The Confession of True Disciples :: Luke 17:11-19

Please turn to Page 323 in your service book and join me in confessing our faithful Christian doctrine on the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed. 

What is the Third Article? I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. 

What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified, and kept me in the true faith. In the same way, he calls, gathers, and enlightens the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church, he daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day, he will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

5.

Imagine having a disease that affects every aspect of your life. Unlike cancer, it cuts you off from the world completely. It forces you into isolation ... exiled from family ... friends ... church ... community. If anyone approaches you, you have to warn them to stay away (Lv 13:45-46). The bacteria that causes this disease has actually been spreading through your body for years. It’s deeply rooted. Before you see the first outward signs ... white flakey skin ... this disease has been busy killing nerves in your body ... leaving you numb to its effects. Soon, it will cause skin ulcers as it eats away at your flesh. It will disfigure your face. You’ll lose fingers and toes. It will cripple you and cause blindness, kidney failure, paralysis, and eventually death. 

We are talking about leprosy. Two thousand years ago, there was no cure for it ... apart from the mercy of Jesus. It was a terrible disease then ... and it is still terrible today. It kills. Lepers are still outcasts ... still cut off from the world ... still isolated ... still exiled. Today, doctors do at least have a cure for Hansen’s disease, as it is now called, but they can’t reverse the damage. India, which is home to 60 percent of 126,000 new cases every year, has more than 1,000 leper colonies. I can only imagine the cries for mercy that must sound forth. 

And it came to pass, during his journey into Jerusalem, [Jesus] was going through the midst of the region of Samaria and Galilee. And as he was entering into a certain village, ten leperous men met him. They stood at a distance, and they raised their voices saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us’ (vv 11-13). 

4.

It was interesting to learn that the leper’s cry of “Jesus, Master” is unique to the Gospel of Luke, and it is actually the language of disciples and those who long to be disciples. 

Master, Peter cried, we toiled all night and took nothing (5:5)! ... Master, Master ... the disciples feared ... we are perishing (8:34). ... Master, it is the crowds pressing in on you (8:45). ... Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name (9:33). ... Master, it is good that we are here (9:33). ... Master, have mercy on us (v 13). In all of the references of calling Jesus master, the word used is ἐπιστάτης. It’s found only on the lips of disciples in Luke.

It is comforting to know that every time we disciples cry out to our Sovereign Master, he hears our pleas and answers our prayers ... in mercy. When every support system has crumbled, when every strength of body and mind has been exhausted, when all you have is a cry for mercy, Jesus ... the Master of heaven and earth ... turns toward you and hears you. He sees you. He cares for you. He comes to you. He answers you. He endangers himself for you. He directs you to Word and Sacrament. Jesus takes your place and sets you free from the infection of infections.

It is appalling how sin affects us. Sin utterly destroys us, and man has no cure for it. 

Sin infects our thoughts and eyes ... the sensuality, the impurity, the immorality. Sin affects our words ... the strife, the enmity, the jealousy, the fits of anger. Sin eats away at our family life and friendships ... the drunkenness, the orgies, and the things like these. Sin slowly kills us ... from the inside out. It leaves us feeling numb. We then start ignoring it, denying it, normalizing it. We stop speaking against it. It silences our voice ... just like leprosy. And then, we act like it isn’t there ... even in the midst of our own families.

Have you become blind to it? Will you confess even one sin? 

Have you become numb to it? Do you pretend it isn’t there?

Do you recognize how you set yourselves above all things? Who is your other God?

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5:21). 

3.

So take up the language of true disciples and repent, every one of you, in the name of Jesus. The Lord has come in mercy. Take heed of the leprosy of sin in your life. The Lord has come in mercy. Take heed to your need for a savior. He comes to you in mercy. In his Service of the Divine ... he cleanses you, heals you, and saves you through proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments that unite us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus hears your plea for mercy where two or three are gathered ... here, in his service to you. 

That’s what at least one of the ten lepers ... a Samaritan no less ... realized. 

When [Jesus] saw [the ten lepers], he said to them, when you’ve gone, show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass while they were going, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a great voice, and he fell upon his face toward the feet of Jesus, giving him thanks. (vv 14-16). 

2.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. This is the response of a true disciple to the God who is always with you. The joyous gratitude of the cleansed and healed leper could not be contained ... just like the joyous gratitude of the Christian who is gifted with eternal life on account of Jesus. True disciples always return to their Lord, in faith, knowing that it is Jesus who has mercy. They fall at the feet of Jesus in thanks and praise, glorifying God in Christ. 

Then Jesus asked, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was none found returning to give glory to God except this foreigner? 

While some people may indeed be free from spiritual leprosy ... like the nine who apparently did what Jesus told them to do ... too many people fail to recognize the Great Prophet, Priest, and King, who has had mercy on them and cleansed them. As Saint Paul says in Romans 1:21, although they know God, they do not glorify him as God or give thanks to him. 

But you ... all of you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace (Eph 2:13-14a). This is why you are forgiven. This is why we give him thanks and praise. The Samaritan shows us that salvation is for all people. Jesus has reconciled us to God through the cross, thereby killing the hostility and giving us peace (Eph 16-17). He cleanses us, and nourishes us.

You can be sure and certain of this, not because you asked for mercy ... not because you say you are sorry ... not because you say you repent or that you want to do better. ... but precisely because God has had mercy on you in Christ, and your faith apprehends this truth. 

When you couldn’t go to God, because of your sin, he came to you. He is our peace ... He has made both of us one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. He did this by being born without sin, by living without sin, by shedding his blood for our sin, by dying for our sin ... on a cross, no less ... and then rising into eternal life on the third day. 

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

THIS IS THE CONFESSION OF TRUE DISCIPLES

1.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have confidence in this mercy of God. It is the confession of the disciples in our Master’s service to you. It is here that we turn back to God. It is here we glorify God, praising Christ ... that through his perfect birth and perfect life, God has provided a perfect sacrifice for you. It is here we learn to recognize Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world ... that Jesus is our Great High Priest ... who after being tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hb 4:14-15), entered the Holy of Holies on our behalf providing his own blood to secure eternal redemption for you. He is our mercy.

And in his mercy, Jesus has come to you ... and called to you ... and enlightened you ... and gathered you here to announce to you that it is finished. More than that, he cleanses you as you return to your baptism. He makes you whole in body and soul. He nourishes your faith with his body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. 

So let us always praise God with this loud voice ... He will hear you. 

Let us always give him thanks for his mercy, which never ends ... He will comfort you. 

Let us always rise, and go to the house of the Lord ... He will nourish you.

In this faith, he has saved you (v 19) ... in Jesus’ name.