The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, the 17th chapter:
On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
You have to remember this day that Jesus is travelling in a place where Jews don’t like to go: Samaria. In fact, to get from Jerusalem to Galilee, or vice versa, most Jews would travel over the Jordan river on the other side, walk up through the Jordan Valley, and go miles and miles out of their way just to avoid Samaria. The direct-line walk would normally be about 90 miles, which could be done by most people in that time in about a week or so. But, to go through the other side, would add 30 more miles to the trip, probably a couple more days, and it certainly was more dangerous. It was through the hills and mountains, which were full of rocks and crags that robbers and murderers would hide behind. This was, for instance, the very path Jesus was referring to in His parable of the Good Samaritan.
But the longer journey was generally worth it: Samaritans were no-good, dirty heathens and no good Jew wanted to be around them. If you were going to Jerusalem, it was a for-sure thing you didn’t want to be there, because even accidentally touching a Samaritan would make you ritually unclean, and if you became that, well, what’s the point of going to Jerusalem. You had to make your sacrifices there, and you couldn’t do that if you were unclean.
But, Jesus finds His way into Samaria today. That meant He purposefully went there. Luke 17 actually finds Jesus on His way to Jerusalem to die. These are, in essence, His final moments, His last actions before He is taken to the cross. He’s going through Samaria because He has an arrival time. It’s necessary. He can’t be late. He’s in a hurry.
But some lepers stop him. Now, again, you have to understand, a leper was unclean. Not only were these guys living in Samaria, which would have, arguably, made them pretty ritually unclean, unable to present themselves before God according to the Law given to Moses by God Himself, but they also had a skin condition that made them ritually unclean. In fact, anyone who started showing a medical issue had go show themselves to the priests in the Temple, who used God’s Word, which I know sounds weird, to determine if they had a skin condition that would disqualify them from entering the temple, and, through contact with others, would make others ritually unclean, too. Leprosy, as it was called in Jesus’ time on earth, covered a number of conditions really, but a most common one seems to have been one where your nerve endings would end up dying off as your skin would rot and fall. It was pretty bad. How contagious it was, I guess we won’t ever know, but to touch someone with it would make you unclean, so for the sake of the community, the lepers were sent outside their homes, outside the cities so they wouldn’t even have a chance of infecting someone clean. They could come back when their disease went away, but they had to show themselves to the priest of the temple first who would declare them clean or not. We don’t know how often that happened either, but rules were rules.
So, Jesus is making His way through this place where no Jew wanted to be, and was stopped by a bunch of lepers. Normally, when someone would pass lepers, they would cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” in order to make sure that no one else was defiled by them. Instead of the normal cry, these ten lepers cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” What a beautiful request. In these six words, the lepers showed themselves to have great faith in this Jesus who came near to them. Now, whether they thought Jesus would heal them or not, I don’t know. That’s probably what they meant in their request. But, can’t we also hear this as a cry for God to have mercy on these unclean men, men who could no longer approach God? When you’re unclean, you’re cut off. The temple was your way of bringing your offerings to God, to hear of His forgiveness. It was found nowhere else. When you were cut off, you were literally without God and it was as if He had abandoned you.
But now this Jesus has been wandering the nation, preaching of the God come near to them and pointing to Himself as God. They didn’t dare approach Him, for what would happen to you if you made God unclean? But He could have mercy. He could tell you that He cares for you. He could , even if you couldn’t go to the temple, tell you you were right with God, that He was on your side. That’s mercy. And that’s what the lepers asked for.
And Jesus has mercy. He not only still comes near to them, but He does make them clean. With a word, and not a commanding word like,”Begone,” but a final word, “Show yourselves to the priests.” Jesus didn’t need to command it out. He just told them what the final outcome would be: that the priests would declare them clean. And they believed it. They went on their way and went back to the temple, which they loved, to a part of the community again. They were restored to their God, their religion, their communities. They could hug their wives again, kiss their children, shake a friend’s hand, as soon as the priest said they were okay.
