This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Life of Elisha” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 19, 1989.
About this sermon
Jesus sends the ten lepers to the priests before he heals them, an instruction that shows love for the law. The resurrection language of verse 19 makes clear that faith alone saves the leper, as it saves us.
Sermon transcript
We are still looking at Luke’s Gospel, the seventeenth chapter. We are looking at verses eleven through nineteen. Here is the word of God. And it came about, while he was on the way to Jerusalem, that he was passing through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
And as he entered a certain village, there met him ten leprous men who stood at a distance. And they raised their voices, saying, And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.
He fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him, and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine, where are they? Were none found who turned back to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, Rise, go your way. Your faith has saved you.
Pray with me now. O Lord, as much as we yearn for those He will serve you in the harvest, and so spread abroad your word. Equally we yearn for those who are given, in order that your church, your people might be ruled aright. And Father, these then will stand as sentinels to your word and its proclamation. Would it please you, Lord, then, to raise up those who rule, those who are elders of the people, who can survey the life of the people in light of the word, who will also survey the one who proclaims the word and gives instruction from it. Lord, we rejoice in those whom you have raised up to give their hearts to their calling and serve with distinction. May it be pleasing to you, Father, to grant to your congregations throughout the world such as will rule wisely, graciously, yet firmly. for your people. Always keeping in mind that gracious yet firm rule which you exercise over your people and for them from heaven.
We pray these things through Christ now. Amen. Our contention has been that verse 11 sets the tone for the passage as a whole. That the language here in this 11th verse is quite deliberate, as veiled as it might be for us, the language is quite deliberate.
The story that we have before us is set in the midst of that story told by Luke concerning the journey, the journey of Jesus from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem, the appointed destination for the Messianic King. The destination which spells for him is death. That we have contended all along that this journey is not simply a single journey, it is a double journey. So as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem, eventually, in time, the Church, those who belong to Christ, will in fact move away from Jerusalem on a journey all their own.
Thus, in the eleventh verse, rather than finding the expected progression of the names moving from Galilee in the north through Samaria to Jerusalem, we find just the opposite. First Jerusalem, then Samaria, then Galilee, as if the order is deliberately couched so as to convey to us that coming journey of the Church in her mission. We have said more with regard to this eleventh verse. We have said this as well.
Jesus carries the Church’s journey in himself as he journeys towards his goal in Jerusalem. The Church is already in him, bound to him by God’s purpose and ordination. But the Church carries Jesus’ journey with her As she journeys from. So that at the center of the church’s journey will be that journey of Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, the end of which is the. So wherever the church goes in her journey, she must carry with her the journey of Jesus.
That’s what we said thus far about verse eleven, twelve and thirteen stand together. They first of all present us with this anonymous village, a certain village, unnamed, lending to that a certain universality so that we might see it in terms of circumstances and situations that we know in our lives as well. The unnamed village. These verses present us with this anonymous village. They present us as well with the ten lepers who, because of their disease, are kept at a distance from the community, and also stand at a distance from Jesus. We are given, in the thirteenth verse, Jesus’ response.
The number ten raises two possibilities that are presented before us. On the one hand, There is the suggestion of the law, the ten lepers, the ten commandments. The law seen in relationship to the lepers themselves. That law, good in itself, righteous and holy, we know that, but yet It is the law, is it not, that actually establishes the distance that must be kept by letters from the community, from the camp, even from Jesus. The law indicts. The law judges. The law establishes in its goodness, its righteousness and holiness that distance which must be maintained.
So leprosy, these men infected with this disease, they with the disease typify sinners and their sin. Leprosy speaks to us of that pollution. That pollution of humanity. Humanity itself, now because of sin, standing at a distance, the law then demanding separation between those who are affected and those who are infected, and the camp of the Lord. In this story then, there is presented to us that universal condition of men through these ten letters, Jew or Gentile, Jew or Samaritan.
They are kept at bay by the law, and they are without hope of coming near, except they be cured, except there be mercy found. They’ve come to the right place. They’ve come to the right person. For is it not true that only through Jesus will there be a cure, healing?
