Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

This guide follows Sunday’s sermon.

Opening Prayer

Almighty God, who healest our infirmities before ever we know to ask, be present with us now as we open thy holy Word. Unstop our ears, that we may hear what thou sayest to us this day. Turn our hearts back toward thee, and grant that what we hear together may not pass away when we rise, but abide and bear fruit. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gathering

Nearly everyone has meant to thank someone and let it slip, and nearly everyone has once or twice gone back late to say it anyway, so begin by telling the group what made the difference on the occasion when you went back.

The Reading

On this Sunday the Church sets ten lepers on the road with Christ as he goes up toward Jerusalem, and the whole weight of the story falls on what one of them did after he was already well.

Gospel · St. Luke 17:11-19

AND it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Anyone who wishes to read further will find the day’s other appointed texts in Micah 6:1-8, Psalms 19 and 24, and Galatians 5:16-24.

Talking It Through

1. All ten lepers ask the same thing and all ten are cleansed as they go. Trace what the tenth man does from the moment he sees that he is healed, step by step.
2. Jesus asks where the nine are, and Luke never tells us. What do you suppose the nine were doing, and what might they have said if someone had stopped them on the road and asked?
3. Ten were cleansed, but only to the one who returned does Jesus say, thy faith hath made thee whole. What do you take the difference between cleansed and whole to be?
4. Luke saves it for the last line that the man who came back was a Samaritan, a stranger to Israel. Why do you think he holds that detail until the end?
5. The Collect does not ask God for strength to obey him. It asks him to make us to love that which thou dost command. What changes when gratitude is something God works in us rather than something we work up in ourselves?
6. Micah says the Lord requires us to walk humbly with our God, and Paul tells us to walk in the Spirit. Both make it a walk rather than a single decision. Where does that walking show up in an ordinary week?

Bringing It Home

One might take a single mercy from this past year, something long since mended and half forgotten, and give thanks for it deliberately this week, out loud and by name. There is also an old practice of coming to church on a week when nothing is wrong, not to ask for anything, but simply to return as the tenth man did and say thank you.

Closing Prayer

O Lord, who hast cleansed us by thy mercy before we thought to ask it, keep us in thy way through the coming week, and bring us back again to thine altar with thanksgiving. Grant that what we have heard together may not be lost in the business of the days, but grow quietly into the fruit of thy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.