Cleansed, Healed, or Saved?

Sermon for Sunday, October 11

Luke 17:11-19

What are we doing here? What brings you to church Sunday after Sunday? Some people think we come to church every week to be saved. That we can improve our likelihood for getting into heaven by having a perfect attendance pin from Sunday School or by having perfect sermon notes. But we know that’s not it. Are we here to see our friends? To fellowship with them in big ways and small ways? To wave at them through their car windows if they aren’t coming into the sanctuary? No, we do those things and they are good, but that’s not why we come to church.  Do we come to be seen? So that people will know we are good people and it will improve our reputations? No that’s not quite it either.

To understand why we come to church, we first have to remember why we care about Jesus. Each and every one of us came to Jesus, like the lepers in today’s gospel reading, because we needed something. We needed something that only Jesus could give us. Some of us came to Jesus because we found family here. We found inclusion here. We found peace here. Many of us came to Jesus because we were afraid of hell. Let’s be honest, the fear of hell has led many people into the waters of the baptistery. And we are told, if you just admit that  you’re a sinner, believe in Jesus, and publicly commit your life to him, you are saved. And the good thing about being saved is that you’re safe. Heaven is your reward. And nobody can take it away from you. So why, I ask, do we do anything after that? Why are we here?

In today’s gospel reading, ten leprous men come to Jesus because they want something from him. They cry out, “Master, have mercy on us!” Some scholars think they were just calling out for alms. Others think they knew that he was a miracle worker. Whatever the case— they wanted something from Jesus. And Jesus delivered the goods. He tells them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Now this is how a leprous person could be declared clean and be allowed to rejoin his community. But Jesus tells the lepers this while they are still leprous. The first test of faith is this: do you trust Jesus?

Do you trust Jesus? Are you willing, like these lepers, to do what Jesus says, even when it doesn’t make logical sense? In my mind, if I was a leper and somebody told me, pretend like you’re well, I’d roll my eyes and keep on begging. But there’s something about Jesus. He tells the lepers to go, and they go. And as they go, they are made clean! And nine of them, having been healed in their obedience, go right on being obedient to Jesus and their traditions. They go to show themselves to the priests, to be restored to their families and the lives they had before their sickness. Because they trusted, they got what they wanted.

Now I tell you, Jesus tells us to do some things that don’t make any more sense than telling a leper to show himself to a priest while he’s still leprous. If somebody strikes you on your left cheek, go ahead and show him your right. If somebody demands your coat, give him your shirt. Do we trust Jesus if we don’t live our lives that way? If we don’t trust Jesus with that stuff, why do we trust him with our eternal lives?

Trusting Jesus allows him to work in our lives. If the lepers hadn’t gone to the priests at Jesus’s command, they wouldn’t have been healed. That much is simple and clear. In our obedience, Christ can work. What is Christ calling you to do today? Trust him.

Ten lepers came to Jesus. Ten lepers were cleansed. Nine ex-lepers went back to where they came from. Doubtless they would have nodded in appreciation to Jesus the next time they saw him on the street. But one ex-leper, a Samaritan, when he saw that he had been healed, knew that something bigger than his restoration was happening. He went, praising God, and threw himself at Jesus’s feet! The thing that sets the tenth leper—the Samaritan ex-leper—apart from the others is his gratitude. Alone among the lepers, he isn’t content to nod appreciatively or tell his family about the great carpenter-rabbi he met. He runs back to Jesus. And that makes all the difference.

Ten lepers came to Jesus. Ten lepers were cleansed. Nine ex-lepers went to show themselves to the priests. And nine ex-lepers were doubtless declared clean. But one ex-leper ran back to Jesus, our Great High Priest, and our Great High Priest said that leper was saved. Ten lepers clean. One leper saved. Jesus says, “your faith has saved you.” What was different between that leper’s faith and the other nine lepers’ faith? They all believed in Jesus’s power. But the Samaritan leper, he came back to Jesus grateful.

When Jesus saves us, that is the beginning of our new lives. We come to this place every Sunday, when we are coming for the right reasons, to remember how grateful we are. To be grateful again. Faith is the basis of our gratitude, and gratitude is the foundation of our relationship with him. We aren’t here for what Jesus will give us. We are here for what he has given.

When I was in college, young in my faith, a friend asked me if I’d still be a Christian if there were no heaven or hell. I shrugged and said, “what would be the point of that?” He got a pitying look in his eye. Since then, I have learned what it means to trust Jesus. I’m not perfect. I lose my temper or I speak carelessly and say things I shouldn’t. But in trying to follow Jesus, I have seen that life with him is better than any way of life I could make up for myself. And I’m grateful. Not just for heaven. But for the journey of this life that I’m trying to live for him. Learning to trust Jesus has allowed me to become better than I ever could have been on my own. And that’s what I’m grateful for. That’s why I’m here.