The Why and the Where of Worship

Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
September 6^th, Year of Our + Lord 2026
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Based on Luke 17:11 – 19

 Sermon audio available HERE.

   Last week, we talked about vocation, our various God-given callings or roles in life, using the Good Samaritan as background.  It was a little complicated.  First, we had to distinguish between the world’s idea of a calling and the Bible’s perspective, then identify various challenges we face today concerning understanding, choosing and fulfilling our various vocations, all with the uncaring priest and Levite and the super-generous Samaritan as examples, negative and positive.  It was a lot to take in, I suspect.  

   Our topic today is simpler: We will use the story of the Ten Lepers to talk about why Christians worship, and where Christians worship.  The Why and the Where of Worship.  Pretty straightforward.   

   Jesus is journeying toward Jerusalem for the last time before His Cross and Passion.  On His Way, in between Samaria and Galilee, out on the fringe of Jewish lands and culture, 10 very much out on the fringe souls cry out to Him for help.  They are following the rules given by God to mitigate the plague of leprosy, which is a terrible and contagious skin disease.  Lepers had to live apart from society, in their little segregated group, until they should be healed of their disease.  Every moment they deatl with chronic, painful and ugly skin disease, and they were deprived of home and family and community.  The life of a leper was very difficult, hard for us to imagine, unless perhaps you spend time in nursing homes, or delivering meals on wheels to shut-ins. 

   As their last hope walks by, the 10 lepers cry out: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!  A couple Sundays ago we heard how Jesus got way too up close and personal when He healed the deaf-mute man, fingers in ears, touching tongues, spitting, moaning.  Today, a more antiseptic sign, which Jesus uses to teach a different lesson.  Jesus commands the lepers: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 

   The trip to a priest was the requirement laid out by Moses in Leviticus 13 and 14.  Every healing from leprosy had to be verified by one of the sons of Aaron, before the healed leper would be let back into the camp, let back into the community.  Then there were washings and ritual animal sacrifices to make, to put God’s liturgical seal on the miracle. 

   As they went, walking to see a priest, they were healed.  Try to imagine that moment, if you will.  “Praise the LORD, we’re healed!”  I do not know much about how 1^st Century Jews expressed emotion, but it is easy to imagine shouts of joy, laughter, jumping up and down, maybe even some hugs between the cleansed men.  And then what?  Nine healed men, it seems, continued on their way to the priest, perhaps in obedience to the Law, or perhaps because their return to family and society would not be realized until after they finished inspection, the washings, and the sacrifices.  Whatever their reasoning, on they went. 

    But one of them, a Samaritan, was not obligated to fulfill the details of Moses’ Law, not in the same way as the Jews, at least.  Samaritans, the left behind remnant of the 10 northern tribes who were defeated and carried away by Assyria 800 years earlier, had, as they intermarried with their pagan neighbors, developed their own version of Moses’ Law.  I do not know what they had done with the rules for leprosy, but they did not worship at Jerusalem, and in fact, the healed Samaritan would not have been welcome there.  No non-Jews, and especially no Samaritans were allowed on the Temple grounds. 

   So, without us knowing his exact reasoning, we see the Samaritan do the right thing, the righteous thing.  The righteous thing, not according to the Law of Moses, the Old Covenant, which was being fulfilled and superseded, but the righteous according to the Way of Christ, the New Covenant, built on the Man Jesus, built and empowered by God’s amazing grace.  The Samaritan, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks… ¹⁹ And [Jesus] said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.”  In thankfulness, the Samaritan directs His thanks and praise of God toward the Man Jesus, and Jesus affirms his actions as faithful, and salvific.  A very good day for the Samaritan.    

   Jesus calls out the nine Jewish lepers whom He cleansed.  They are healed of their leprosy, but they do not come back to give God glory.  Our Lord, in one of His most painfully pointed rhetorical question, asks, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

   Jesus, the Holy One of God who knows all things, and also loves the world, including all sinners, more and better than we can understand, is free to speak bluntly about the nine healed lepers.  But we might consider cutting them a little slack, given our imperfections.  Certainly we shouldn’t look down on them, not for their disease, nor for their imperfect reaction to the miracle.  They were following the Law of Moses, and Jesus’ own words of instruction.  But what our Lord wanted for them, and still wants for us, is for souls to realize that His life and ministry changed everything.  Most especially, the Son of God becoming a human being and walking this earth changed everything about salvation and worship.  Jesus changes the ‘why’ of worship, in the most wonderful way. 

   I think the nine healed Jewish lepers were probably very thankful.  But, Israelites had been going to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship for a very long time.  And according to the covenant they received from Moses, they had an obligation, to follow the law and have a priest check their cure.  They were trying to obey, worship rightly, but they were missing the main event, the new thing God was doing, the new and better covenant.  Now, the one thing needful is to fall down at Jesus’ feet in thankfulness and praise. 

   But, to misunderstand why we worship is part of our fallen nature; we all tend to the same error.  Not just Jews with their Temple rituals, but we all are susceptible to think of worship as only an obligation, as command, not loving invitation.  Worst of all, we can fall into seeing worship as a task we must complete to gain or retain God’s favor. 

   The Israelite perspective on worship in the Temple had already gone wrong, almost from the very start.  Now, certainly, God does command His people, ancient Israel as well as the Church today, to worship Him.  It is a rule, a command: “Remember the Sabbath day, by keeping it holy.”  Stop, rest, and let Me serve you has always been the Lord’s desire, and also His command.  But, in its essence, right worship of the true God is a gift. 