Imagine the joy that had to have been in their hearts at that moment. They wanted a good word from Jesus, and more than that were cleansed and could go before God again. The rest was gravy. But one of them, a dirty Samaritan, had nowhere to go. He couldn’t go to the priest in the temple. He wouldn’t have been allowed where the others could go. He could still theoretically see the priest. He could have still given his offerings, but He would never be a part of the community like the others with him. Yes, he was cleansed of His leprosy, but he still couldn’t go back to worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth. He was cut off because he wasn’t a full Jew; he was a Samaritan. Then he remembered the words he just said, Jesus. Master. Have mercy. This man who claimed to be God stood alone, watching the nine return to the temple. But God in human flesh was standing right in front of them. Why would this God who could speak to them, hear them, have mercy on them, heal them, need a priest to say it as all okay? He could do it on His own.
So, this Samaritan man returned, falling at Jesus feet, touching Him, grabbing Him, holding Him, kissing His feet in thanksgiving. God stood before the Samaritan, showing him mercy. The man was clean, not by his own works, but by the very command of God. This man was restored by the very command of God. This man was made right with his God, given a cleanliness that surpassed what any ritual could deliver, and he knew it. He held on to Jesus in love and gratitude. This Samaritan realized what the others didn’t: this man, this Jesus, He is the true priest. He’s the only one who can truly declare you clean.
Jesus is astonished by this, that the others didn’t realize it. If a foreigner can get this, the others certainly should have. Jesus probably didn’t take away their healing for their lack of recognition, but their actions have now stood for nearly two thousand years as an example of foolishness, as to how quickly one goes from begging for mercy to forgetting its source.
We do this, too. How often do we beg God to grant a desire of our heart, only to forget that it was He who granted it when it came to pass? It’s like making a deal with God (“If you’d only do this, then I’ll go to church every week”) but forgetting that He was the one who signed on the dotted line. Now, I’m not saying God works like that, quid pro quo, but we should recognize that, no matter what it is, it is God who gives all things to us.
We don’t see that all things around us, our house, home, wife, husband, children, food, land, animals, friends, air, water, a heartbeat… all of these come from the command of God. You may not hear Him command it out of thin air, but it came in the final command, “Let there be…” We need to recognize this. We need to see that it comes from God, and not a generous bank, loving in-laws, the grocery store, farmers, even proximity. These all come from God Himself. And when we fail to see that, we’re as foolish as the nine lepers. We return to our lives, never thanking the God whom we have been begging to give us what we need. We get our groceries and then swear at the other drivers on the road, never thinking about how God got this food to us. We marry our spouses and take them for granted, never asking why God blessed us with them in the first place. We breathe in and out, expecting our bodies to work, and curse them when they let us down. We need to see how God works in all of these things to provide that which we need.
When we start, though, thinking that our righteousness is like this, that’s like a whole other ballgame. When we are made right with God and then think about how amazing it is that I’m so awesome that God loves me, we show ourselves to be ungrateful liars. We forget that it is Jesus who, through His life, His death, His resurrection, makes us right forever with God. We forget that it was His sacrifice that brings us back to God. We forget and we just live life as we want to. We sin without guilt. We breathe without praise on our lips. We walk without seeing where Christ has led us. We should not forget that it is God who has made us righteous, and we forsake Him.
Today, we should be like the returning leper. He knew it was God in Christ who made Him well, but it was also God in Christ who restored Him to the faith. So, too, does our Lord bring you to the faith. He makes you well. He makes you right. Nothing can you bring to Him. It is by His command, His permission, His will that you have been brought to Him. You cry out the cry of faith, have mercy, and He does. He has had mercy on you, to give you faith in the first place and to forgive all your sins, as He did Joseph this morning. And added to that, He makes you righteous again, bring you to Himself again, that you may fall at His feet, that you may hold Him, and when you do, He tells you as He did the leper to rise and go your way. Your faith, that gift given to you in your Baptism, nurtured through the Church, and strengthened by the Lord’s gifts of the sacraments, your faith in this very Jesus, the God of all creation, the God who loves you, the God who has mercy on you, has made you well. And so you are. You are well, you are righteous, you are in good standing with God once more through Christ, you are a foreigner no more but belong always to this God who has made you clean. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment