Proverbs 10: 10–24 / Galatians 5: 16–24 / Luke 17: 11–19
This is the written version of the
homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown,
Pennsylvania on September 21, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“NECESSARY, BASIC SKILLS FOR LIVING, AND FOR BELIEVING”
(Homily
text: Luke 17: 11–19)
(An introductory note: The readings for this Sunday were
taken from one of the historic liturgical resources of the Lutheran Church, the
1958 Service Book and Hymnal. On this Sunday, Flohr’s Church celebrates the 240th
anniversary of its founding, so the use of an historic liturgy seemed
appropriate. The readings in this liturgical resource are different from the
Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) now in widespread use. Note, for example, that
there is no Psalm. Also, note that this resource contains only one annual cycle
of readings, instead of the three-year cycle of the RCL.)
As I add years to the numbers of
birthdays I’ve celebrated, I’ve come to believe that each and every human being
must make use of – and master the use of – four basic life skills. They come in
the form of things we say to one another:
·
Please.
·
Thank
you.
·
I’m
sorry.
·
Can
you help me?
Use of each of these helps to lubricate
the interactions and the ways in which we human beings rub against one another.
For us as Christian believers, there’s
another important skill to have:
·
Faith
in God’s wisdom, God’s goodness, and the superiority of God’s will.
Many of the points made above are
present in our Gospel reading for this morning, Jesus’ healing of the ten
lepers.
With these thoughts in mind, let’s look
at the text.
We ought to begin by noting that Jesus
was on His way to Jerusalem, but instead of taking the circuitous route down
the Jordan valley, or making His way along the coastline of the Mediterranean
Sea, He passes through the region between Galilee and Samaria. Normally, a
devout Jew would avoid anything having to do with Samaria. But we know from
Jesus’ other behaviors that He was quite comfortable with breaking the normal
taboos and behaviors of the day.
As we dig into the text, we ought to
notice, first of all, that Jesus is met by ten lepers, who stand afar off. The
requirement to stay away from healthy people, if one had a skin condition[1], was
a requirement of the Law of Moses.[2]
The ten cry out to Jesus, saying,
“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Essentially, this takes note of two of
the life skills we outlined above: They are asking, using (implied) “Please”,
and “Can you help me?”.
Now, the Lord tells them to go and show
themselves to the local priest. This, too, is a requirement of the Law of
Moses, for the local priest would have to determine that they had been
cleansed, and were, therefore, able to rejoin the community and also to be able
to go to the Temple in Jerusalem.
It would be easy to miss an important
aspect to what Jesus told them to do. Notice that He didn’t say, “You are
healed, go and show yourselves to the priest.’ Instead, He simply says, “Go,
show yourselves to the priest.” Luke tells us that, as they went on their way,
they were healed.
The ten began their journey as unclean,
un-healed individuals. There was no reason to believe that they would be
acceptable to the priest in the condition in which they departed. Their healing
takes place after they had begun their journey. That step of faith
(quite literally) is theirs to take.
The fact that the ten left the Lord and
went to the priest signifies that they had faith that the Lord could heal them.
Now, one of the ten – and a Samaritan
at that – is the only one who makes use of another of those important life
skills. He is the only one who returns and thanks the Lord for his new lease on
life.
Each and every episode recorded in Holy
Scripture is meant to tell us something about God, God’s nature, God’s power
and God’s care for each and every one of us. The pages of Holy Scripture also
tell us a lot about human nature, about human attitudes and behaviors, and
about the ways in which human beings in ages past got their relationship with
God right, and the ways in which they didn’t. Scripture records the successes
and the failures, both.
Perhaps the lesson for us as Christian
believers today might be that we are to make frequent use of all four of the
basic life skills enumerated above. We will need them all at one time or
another. We should begin with “Thanks!”, and seek to learn from the behaviors
of the nine healed lepers who couldn’t be bothered to come back to Jesus to
offer their thanks. Giving thanks is, oftentimes, the most neglected aspect of
our prayer life and our relating to God.
Then, we should remember, I think, to
make use of the other three life skills.
And finally, we should do all we can to
ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to assist us to build up our faith, which –
as is so common in Jesus’ ministry – the key to receiving God’s healing,
goodness and love.
AMEN.
[1] In the Gospels, leprosy referred to any
number of skin conditions, not just to the condition we know as leprosy today, the
medical term for which is Hansen’s Disease.
[2] See Leviticus 13:46.
