Thanksgiving Day 2008 – “Jesus, Mercy Us!”  Luke 17:11-19 (ESV)  

 

      Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.  The text for our sermon meditation is taken from the Gospel of St. Luke, the 17^th Chapter:

 

      “On the way to Jerusalem, [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.  And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." 

      When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. 

      Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 

      Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?  Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"  And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."

 

So far the reading.

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

      One of the most significant cries of faith is heard today in these words from St. Luke’s Gospel account.  This same cry of faith is echoed by believers each time they gather in the presence of their God and Savior to sing his praises and to hear His word.  This cry of faith recognizes the need of the believer and the ability of the triune God to meet such a need.  Perhaps you recognize this cry of faith without having to speak it.  However, I will tell you what the words are even if you already know them and can speak them without any prompting.  I believe they are rather obvious.

 

      “Jesus master, show mercy to us!”

 

      Many times, we may just let the full meaning of these words fall idly by the wayside, and give them no second thought.  We think of them as being less than important for our lives, until such time as our lives become like the lepers in this passage from St. Luke.  Only then, do we stop and think upon them again and even think to cry out to God as did these ten lepers.

 

      What was life like for a leper in the time of Jesus? According to the Law of Moses, a leper had no standing within the community.  They were put out of the healthy community in a secluded area.  They were to have no contact with anyone with the exception of other lepers.  There was no contact with family members or friends.  They had to remain separate and if someone came close they had to yell out the warning, “Unclean, unclean.”  With no means of earning a living, the leper relied on the mercy of others who would leave them food or clothing in a particular place to be picked up when the coast was clear.

 

      Moreover, think about the way of life.  There is no human contact.  There are no kind words.  There is no emotional or physical relationship allowed.  There will be no children to hold or loved ones with which to share the joys of life.  This is mirrored in the slow wasting away of the body.  This is truly a merciless existence.

 

      How bad do you think life is for you?  Presently, as a nation, we are experiencing difficulty and turmoil.  The financial market is in quite a slump.  People are holding back on spending and borrowing.  Retailers are struggling to make sales.  Manufacturing is slowing down because sales have drooped.  Workers are uncertain about their employers staying in business.  Many people have been laid off, and many more face such possibility.

 

      Home life for many becomes strained in such times.  Perhaps the household took on too much debt.  Let’s take a page from the life of Joseph.  Perhaps the seven years of good crops seemed like it would never end.  However, now we are entering the seven years of lean crops.  Did you store up for yourself what is necessary for these lean years? 

 

      Reading the newspaper each morning gives you a whole new outlook on day to day life on the streets of Evansville and on the streets of other cities around the world.  Each day there are arrests in Evansville for drugs, assaults, and other illegal activities.  It seems that there are methamphetamine users on every street.  On the streets of cities in Iraq, our soldiers face the daily threat of suicide bombers, and armed men who indiscriminately attack not only our service men and women, but also their own people.

 

      Wednesday’s paper told of two servicemen from the U.S. serving in Iraq who were giving humanitarian aide.  While distributing this aid, these two men were killed by someone they thought was on their side, being a member of the Iraqi army.  In truth, this soldier was an insurgent who had infiltrated the Iraqi army.

 

      The cry for mercy indeed arises from the world today.  We are seeking for relief from the desert of our weariness, trial and sorrow.  At times there seems to be no mercy for us.  At other times, the mercy that is being shown is taken away from us.

 

      There are greater issues which we need to address.  What is the source of all this turmoil?  What causes this unsettled life and difficult circumstances?  Where do leprosy and financial difficulty come from?  Why is mercy hard to find?  Why is mercy taken from us?  Is there another source for mercy that will not be hard to find or easily taken away from us?

 

      As we know the root cause of turmoil, illness unsettled lives and other difficulties is sin.  This evil enemy has infiltrated and affected every area of our lives.  Especially our thinking and our actions, sin leads us to be selfish and do things that serve self.  There are plenty of examples of greed that have come to light through this financial crisis.  Exorbitant severance packages for executives, financial mismanagement, people seeking to have free rides on the sweat and labor of their neighbor, lack of commitment to serve the community and many other scenarios reveal the deep seated effect of sin. 

 

      It is at these moments that we need to heed the cry of the lepers who were standing outside the boundaries of mercy.   These ten men beg for Jesus their master to reach out to them and grant them even a brief moment of attention.  They seek a moment of mercy from this Jesus who has authority and power to grant them healing. 

 

      On the one hand, these men are making a confession of faith.  They are confessing their belief that this Jesus whom they call master is able to give them aid and lift them out of their dire trouble.  They believe that even the smallest hope they have will be attended to by this Jesus.  For, this Jesus has demonstrated before that he has power and authority to heal, and if not heal, at least to give a kind word or a sympathetic word.  This Jesus is Master, one who stands over them having power and authority not seen before among men.

 

      On the other hand, mercy is more than just thinking or feeling pity.  Mercy is the outward manifestation of pity.  You sympathize with the one who cries for mercy and then you act upon that cry for mercy.  The one who receives this cry for mercy recognizes the great need and has the resources to meet that need.  Certainly Jesus fills this definition, for he is the Son of God and has at his finger tips the very power of God to heal any disease and lift sinners out of their pain and misery.

 

      This is exactly what Jesus did for these ten lepers.  He heard their cry from the fringes of the community and turned to them to give them hope and a new life.  Jesus puts the exclamation point on their confession of faith in his ability to grant them healing.  He tells them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  In obedience of faith, the ten lepers go and they are healed.

 

      It is necessary to note that mercy expects nothing in return for the help that is given.  The person showing true mercy acts because of the need and not for the promise of personal gain or profit.  Then it would not be mercy but a rather a business arrangement.  Mercy is not bought or sold it is freely given for the purpose of meeting a need.

 

      Consider what our Lord would do later for the sin of the world.  For in this healing of the ten lepers there is prefigured the great mercy which Jesus would give to the world steeped in the bonds of sin.  Jesus went the way of the cross knowing full well that he is able to fully address the need to pay the price for sin. 

 

      While this sounds like a business transaction, it is far from a business transaction.  There is no one who willingly acknowledges their sin.  Yet, this Jesus, Master over all the earth suffers crucifixion and death to atone for this unrecognized sin.  Jesus does this not because he will receive our thanks, but because he has the power and authority to meet this need and more than fully atone for sin.

 

      If this was a business transaction, Jesus would have walked away when his disciples abandoned him.  He would have returned to heaven when his people wanted nothing to do with him.  He would have called upon his angels to destroy the world that did not know him and did not want to know him.

 

      No, Jesus is rich in mercy and freely showed mercy to sinners, reluctant though we are to recognize and to thank him for his mercy.  Look at those lepers who returned to give thanks.  Only one returned to give thanks.  Jesus tenderly commends this one thankful man and grants him peace with God.

 

      In a few moments, we will give our cry to God for mercy in the prayers.  For that is what the Kyrie is and means.  It is our cry of faith to God for His attention and action in showing mercy to us.  We are not lepers, but we still live in a sinful world.  We are affected by this sinfulness and are in need of God’s mercy.

 

      Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison, in his book titled Christ Have Mercy, describes our life and our Kyrie in this world with these words.

 

      “In the Kyrie, the Church confesses that Jesus, God in the flesh, is our source of mercy in an otherwise merciless existence.  …“Dear God, I’ve got an empty sack!”  That is what the Kyrie confesses.  The place to begin a book on mercy is at the Kyrie, which is the essential element in the Divine Service.”

 

      Indeed, we come to the Lord’s house to sing our praises and to give our thanks for God’s great mercy.  However, we come especially to once again receive God’s mercy.  For this time of worship is all about filling the empty sack of our lives with the fullness of God’s abundant mercy.  It comes to us in the words of the liturgy, in the spoken word of God, in the water of holy baptism, in the body and blood of Jesus Christ which we eat and drink in the Holy Supper and in the Kyrie, the Litany which is our cry for mercy to the God who alone gives us help and deliverance.

 

      May the Lord of mercy dress your wounds and grant you healing through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.  Amen