Title: Faith That Saves

Scripture: Luke 17:11-19

Sermon Summary: This sermon explores the story of Jesus healing ten lepers, focusing on the themes of faith, gratitude, and salvation. It emphasizes that while all ten lepers were healed, only one—a Samaritan—returned to thank Jesus, demonstrating true saving faith. The sermon draws parallels between this miracle and the parable of the sower, highlighting how faith must endure trials and bear fruit. It also discusses God's testing of believers, the importance of thanksgiving, and the nature of saving faith versus unrepentance.

Key Points:

  • True faith leads to gratitude and praise towards God
  • God tests believers to strengthen their faith, not to cause them to sin
  • Saving faith endures trials and bears fruit
  • Thanksgiving is a natural outgrowth of genuine faith
  • Unrepentance and taking God's forgiveness for granted are dangers to faith
  • Christ has borne our sins and offers forgiveness to those who come to Him in faith

Transcript:

Saint Luke provides us with a miracle of Jesus that's straightforward and that's to the point. Ten lepers cried out for mercy before Jesus, although standing far off. Ten lepers were healed of their leprosy. All received the same blessing and mercy from our Lord, but only one came back to thank him and to praise him. So Thanksgiving seems to be a major theme here, and this gospel text is even the text for Thanksgiving Day in our lectionary. We should always praise and thank God for the things we have in this life. After all, he is the only reason that you've woken up this morning and that you're here. He's the only reason why you have faith. He's the only reason why you have clothes on your back, and he's the only reason that you have the forgiveness of sins, because Christ's sacrifice is paid for all of us. Your sins. So Thanksgiving does seem to be a major theme here, but it's not the point. Actually, faith is the point, and we'll get to that in a bit. Now, there's two opposing sides to this miracle that we have to consider. There's the one side of the Samaritan and his faithfulness and his thankfulness, and there's the other side, the other nine lepers who were not thankful and did not come back to praise our Lord.

The former example of the Samaritan should be our example. We should give thanks to our Lord and praise him, while the other example of the other nine is obviously the example we should avoid. We should not be like these other nine lepers. But to the Samaritan, Jesus doesn't say, rise and go your way, your thankfulness has saved you. He says, rise and go your way, your faith has made you well. Your faith has saved you. In the text, this meaning is double. It means he's been healed physically of his leprosy, but it also means that his faith has saved him. What's common with all these lepers is they all receive the same mercy, like I said. Their leprosy was healed, and all these lepers should have come back to thank Jesus. After all, if Jesus hadn't passed by, they'd still all be in their dire situation. Lepers are cast out from the community. They're abandoned by their family and friends, and so they all kind of live together outside the city or the town in their own community because they can't come into contact with other people. But this Samaritan who was healed knew of the blessings that Jesus gave him, and his faith did save him. The two examples here, then, are not really about thankfulness and ungratefulness, but about the kind of faith which saves. The gratefulness of the Samaritan can only come from faith. It can only come from his reception of Christ's mercy. And this miracle is actually an object lesson on a parable given by Jesus just several chapters earlier in St. Luke's Gospel, the parable of the sower. Now, if you remember, the parable of the sower goes like this. A sower went out to sow his seed, the seed being the word of God. And some of that seed fell along the path, but the devil stole it away immediately. Some seed fell among the rock, but these plants had no root. And so when testing came, the roots withered, and they died off. And they died off, although they had received the word with joy. Then there were the seeds that fell among the thorns, which choked out the word. And these thorns are the cares and the pleasures of this life. plants sprouted, but then they produced no fruit because these thorns had choked everything out. But lastly, there is the seed that fell among the good soil. And these held fast to the word with a good and honest heart and bore fruit with patience. In this parable, the seed fell. Many believed for a little bit, but only the seed that fell among the good soil is the seed that fell among the good soil. The seed which endured. And these seeds sprouted and bore fruit. When Jesus walked by, the lepers kept their distance. But every single one of them lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Now you can only call out to God if you have faith. And you can only expect mercy from God if you have faith. So all of these lepers did, in fact, have faith at some point. They did expect mercy from Jesus, especially because I'm sure they've heard of all the miracles that have happened to them. And they've heard of all the miracles that Jesus has done up to this point, but especially the miracle earlier, which he specifically healed a leper. But unlike the healing of the leper previously, Jesus does something very strange with these lepers. He tells them to show themselves to the priests at the temple. And if you remember, in the Levitical law, in order to be declared clean, ritually and physically, you had to go to the priest. And he would either confirm or deny that your leprosy was gone. If it was gone, you'd be ritually clean, physically clean, and you could go back into the community and join public life again. But unlike the leper previously, Jesus did not heal these lepers then and there. In the previous healing of a leper, Jesus simply touched him with his hand and his leprosy was gone. So why not do that again? Why couldn't he just touch each one of them and their leprosy would be gone? It seems pretty confusing.

