Luke 17:11-19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus* was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12As
he entered a village, ten lepers*approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they called
out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ 14When he saw
them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they
went, they were made clean. 15Then one of them, when he saw
that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He
prostrated himself at Jesus’*feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then
Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are
they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God
except this foreigner?’ 19Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go
on your way; your faith has made you well.’
Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?
§
We could take this Gospel story as a
cautionary tale about the need for gratitude. It would fit right in with our
holiday weekend and the celebration of Thanksgiving. We really might want to
concentrate on the idea of gratitude as one of the points of the story.
§
The story is simple enough. Jesus is
traveling with his disciples when they meet ten lepers. We all know what
meeting lepers in Biblical times means. They have to keep their distance… they
have to shout “Unclean!”… they can’t be touched… we’ve all heard this before.
When Jesus sees them, he simply tells them to ‘Go and show yourselves to the
priests.’ This would be the standard thing to do and what the Law
required. It could be done wherever the priest lived; it did not have to be
done at the Temple in Jerusalem. Once declared “clean” by a priest, they could
resume their lives in their communities and with their families. They could
live at home and eat with others. They could worship with everybody else in the
Temple or the synagogue. It would help us to remember that “leprosy” in Jesus’
day could be what we know as leprosy today, or it could be any number of skin
diseases like a rash or psoriasis or something similar.
§
The ten lepers go off and on the way,
they are all cleansed of their disease. One realizes it and returns to thank
Jesus for this wonderful thing. Jesus somehow recognizes him as a Samaritan and
asks Were
not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them
found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? He
then send the man on his way, telling him that his faith has made him well.
§
Well, not really. The original text
says “your faith has saved you.” His cleansing takes on a spiritual aspect
here.
§
Here was a man who was a double
outsider – both an unclean leper and a hated and unclean Samaritan. Now Jesus
tells him that his faith as “saved” him. He did what was asked of him; he was
on the way to see a priest to declare him clean. Instead he returned to thank
Jesus, praising God with a loud voice and throwing himself on his face
before Jesus to thank him. In the face of a Jewish rabbi many called the
Messiah, the Samaritan may have felt he was doubly damned. Now he was cleansed.
Now he was free. Now he was given a new life. Now he was “saved.”
§
We don’t know what became of the
other nine lepers. We don’t know if they were declared clean by priests. We
don’t know if they were grateful in their own way. There are those who feel
that their perceived ingratitude resulted in their disease returning. (I don’t
believe that personally, but it was a memorable question posed in a sermon I
heard in seminary.)
§
The Samaritan leper had been an
outsider, cut off from what where seen as the usual channels of God’s mercy and
care. Now he was cleansed, included in the community, and – as Luke would have
it – “saved.” He was among the first of many to receive the grace of God
despite being an outsider.
§
He is our model of grace and our
response to grace today. He freely received a new life in grace despite his
unworthiness and his unreadiness. He show all who hear his story that the
saving grace of God is freely given to all.
§
We heard this before and we need to
hear it again and again. Our daily lives blur the clarity of the Gospel message
of grace since we daily experience the demands of the law and the expectation
of others as well as the broken nature of our world. We forget at times that we
have received grace beyond our expectations and understanding. Our friend, the
Samaritan former-leper, reminds us that grace is free-given despite any
obstacle we might see around us, like leprosy or foreign birth or any of their
modern equivalents… and even sin. He also reminds us that we can share the
mercy and grace we have received with anyone without restriction and that God’s
story for us always has more than meets the eye.
§
This is our Good News today. Once we
realize that we are graced, our only real response has to be gratitude. Prayers
of gratitude can become a habit, which leads to a life of gratitude.
§
We may at times say we have nothing
to be thankful for. That’s understandable; life really can be tough. Still, as
disciples of Christ, at the very, very least we can be grateful that we have
heard the Word and let the Word in our lives take from there.
§
Years ago, a Christian teacher from
Germany called Meister Eckhart said this and it’s a great thing to close a
sermon on, especially for Thanksgiving.
§
If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is ‘thank you’,
it will be enough. (Meister Eckhart)
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