PENTECOST 19

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST 19
PROPER: 23 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: October 14, 2002

TEXT: Luke 17:11-19 – Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

See also: Ruth 1:1-19a

ISSUE: In this healing story, the leper who returns to Jesus to thank him seems at first to be the point of the story. However, there is much more in that boundaries are being expanded to include more people into the Kingdom that Jesus proclaims, the Kingdom of God. Christians are to be aware of that expansion and to respond with loyalty, faith in Christ as the way.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ten lepers come to Jesus crying out for mercy, and for the possibility of healing. All ten are healed, but only one of the ten, a Samaritan, returns to thank Jesus. The question is raised why were the other nine who fail to return to give thanks to Jesus. At a first quick glance at this story we are left with the moral that it is appropriated to be thankful, and to praise God and Jesus for the many blessings we have received. It seems like something you learn first of all in kindergarten. Remember your mother telling you, “Remember to say thank you.” Part of my training for the priesthood included remembering to be always thankful, and recognizing gifts with a thank you note. People do like to be thanked and recognized for their generosity. This passage from Luke you might think was a reading that would be assigned for reading on Thanksgiving Day. It isn’t.
Being a thankful person is certainly an important aspect of life. While we may have many troubles and concerns at times in our lives, a deep examination of our lives often reveals that we do, especially as Americans, have much to be thankful for in material terms, and especially as Christians in terms of the forgiveness and love of God and one another which is such an integral part of our being. Being thankful is an important part of our present day modern up bringing, and moral life.
To get the most out of a biblical passage is to understand it in the context of the period in which it was originally written. Ten lepers, nine Galileans and one Samaritan come to Jesus begging for mercy, and healing as Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem along the border of Samaria and Galilee. The leprosy of the Bible is not Hansen’s disease, or leprosy as we think of it. Leprosy of the Bible was most any skin disease that caused scaling and oozing of the skin. Anyone who had such a disorder was excluded from the community and required to live outside the town gates. They were to touch no one, and to cry out whenever they were in the proximity of other people, “Unclean, unclean, I am unclean.” The fact that they were separated from the community had nothing to do with whether or not their skin disorder was contagious. Many of the kinds of skin diseases were in fact not contagious. Hansen’s disease itself is not extremely contagious, and even spouses often do not catch it from their mates. The issue was not contagion; it was a boundary issue, and the lepers not excluded because they were contagious, but because they were ritually unclean, according to the laws in the Hebrew Book of Leviticus.
Anything that oozed out of the body was often seen as unclean. Women were considered unclean during their menstrual period. Skin was a boundary and anything oozing out of it was breaking through the boundary. When a Jewish person traveled outside of the boundaries of Israel, he shook the unclean dust of a foreign unclean land off of his feet when he returned to Israel. The belief was that you must keep Israel holy, as the Lord is holy. Oozing skin was unholy, unclean, and breaking the boundaries.
In the story you have nine Galilean Jews teamed up with one hated Samaritan, a half-breed and hated part Jew. They shared their suffering and exclusion in common, until they come to Jesus for healing. Pleading for mercy from Jesus, they are instructed to go to the Jerusalem priest to be declared clean. On their way, they are healed. They can go to the priest at the Jerusalem Temple, be declared clean and restored to their community. Except, of course, for the Samaritan. He cannot go to Jerusalem to be declared clean by the Temple priest, because he is a Samaritan. He belongs across another border, and because he was a Samaritan was unworthy of entering the Temple premises. He has only one to whom he can offer praise and thanks, and that is Jesus. He returns falls on his knees in thanksgiving and praise. “Get up,” says Jesus, “go your way; your faith has made you well.” The Samaritan who had been brought up hating Jews had put his faith in the healing power of Jesus a Jew. He returns offering thanks and intrinsic loyalty.
What is the story telling the world? What is its message? It is essentially about Jesus breaking down the boundaries that separate people from one another, from God, from the alienation of themselves from themselves. Ten isolated lepers, who are considered unclean, come to Jesus who is traveling along the border of Galilee and Samaria. Jesus restores them to community be removing the boundary, the leprosy or skin disorder that separates them from the whole community and from the worship of God in the Temple. They are healed and more importantly restored. The hated Samaritan, who has crossed the border or boundary line into Galilee is not excluded because of his heritage and background. He too is healed and restored and embraced by Christ Jesus. In return he gives Jesus thanks, because he has nothing else to give him in return. His only return is thanks and praise for the enormous unearned grace and love he has been forgiven.
In the very beginning of this story, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. We know what happens there; he gives his life for his friends and begins a new Kingdom founded in grace and love. He breaks down all boundaries that separate people from one another and from God. All that is required is loyalty, trust, faith in the mercy and hope of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The Samaritan’s loyalty and faith is what saves and restores him, as the most unworthy of all. Interestingly enough, the nine Galileans do not return, because they believe all they have to do is do what the law requires: show himself to the priest. They believe that all they have to do is when they see Jesus again is to pay him back. But, the early church believed we are not worthy to pay back the free grace and love of God in Christ. You return loyalty, trust, faithfulness, thanksgiving for the unearned, unmerited, mercy, love and grace of God.
Let me also include some thoughts about the story of Ruth from the Hebrew Scriptures. Naomi and her husband left Bethlehem in Judah during a period of famine, and to save themselves took up residence in an alien land. Their sons grew up there and took wives from that land, Orpah and Ruth. Unfortunately all of the men died, leaving Naomi and her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, all widowed. Widows were in poor straights in those days, so Naomi tells Ruth and Orpah to return to their families, and she will return to her family in Bethlehem. Orpah returns to her Moabite family and the Moabite gods. But, Ruth insists on returning with Naomi remaining faithful and committed to Yahweh, the God of Israel. Ruth is not pure Jewish, but she returns to Bethlehem with Naomi, (“Wither thou goest, I will go.”) remarries, and becomes the great grandmother of Israel’s greatest King David, who is obviously not a thorough bred. It is Ruth’s faithfulness and loyalty to Naomi, to God, in spite of the fact that she comes from the other side of the tracks that is important in the story. This story gives still another dimension to be holy as God is holy. God is faithful in his love and mercy, and salvation and future hope is found in faith.
At the present time, we are living in a very complicated and dangerous time. Suddenly we are conscious of many varieties of borders and boundaries, between our country and others, and between our religious faiths. It is a very frightening time, and we look for healing, mercy, hope in the face of a terrorism that limits our freedoms. Where do we turn? What is the right path of action? We fear that aggression will fan the flames of terrorism. We fear that non-action will bring about more and more terrorist acts. It seems like a no win situation. The human condition has confronted us with guilt in terms of why are we hated, with fear of a very uncertain future, with grief and mourning, with hopelessness. A new kind of spiritual leprosy separates us from the good. We inclined to close the boundaries that once were open to people in search of new beginnings and hope. Where do we turn? We turn to Jesus Christ. Lord God, we need healing. We need to be restored to peace and reconciliation. In our uncertainty there is only God to whom we can turn, and ask that the boundaries that separate us be removed, that our humanity and the human situation be returned to one of peace and of new found brotherhood in God. God enable us to rely in faith, loyalty, and trust upon you and your way of life for us. The terrorism we face today is evil. It does indeed confound us, and limits our freedom. In quiet assured confidence we turn to Jesus Christ to enable us to find our way by his grace to the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of peace and love, where old boundaries are torn down, and we find a widening of all boundaries that include all folk of faith and goodwill.