Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Sermon: Luke 17

August 4, 2013
Preaching Text: Luke 17:11-19

 This story has, for years, been the assigned story for Thanksgiving worship. We know it’s about thanksgiving—one of the healed lepers comes back to say THANKS to Jesus for healing him.  Only one of them, which Jesus points out, sure he had healed ten.  One out of ten, a tithing of lepers, remembers to say THANKS. 

Sometimes what we notice about the story is that the one who comes back is a Samaritan.  We don’t know who else was in the group, but since Luke—and Jesus—make such a big deal of the grateful one being a Samaritan, we can guess that most, if not all, of the others are Jewish. The Jewish Jesus has, from a great distance and with only a word, not even a specific word, instantaneously cleansed ten adults from a horrible disease that has changed their lives for who knows how long. The Jews know the significance of this infection—no temple worship, no family dinners, no business with others in the community.  They also know when they are healed, “clean”, they must show the priest who will validate their re-entry into the community. What they don’t know, apparently, is to be grateful. Is it just a matter of good manners?  What would we do—we’re at least as “good” and “right” as the despised Samaritan, right? 

But what I’m really noticing in this reading, this time, of this story, is a different detail.  All ten were made clean.  All ten were instructed to show themselves to the priest to be able to re-enter life as they knew it. One turns to say thank you—and that is what sets him apart from the others. He is a Samaritan, which is remarkable insomuch as we don’t expect him to be paying much attention to or caring about what Jesus is doing. But he doesn’t turn around because he’s a Samaritan, I don’t think. I don’t know why he turns around, why he praises God, why he remembers to say “thank you”, but he does, and that is what sets him apart. All ten know about Jesus—they call him “Jesus, Master”.  They have great expectations for what he can do for them—maybe heal them, maybe just a word of peace, a blessing, acknowledgement that they are still human underneath their disease.  It’s likely that the request “Have mercy on us” is a plea for alms—they are begging for some cash or food. Jesus gives them much more than anticipated—their lives are completely changed. And one turns around. One seems to “get” the significance of this changed life. One recognizes the work of God and reorients himself accordingly. And Jesus declares, “Your faith has made you well.”  Jesus made all ten well, healing them; but the connection this one makes, face to face with Jesus, this faith in a rather unexpected place, has changed everything. 

Here the story ends, rather abruptly, and we do not hear about this Samaritan ex-leper ever again. So we don’t know how his life is changed; we don’t know what he does or who he becomes or if he remains with Jesus. Those details would be nice, but their absence leaves a space—a space for us to fit into this story. I’m not aware that any of us has leprosy, but we do have “things” in life that keep us from being fully the people God has made us to be; we do have “things” that keep us separate from full participation in our relationships and our communities. Do we cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us?” What do we think will happen when we do? If we are instructed to “go do something” or “go be something”, how do we respond?
I really think most people want miracles, in their own lives and in the world. We don’t always know what we’re looking for so we miss them sometimes. We want them to be big and grand and fix problems like war and climate change and pollution. God does intervene in our lives; God is present, working in this world—that’s a very basic definition of a miracle, I’d say. So when we are going along in life and have an encounter with the Divine; when we see Jesus across the way and shout out; when a miracle does happen, what then? Are we “so faithful” that we take for granted that we deserve it, and just keep on going, like 90% of people in this story do? Or do we recognize the miracle as the presence of God in our midst, the mystery that God enters in to our time and place, that God knows about our little lives here in south central Texas? Do we turn to look at God, to say THANKS, and let God turn us on this way to new life? 

Ten were healed; ten had their lives completely changed. But one turned around. And in turning, that one saw Jesus, knew the source of the healing. In a turn of gratitude, he met God. As we are running through this life, with all its ups and downs, joys and heartaches, let’s remember to turn around once in awhile, to turn our lives toward God. Amen. 

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