The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost - October 12, 2025

Summary

Mother Suzanne explores the story of the 10 lepers from Luke's Gospel, emphasizing how only one—a Samaritan outsider—returned to thank Jesus for his healing. She teaches that true salvation involves not just physical healing but also gratitude, which becomes a natural response when we experience God's grace and mercy in our lives.

THE GOSPEL                                                                                                                                                           Luke 17:11-19

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, 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 made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Artwork:  "The Healing of Ten Lepers", by James Tissot (15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902)

Transcript

Mother Suzanne:

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. He makes his marvelolous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious. The Lord is full of compassion. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated. What is true stewardship? Worship and Christian living? A theologian and early church father. Martin Luther said, "It is the 10th leper who turned back. For now is then seen makes all the difference." Our brothers at the monastery in Boston from the society of St. James, the evangelist says this. Evangelism. Oh, that's an interesting word in the Episcopal church. Evangelism is a natural response to an action that has been set in motion by God. Mary, the mother of Jesus, visits her cousin Elizabeth to share the good news that she received from the angel. The leper who was once an outcast went among the town's people freely proclaiming the good news of his being made whole by Jesus.

When receiving good news, you can't help but share it because it bursts forth from your innermost core and it radiates outward. The question for this morning is this. What is God doing in your life that you can't help but want to share? What is God doing in your life at your innermost core that radiates out? So this morning's text, we meet 10 leopards. There's this funny word that is used again and again in this passage and it's of Greek origin and it's the word so zo. It is only used a few times in the gospel of Luke and its meaning is healing and wholeness, salvation.

And in this text, it means the act of saving. And when the 10th leper returns to Jesus, Jesus commands him and says, "Your faith has made you well. In essence, your faith has saved you. " What is so powerful for me in this text is how 10 men, 10 very sick men were seen by Jesus. He sees them, he tells them to go find a priest, which is what you do in that time if you are sick. And while they were on their way, they are made well. But it is one man, the Samaritan leper who was saved by Jesus. Now remember, he's a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans did not get along. A long, long history of bad blood between these two groups of people. But it is the last leper who is the outsider, the foreigner, the Samaritan, the one thought to be the least likely to be saved and was saved.

He was made well. He was made whole. And before that, he was separated and an outcast simply because he was from Samaria. But because of a man named Jesus, he was saved. And even still, we were created to experience salvation. I've come to learn in my own life and having the privilege of walking with others on the spiritual path wherever you might be, that anytime someone encounters anything that saves your life, most people choose to commit wholeheartedly. It means more. It brings life and healing, whatever that is to you. And experiencing wholeness and salvation reorients your life gives you a new perspective on which to view your life and in some ways often provides needed direction and guidance, a grounding and purpose.

But most of all, what I have seen is that it provides a powerful capacity to ground you with deep appreciation and gratitude. Whether it's being healed from something, a disease, a sickness, whether it's finding a church where you finally feel as though you have come home, whether it's freedom from that which has had hold over you, or whether it's simply choosing to live a life of generosity and kindness. When you've been touched deeply, or better said, when you feel as though you finally have been seen, gratitude for what has been given seems to be the natural response.

The story of 10 lepers, this story we remember today is only found in the gospel of Luke. The setting of this story, we have to always be mindful that as Jesus is doing this, he is also walking his own road. He's traveling towards Jerusalem, and anytime the gospel writer says Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, that is another way of saying Jesus is on his way to die, because when Jesus goes to Jerusalem, he is headed straight towards his death. And just a few chapters later in Luke, we will see how this begins to play out. But until he gets there, he keeps meeting folks who need him, folks who are dying to be seen by him, those who are in desperate need of healing, those who need salvation, and he continues to offer it even to the least likely the lepers and the leper who is a Samaritan.

Nobody wanted to go near them.

We know that because the gospel text says everyone keeps their distance, including Jesus, but they know this man and so they call out. They don't call out specifically for healing. What do they call out? They say, "Have mercy on us, Jesus." They also call Jesus master, a word that only occurs in Luke's gospel, and it is only used by Jesus' disciples until the 10 lepers come. They come shouting, "Master." Master. It is the sick ones who call on Jesus for help using the name master, that up to this point was only used by those closest to Jesus.

And when Jesus sees them, and when Jesus tells them to go see the priest and their leprosy is healed as they go, he does not only cure their bodies. He restores their identities. What does that mean? Well, because now they are clean, they can return to society. They are given their humanity back. They can return to their families, their community. They can have intimacy with another. Their identity is given back by this man, but it is the 10th leper. It is the 10th leper who goes the next step, who does something more. It is he who expresses gratitude, says thank you to Jesus. He's likely one.

The one from the most dreaded place, Samaria, is the one who can't contain the gratitude he has for what has been done to him. Four times in the gospel of Luke, Jesus tells someone, "Go. Your faith has made you well. Two men, two women." And the Samaritan leper is one of them. He's been set free, free from the dreaded disease, but again, he is grateful. And when he tells Jesus, thank you, the word he chooses to use is the word thanks, which Jesus also uses when he breaks bread and gives the cup. And it is the basis for our word Eucharist, which means thanksgiving.

It is gratitude. It is thankfulness. Gratitude is always an invitation. It's not a command. It's an invitation that one, God never tires of making. It is like faith, hope, and love. They're not innate traits within us, but rather it is like a muscle that grows stronger as you use it. As you practice giving thanks and more frequently share your gratitude, you not only grow in gratitude, but you create an example for others to follow. It's free. It has been life changing for me to live in a stance of gratitude. And what I have found is that the more gracious we are, the more attractive we become to others.

Gratitude and generosity are really attractive qualities to have. So think about those things for which you are grateful. Step into this space of what it means to be grateful. The boundary lines between those who are being saved, whether you are a leper or whether you are clean, whether you are a Samaritan or Jew, all of it's been breached. Our Samaritan this morning shows us that no one can escape the love of God and his mercy. Anyone can experience God's salvation and anyone can be made whole and experience new life and all can be grateful. Amen.