Glory to Jesus Christ. There's a cave church
about an hour and a half north of Jerusalem in
a village called Birkin. It's still active with
a small congregation. Maybe some of you saw the
pictures that I sent around. This humble church
has been a place of pilgrimage since the fourth
century, since the time of St. Constantine, and
built, in fact, by St. Helen. So it's one of
the oldest churches in existence. Here it is
that there's a tradition in this church that
the ten lepers you heard about today in the gospel
today, it's where they lived well. We say lived,
but it was barely survival. Dreadful disease
is Hansen's disease, leprosy. They had no help.
They had no hope. There was no safety net. There
were no visits from priests and rabbis to give
them consolation. Just total, absolute outcasts
living in the desert, homeless. Perhaps food
was left by some kind people, we can imagine,
because they did manage to survive somehow. I
think those people knew what St. James said about
faith and about religion. The epistle in St.
James, he says, pure, undefiled religion before
God and the Father is this, to visit orphans
and widows in their trouble, in other words,
the helpless of the world, to keep oneself spotted,
from the world. That's true religion. St. James,
the brother of the Lord, a pretty good authority
on matters of faith, I would think. Faithfulness
is doing, living, not just thinking about the
doctrines, the teachings, the life of the church.
It's being faithful in all of that, starting
with our actions towards others. And towards
God, St. John, the beloved apostle, in his epistle
says, we know this, we know, by this we know
love because he laid down his life for us. Our
example of love is Christ. That cross over there
reminds us when we come in. And our heart should
be softened when we see it and when we stand
before it and when we pray. St. John goes on,
and we also ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren. But whoever has this world's goods
and sees his brother in need and shuts up his
heart from him, how does the love of God abide
in him? I'm quite aware, believe me, brothers
and sisters, when I quote those words, how lacking
I myself am in that love, in that faithfulness,
in that action. But there it is. St. Luke is
telling us in this epistle, in this gospel that
we heard from the 17th chapter of Luke, that
Jesus, by the way, he always equips us with love
in every circumstance that we need. He will not
fail us when we step forth. St. Luke is telling
us that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, his
final visit there, on his way to heal the blind
man at the gates of Jericho, to see Zacchaeus
up in his tree, to go to his house, to raise
Lazarus from the dead. To go to Jerusalem, the
events of Palm Sunday, the institution of the
mystical supper, the agony of prayer in the Garden
of Gethsemane, his arrest, his crucifixion, his
death, his three -day burial and rising. All
that was ahead for Jesus at that moment when
those ten men calling from afar, Jesus have mercy
on us. All that was ahead for him. You think
about the disciples for a moment. They really
did not understand. How could they? How could
they? What was ahead for Jesus? And this is the
way God works with us. Isn't this the way God
guides us? We walk by faith, not by sight. By
faith, not by logic. Says St. Paul. And here
precisely, This is where I want to focus just
for a moment. This is the lesson for me. The
ten cry, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And
how many times are we going to say that today,
have mercy, at this liturgy? If we could say
it with the presence of mind and the deep feeling
of need that those men had. We'd be transformed
with one Lord have mercy, much less three or
40. Have you seen the bumper sticker, maybe?
Honk 40 times if you're Orthodox. Jesus says
to them, go show yourself to the priests, which
was according to the Jewish law. for many reasons,
not important right now, but that would also
be an affirmation to those same priests, many
who opposed Jesus, of a healing the kind that
Jesus did that only God could accomplish. Only
God could accomplish that. This isn't just a
random miracle. And then they move on to the
next thing. This is the revelation of the true
God and our Savior, who can do everything necessary
for us. As you read, to heal leprosy. As Father
James preached last week, to heal our addictions,
our shame, our relationships, our hurts, our
ignorance, our anger. Leprosy. to even raises
from the dead. And the lepers did as Jesus commanded.
One turned back to the two priests, that's Christ,
and behold, as they went, they were healed. God,
who is rich in mercy. For his great love, which
he loved us even when we were dead in our sins,
sick with leprosy, or whatever we might be sick
against, acting against his commands, made us
alive together with Christ. Yes, God is able
to do all things. But we shouldn't expect first.
To surpass or succeed in something and only later
turn to God in order to thank him. This is a
mistake. The very moment, whatever is happening
to you, worship, seek, love God, judge yourself
even if you don't feel like you're to blame and
glorify God who continues to bless your life
so that your soul is able to do what it could
not do up to that very hour. to be humble, to
be cleansed. We walk by faith, not by sight.
The lepers went at Jesus' command. Our Savior
can do all things. They were healed then. Of
course he can do all things. But I have something
to say to you that may surprise you and might
even offend some of you. Jesus Christ can do
everything. Yes. You remember Job says to the
Lord, all things are possible and everything
is possible to you and no thought is hidden from
you. But do you know what? While Christ can do
everything, he does not have everything. Do you
know that? Here's what Father Michael once said
in a sermon. God does not have everything. How
can I say that? Because he gave us freedom to
say no to him. Even when we repeat the words,
have mercy, but don't want it. We have freedom
to say, yes, Lord, I trust in thee, I love thee,
thou art my foundation, my deliverer. Or, no,
don't bother me. You are too much trouble, Lord.
You will change my life too much. You want too
much. I'll go my own way. At the end of the way,
brothers and sisters, whether you say yes or
no, you have to face the fact that you are going
to die. Whose hand do you want to be holding
at that moment? The Lord Jesus Christ said to
the lepers, go, show yourself to the priest,
and they could have said, really? What good is
that going to do? We need something to eat. They're
going to stone us as soon as we walk in the city
anyway, and we'll be killed. That's a stupid
request. But Christ does not coerce us. They
went. They trusted in him. The Lord never coerces
because he loves us. There's no love with coercion.
And God loves us. You've heard me say it so many
times. A hundred percent, all the time, no strings
attached. That's God's love for us. He doesn't
coerce us to come to church. He doesn't coerce
us to prepare for Holy Communion. To keep these
commandments. No coercion. We do those things
because we love the Savior, because it was he
who gave us a new life, the kingdom of God. As
radically different for us as it was for that
leper with his disease and then... healed. That's
a sign of our Christian life and the way we have
to go. In thanksgiving and trust and worshiping
saying the Lord is my light and my savior of
whom should I be afraid? The Lord is the defender
of my life. Let's think about Christmas in these
days. How we can give to God the one thing he
doesn't have. Our freedom. and really receive
freedom back from him. Freedom from death, freedom
from ourself, freedom to love with the love that
God has for everyone. To him who is our life,
be glory and honor and worship now and ever to
ages of ages.