2 Kings 5:14-17; Psalm 98; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19
Grace and peace to you my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Today’s Gospel is the beautiful story of the cure of ten lepers, with one of them returning to thank the Lord.
Today, I shall be preaching on what I have titled “Different depths of faith.” We shall look at five depths of faith.
A. The faith that believes in God’s power to help me.
The ten lepers believed in God’s power to help them and that was why they cried to Him, called Him Master and asked Him for mercy.
Naaman also believed when his slave girl said that the God of Israel could heal him. This is the faith that drives us to come to the Lord.
Many claim to believe in God but deny His power to help or save them (2 Timothy 3:5).
Do we believe in God’s power?
Do we trust in God’s power to heal, to change destinies, transform lives, to make the impossible possible?
B. The faith that obeys.
This is deeper than the faith that brings us to the Lord. This is the faith that obeys God even when what He asks us to do is counterintuitive.
This is the faith that trusts in the wisdom of God. This was what Naaman lacked – he didn’t think it was wise to wash in the Jordan as instructed by the prophet of God Elisha and so he had trouble obeying. He almost missed his healing because of this.
The ten lepers had this faith. Without being cured, they were told to go and show themselves to the priest as instructed in the Law (Leviticus 14). They obeyed and with their leprosy still intact, they faced the way to the priest, knowing that to come to the priest with leprosy would mean they would be stoned to death according to the Law.
Sometimes we want God to do something and then we will obey Him, whereas most times He wants to do it when we are acting in obedience or after we have obeyed. Many have delayed or denied themselves of their blessings because they wouldn’t obey the Lord.
C. The faith that returns.
Whilst the other nine lepers had the faith to come and the faith to obey, they lacked the faith to return. Naaman had the faith to return.
Whenever we return to God in thanksgiving, we are acknowledging that God is the one who has done it and that it is not us or chance.
The faith to return is deeper. Faith to obey is built on information, but faith to return in thanksgiving is built on revelation.
Whilst the other nine lepers proceeded to the high priest as they had been told, the one leper received a revelation that the true Supreme High Priest was the one who had cured him (Hebrews 2:17, 4:14) and so he went back to the true priest to say thank you. Take note that Jesus didn’t send him to the high priest again; he asked him to go on his way. In other words, the man had met the Supreme High Priest and had been declared saved/whole (sesōken- from sos to save or deliver). The other nine received health, but this man received the fullness of health, life and salvation.
Many of us have the faith to ask Jesus, we have the faith to receive but we do not have the faith to return to say “thank you” to the Lord. We lack a spirit of thanksgiving. Whenever we return to say ‘thank you,” it is only then that the blessing is perfected.
If I end here, it will be enough. However, let me dig deeper into two other realms of faith.
D. The faith to thank God even when the miracle is yet to happen.
This is the faith that thanks God even in the waiting, in the process. It is the faith that thanks God before it receives.
Jesus teaches us this by His actions. He took five loaves and two fish and thanked the Father even before it was multiplied (John 6:11, 11:41). He thanked God even before Lazarus came from the dead.
It takes faith to be thankful even when we are waiting, when we have not yet received it.
E. The faith to thank God when what we get is different from what we want or when we do not get what we prayed for.
This is the faith that trusts in God’s wisdom and surrenders to God’s will. It is the deepest realm of faith. It is a faith that is grateful even when God says “No.” There is faith to get what we want but the deepest faith is to want what we get, to be grateful for what we get, even if it’s not what we ask for.
This is the faith of submission to God’s will. This is the faith that gives greater glory to God. It is a faith that doesn’t see any answer or situation as a disappointment.
It is the faith of “even if” – “I will still thank you Lord, you are still able and you are still my God…”
This is the faith of St. Paul in today’s Second Reading, who was thanking God even when he was in chains and during his hardships.
It is the faith expressed by the Prophet Habbakuk in 3:17-18
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Today, let us ask the Lord for mercy for the times we have failed to believe, to obey or to return in thanksgiving for the blessings received. Let us pray today for the deepening of our faith. We pray for the faith that submits to whatever God gives, even if it is different from what we want.
Sermon preached Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on October 9, 2022.