On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance, and lifted up their voices saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When Jesus saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was cleansed turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. (Luke 17:11-15)
Dear Miss Ava, you are cleansed. You are baptized. Your Jesus has had mercy on you.
Now, Miss Ava, if you are like nearly every child I know, you sometimes get a bit dirty playing outside or eating chocolate cake.
And if you are like some children I know, after you are told to go and wash yourself, you will come back with a wet, but incredibly dirty face and hands, and you will exclaim, “I’m clean!”
And your mom or grandma will laugh at you and say, “No, you’re not. Come here. Let me clean you.”
Like little children who was themselves and tried to get themselves clean, lepers were not allowed to pronounce themselves clean. Jesus rightly tells the lepers to go show themselves to the priests. They would do that.
And the Samaritan man, after realizing they were all cleansed on the way, rightly turns back and go’s and shows himself to the priest, the Highest of High Priests.
This man understood where his cleansing came from.
This man understood that he could not pronounce himself clean.
This man understood who he now has access to. He knows who can pronounce him clean, and more than that, pronounce him saved.
Jesus will say, Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.
Like little children, we often get quite dirty. And like little children, we all, and so Miss Ava, let this be a warning, we all are often tempted to think we have done a good job cleaning ourselves and we can declare “I’m clean.”
And our Lord, our great High Priest, needs to laugh at us and say, “No, you’re not. Come here. Let me clean you.”
The disease of leprosy has often been a way for the Christian Church to teach about sin.
Leprosy is contagious. It spreads.
Start a little gossip and watch it spread.
Get a little angry and see how far it contaminates others.
Because it was contagious, lepers who separated from others and from access to God in the tabernacle.
That feeling of guilt and shame from our sin on the one hand, or anger and avoidance from others sin on the other separate us from each other. More importantly, our sin separates us from our God.
But, leprosy as a teacher of sin was mostly used because of the effects of the disease. It numbs the nerves. Your skin could be peeling off, it could be covered in boils that were oozing and popping, you could literally smash a leprosy infected hand with a hammer, and the person wouldn’t notice.
Lepers are in constant danger of losing limbs because they don’t feel how bad the disease is.
Do you see, then, how danger it is to proclaim yourself clean?
We do not know how unclean we are.
We cannot base it off our feelings.
We cannot be our own judge and base it off our perspective.
This is why, Miss Ava, before you are baptized, the Word of God tells you why you need to be baptized. We are born sinful and under the power of the devil. We would be lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting separation from God.
This is why dear saints, before hearing that Jesus saves you and forgives you, we need to be reminded what Jesus saves us from and what Jesus forgives.
And, so if you are feeling quite good about your holy living and think you can come into the presence of the Great High Priest and say, “I’m clean.” Our Lord needs to chuckle at you, and say, “No, you’re not. Let me clean you.”
But, also, if you are feeling quite guilty and dirtied by your own and the sin of others, what a wonderful gift that you don’t get to pronounce yourself clean or unclean. That’s up to the Great High Priest.
And He who knew no sin, was in fact perfectly clean, became sin, took on your uncleanness, so that you might become the righteousness of God.
You clean because of your Baptism, Miss Ava.
You are clean because of your Baptism, dear saints.
Jesus gets to pronounce you clean. And you are clean.
And because you are clean, you are welcomed into the family of God. You have access to Jesus. The leper who formally was calling out from a distance then had access to feet of Jesus. He could now touch Jesus. He could now come to Jesus.
But it was all because Jesus first came to Him. Samaria and Galilee are quite far distances from the Jerusalem that Jesus is traveling toward.
Jesus become flesh, traveled from heaven to earth. This was no pit stop on the way. It was an intentional detour so that you might have access to Him.
So that He might live and die and live again for you.
So that the One who said “He who believes and is baptized will be saved,” might be present here as the crucified Savior of us all.
You are clean. You have access to God in prayer.
You are clean. God welcomes you and we all welcome each other.
You are clean. And you ought return again and again in thanksgiving to One who gives you everything in body and soul.
You are clean. Rise and go your way, you faith has saved you.
Go your way and continue to touch clean things, say clean things, do clean things.
Your faith that looks to Jesus and His mercy and His cleaning and His guidance to live and die has saved you.