—I know that at least we are observing that day here today!
The Three-Year Series of Readings that we follow appoints the same Gospel Reading for today, the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, and for a Day of Thanksgiving, which my Canadian friends are observing this weekend. Pilgrim has not had a Thanksgiving Day service for nine years, so, instead of our hearing that same Gospel Reading four times every three years, we hear that Gospel Reading only once every three years. And, when we hear that Gospel Reading now, we hear it only in the context of the other Readings and such that we heard today, which other Readings and such generally all relate to and help establish the day’s central theme. Especially the Old Testament Reading usually relates to the Gospel Reading, and today, in both today’s Old Testament Reading (Ruth 1:1‑19a) and today’s Gospel Reading, we hear of foreigners’ essentially believing in the one true God of the Jews, joining with others, and twice lifting up a voice (confer Fickenscher, 706-709). In today’s Old Testament Reading, Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth twice apparently lifted up a single collective voice in weeping (Wilch, ad loc Ruth 1:9, p.135), and, in today’s Gospel Reading, the Samaritan man first joined with the other leprous men to lift up a single collective leprosy‑weakened voice for mercy and then himself with a loud restored voice was praising God. Thus, considering primarily today’s Gospel Reading, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we, who also come from different places and backgrounds, direct our thoughts to the theme of our “Lifting up one voice for mercy and praise”—and that praise includes our giving thanks.
In last Sunday’s Gospel Reading (Luke 17:1-10), Jesus’s disciples are said to have been shown “not to expect thanks for doing what they were called to do”, and, in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus’s disciples are said to see “that true faith gives thanks to the one who brings salvation” (Just, ad loc Luke 17:11-19, p.655). As the Divinely‑inspired St. Luke uniquely reports, Jesus was making His way along the border between Samaria and Galilee. The Jews regarded Samaritans as hated foreigners because of the Samaritans’ “historical betrayals and heretical beliefs” (TLSB, ad loc Luke 17:16, p.1752). But, people suffering from leprosy had to live away from others (for example, Leviticus 13:45-46), and so, in that borderland, at least one leprous Samaritan man was with nine other leprous men (confer 2 Kings 7:3). Since Samaritans and leprous people were kept out of other sacred space and religious rites, the ten together even may have formed their own religious community, as ten men traditionally were needed to constitute a synagogue. As described in today’s Appointed Verse, the report about Jesus went out, and people gathered to be healed of their infirmities (Luke 5:15). The ten leprous men in today’s Gospel Reading were no different! They may or may not have believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but they at least believed that Jesus was a prophet with miraculous healing powers. The ten leprous men lifted up a single collective leprosy‑weakened voice, emphatically and emotionally saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”, and Jesus seemingly challenged their understanding by essentially telling them to believe and act as if they were already cured.
In Biblical times, leprous people were regarded as as good as dead, and so they were regarded as unclean. Later, Bible interpreters thought that leprosy typified heresy. Today, we ourselves or other people are more likely to be or to feel cut off from our communities for reasons other than and lesser than leprosy or false teaching. Yet, we are likely to be as ungrateful as the other nine leprous men, and we are not likely to bear up under other people’s ingratitude as Jesus did. We are more likely to complain about the situations that God in His wisdom permits us to face than we are to lift up a voice to Him for mercy. Because of these and all of our other sins, as well as because of our sinful nature, we actually are as good as dead, both now and for eternity, unless we repent! And, to repent is what the Holy Spirit calls and enables us to do: to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust God to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake, and to want to stop sinning.
As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus was journeying to Jerusalem (confer Luke 9:51). Once He was in Jerusalem, everything that was written about Him by the prophets was accomplished, as Jesus said it would be: He was delivered over to the Gentiles; He was mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon; He was flogged and killed; and on the third day He rose (Luke 18:31). Out of God’s great love and mercy, Jesus was crucified for us, as our substitute, in our place, for our salvation. Jesus’s healing the leprous men in part showed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Savior (confer Luke 7:22). After he was cleansed, the Samaritan man understood! The Gospel Reading twice essentially says that the Samaritan man praised and thanked Jesus as God, and Jesus told the Samaritan man that, through the Samaritan man’s faith, he was “made well”, or, better, he was “saved”. When we repent, then God forgives us. God forgives all our sin, whatever our sin might be. We lift up one voice for mercy, and God is merciful to us! As we sang in the Introit (Psalm 34:2-4, 17; antiphon: Psalm 48:1a), the Lord is greatly to be praised; we seek Him, and He answers us and delivers us from all of our fears; when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord delivers us out of our chief spiritual trouble, the death and damnation that we otherwise deserve, by forgiving our sins through His Word and Sacraments. In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus to at least some extent still had regard for the Old Testament priesthood, but, more importantly, we see elsewhere that Jesus sent out His apostles in order to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven and, among other things, to cleanse leprous people (Matthew 10:8). Other series of Readings on this day use the Old Testament account of Elisha’s cleansing a man named Naaman from his leprosy by having him wash in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5:1-14); that washing, like the Jewish rites associated with cleansing from leprosy (Leviticus 14:2-32), points us to the water of Holy Baptism, which cleanses us from our sin. At the time of the Reformation, today’s Gospel Reading was used wrongly in order to require that people confess their sins to their priests, but that wrong use of the Gospel Reading does not make wrong our voluntary private confession for the sake of Holy Absolution. And, the Samaritan man’s giving thanks to Jesus relates to our giving thanks to God in the Holy Supper, where Christ’s Body is present, distributed, and received in, with, and under bread and Christ’s Blood is present, distributed, and received in, with, and under wine—all for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Great reasons for us together, in this sacred space and with these religious rites, to lift up one voice for praise and thanks!
As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, the Samaritan man, who once stood at a distance, turned back and fell on his face at Jesus’s feet, but then was more‑literally told, having arisen, to keep journeying—the English Standard Version that we heard read said to “go your way”, but the Greek text might just as easily mean go Jesus’s way! Certainly, we live out the various callings that God gives us. We share Jesus’s longing and pain for the other nine, for those who do not come to Him, for whatever reason that they do not come to Him. To be sure, Jesus and we want all people to come to Him. In our time, borders are different than they were at the time of Ruth or the Samaritan man, and crossing borders illegally should have secular consequences. But, Jesus died for all sins of all people, including those people who do not look like us, even though we are all part of the one human race. All those who repent are united in the new people of God which transcends ethnic and cultural boundaries. As described in today’s Epistle Reading (2 Timothy 2:1-13), together we share in suffering as good soldiers of Christ, knowing that the salvation that is in Christ Jesus has eternal glory. Forgiven, we rejoice with a joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. Also we believe and act as if we are cured, for we are cured, even though we will not fully experience being cured until the Last Day.
On this Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, we have directed our thoughts to the theme of our “Lifting up one voice for mercy and praise”. Like the foreigners who lifted up one voice, we, who also come from different places and backgrounds, are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. With daily repentance, we live in God’s forgiveness of sins and extend our forgiveness to one another, until the day comes when we no longer lift up one voice for mercy but only for praise without end.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +