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The Christ of God is always going up to Jerusalem. Christ, Who is the end of the Law, the eternal Sabbath Day in the flesh, lives and reigns to all eternity to make intercession for His wandering flock. As He once walked from Galilee up to the City of David, the City of Peace, so He has from all eternity journeyed to the Tree of Death so that He might give you the Fruit of the Tree of Life: His Body and Blood. It was not an effortless journey. The Lord's walk was physical; it was tiring, demanding, fraught with griefs and heartaches. He encountered hurting, broken, unloved, troubled, maimed, and unclean outcasts on the way. He came to real people, just like you. He lived amongst Gentile Galileans even as He now lives among you New Testament Gentile believers. He visited Samaritan villages even as He always delights in going to shameful, sinful souls with healing and peace.

There were 10 Lepers then. There have been untold legions ever since. Not all men born of women are filled with leprosy, but all born are filled with sin, an even worse malignancy. Sin is always fatal. There are 10 lepers because---that's how many there were. There are 10 lepers because the 10 Commandments help and heal no one. Keep the Law and Live. These rotting fellows couldn't. Neither can you. Far better to be a leper and have everyone, including yourself, know just what a mess you're in, than to be a Pharisee and be blind to your true spiritual condition. They needed help, they wanted help, they saw Jesus as their deliverer. They wouldn't have called out to Him had they not believed He could give them assistance. "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." And no, they weren't crying out for "alms;" "spare a denarius gov'nuh?" When you're a leper, having a whole lot of money, a bunch of "stuff" just doesn't seem important anymore. When you know you're a sinner, when you feel the weight of what you've done, and more importantly what you are...the identity which you spend so much time hiding from others and yourself, then having material wealth isn't important. A cancer patient in the final days will laugh at the idea that someone wants to give him a million dollars. No, what he wants is relief from pain; peace of mind; succor from the fear of death and what will happen to his family; and if it be God's will, he desires to be healed, to be given remission from the disease, restoration of his health. That's all of you sinners.

Jesus does not disappoint. He healed them all. Only God can take a flesh-eating disease and make it cease to exist with a word, with the will of the healer: "And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed." Only God can take a baby born dead in trespasses and make the pagan cease to exist with His Word: "I baptize thee [I wash thee clean] in the Name of the Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost." Being healthy, having youthful fresh skin, strong lungs, hard muscles, vibrant energy is wonderful. But this time around, here on the planet earth, it doesn't last. What's important is to have the forgiveness of sin. What's important is to know Who it is that can do that, forgive you, Who it is that wants you to have communion with Him. For where there is forgiveness of sins, where there is fellowship with Jesus in His Word and in His Supper, there is also Life and Salvation. There is the guarantee of a resurrected body, perfect, glorified and eternal. No lepers in heaven.

You too have fallen on your knees in contrition and cried out: "I a poor miserable sinner confess all my iniquities which deserve temporal and eternal punishments." You called out to your heavenly Father "I am sorry, I repent and turn away from sin," And you prayed "have mercy on me for the sake of the bitter sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, Your Son, my Lord." The Good Physician of body and soul spoke to you even as He did to the 10 and even more so as He did to the one who came back to praise and worship Him as God: "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."

It was not they who healed themselves, it was Jesus. It was not their faith which spoke away the leprosy. It is not your faith which died upon the cross or which declares you absolved, it is Jesus. One is Justified by Grace. How so? BY faith. What a wonderful and passive word "BY." Faith is the means, the instrument for receiving the gifts of Jesus. Faith itself being the greatest gift of all.

Baptized into Christ, you are now a New Body, the one, holy, Christian and Apostolic Church. No longer are you leprous in your sins, but you stand, and you kneel in faith, before your loving Lord to praise Him and sing anew His mercies.