   Old Testament worship in the Tabernacle and later the Temple was a gift, the LORD coming to His people to bestow forgiveness, righteousness and every blessing, so that they could be His people and live with Him, forever.  Yes, it was obligatory, and yes, the rules were very particular and demanding, with a dizzying list of festivals, sacrifices, and offerings.  But still, the heart of the sacrificial system was gift. 

   God accepted His people’s gifts of animals, grain, wine, oil, etc., (all things the Lord had provided to Israel in the first place).  By these, God reckoned Israel’s sins to be forgiven and their relationship restored, for the sake of the blood of bulls and goats.  This was a very good deal for sinful Israel.  But they often viewed it as a burden, and neglected it to their own harm, more often than not. 

   Such twisting of God’s gift of worship is still going on today.  I attended Roman Catholic masses in Spain quite frequently, to hear how they handled Scripture, see their visual tradition, and listen to their music, all to help me better prepare worship in our Lutheran mission.  And for the small fraction of Spaniards who attended mass, it very much seemed like they were checking a box.  The congregation rushed through their parts of the liturgy, never staying together, speed-mumbling the Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis, Creed and Agnus Dei.  Since I was not communing, (and because I’m Lutheran), I would usually sit toward the back.  And so, I would also observe the steady flow of folks who would step into the back of the church from the street, cross themselves, stand there a few moments, maybe a minute or two, and then leave.  It looked like they were showing up, not for God’s Word and gifts, but rather so that they could tell themselves, or maybe their family, that they “went” to mass.  

   But let us not just pick on our Roman Catholic friends.  We have plenty of what Maria, my first church secretary, called “Cheasters,” members who showed up twice a year, once around Christmas, and once around Easter.  Christmas, Easter, Cheasters.  Get it? 

   And I cannot move on from exposing our own misconceptions of right worship without mentioning “confirmation as graduation.”   You’ve seen it.  Parents, often driven by guilt, force their children to attend Catechism and meet whatever requirements the pastor establishes for worship attendance.  The incredible gift of learning the Faith and gaining access to the Medicine of Immortality that is the Lord’s Supper gets perverted into a burden, a punishment to be borne.  So much hypocritical effort, all so that, once confirmed, the confirmands, and maybe their parents too, can disappear.  We pray not forever, but who can say?  What a sad misunderstanding of what worship and faith are all about.    

   The Samaritan Leper shows us a better ‘why’ for worship: thankfulness for the cleansing healing received from Christ Jesus.  Like the Samaritan, God grant us to be thankful that we have been cleansed from the leprosy of sin and made part of the Father’s family.  This is what Jesus came to do, not with the blood of bulls and goats, which in their essence could only point forward to His sacrifice.  The main event, where all our healing is founded, is the Cross, where Jesus poured out His Divine and Human blood, the only sacrifice that can truly wash away our sins, forever.  This is what He has done, for you, for me, and in truth, for every human soul.  When this glorious truth penetrates our hard hearts, the why of worship changes from obligation to thankfulness.  

   The Samaritan Leper also shows us a better ‘where.’  Both before his healing, with the other nine, and especially after, the Samaritan Leper shows us that the right “where” for worship is at Jesus’ feet.  Like Martha’s sister Mary, like the Canaanite mother, like so many souls brought to trust in Jesus, faith teaches us to do whatever it takes to get to where Jesus is present with His cleansing, healing gifts.  For in and by these gifts, we are saved.   

   Which then leads us to the necessity, and the Good News, of the Means of Grace.  We cannot travel back in time to find Jesus walking between Samaria and Galilee.  And thanks be to God, we do not have to, for Jesus comes to us, through His chosen means: Words, written, spoken, sung, translated into art.  Words, combined with plain water, and with bread and wine. 

   Now of course, there is no “there” where Jesus is not present, for He is God, and God is everywhere.  Indeed, in Him we live and move and have our being.  But the important location question for us sinners is “where is Jesus present to save and bless?”  And according to His promises, that is in His Word, including His Word combined with regular elements to create the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.  These are the places where, when we approach in reverent repentance, we have Jesus’ promise.  We know His message to us will be: “Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.” 

   We are all prone to think of worship as an obligation, a burden, a work done to gain God’s favor.  This is actually a sin, because it denies the Truth of Jesus, denies the sufficiency of His Cross, denies the One who invites His children to come to given Him their sins, and in exchange receive His love.  And so normally we start worship with forgiveness, with Confession and Absolution, to have the Holy Spirit give us thankful hearts, ready to worship, and receive more of the Father’s grace and mercy through the rest of the service, all given to us by the Spirit, through Jesus Christ. 

   The better we understand with the healed Samaritan leper the right reason and location for worship, the better our lives will be, now and forever, lives with less guilt, and more desire and commitment to gathering regularly to get the greatest gifts we can receive in this life.  Knowing the true why and where of worship might also help us to be more effective in drawing others to Christ’s Church.  We all know people, family, friends, neighbors, or co-workers, whom we would like to see sitting in a pew next to us, receiving forgiveness, life and salvation, just like us.  We all also struggle to effectively communicate about Christian worship; it is so easy to fall into the command side of things:  You don’t want to go to hell, do you?  You really ought to get off the couch and get to church! 

   A true question and a true statement.  But are they attractive?  How much more attractive would it be to communicate, through words and actions, that you attend worship because you are thankful, and you are eager to receive more and more from your crucified and risen Savior? 

Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, please forgive us for all the times we have considered Your invitation to worship as a burden, as a bother, as an obligation we must fulfill so that you will not be angry with us.  Forgive us for the sake of Jesus, Your crucified and risen Son, who washes us clean from the leprosy of sin, and calls us to come, to gather for the celebration.  Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, that He may keep ever burning in our hearts the fire of faith, that knows the only Source and Power of salvation, which is Jesus Christ, present to bless, in the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.