Ten Lepers

Glory to Jesus Christ. There's a cave church

about an hour and a half north of Jerusalem in

a village called Birkin. It's still active with

a small congregation. Maybe some of you saw the

pictures that I sent around. This humble church

has been a place of pilgrimage since the fourth

century, since the time of St. Constantine, and

built, in fact, by St. Helen. So it's one of

the oldest churches in existence. Here it is

that there's a tradition in this church that

the ten lepers you heard about today in the gospel

today, it's where they lived well. We say lived,

but it was barely survival. Dreadful disease

is Hansen's disease, leprosy. They had no help.

They had no hope. There was no safety net. There

were no visits from priests and rabbis to give

them consolation. Just total, absolute outcasts

living in the desert, homeless. Perhaps food

was left by some kind people, we can imagine,

because they did manage to survive somehow. I

think those people knew what St. James said about

faith and about religion. The epistle in St.

James, he says, pure, undefiled religion before

God and the Father is this, to visit orphans

and widows in their trouble, in other words,

the helpless of the world, to keep oneself spotted,

from the world. That's true religion. St. James,

the brother of the Lord, a pretty good authority

on matters of faith, I would think. Faithfulness

is doing, living, not just thinking about the

doctrines, the teachings, the life of the church.

It's being faithful in all of that, starting

with our actions towards others. And towards

God, St. John, the beloved apostle, in his epistle

says, we know this, we know, by this we know

love because he laid down his life for us. Our

example of love is Christ. That cross over there

reminds us when we come in. And our heart should

be softened when we see it and when we stand

before it and when we pray. St. John goes on,

and we also ought to lay down our lives for the

brethren. But whoever has this world's goods

and sees his brother in need and shuts up his

heart from him, how does the love of God abide

in him? I'm quite aware, believe me, brothers

and sisters, when I quote those words, how lacking

I myself am in that love, in that faithfulness,

in that action. But there it is. St. Luke is

telling us in this epistle, in this gospel that

we heard from the 17th chapter of Luke, that

Jesus, by the way, he always equips us with love

in every circumstance that we need. He will not

fail us when we step forth. St. Luke is telling

us that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, his

final visit there, on his way to heal the blind

man at the gates of Jericho, to see Zacchaeus

up in his tree, to go to his house, to raise

Lazarus from the dead. To go to Jerusalem, the

events of Palm Sunday, the institution of the

mystical supper, the agony of prayer in the Garden

of Gethsemane, his arrest, his crucifixion, his

death, his three -day burial and rising. All

that was ahead for Jesus at that moment when

those ten men calling from afar, Jesus have mercy

on us. All that was ahead for him. You think

about the disciples for a moment. They really

did not understand. How could they? How could

they? What was ahead for Jesus? And this is the

way God works with us. Isn't this the way God

guides us? We walk by faith, not by sight. By

faith, not by logic. Says St. Paul. And here

precisely, This is where I want to focus just

for a moment. This is the lesson for me. The

ten cry, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And

how many times are we going to say that today,

have mercy, at this liturgy? If we could say

it with the presence of mind and the deep feeling

of need that those men had. We'd be transformed

with one Lord have mercy, much less three or

40. Have you seen the bumper sticker, maybe?

Honk 40 times if you're Orthodox. Jesus says

to them, go show yourself to the priests, which

was according to the Jewish law. for many reasons,

not important right now, but that would also

be an affirmation to those same priests, many

who opposed Jesus, of a healing the kind that

Jesus did that only God could accomplish. Only

God could accomplish that. This isn't just a

random miracle. And then they move on to the

next thing. This is the revelation of the true

God and our Savior, who can do everything necessary

for us. As you read, to heal leprosy. As Father

James preached last week, to heal our addictions,

our shame, our relationships, our hurts, our

ignorance, our anger. Leprosy. to even raises

from the dead. And the lepers did as Jesus commanded.

One turned back to the two priests, that's Christ,

and behold, as they went, they were healed. God,

who is rich in mercy. For his great love, which

he loved us even when we were dead in our sins,

sick with leprosy, or whatever we might be sick

against, acting against his commands, made us

alive together with Christ. Yes, God is able

to do all things. But we shouldn't expect first.

To surpass or succeed in something and only later

turn to God in order to thank him. This is a

mistake. The very moment, whatever is happening

to you, worship, seek, love God, judge yourself

even if you don't feel like you're to blame and

glorify God who continues to bless your life

so that your soul is able to do what it could

not do up to that very hour. to be humble, to

be cleansed. We walk by faith, not by sight.

The lepers went at Jesus' command. Our Savior

can do all things. They were healed then. Of

course he can do all things. But I have something

to say to you that may surprise you and might

even offend some of you. Jesus Christ can do

everything. Yes. You remember Job says to the

Lord, all things are possible and everything

is possible to you and no thought is hidden from

you. But do you know what? While Christ can do

everything, he does not have everything. Do you

know that? Here's what Father Michael once said

in a sermon. God does not have everything. How

can I say that? Because he gave us freedom to

say no to him. Even when we repeat the words,

have mercy, but don't want it. We have freedom

to say, yes, Lord, I trust in thee, I love thee,

thou art my foundation, my deliverer. Or, no,

don't bother me. You are too much trouble, Lord.

You will change my life too much. You want too

much. I'll go my own way. At the end of the way,

brothers and sisters, whether you say yes or

no, you have to face the fact that you are going

to die. Whose hand do you want to be holding

at that moment? The Lord Jesus Christ said to

the lepers, go, show yourself to the priest,

and they could have said, really? What good is

that going to do? We need something to eat. They're

going to stone us as soon as we walk in the city

anyway, and we'll be killed. That's a stupid

request. But Christ does not coerce us. They

went. They trusted in him. The Lord never coerces

because he loves us. There's no love with coercion.

And God loves us. You've heard me say it so many

times. A hundred percent, all the time, no strings

attached. That's God's love for us. He doesn't

coerce us to come to church. He doesn't coerce

us to prepare for Holy Communion. To keep these

commandments. No coercion. We do those things

because we love the Savior, because it was he

who gave us a new life, the kingdom of God. As

radically different for us as it was for that

leper with his disease and then... healed. That's

a sign of our Christian life and the way we have

to go. In thanksgiving and trust and worshiping

saying the Lord is my light and my savior of

whom should I be afraid? The Lord is the defender

of my life. Let's think about Christmas in these

days. How we can give to God the one thing he

doesn't have. Our freedom. and really receive

freedom back from him. Freedom from death, freedom

from ourself, freedom to love with the love that

God has for everyone. To him who is our life,

be glory and honor and worship now and ever to

ages of ages.