What a week we have just concluded as the Church. Last week I said, “If one generation becomes ashamed of the gospel and does not risk testimony, how will the next generation know [or learn it]?”[1]
What we have just done in the name of the Lord, together, shows that we want the community, our neighbors, perfect strangers even, to know the gospel and to know the one whose name is written in that gospel. We are not ashamed of the gospel or of the one whose gospel it is.
546 lunches were handed out. And while we might chuckle as we say, ‘I never want to see another turkey and cheese or PB&J,’ if a child came to our church, or if we know of one that needed a sandwich one tomorrow, I have no doubt that you, Bethesda, would care for both the family and the child. You would make that sandwich.
For as I told some of my colleagues, when we can see the places where we can Be the Church, we cannot un-see those same places tomorrow. Your eyes are open, and you see where the gospel is needed.
You see once you experience the loving care from God, and once you participate in that care, it seems to easily flow from you to the other person. Giving out a sandwich, which was the first step, becomes just that… the first step. It does not mean we condone anything we saw, but instead, we are not ashamed to take Jesus into that place with us and as we handed out those paper bags of food to people, we hoped that feel the gospel living in us.
Today we have a familiar story. The 10 lepers. We know them. You have been taught what they do, and you have considered why they do it. Yet I wonder if the miracle of their healing is more involved than what it appears on the surface?
You see if the miracle is deeper, if it is far wider than what it appears to be on the surface, then the transformation is a thing that we can experience as well. And more than just experiencing something deeper and wider, we can share it as well, and the sharing of any miracle—be it leprosy being healed or sandwiches handed out children who need it—that is something that spreads the gospel.
Move 1- the disease.
So, what is the disease in the text?
Luke says that these men were inflicted with: LEPROS: a chronic skin condition that we might refer to today as Hansen’s disease. And as we have read about leprosy in the scriptures, there is some familiarity with it in our minds. We have some idea of what it could look like. Yet Matthew Theissen, as he studies this text and the word LEPROS, wonders if we shouldn’t widen our gaze and widen our definition of lepros. He says:
The sloughing off [or flaking off] of the skin that resembles a decomposing corpse point[s] to the origins of impurity: death. Here [in our text], Jesus resists this deadly force, the very source of the impurity, not just healing a disease but battling the encroachment of death upon human life. In short, this is a healing that points to Jesus’ extraordinary power to defeat death and its minions even before he faces a Roman cross and a tomb.[2]
So, again I wonder, what is the disease? What is Jesus healing these 10 individuals of? Is this physical? Are these 10 people just sick with something that will separate them from the rest of society and force them to stay away from the rest of the church?
Is spiritual? Is what they are dealing with so bad that they are not allowed to come to church or worship with the rest of their community? Or is it more? Is it more divisive? And of course, I suspect you know I will say the answer is: Yes.
Their physical bodies are healed as this skin-flaking-off disease is driven away by Jesus.
At the same time, their spiritual bodies are also healed in this moment by the Lord. For there is, perhaps, much more afflicting these 10 people than just a disease that makes them unable to be with other people because their skin is flaking off as Matthew Theissen suggests in his words. For Jesus, in his life and work, is not only defeating physical sickness but Jesus is beating back the very power of death itself.
I wonder if in that conclusion and consideration we can find space to enter into this text and find some room ourselves to dwell in the story? For one person, one sick person… returns.
Move 2- one returns.
For if the healing is more than just a physical action (as I believe that it is), then the by-product of the healing in our text is more life changing also than a disease being driven off—or away.
Jesus did not only drive away sickness from 10 individuals who yelled to him from a distance off. But I wonder if we can agree that He drove away so much more from these people. And further, if the Savior drove away so much more from these lepers, then the Church’s response after the healing, speaks volumes about their faith, about their worship, and our understanding of the Lord.
But let’s not get too far ahead of the story. . .
As we know, Jesus tells all 10 of them to go show themselves to the priest—and we can presume that they do this. We can infer that they turn on their heels and immediately head off searching for the local priest. A whisper on their minds and in their hearts. Something is going to happen. Something is happening. I bet they get a bit excited and wonder what will it feel like?
We do not know how it happens. Was it sudden? Was it slow? Did this healing take place as each step is taken almost like a progression as they drew themselves closer and closer to the priest’s physical location—which would be the Temple, right? The church building, huh.
You can almost feel the joy growing in them… step by step. I wonder what it felt like inside that first person to notice that something inside was changing. They were different. Becoming different! I bet they started running as they become more and more whole. And as they became different, they continue following what Jesus’ said and arrived at their destination.
He told them in verse 14, ‘go and show yourselves to the priest.’ This was what was required to verify that an unclean individual was once again clean—or healed. They were doing what Jesus told them to do. This is not an act of sin or defiance. Not one of these nine people is taking matters into their own hands. Rather they are following what Jesus said to do.
Yet after the healing takes place, only one person realizes that not only is their outside healed but their inside is cleansed as well. Restored. Remade. Not only is their physical body healed but the spiritual body is also healed in a way that exceeds any of their expectations as they approached Jesus on that road that day. This is where I feel the true miracle lies and this is where the repeatable message takes place.
And your whole body is healed by the Lord, I believe there is only one proper response available to you. The response is the one given by the last leper who comes back to Jesus.
Testimony in the form of praise and worship of Jesus.
Move 3- Giving thanks
For one person. One man, realized that not only is his outside healed, which was the first miracle that he asked for, but his inside is cleansed as well. And when this realization hits him there is only one thing that he can do. He returns.
And returning to Jesus, he un-ashamedly falls before Jesus and the Word says, ‘he gave thanks.’ He had many options at his disposal in this moment. He could continue on his way, as he was told to do. But instead of all that, he came back to Jesus and put away any other thoughts for himself and thanked God for what the Lord has done in his life.
For when a miracle, regardless of how you quantify it, happens with you there is only one thing to do… give thanks to God.
The man was changed, inside and outside both, and he knew it. So, he came back to the Lord and just wanted to say thank you. That is the same response that we can offer ourselves for what we have experienced this week with Matsiko and with the lunch program for both experiences are transformational.
And as we have given ourselves to them, sure our feet hurt, and we are tired, but we are also changed, and we are not ashamed of the gospel, and we want to thank the Lord for the wonderful things that we can see which happened.
Conclusion
But the choice remains ours—as it remained the lepers. Everyone was healed… all 10. But the one who came back to the Lord, I wonder if he received something special from the Lord? A blessing by just being close to Jesus.
DM
[1] Olive Elaine Hinnant. From Feasting on the Word. Year C, Volume 2.
[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-28-3/commentary-on-luke-1711-19-6 accessed on October 6, 2025.
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