This sermon was from 1983 and was scanned from a hand-typed copy, including a variety of notations in red pencil. If I’m keeping track correctly, this is the 75th sermon that I’ve uploaded.
The sermon is listed as being for 21 Pentecost, but that may have predated the RCL, because the gospel text of Luke 17:19 is now for the The 18th Sunday After Pentecost.
There’s a reference to Charlie Brown in this sermon. It mentions Lucy, but if the internet Peanuts Fandom Wiki is to be believed, it may have actually been Violet Gray that didn’t invite him to the party.
There’s a reference to a hymn following the sermon, which is LBW 403: Lord, Speak to Us, That We May Speak. I used the automatic OCR from Google Docs to obtain the rough version of the sermon text, but I’ve done some light corrections for accuracy.
21 Pentecost (10/16/83) * “MORE THAN SKIN DEEP”
Luke 17:19
(v.19) Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
The story of the ten lepers will be heard on Thanksgiving day as well as today. There is a powerful message here about gratitude – but lets leave that for Thanksgiving. There’s another message that I’d like to address today – what it’s like to be a leper, to be an untouchable, unwelcome person.
The story of Jesus and the untouchables is a simple and straightforward one. As he walks the barren ‘no-man’s land’ between Samaria and Galilee, he comes on these ten lepers. They beg for his mercy, asking for help. Jesus doesn’t shy away from them (in Lk.5 he even touches a leper)–but calls for them to return to the priests and to their families. This is news that seems too good to be true, because lepers were cut off even from their loved ones– forced to stay away from all healthy people. Besides being disfiguring and disabling, this disease killed social relationships with others… yes, these ten lepers needed mercy.
“Go show yourselves to the priests” - (they were the public health officals of the day). As they went on their way, all ten began to realize that they really were healed. But only one turns back- - a Samaritan. HOW COME?
Perhaps the main reason that the Samaritan comes back is because he is a"double untouchable”. He has no priest to examine him and declare him well, able to go back to family and friends. When Jesus asks the other nine have gone, he knows very well where they are- - they are at some very happy reunions with their loved ones. They are beginning to really live again. But in all their hurry to take on a normal life again, it probably is safe to say that they are forgetting the source of their help. They are forgetting who has made it possible for them to be touched again, so that they won’t be forced to shout, ‘Unclean, unclean’ when ever anyone comes near. You could say that their healing was only SKIN DEEP.
But this Samaritan had no where else to go, no one else to declare him well than the healer Himself, so he comes back. And you notice what Jesus says? NOT: “Your skin is healed”, or “You look OK”, BUT “RISE AND GO YOUR WAY; YOUR FAITH HAS MADE YOU WELL” No, this healing wasn’t only skin deep, here stood a person whose life was changed and who thanks the healer, the merciful one who made it possible. He stands before the one who declares: “You are somebody, you are well, go your way and live.”
I think that this passage has lost some of its “punch”., impact, because leprosy is not a part of our experience today. There are some lepers in colonies, many who are healed by today’s medicines – but the neglected and untouchable are a part of our experience today both inside and outside of the church. WHO ARE TODAY’S LEPERS, THE OUTCASTS? They are around us. The singles and widowed people tell me that they often feel excluded from the mainstream of life. Alcoholics often feel that people steer clear of them. People who have had nervous and mental problems often feel that even in the church people give them wide berth in the pew..almost as if these problems might be contagious. Sometimes we give these people the feeling that Lucy tried to give Charlie Brown in the comic strip when she says: “We’re having a party and you’re not invited.”
AND YET… AND YET… To whom does Jesus show his love and mercy? Who does Jesus declare Whole and healed?…the untouchables, and especially the ‘double-untouchable’. It is just at the time that each of us feels lonely, excluded, cut-off, that we can feel closest to the mercy and strength of God in Jesus Christ. He tells us, “get back into the mainstream, go and live again, you are acceptable, you are whole.” Knowing that our Lord touches the untouchables, embraces the outcasts, heals the brokenhearted, we can turn to him in thanks and jump into the mainstream of life. It no longer is so important what other people think or say – We know the source of our strength and our wholeness, like the healed Samaritan we can praise the Lord with a loud voice, giving him thanks. Each time we gather here to praise our Lord, to be fed at his table, to be nourished in fellowship, he speaks to us those beautiful words, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well”. This faith business is more than skin deep. It’s more than appearances, its more than just a good feeling for a moment each Sunday morning. It’s living with a cleansed heart, a renewed spirit, a deepened love for God and for one another. And this strength and mercy is available to all, especially the ones who feel alone and know their need of God.
“Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well.” Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
LBK 403– “Lord speak to us that we may speak”