Luke 17.11-19

Dear God, don’t let me fall apart

Dear God, surround me as I speak

The bridges that I walk across are weak

In 1994, when Jars of Clay released their debut album, I loved the tune that contained these lyrics.

Back then, when I was 14 years old, I didn’t love the song for the lyrics.  I loved the song because there was finally a Christian band that grooved and bopped.  

However, 31 years later, and more importantly, 31 years older, I know find myself loving this song for this simple prayer that is the lyrical content of the track, “Like a Child.”

I love this simple prayer because it is very similar to the prayers that I pray all day everyday.

Let me tell you a little about the past couple weeks of my life.

Three weeks ago, on the second day of my vacation in Alabama, I got a text message telling me that one of the founding members of our congregation had died.  So, I spent my time of personal retreat helping a grieving family navigate the loss of their 98 year old patriarch.

When I returned to Huntington and was continuing to plan the funeral for this 98 year old man, I received a call from a father who just lost his 39 year old son to suicide.  In his death, he left behind a wife and two children who are 4 and 8 years old.

So, in the midst of holding up one family experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering, I now began to help hold up a second family experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering.

On Friday, as I was driving away from the graveside of that second burial, my cell phone rang.  While I was still on the grounds of the cemetery, I was being told that the UPS worker’s union was looking for Fred Scragg as the next of kin because my Uncle Wayne suddenly passed away the day before.

Life can be relentless.  It seems as if one of our hands is always holding onto what we would categorize as unimaginable pain and suffering.  

But, that unimaginable pain and suffering doesn’t have to just be death and loss.

Maybe you find yourself laying in bed at night, reviewing the day’s events, most clearly, all of your personal failures, but sprinkled with the pains and hurts you experienced, questioning absolutely everything, and the only words that you have the strength to speak are “Don’t let me fall apart,” or, “Jesus, have mercy on me,” or, “God, help me.”

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage the burdensome weight of your nation’s political assassinations and government shutdowns. 

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage an exhausting, never-ending to-do list that comes with the responsibilities and commitments of the vocations that God has placed you in.

Maybe for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage a rebellious child who is actively walking away from and challenging everything you have taught them and every ounce of love you have poured into them.

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage a marriage that is more difficult than you ever could have imagined marriage to be.

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage instability in your career, an ever depleting bank account, and an increase in the cost of living at that same time.

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage sickness and failing health.

The truth is that for each of us unimaginable pain and suffering exists but takes on different shapes and forms.

 You may think that because I am a pastor, my days are filled with hours and hours of praying.  You may think that because I am a pastor, my prayers are filled with big theological words.  

But, the truth is, because of the struggles of living life, just like you, in a broken body with a broken heart and a broken mind in a broken world, most of the time, the only words I can summon to pray to my God in Heaven who asks me to cast my burdens upon Him because He cares for me, are short statements like, “Dear God, don’t let me fall apart.”

And that is perfectly OK because God who created me, knows what I need before I even ask Him.

With that being said, when I come to church on Sunday morning, I don’t need to and I don’t want to come to a place that is going to lecture me on a topic.  I don’t need to and I don’t want to come to a place that has to prove itself to me by using big theological words.  I don’t need to and I don’t want to come to a place that is going to tell me that I don’t have enough faith in God if there is pain or suffering or sickness in my life.  I don’t need to and I don’t want to come to a place that is going to make me feel guilty for not feeling and acting happy when I don’t feel joyous or excited in that moment.

When I come to church on Sunday morning, I always need church to be the Church as Jesus Christ intended it to be.  

Church, as defined by Jesus, needs to be a place where God’s grace meets the ground that I am standing on.  Only then can I find the comfort, the peace, and the rest that I truly need to keep moving forward.

And, in this morning’s text, I know we have just that.  We have a true example of God’s grace meeting the ground we stand on.  We experience that as we see a group of people standing on the shaky and shifting ground of sickness, death, and separation from God and His people.  As they recognize that they need God’s grace to meet them and help them and restore them, God does just that and is merciful to them in the person and work of Jesus.

Luke 17:11–19 shares this piece of Jesus’ story with us:

[11] On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. [12] And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance [13] and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” [14] When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. [15] Then one of them, 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. Now he was a Samaritan. [17] Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? [18] Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” [19] And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (ESV)

“Jesus, Master, have mercy on me.”

Or, in other words,

“God, help me.”

The only cry left for the men and women plagued by physical sickness and separation.

In our Biblical text, those who are experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering are a group of lepers who cry out to Jesus from a distance.

Let’s ask, “Why are these ailing individuals calling out to Jesus from a distance and not coming near to Him?”

Well, the lepers were forbidden from coming near Jesus, and every other human being who did not have the same disease that they had, because the disease which caused their skin to rot and fall off was highly contagious.  Therefore, the society in which these lepers lived classified them as outcasts and untouchables.  They were forced to lived outside the safety and security of the city walls.  They were only allowed to live where the garbage was taken and piled. 

And, as these lepers lived in homeless colonies outside the gates of the civilized cities, they were required to announce their presence whenever they saw healthy men and women coming in their direction.  This was a warning for the healthy to stay out of danger’s way.

To protect the healthy in society, lepers would announce their presence as a warning sign, by banging metal objects as loud as they could, pots, pans, or, scraps of metal from the garbage dump that they called home, while screaming the name of their disease as loud as they could.

Because life had taken it’s toll on these ailing individuals and they found themselves absolutely desperate for help.  They knew that they had no hope of being healed and restored unless someone came to their aid.

So, in their desperation, caused by their unimaginable pain and suffering, as well as their inability to help themselves, they place their trust in Jesus, having faith that He is able to help them in their moment of need.

And, what happened?  What did Jesus do?

Jesus, hearing and seeing their faith in Him, does exactly what they asked.  Jesus had mercy on them and brought God’s grace to the exact ground that they were standing on—the ground of sickness leading to death and the ground of separation from Jesus and others.  

This mercy-driven healing restored them back to health and enabled them to be restored back into the fellowship and friendship of regular life inside the city walls.

We could say, Jesus brought these men and women from death to life.

It’s no wonder that the Samaritan returned praising and thanking Jesus for the miracle that was the restoration of his life.  He was now able to be near to Jesus and other people.

The good news we have this morning, as witnessed in our Biblical text, is that when we call out to Jesus, with faith that believes and trusts in Him as the incarnate God, Jesus will always hear us and do what we ask.  Jesus will have mercy on us in our deepest moments of need.

Does that mean that God will take away every problem that we are facing and dealing with?  No.  There is no promise from God that He will end your suffering in this life.  However, there is the promise from God that He will be with you through it all until the day He calls you to your eternal home.  And, in your eternal home, and only in your eternal home, will you finally experience a complete rest from the unimaginable pain and suffering caused by the corruption of Sin in you and in the current world.

In Confirmation this morning, we were studying God’s grace in His act of creation and we looked at God’s promise of creating Heaven for us.

That promise and it’s description of Heaven goes like this:

[1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. [4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1–4, ESV)

Even though God doesn’t guarantee a life for us here and now that is free of pain and suffering, He does promise, through Jesus, we can know that He cares for us and will always be with us and have mercy on us.

First and foremost, God’s grace meets the ground that we are standing on when He has mercy on us in our sinful state by providing the forgiveness we need and the restoration into a relationship with Him and His people.

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, the ultimate act of mercy was shown to you.  In Jesus’ death, He took the sickness of Sin that led to death, paid the debt that your Sin created with God, and He provided forgiveness for you that is needed to be able to be in God’s presence today and forever.  Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection also restore you into the fellowship and friendship of the righteous—the spiritually healthy—God’s family, the Church.

In addition to that ultimate mercy, Jesus promises that He will also have mercy on you by providing you with the knowledge, the wisdom, and the hope you need to keep moving forward in the darkest of times.

In verses that I share at every funeral we are told of God’s grace that causes Him to have mercy on us.

Romans 8:31–39 tells us this:

[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [33] Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

As I mentioned earlier, this past Friday, I was once again given the privilege and responsibility to stand next to yet another family as a casket was lowered into the ground 

This time, we buried a 39 year old man who was a son, a husband, a father, and a younger brother to those who stood alongside of me.  

This man, who served our country through serval Naval tours in the Middle East, sadly gave into the struggles that often come home with those who give their lives to protect us from harms and horrors we will never know about.

As I always do, I bring God’s grace to the ground that we are all standing on in moments like this by sharing from Psalm 121.

Psalm 121 tells us about God’s ever present help in all seasons of our life.  The Psalmist writes,

[1] I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

[2] My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

[3] He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

[4] Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

[5] The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

[6] The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

[7] The LORD will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

[8] The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

As I was reading these verses and looking into the faces of those with me, I could visibly see the glimpses of smiles and the melting away of unimaginable pain and loss.

As we cried out together, “Jesus, have mercy on us,” Jesus did just that through the promises and assurances of His love and care for us that are found in His Word to us, the Bible.

When God gives us eyes to see the clear battle between good and evil around us, and also recognize the battle between good and evil inside of us, there is nothing for us to do except ask God to be merciful and gracious, providing us with the hope and peace of knowing that He is still in charge and that this battle will be over once and for all when Jesus returns to make all things right, or, when we leave this world through physical death and end up comforted in His arms—whichever of those comes first for us.

Today, I invite you to cry out to God knowing that His grace is always willing to meet the ground you are standing out.

1 Peter 5:6–7 reminds of this:

[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (ESV)

You can use the words of the lepers, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on me.”

You can use the 1994 words of Jars of Clay, “Don’t let me fall apart.”

Or, you can use any words you wish, there are no “Rules to Prayer.” 

But, pray and call out to God knowing having the same simple faith that the Samaritan had in today’s text.  Jesus hears.  Jesus knows.  Jesus cares.  And, Jesus will have mercy on you in you need.

And, when Jesus answers with the mercy you need, God’s grace for the ground you are standing on, praise Him, along with the Samaritan, with words similar to the song that we often sing:

You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger

Your name is great and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

So bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before, O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

October 16, 2025.

Prayer:

Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.  Amen.