October 12, 2025

Today's Reading: Luke 17:11-19

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 11:1-25; Matthew 12:1-21

“When he saw them he said to them, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed. 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 17:14-19)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus is not really a “you scratch my back and I scratch yours” kind of guy. Too often, we are tempted to imagine salvation as some kind of contract or transaction. I once heard someone say, “When the praise goes up, the blessings start coming down.” Yeah… not how that works. We especially see that this is not the case here in our Gospel reading for today. Because Jesus does what he normally does. He heals someone with a terrible affliction. He does this all the time. He casts out demons, sometimes a lot of demons from one person. He heals the lame to walk about. The blind have their eyes opened. The deaf have their ears unstopped. Those who are mute can speak again. Especially notable is His healing of lepers. Leprosy was a social, physical, and religious death sentence. If you contracted leprosy, you were cast out of society, and you were also considered “unclean.” So, for Jesus to have mercy upon these people is very kind indeed. 

Jesus does the same thing to you every Sunday. You, dear listener, in all likelihood do not have leprosy. But you do have something worse: sin. Jesus responds to our weekly (and daily!) cries for mercy with boundless compassion, acting through your pastor to forgive your sins with the words of Absolution and the Sacrament of the Altar. 

But notice what happens after. Nine of the lepers take the healing and take off, not one word of thank you. And do you notice… they were still healed. Jesus doesn’t afflict them with their leprosy again because he doesn’t get a thank you. For that, we can be thankful because we are never as thankful as we ought to be. We are forgiven of sins we don’t even know about. But Jesus is faithful. He keeps his promises. Thanks be to God.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty God, You show mercy to Your people in all their troubles. Grant us always to recognize Your goodness, give thanks for Your compassion, and praise Your holy name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Rev. Jonathan Lackey, Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

Step back in time to the late Reformation and learn about a divisive yet inspirational figure: Matthias Flacius Illyricus. His contributions to Lutheranism still echo in our teachings today, from the Magdeburg Confession to parts of the Lutheran Confessions. Learning about Flacius’s life will help you understand more intricacies of the Reformation than ever before.