It would also be absurd for all of these lepers to just go to the temple and their leprosy still be there, and the priest be like, what are you doing here? Your leprosy is still here. You have to go back into isolation. So all of these men had to trust Jesus that their leprosy would be healed along the way, which it was. Like I said, they each all received healing and cleansing from their leprosy, but only one returned. Jesus only tells the Samaritan leper that his faith has saved him, and the rest fell away. Their faith didn't bear fruit. They abandoned their faith. But I want to make it very clear that it's not Jesus' fault that these other nine lepers fell away. Jesus isn't in the business of causing people to sin and to reject him. Rather, it's the Samaritans' own fault. Jesus is not in the business of causing people to sin and to reject him. that they fell away. God doesn't cause anyone to lose their faith, and he doesn't leave lead people to sin. God tempts no one, but he does test people. He does bring them through trial. Hebrews chapter 12 says, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. Jesus tested these lepers, but only so that their faith might grow. And despite Christ's testing in the face of it, the Samaritan was the only one that endured, and the only one whose faith bore fruit. This faith saved him because he didn't reject Christ. He didn't listen to Satan and disregard Christ's mercy. Satan is the only one which tempts to sin. He is in the midst of sin. He is in the midst of sin. He is in the midst of sin. He is in the midst of sin. of causing people to sin and fall away. He even takes God's trials and his testing and twists them so that you would learn to hate God and to reject him. But through all this, and even in the face of all that, the Samaritan came back, fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. He didn't allow thorns to choke out his faith. He didn't allow trial to wither away the roots in the ground. He endured. And as Jesus tested this Samaritan and each one of these lepers, he also tests each one of you in his Christian church. But it's always so that we would trust him and come to him for aid and praise him for bearing us through his own trials. He might test you with these trials. For instance, your prayers might not be answered right away, or your prayers might not be answered in the way of God. He might test you with these trials, or your prayers might not be answered in the way that you hoped. You might become sick. You might lose a loved one. God might give difficult times to you so that he could bless you and carry you through them, and also carry you through Satan's temptation, because he, Satan, would want you to fall away. God wants you to throw yourself down at his feet and trust in his mercy. So each one of us should be like the Samaritan. We shouldn't resist Christ who saves. We shouldn't resist God who saves. We shouldn't resist Christ who cures not only leprosy of body, but leprosy of soul. He has cleansed your leprosy of sin, which alienates each one of us from each other and from God. Thanksgiving should be given to God, because Christ not only cured your leprous sin, but he took it all on himself, and even more than that, he took on death, the penalty which you should have endured. So thank your God, because it is your God, and it is your God, and it is your God, and it is your God, and it is your God, a natural outgrowth of faith. Thankfulness and praise is inseparable from a saving faith, and that starts with simply just saying prayers before meals, or praying Luther's morning and evening prayers, which begins with, I thank you, my heavenly Father. Don't just say thankfulness for the holiday that comes in November, but I know that we don't give thanks the way we should. Even Christians still deal with the sinful flesh and the sinful nature and its effects. God tests us with trial and difficulty, yes, but I think he also tests us with good times, with plentiful blessing. We get so used to being blessed by God and given so many things that we take them all for granted. He's given you each a body which you use every day to sin against him. And even worse than that, the devil tries to get in your head and to make you think that you can continue with whatever sin you want because God will just forgive it anyways, because we are saved by grace, right? But that is not saving faith. That's unrepentance. That's unbelief. That's doing what the nine lepers did and abandoning Christ and not coming back to thank him and not coming back to praise him.

That's taking God's word and his forgiveness and rejecting it. But the difference between unrepentance and that of us Christians is that we know full well that we don't thank God the way we should. And so each one of us falls at Jesus' feet, crying out for mercy. And we expect blessing from him. We expect the forgiveness of sins. We also cry out like the lepers have mercy on us. And so in the throes of sin and a guilty conscience where we're alienated from God, Christ has borne our sickness and even death to bring us to himself. He's forgiven each one of us for our leprosy. So throw yourself at his feet and he will forgive. He will grow your faith by his own hand. And he will say to you, rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Your faith has saved you.