Only through Christ will the laws of man be answered and the distance between men and God overcome. that we have said more about this number ten. We have suggested that the ten also signifies something in addition to the law. For this number corresponds. In its proportions. To that number of the last.
How many tribes were lost? To the north, the northern kingdom, Israel, ten tribes were there, two to the south. That this story takes place in the north, in the territory of the ten northern tribes, adds weight to this interpretation, that a Samaritan is present He being one, a descendant of those who were given to the land to repopulate it after the Assyrians had carried away the ten northern tribes into captivity. In these ten lepers, then, do we not see the ten tribes which, according to those ancient prophecies, a prophecy we read last week from Isaiah chapter eleven, for instance, where there was promised a place for the ten northern tribes in the ultimate realization of the kingdom of God. The ten northern tribes are lost.
They are reclaimed, according to Isaiah. So that Ephraim with Judah, in the end, serves God. There are no loose ends. God, through the mission of his Church, is reclaiming all those for whom salvation is All of his people are, in fact, being gathered. While moving to Jerusalem, then, does Jesus give us a moving portrayal of the Church’s move from Jerusalem, the effect of it which will be as the Church touches the ends of the earth to gather together all the loose ends of God’s purpose, thus bringing together again the fullness of the promises made to the Fathers. And is it not our confidence, is it not our conviction, that as Jesus has completed his journey, so we, Christ’s Church, will complete ours? Tonight we move on to a new story. This is 14 to the end.
We are told that Jesus takes notice of the letters. He takes notice of them, surely because he is moved with that divine compassion, but also because he recognizes in these letters the form of faith, a form of faith. He takes notice of the letters then as he does of any who come to him, even these with that form of faith.
The letters in verse thirteen may be confessing actually by their words, more than they know, more than what they presently comprehend. Their words speaking better of them than they actually realize. For they have a knowledge of Jesus. They recognize him as having authority, isn’t that obvious? to them he is a master they call him master and more they recognize him as a wonder worker a miracle worker capable of exhibiting mercy in such a way as to heal their sickness and disease but of course Beyond this recognition, there is something they don’t presently recognize, despite the words and the suggestion of the words that they use. For do they yet acknowledge Jesus’ absolute authority, an authority that is equal to that of God, no less than that? Truly the ultimate master Do they recognize in him such mercy as flows forth from the very heart of God, so that in its demonstration is the very mercy of God himself at work?
But even though the Ten Lepers do not yet see these things, Jesus has taken notice of them. There is a form of faith. operative. Jesus has compassion. There is an incongruity, however, in the story itself and its telling. The incongruity between the leper’s faith being but a form yet of faith and being inadequate an incongruity between that faith and Jesus’ response, for Jesus gives them something much greater than they realize. There is a faith operative, then, in the lepers that is at work at a level that is superseded by the level at which Jesus’ response operates. The intent of the story is not to leave us at the level of the letters, but to raise us to the level of Jesus’ response to them. And as there is that movement in the story, there is the suggestion of a transition, a monumental transition that is taking place in the story as it is recorded here.
The situation and view is not a settled situation. It is not a final situation. It is not the culminating situation. As we observe the lepers in their faith, as they give expression to it, that as we are led through the story and we observe our Christ at work in this story, we are brought to an even higher level. A transition, a monumental transition, is at work in the text to bring us from one circumstance, where one kind of faith seems adequate and appropriate, to another circumstance where it is not, and completely inadequate.
In this regard, then, the faith of the lepers cannot be ultimately normative. Rather, it is merely suggestive. It can only point to something greater, something fuller, that which is complete. In the end, it will be judged to be wholly inadequate. If it were adequate, the story would end with Jesus sending the lepers away. But that’s not where the story ends. The story moves on from that point where the lepers are sent away and they experience the healing through Christ. into that narrative, which has been the point all along, concerning this foreigner, the Samaritan, his return to Jesus, and Jesus’ response to him. the circumstances at one level, and the faith appropriate to it, standing on one side, and circumstances completely different, and faith appropriate to it, standing on the other side. The transition, you see, the transition in the story, reflective of a monumental transition that is not just happening internally to men with regard to their faith, but with regard to the ages. A whole new administration is being unveiled before this American and through him. And when it comes, the old order simply will not do. It won’t do! It is utterly insufficient. As good and as wonderful as it was, as proper as it was in its place, it will not do.
