The Proper Worship of God
I.N.I.
Luke 17:11–19
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.” (ESV)
~Prayer~
Dear Heavenly Father, in love you sent your beloved Son to secure our salvation. In mercy, you provide and bring help and healing to our bodies and souls. We pray that you would enlighten our hearts by your Holy Spirit, that we may never forget these blessings, but ever live with faith in your grace and with thankful hearts continually praise and glorify you, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen!
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
Have you noticed that we call church different names? I think for most American Christians we refer to what we do on Sunday morning as worship. It’s an appropriate term for church. We come to church to offer God our prayers and praise and to bring him our gifts as well. But is that the main thing that we do on Sunday morning? Is our worship the focal point of the service?
While it is important for us to bring our prayers, praise, and offerings to God, that is not the main reason for why we come to church. The Christian religion is not about what we do for God, but about what God has done for us in Christ. In the same way, the primary focus of what we do on Sunday morning is not about what we do for God, but all about what God does for us. At church, God comes to us through his Word and Sacraments where he forgives us our sins, comforts us, and strengthens our faith. Paul calls the Gospel the “power of God unto salvation!” In fact, the German word for church was “Gottesdienst,“ which means God’s–service, which is why some have decided to call what they do on Sunday morning not worship, but the Divine Service. It highlights the truth that what we do on Sundays is first and foremost about God serving us with his gifts, and secondarily our service of praise and thanks to God.
Did you notice that our lesson this morning in many ways reflects what we do at the beginning of each of our services? First the lepers call for mercy, Jesus healed them, and one returns to glorify and praise God? Isn’t that what we do when we confess our sins calling for mercy, receive absolution from the Pastor, and then sing, “Glory be to God on high?”
Jesus brings mercy for all people. In our lesson, Jesus healed all ten lepers, but only one returned giving thanks to God. Ten were healed, but only one was forgiven. Therefore, let’s study this account so that we too might learn the proper worship of God which produces saving faith.
I. God’s Mercy.
There are some important details that Luke draws our attention to in this lesson. Luke reminds us that our Savior was on his final journey towards Jerusalem where he would go to suffer and die for the sins of the world. And on his way, he traveled through Samaria. Most Jews would make efforts to avoid going through Samaria, taking longer routes around it, so that they would not have to go through Samaritan lands. The Jews despised the Samaritans. The Samaritans were Jews who had intermarried with heathen tribes after the Exile and compromised the truth of God’s Word. But Jesus goes through Samaria. He does it on purpose. He came to seek and to save the lost.
During the time of Jesus, leprosy was a terrible and incurable skin disease. Lepers were forced away by law from the healthy and clean. Their disease was painful. A healthy Jew wouldn’t join together with a healthy Samaritan for religious reasons. But there were no differences between a Jewish leper and a Samaritan leper. They were cast out together by their common miserable condition. They gathered in little bands often sleeping in caves.
But then Jesus came. These men must have heard about Jesus and the miracles he performed. Whether or not they knew that Jesus was true God, they thought that he might be able to help. Lepers were reduced to beggars—so that’s what they did. But they couldn’t go right up to Jesus was. The law required them to stand at a distance. Since the vocal cords of lepers were weak, they joined their feeble voices together for a desperate plea: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They don’t ask to be healed because their need is obvious. They needed healing from this painful disease.
And Luke records, “When [Jesus] saw them He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’” Jesus tells them to go to the priests. His command contained a promise. The priests could not heal, but they certified that a leper had been healed.
“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.” When he saw that he was healed he came back to Jesus. He praised God. He fell down on his face at his feet. He fell down at God’s feet, giving him thanks. The Samaritan learned to see Jesus not just as some healer who could cure diseases, but his God who could save his soul from sin.
The other nine lepers did not. In many ways, the nine lepers serve as a good picture of much of American Christianity—they are only concerned about God when they have a problem. However, when life gets better, when danger and disease is gone, they are no longer concerned about God. They want mercy, but they don’t really want God. They view God as a means to an end, rather than the end and goal. They treat God as something they can take on and off the shelf depending on if they need it. This can be a temptation for our own lives—how often does it take great problems for us to go to God and pray? Do we treat going to God like a last resort option?
The nine were surely thankful that they were healed and could finally return home. But the thought did not cross their minds that their leprosy was a symptom of a far greater problem. All sickness is the result of sin. Not because sin causes that sickness, though sometimes that may be the case. But there wouldn’t be any sickness if there weren’t any sin. We suffer and die because we have sinned against God. We need more than just physical healing. We need the forgiveness of our sins.
II. Thanksgiving
The Samaritan returned giving thanks to God. He fell at his feet. He gave thanks to God by going to Jesus. He is God incarnate. The Samaritan confessed the true Christian faith that receives from God the forgiveness of sins. The man received healing of both his body and soul. Jesus said to him, “your faith has made you well,” but better translated is, “your faith has saved you.”
Our lesson says that Jesus told him, “Rise and go your way.” But it could also be translated as, “Arise, journey.” Jesus invited him to journey with him as he made his way to Jerusalem where we see the ultimate act of mercy. On the cross, Jesus bore our sins and infirmities to atone for the sins of the world. To cleanse us of the leprosy of sin.
By healing the lepers, they were no longer outcasts in society. By going to the cross for us, Jesus reconciled us with God. We who were once outcasts before God have been brought near through the blood of Jesus. Paul writes, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Colossians 1:21–22).
We need more than physical healing—we need Jesus. We come to church because that’s where we find Jesus in his Word and Sacraments. We come not only to praise him, but to receive from him that which we cannot fix ourselves. Just as the lepers could not cure themselves, so can we neither save ourselves. And so, we cry for mercy and confess our sins. We flee to God’s Word which promises us forgiveness, peace, and healing through the only begotten Son of God who carried our sins to the cross. Jesus said to the Samaritan, “Arise, journey.” Each Sunday we journey to the cross of Jesus where we see what he has done for us. We confess our sins and bury them in the tomb. We receive the resurrection peace when we hear the words of absolution and forgiveness through the pastor as from Christ himself. As beggars we kneel before the Altar, receiving the treasures of the cross. “Given and shed for you, for the remission of sins.” “Go in peace, your sins are forgiven.” How could we not return week after week glorifying and praising God?
Our lives will not always be a walk in the park. Maybe you have gone through difficult days in the past or are facing them now. At these moments, it can be hard to thank and praise God. Sometimes, lessons like ours today can be turned into a law-lesson. “You must glorify God in order to be saved. Real faith is praising faith.” And so, someone might conclude, I have to try harder to be thankful—I must glorify God more.
But faith in God, trust in him, and thankfulness are not a result of us trying harder. In fact, the harder we try, the more miserable we will be because we will see how we fail. Instead, our faith is strengthened, our trust is increased, and our thankfulness grows by looking to who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
I recently read a letter that a pastor wrote to fellow pastor near death who was worried about standing before God. The pastor asked his asked his friend what a traveler would do if he came to a chasm over which a bridge spanned. How would one produce confidence in that bridge—that it would hold. Well, you look at the bridge and get down and examine it. You don’t stand near the bridge and think about whether we have faith in that bridge. By examining the bridge maybe your confidence has grown, but maybe you want more. How do you increase that faith? In the same way—you examine the bridge.
The fruits of faith are not produced by examining our own hearts, but by going to Jesus and seeing the mercy he showed us. The love he had. The work he has done. Our only relief and comfort is to look to Jesus, who is our bridge to the Father. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Our church service is not introspective, only looking to ourselves and what we do. Instead, we look to Jesus and as humble beggars receive all the gifts that he freely gives us. And it is by returning to this Word week after week, day after day—the same Word that commanded the lepers to go to the priests—that God has the power to create faith, heal, and forgive. When the Holy Spirit works faith in a person to see what Christ has done and know that Jesus is God—thanks and praise will take care of themselves. A Christian can’t help but return to Jesus to thank and praise him for what he has done. And it is this faith in Jesus, to know and believe he is the One who can save our souls, that hears Christ’s promise Sunday after Sunday, “Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.” Amen!
S.D.G.