The lesson today is one of my favorites, and I confess that I made that statement sarcastically. It’s not that I don’t appreciate what’s going on or that I don’t like what it has to say and wish to deny it. It’s a fantastic event in the life of Jesus, and one which bears full attention (are there any other kind?). But, as concerns my profession, it comes up twice in lectionary this year, which means there’s a good chance that I’ll preach on it twice. So, I best get to it.

Jesus heals the ten lepers on His way to Jerusalem passing through the region of Samaria. You know the lesson well enough, as you hear it every year on the National Day of Thanksgiving, appropriate for the day based on the one leper who, as he is being cleansed on his way to the priests, turns around and bows at the Great Physician and High Priest’s feet in thanksgiving.

Now, like I said, you know it well enough, but as is often the case with well known texts, you know it so well that you can easily lose the details of what happened. To direct you to those details, I invite you to take note of what Jesus did as well as what He didn’t do.

YOU BROOD OF VIPERS! You go around claiming you keep the law and have Abraham as your father, but you act like children of the devil! You present yourselves as being righteous before God, yet you don’t even keep the commands and statutes of the Lord. You lift yourselves up as an example of righteous living, yet others can plainly see that you do not live in accordance with your own standards or those of God. REPENT! PRODUCE FRUIT IN KEEPING WITH REPENTANCE. (cf. Luke 3:7-8)

These are harsh words, to be sure; but they are no more harsh than what you heard in this morning’s Gospel. “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” What could inspire such righteous anger in Jesus to utter such harsh words? Causing little ones to sin. What could cause little ones to sin? When you say one thing, presenting yourself as being righteous before God and lifting yourself up as an example of righteous living, but do something else.

War arose in heaven.

Despite my comments last week, it seems unfathomable. The place where the Holy God reigns and controls all things is the place thought of to be peaceful, ordered by Him whom the Scriptures call the Prince of peace. (cf. Isaiah 9:6) Nevertheless, war arose out in heaven. The Apostle John was permitted a glimpse of this heavenly battle:

War arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fought Satan and his angels, and Michael prevailed. Satan was cast out; no longer was there a place for him in heaven. And the heavens and all who dwell in them rejoice.

The good guys won the war in heaven; there should be no doubt that that was the expected outcome. All the same, it’s not all good news. Heaven has been sanctified, and that’s good. The devil has been thrown out, and that’s good. War has been waged and Michael and the heavenly angels have conquered for Christ’s sake, and that is very good. But the war and the battling has spilled out. Now, the devil is just here—he’s consolidated and focused on harming those on earth. It is worse now in these last days because of this. (paragraph based on a fellow pastor’s sermon)

To better understand this text, it might be helpful to understand it’s place in the grander scheme of St. Luke’s Gospel. This is the beginning of chapter 16, which naturally follows chapter 15. Chapter 15 is known, of course, for the three parables it contains: Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and the so-called Prodigal Son. Jesus told these parables to the Pharisees to demonstrate the love of God and all of heaven for the lost, because the Pharisees scoffed at Jesus for receiving and eating with sinners and tax collectors.

“This man receives sinners and eats with them,” His detractors cried. “This man, claiming to be holy, claiming to be sent from God in Heaven, claiming to be the Son of God, eats with the most vile and detestable and unholy lot on earth. How can one so holy deign to dwell among and associate with the unholy? It’s unheard of. It’s reprehensible. It’s sacrilegious.”

So, Jesus compares his listeners to shepherds. These detractors, these self-righteous lawyers, these scribes and pharisees are asked, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” Jesus compared them to shepherds, once a highly respected position, which had become looked down upon as the “am-ha-arets,” the “people of the land”—the unclean and sinners. Furthermore, the shepherd has lost a sheep…how irresponsible.

On top of that, this shepherd left the 99 to find the lost one. He is so irresponsible to lose one and compounds that irresponsibility by leaving the herd to find a single wanderer. Is there such a thing as the needs of the one outweighing the needs of the many?

So, Jesus compared his listeners to a poor woman whose only monetary possession is 10 coins, the wages for 10 days work. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?” She was so poor, she had to be an old servant woman, another example of the “am-ha-arets,” the people of the land. And she was so careless to have lost a day’s wages.

On top of that, this careless woman compounded her carelessness by forgetting about the other nine day’s wages to find the one. Furthermore, when she finds it, she throws a party with her friends, probably spending more than a single day’s wages—the amount that was originally lost. Can there be so much joy over the recovery of something so small and insignificant?

Well, is there? Can there be?