So won’t you move, won’t you move with the Ten Lepers as they move away from Jesus in order to fulfill what seems to be his command. Did he not tell them to go and show themselves to the priests? That was his command, in compliance with the commands, the ancient commands that were given in the law. And even the Samaritan recognizes that, because the Samaritan embraced the Torah. So off to the priests they go, but they are going, don’t you see? They’re going away from Jesus. Ah, it’s a mystery. It’s an irony. But how beautiful. How beautiful. You see, on the one hand, Jesus is no enemy of the law. He is the law’s fiercest defender. No one loved the law.
And he understands the place of these letters in the economy as that place relates to the former administration. So to him, he fell upon God. Show yourself to the priests, just as Moses commanded. But no journey in the literal sense, it happens. They’ve gone in compliance with the command, obviously faith is not repeated in them, they believe what Jesus says, they are going because they believe, they fully expect that as they go they will be healed, and sure enough as they go they are healed. There is a form of faith operative, it is operative even in the older administration. It is not contrary to faith, that older administration. There is a faith that is operative even there, that as they go now, they are healed by the power of this one who comes to them as the agent of the new administration.
They see what has happened to them. But neither did they. Neither. They continued to move away from Him. They made their place in all the administration. Women leaders. But they never won. And whether he understood it all, I don’t know. But instead of increasing the distance between him and Jesus, he turned around and run back. Now what is that return all about? A new day has come.
Do you see it? Do you see it? It’s laid between the lines, but there nonetheless. In turning around and coming back and seeing he’s not going to have a priest after the order of Aaron, or Israel, or Samaria. He’s now going to the last place, the final place. Have you seen it? If he goes with the mind, He remains a leper. Do you understand that?
Because even after showing himself to the priest, he’s just a man. And still an outsider. An outcast. A forerunner. Rehearsing his direction, he comes to Jesus. And now he is gathered in by Christ. The outsider is no longer an outsider. He’s gone. And that’s what he put in the lines too.
If there is that inadequacy of comprehension by those who are under the old administration in recognizing Jesus for what he is, that’s now remedied. For all of the languages convoluted as you move through the passage, all the pronouns are mixing up, are mixed up. The man comes back praising God, but then in the next verse it says, he praises him, thanks him, because it’s God and the one he glorifies as a saint. God and the one he thanks as his life-saving saint. Jesus is God.
So in order to be reconciled with God, he doesn’t go to the priest. After the order of men, he goes to Jesus, and Jesus, following the priest, is out of town. I tell you, there’s no greater reconciliation than that. And it is the reconciliation that is effective now for the administration of an entirely new power of God’s healing, so to speak.
And in that epoch, the forefathers, the saints, and the apostles, they are made to be the household of God. Jesus in conclusion speaks to him of resurrection. The humiliation which the leper now shows as he prostrates himself before Jesus is a death, a death to self. Jesus says, rise! The man is resurrected, the new era, the new era is seen in and through this.
Rise! Go your way! Live your life! Not the recurring priests of the Order of the Spirit. The new order of faith that’s massive, magnificent faith, bequeathing unto us a righteousness which is unfaithful, a righteousness which the law could not give us. Your faith, that is, has saved you. Your faith has saved you.
Now, are you not beloved? Are you not beloved? Are you not a sinner? Are you not a sinner? Are you not now participating in good meditation? found only Him. He is your Prince, and He is your God. By Him, you have not only defeated, you have evaded death. You serve Him in all that you do. to the unity of five things which save us. Amen. Oh. Oh. My Savior died for me. Eternal family to be born when morals break. Me, the heart with grief and anguish, for the body left with pain. of God.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.