Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ + Amen.
There’s an old joke among Christians that’s been on a whole host of magnets, stickers, and little newspaper comics bearing the phrase “I found Jesus! He was behind the couch the whole time!” It’s a silly little thing, but Lutheran circles have really picked up on it over time as a fun joke, specifically because of how cleanly it lines up with our theology. As Lutherans, we are often made uncomfortable when people ask “have you found Jesus?” because for us, we don’t believe that we “find Jesus,” but rather, that He finds us.
This is an important distinction, and one that a lot of Christians get wrong. At Pumpkintown I even had at least one person ask me this while I was wearing my collar. From our Lutheran distinction, we would rightly confess that faith is not a decision, but a gift from the Lord God. He finds us when we are entrenched in our sin, utterly unlovable and irredeemable, and does the impossible in providing us with salvation. Salvation starts with Jesus.
In our Gospel reading for today we hear the story of Jesus and the Ten Lepers. As lepers, these sick men were outcast from all points of society: from their communities, from their families, and from the temple, the place of worship and spiritual healing. They were unclean, and could not come near or touch anyone, lest they too would become unclean.
As Jesus passed by them, they cried out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Jesus, the true source of all mercy, answers their prayer. But all He gives them is His Word. The Lord tells the lepers to go show themselves to the priest, and in faith, all ten men go! They all believe that Jesus has the power to heal them and that His word will do what He says. And as they all are on their way, they find themselves healed! Salvation starts with Jesus.
One of the ten, seeing his leprosy healed, turns around and immediately returns to Jesus. He ran back to Jesus and fell before Him, thanking Him for His gracious healing. But where were the other nine? In fairness, these men were still doing what Jesus told them to in returning to the Temple to present themselves as cleansed. For all these men, worship came as a result of the salvation that Christ Himself brings. Yet, only one worships Jesus there and then.
Jesus notes how strange it is that the other nine did not return to Him to give thanks. The one who returned was not even an Israelite, he was a Samaritan! The other men were still going to give thanks to God at the Temple, but they missed something incredibly important: God was right in front of them. They did not need to go to the temple to worship and give thanks to God because the very same God became man and was indeed the very one who healed them! These true sons of Abraham were not able to see the wonderful goodness of God right before them, but this Samaritan, an outsider, saw the truth that he could give thanks to the Lord who was in his very presence. This Samaritan Leper knew that this opportunity to give thanks to Jesus was just as good, if not better than going to the Temple.
We should desire to be where Jesus promises to be found: in the preaching of the Word and the administration of His sacraments. We come to worship because of what Christ has already done for us, and because He promises that He will be found where His people gather in worship. Jesus comes to us, while we are still sinful and sick, and provides each of us with healing just as He gave to the lepers when we receive the forgiveness of sins. The salvation we are given by Jesus does not require our worship in order for it to be imparted, but worship is the good and godly response to it. When we actively avoid worship, not only are we disobeying the commandment to remember the Sabbath day, we are also like these nine other Lepers, knowing that the Lord provides us with healing and salvation, but not taking the opportunity to be close to the Lord that does this for us, and not acknowledging the true gifts that Christ Himself provides for us.
True worship draws us closer to Jesus. It does not put the individual at the center of the action, but our Lord and places our focus on the gifts that He gives. This is part of what makes our liturgy and worship style so important, as it helps center us around the true focus of worship. The rhythm of our church year, services, and each piece of our liturgy all draws us back to Christ. Beyond receiving the Lord’s gifts, we gather to give thanks, just as the one Leper who returned did: we thank the Lord in what we speak, what we sing, and what we give back to Him throughout the whole Divine Service, and we praise the Lord and recall for ourselves the wondrous deeds He does for us.
What we should be concerned about in the story of the Ten Lepers is not the nine who went away, but the one who came back. This faithful Samaritan is a good model for Christian life. God provides salvation to all who believe through the work of Christ Jesus, and the correct response to this salvation is to bow down and worship at our Lord’s feet, to place ourselves close to Him at every opportunity we can, gathering together around Word and Sacrament as He has called us to do. Worship does not earn salvation, but points us back to it.
The all-too-common phrase “have you found Jesus?” has it wrong because, just as it was with the Ten Lepers, Jesus finds us first. He answers our prayers and gives us healing even when we do not deserve it. While the little comic strip saying “Jesus was behind the couch” is in jest, it’s true that He was already there even when we think we’ve “found Him.” The one leper who returned to Jesus recognized who was right in front of Him and worshiped Him, as is right and good. Jesus did not just heal the one who came back to worship! He healed all of them. All Christians are offered this wonderful gift of salvation and life eternal without any work on our own part for it. Our worship simply comes out of love and thanksgiving for this great gift. Salvation starts with Jesus. There is no need to find Him, He has already found you, and He holds you within His loving, healing arms now and always.
In the Holy Name of Jesus + Amen.