View today's sermon on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T8YGo6RIQc,

Luke 17 – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³ they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He prostrated himself at Jesus’s feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

Living Psalm 66:1-12, written by Michelle Torigian.

Sing to God in splendor, all the earth!

With our glorious songs, we praise our Great Designer.

Holy One, how awesome are your deeds!

Because of your voice echoing throughout the earth, the systems cringe-

Knowing that their power will crumble at the reverberation of your call.

Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!’

Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.

Beyond the walls of our buildings,

beyond the limits of the seas,

beyond the limits of our human bodies-

The earth worships you,

Singing praises to your name.

Come and see what God has done:

bringing strength among mortals,

Allowing all bodies to find spaces of inclusion

And peace

And well-being.

Turning narrow paths into wide corridors;

Turning patches of pain into deep breaths of relief;

Allowing movement among mortals.

There we rejoice in our Designer,

Our God who prevails by craft and creativity forever,

Who abides with all nations, all races, all abilities.

We sing our songs of praise.

And with our voices or hands or eyes or souls

We bless our God, the Creator of Blessings.

Our God who has kept us among the living,

Accompanying us in a world so narrow,

Bursting forth walls and widening doors,

Ensures us that our feet and hands will not slip.

For through the tests of humankind God has not abandoned us.

Living Psalms Book is created by UCC Witness & Worship Artists’ Group, a Network of UCC connected artists, activists and ministers bridging the worship and liturgy of the local church with witness and action in the community. Maren Tirabassi, editor

Psalm 66:1-12 and Luke 17:11-19

October 12, 2025 – Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Rev. TJ Mack – Union Congregational Church of Hancock

Credit to: Maren Tirabassi – “Three Lepers, interviewed on the fifth anniversary” (Luke 17:11-19)

If the healing of the one leper that returned to offer thanks and praise was due to his faith, then what do we make of the faith or lack of faith of the other nine? If our faith can make us well does our illness mean we lack faith and deserve our ailments? That is the danger inherent in this scripture. I sincerely hope that I can dispel that belief in any of you that might have heard this scripture interpreted in that way in the past. 

In the verses we heard from Luke’s gospel today, Jesus was traveling through foreign lands where one might expect to meet people with different cultural practices. He was approached by ten men who were social outcasts because they had the skin disease called leprosy. In that time physical ailments were believed to be the fault of the individual or of their parents. Somehow, they recognized Jesus and asked for mercy through healing.

Jesus doesn’t even need to touch them to heal them. He says simply, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Perhaps this is a display of a recent teaching on faith when he told his disciples, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. As if to prove his point, as the ten men afflicted with leprosy were walking away, they were healed. We are told that only one of them returned to Jesus to acknowledge the powerful impact of the healing. “And he was a Samaritan.” The implication being that the one that returned was a supposed “lesser” person, an “other,” a “foreigner.” Jesus muses to his disciples, who were witness to this, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine?” 

Everyone always wants to know one thing ... the "not-going-back."

So I'm Leper number four, and here's exactly what happened. We were a little crowd, traveling together for safety, because people think it’s a joke to hurt lepers, without touching us, so we need to keep a rock-throw distance away.

When we called to the traveling preacher, you should have seen the eyeballs on those disciples – scared! I could tell they were trembling just to be close to ten lepers.

Then Jesus said, “go and show yourselves to the priests.” Just like that – with authority I could feel – a tingle starting at the top of my head and going all the way to my toes.

So I did what he said. It’s what I always do ... follow directions, letter of the law. Mess up something important as this? No, thanks.

When reading and interpreting our scriptures they must be kept in context with the surrounding verses. Just prior to what we heard today are these verses:

⁷ “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? ⁸ Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’ ”

Even though the men with leprosy address Jesus as Master, Jesus is fulfilling the role of servant, doing what God commands him to do. The nine are essentially treating Jesus as any other servant. Jesus receives no thanks for his work or his efforts. The one that returns is the exception. Perhaps he is the one that truly recognizes Jesus as Master and comes back to fall at his feet in praise. 

I'm Leper number five ... don't judge me! Don’t judge any of us.“Oh, there go the nine who didn’t say ‘thank you.’” You’re so high and mighty. Bet you never had anything eat you inside out. No. I thought not. Night and day chronic pain. Some of us looked disgusting and some of us didn’t – that may be worse because people think – “What’s the matter with them?” There’s pain and there’s outcast. You spend enough time outside society and you lose it – you lose the skills. You just do. At least ... I did. When people treat you like you’re not human,something human on the inside … breaks.

One of the areas where our two readings overlap is the teaching, or is it the instinct, to praise God’s glorious deeds. If it is indeed an instinct it is apparently stronger in some than others, as evidenced by the one of ten returning to offer thanks and gratitude. 

Jesus says to the one that returned, “Your faith has made you well.” What does that mean for the other nine? They were also healed. Were the others only healed on the outside and this one was healed, was “made well,” on the inside? The one that returned experienced not only a physical healing but an emotional and spiritual healing. He experienced a literal redirection, a turning around on the path of his life, a deepening of his faith. 

This does not mean that none of the others were grateful. Yet, I believe it is the returning that is key. Taking the time to acknowledge and express his gratitude changed him. 

All ten of the lepers were healed, but the one that returned, was told, “… your faith has made you well.”

The Greek for “get up” is the same word as used for “resurrection.” Get up! I wonder if the healing felt like being lifted from death to life? A resurrection from the burden of being considered unclean. A resurrection from the hurt of being shunned and outcast. A resurrection that enabled restoration to his family and his community. 

This parable opens the door for us to wonder, to consider how Jesus interacts with lepers and Samaritans in Luke’s gospel. One of the wonders is of course that they are treated not as flawed individuals but as complete and beloved members of the realm of God. The true wonder is not that Jesus sees and treats people as beloved children of God, the true wonder will be when the rest of us do the same.

I'm Leper number eight, and this is how it happened for me.

I was a leper. Can’t deny it. And in that situation I had to be with … well, you know. Then there is a miracle and I look down and see how smooth and clean and …light my skin is.

So I whirl around to go and thank Jesus before heading to the Temple. And this … foreigner is already on his way back. I just couldn’t. It would have looked like we were together. Honestly, he is probably illegal …

Jesus stood with the foreigner, the other, the outcast. The Samaritans and the lepers in these parables are stand-ins for any and all in our societies that are treated as less than… less than worthy, less than human. 

We do not have to look far to see those in our midst who are treated like they have leprosy. We do not have to look far to see those in our midst who are treated inhumanely because of their country of origin, or because of their differing cultural or religious beliefs. 

Jesus acts with mercy toward those with leprosy, those from Samaria; the outsiders in his culture. 

To whom are we to show mercy? Who are the outsiders in our culture? We know the answers. Another, better question may be, knowing this, why do we persist in persecuting those that are different, foreign, or other? 

Interestingly, it is the outcasts who recognize Jesus as a healer and a prophet. They, the “other” see him for who he is and he, Jesus, sees them for who they are, and how they are. 

When we are on the outside of these parables it is easy to judge, easy to know what is the right thing to do. When we are living our lives it gets murky. 

I pray that we all begin to see clearly what it is we are witnessing, and what it is we are doing.  

I pray that we each take time each day to acknowledge the gifts we receive, spending a few moments in gratitude, thanking God. 

I pray that we all begin to see one another shining in the light of God. 

And I pray that through all of this, our faith will make us well.

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – October 12, 2025