THE TEN LEPERS
Sermon by H.G Bishop Emilianos of Meloa, 15th January 2017
Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” - Luke 17:11-19, New King James Version (NKJV)
Today we heard in the Holy Gospel about the ten lepers that were sick. As Jesus was walking through the city they asked for help, and He cured them all. Ten lepers were cured, but only one returned to give glory to God. Thinking about this scenario, we need to question ourselves as to whether we are like the nine lepers who did not return, or like the one and only who did returned to give glory to God.
A lot of times in our lives we pray for certain things, and God blesses us with these things. The problem is not if God blesses us with these things. We because we are all blessed one way or another regardless. For example, if we can walk, if we can breathe, if we can use our heads, our ears, our eyes, if we have a family, if we have the basics to survive, all these things are gifts from God. And usually we realise they are gifts only once we lose them and only then do we appreciate what we had. So, before losing any of the above, we must be able to give glory to God for whatever we have.
It’s very impressive that Jesus told the lepers to go to the priests to verify that they were cured, at a time when they were not yet cured. They were all cured along the way to see the priests, meaning, they had the faith and the obedience to start walking towards the city whilst they were still sick. On the way, and because of their obedience and faith, they were cured.
But Jesus said to the one who returned only that his faith saved him. The nine got their physical health, but the tenth one not only got his physical health but he also got his spiritual health. Something the other nine missed out on.
We need to realise that if we don’t thank God for whatever He gives us, we will miss out on great Blessings in our life, Blessings we won’t ever even think about! And in similar occasions there are people that might promise something to God like: “I will give a piece of land to a mission, to an orphanage, I will help the monastery by selling something” and then things change in our lives, we forget all about it and we move on.
But, focusing on the gifts from God and forgetting our promises to God, is being ungrateful to God. And even if we have our physical health, we won’t end up having our spiritual health. It is extremely important for all of us to realise this. That’s why the spiritual fathers say that we are not allowed to make promises to God or the Church without first consulting our spiritual father, just in case we are not able to fulfil our promise, or this promise is for whatever reason not appropriate for us to make. Someone cannot promise that he will become a monk and then forget all about it. But he can try and if he cannot make it then that’s a different story.
Be grateful to God for both the big and for the small things that He gives us (big and small according to our limited understanding). When He blesses us, like when He gave the physical health to all the lepers, we should not forget to return back to Him and thank Him. If we forget to go back, then, like the nine lepers, we might keep our physical health, but, we our eternal life might still be in danger.
Today we heard in the Holy Gospel about the ten lepers that were sick. As Jesus was walking through the city they asked for help, and He cured them all. Ten lepers were cured, but only one returned to give glory to God. Thinking about this scenario, we need to question ourselves as to whether we are like the nine lepers who did not return, or like the one and only who did returned to give glory to God.
A lot of times in our lives we pray for certain things, and God blesses us with these things. The problem is not if God blesses us with these things. We because we are all blessed one way or another regardless. For example, if we can walk, if we can breathe, if we can use our heads, our ears, our eyes, if we have a family, if we have the basics to survive, all these things are gifts from God. And usually we realise they are gifts only once we lose them and only then do we appreciate what we had. So, before losing any of the above, we must be able to give glory to God for whatever we have.
It’s very impressive that Jesus told the lepers to go to the priests to verify that they were cured, at a time when they were not yet cured. They were all cured along the way to see the priests, meaning, they had the faith and the obedience to start walking towards the city whilst they were still sick. On the way, and because of their obedience and faith, they were cured.
But Jesus said to the one who returned only that his faith saved him. The nine got their physical health, but the tenth one not only got his physical health but he also got his spiritual health. Something the other nine missed out on.
We need to realise that if we don’t thank God for whatever He gives us, we will miss out on great Blessings in our life, Blessings we won’t ever even think about! And in similar occasions there are people that might promise something to God like: “I will give a piece of land to a mission, to an orphanage, I will help the monastery by selling something” and then things change in our lives, we forget all about it and we move on.
But, focusing on the gifts from God and forgetting our promises to God, is being ungrateful to God. And even if we have our physical health, we won’t end up having our spiritual health. It is extremely important for all of us to realise this. That’s why the spiritual fathers say that we are not allowed to make promises to God or the Church without first consulting our spiritual father, just in case we are not able to fulfil our promise, or this promise is for whatever reason not appropriate for us to make. Someone cannot promise that he will become a monk and then forget all about it. But he can try and if he cannot make it then that’s a different story.
Be grateful to God for both the big and for the small things that He gives us (big and small according to our limited understanding). When He blesses us, like when He gave the physical health to all the lepers, we should not forget to return back to Him and thank Him. If we forget to go back, then, like the nine lepers, we might keep our physical health, but, we our eternal life might still be in danger.