Trinity 14
Luke 17:11-19
September 22, 2019

“The Story of 100 Lepers”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Why did the lepers stand far away from Jesus and call out for help? Yes, I know leprosy was contagious and they were separated from the rest of society and all of that. But this was Jesus. They thought Jesus was different. Why did they stand so far away and yell at Him? Because even Jesus, they thought, would be repelled and disgusted by them. How sad sin is.

Leprosy could definitely be repelling. It could be repulsive. It had the capacity to completely disfigure you. But imagine that—thinking that even Jesus would be disgusted and repelled by you. That’s, of course, exactly the case with our sin. We know we’re in bad shape when we think even Jesus would be turned away from us in disgust and repelled by us—because of what we’ve done. Because of the disfigurement of our souls.

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Trinity 14
Luke 17:11-19
September 14, 2017

“One Sinner of Ten Who Chose the Right Way”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I have a friend back home in ———— whose father died a couple weeks ago. He was a wonderful man and a faithful Christian. He was one who was able to see that his time on this earth was very limited. Some people, of course, don’t always see death coming. It comes suddenly. But others are more aware that it’s coming. So a few weeks before he died, my friend’s father started telling his son things that he wanted to pass down to his children. Wisdom from a father to a son. For instance, one thing he told him was to pray the Lord’s Prayer all the time. And don’t just mutter the words, but truly consider each petition of the Lord’s Prayer and what we’re asking. There were many other things, but that’s really a cool thing—a father passing down wisdom to his children.

And it hit me that that’s exactly what we have in our reading from Proverbs today.  In the book of Proverbs, King Solomon does the exact same thing—he passes down wisdom from a father to his sons.  That’s why he says, “Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom.” King Solomon had learned a lot in his life—both good and bad. God had given him wisdom more than any other person that had ever lived.  Yet even he, wise King Solomon, struggled to stay on the right path. He wanted his sons and his daughters and all his family to stay on that right path. That’s why he gave his proverbs. …

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