Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

September 6, 2026

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’” (Luke 17:15-19)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Ten are healed of their leprosy. One returns to the dwelling place of God with man, to Jesus, to give God praise for his healing. He gets much more than he expected, for at the conclusion of the encounter, Jesus declares, “Rise and go. Your faith has saved you.” “Made well” doesn’t capture what Jesus says very well. This leper was made well when he, along with the other 9, obeyed the word of the Lord and went to find a priest. This leper, on account of faith in Jesus, is saved.

So here we can talk about objective justification, the theological term for Jesus paying the price of the sins of the whole world. Not one sin, not one sinner, has not been forgiven by Jesus’ sacrifice on the tree of the cross. For God so loved the world, all of it, every man and woman of all time and history and into the future, that He gave His only Son as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Just as all ten lepers were healed, so by the work of Jesus, the sin of the world is forgiven.

Then comes subjective justification, which applies to the individual. This is the work of Jesus on the tree of the cross for you. It is the justification of the individual sinner before God on account of Christ Jesus. This is for God so loved insert your name here that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will be saved, that you will be saved. Of the 10 lepers, only one here is declared saved through faith in Jesus.

This leads us to praise God where Jesus is found, in His Word and Sacraments, at church. We go to the place Jesus has promised He will be so that we can praise Him, sing Him our thanks, and glorify His name for His work to forgive us, give us life and salvation, to join the Samaritan leper at Jesus’ feet in reverent thanksgiving for all His Gifts to us.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O be our great deliv’rer still, The Lord of life and death; Restore and quicken, soothe and bless, With Your life-giving breath. (LSB 846:3)