Request

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Requests, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 17:11-19). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that we are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

We make many requests in life. In my relationship with Cindy, I first requested that she dance with me. I then requested that she meet me for dinner. After that, I requested that she marry me. She has also made requests to me which resulted in us building a new house and getting Maggie, our Golden Retriever.

The word request is simply defined as asking politely or formally for something: a dance, a date, a hand in marriage. We request lenders for a home mortgage or a car loan, our bosses for a raise or a day off. We request our young ones to turn down the volume on their video games, and as we age, we request that the TV volume be turned up. With the introduction of music on the radio, disc jockeys accepted requests for songs to be played. The roots or request come from the Latin word requisita, meaning a “a thing asked for.”

The ten lepers request Jesus to have mercy on them. Before we get to that, let’s reverse to the setting of today’s passage. Luke wrote, “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.” This verse puts today’s text within context. That Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem reminds us that he is moving toward his passion and that this context washes over the text. So, the opening verse reminds us not to forget the destination and the purpose of Jesus’ journey.

Outside of the Bible, geographical journeys make sense. The price of gas prompts us to make fewer trips using the shortest routes. River transportation was a good reason people settled on the banks of the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Danube. However, when we read about geography in the Bible, it does not always make physical sense, but it does make theological sense. The border between Galilee and Samaria is a fitting location for a story that involves both Jews and Samaritans.

Luke does not report which village Jesus entered, but we know that he encountered lepers. This is not Jesus’ first encounter with a leper. We read in chapter five that a man full of leprosy fell before Jesus and begged him to make him clean, which Jesus did. Lepers kept their distance from non-lepers. These ten stood at a distance before requesting that Jesus, their Master, have mercy on them. Leviticus required not only that a leper keep his distance, but also how to dress and where to live. Lepers formed their own colonies and positioned themselves where they could appeal to others for support. The law required that after healing they show themselves to a priest.

So, this text has two parts. In the first part, the ten lepers request for mercy is received. Jesus replies with the law, and off they go. Among them was one Samaritan leper. Was he required to show himself to the priest? Did the Jewish priest have to confirm his cure and release from his status of being unclean? Luke is silent on the matter. The healing, however, occurred during their act of their obedience. Jesus commanded them to follow the law, and they obeyed and were healed. When they realized that they were healed, nine kept going, but the one turned around, praised God with a loud voice and fell on his face, thanking Jesus.

Luke plainly states that he was a Samaritan, a foreigner. The first part of the story is about the healing. The second part is about salvation of a foreigner! The foreigner returns, praises God and thanks Jesus. He received the same blessing that the nine other Jewish lepers received. And Jesus’ response to this act of thanksgiving? The statement, “Your faith has made you well.”

Another way of translating this verse is, “Your faith has saved you.” We will find this in chapter 19 when Jesus speaks to Zacchaeus. The point is that nine were healed, but only one was saved, and the point should not be lost on us is that in Luke, God treats the marginalized favorably.

This man was a social outcast, a leper, and a religious heretic, a Samaritan. Note that one’s religious affiliation did not matter in leper colonies. There are no distinctions when you are in the leper colony. Furthermore, there are no distinctions when you are in the presence of Jesus.

The social outcast received the full blessing of Jesus, and it is regrettable that the other nine did not because they too were received and healed. Within the greater context of Luke, this story anticipates what is to come later in Acts: a growing blindness in Israel and receptivity among Gentiles.

You may ask why this is the case. The answer is that Israel’s special place in God’s plan for the world had turned in on itself. Duty became privilege. Favors settled into familiarity. Yet, this story does not give license to point fingers at others. It serves as a reminder to us as how much Luke enjoyed telling ‘Jesus stories’ based on the Old Testament. For example, this story is clearly based on Naaman the Syrian who was healed of leprosy by the Prophet Elisha. After he was healed, Naaman converted to Israel’s faith.

The story of Naaman, like the story of the Samaritan leper, reminds us that faith entails openness to God’s grace. All 10 lepers believed Jesus could heal them. Their mistake was in taking that healing for granted. Only one realized that his healing was an unmerited grace, and he returned to give thanks to Jesus who with His Father and the Holy Spirit made healing and salvation possible.

This passage reminds us not only of the power of God, but also that God does not make deals or offer transactions. Faith is not a thing God demands from us; it is a spiritual stance, an open heart that gives God room to maneuver. If discipleship without faith is servitude, then faith without thanksgiving is commerce.

It is easy to fall into this trap. It might become easy to feel that we have built up some kind of credit with God, that our acts of discipleship are like cash deposits in a bank. It is easy to forget to give thanks when a subtle whisper in our psyche suggests that God owes us.

True discipleship, as demonstrated by the Samaritan leper, is an expression of thanksgiving. The utter freedom of divine grace prompted him to acknowledge his own need to respond by giving thanks. In that, he was a model disciple, someone with enough faith to give God room to act and enough humility to be grateful. The grace we receive every day is a free gift from the God who loves us. It is the power with which we overcome obstacles, find healing, resist temptation and serve the needs of the kingdom. That we can receive that grace and act out of it is cause for a lifetime of thanksgiving.

Now, a request from you. On October 10, 2022, Gage Peters will have brain surgery. In my opening remarks last week, I mentioned that I visited Gage and prayed over him and with his parents, Jason and Keli. As I was writing this sermon, it dawned upon me that this story of healing and salvation is an appropriate time to request prayers for Gage, his parents and those involved in his surgery. So, I asked Keli to write a few words for you. Here is what she is asking.

“A prayer request for Gage to have a successful brain surgery. Please pray the surgery will end the seizures for once and for all without any complications or any deficits. Please pray for the surgical team as well and for all the nurses and doctors who will be in Gage’s care. And please pray for our family. To guide us through this difficult time.”

After I asked Keli to write a few words, I came across this meditation on Monday morning. It is from a treatise on Cain and Abel by Saint Ambrose, the 4^th century Bishop of Milan, who was a philosopher, theologian and diplomat. He is also known for baptizing St. Augustine. In the treatise, Ambrose makes an important point about prayer that we should never overlook – that we should always pray for each other and all.

“If you pray only for yourself, you pray for yourself alone. If each one prays for himself, he received less from God’s goodness than the one who prays on behalf of others. But as it is, because each prays for all, all are in fact praying for each one.

To conclude, if you pray only for yourself, you will be praying, … for yourself alone. But if you pray for all, all will pray for you, for you are included in all. In this way there is a great recompense; through the prayers of each individual, the intercession of the whole people is gained for each individual. There is here no pride, but an increase of humility and a richer harvest from prayer.”

My friends, as we request prayers for ourselves and those dear to us, let us remember to pray for all. When we do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.