The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Trinity Church
Towson, MD
Year C - Proper 23 - October 13, 2013
I hate to say it… It
is sometimes too easy for us to forget God… Have you ever noticed that when good
things happen, God is rarely – if ever – given any credit? At the same time, if
something bad happens, God is the first to be blamed… Even the folks that say
they don’t believe in God, give God all the blame for everything bad that
happens to them… I have heard folks blame God for everything from the Earthquakes
in San Francisco to the World Trade Towers to Hurricane Katrina and most
recently to the Boston Bombings…
We live in a materialistic, individualistic, narcissistic
society. We think it’s all about us and
our stuff, but we often forget the ONE whom we owe everything… all that we have
– all that we are. The God in whom we
live and move and have our being…
In our Gospel story this morning, death and the cross are
still before Jesus as he continues on his way to Jerusalem. We learn today that Jesus has made it to a
place between Samaria and Galilee, where he happens upon 10 men sitting on the
outskirts of town. They were on the outskirts of town because they had
leprosy.
People were scared to death of leprosy in those days. Governments
even regulated how close they could get to other individuals. They were
required to yell out, “unclean, unclean” if someone approached. These 10 guys knew the rules, so they kept
their distance… But they didn’t call out unclean, unclean… They recognized
Jesus and his caravan. So they called out…
“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
Jesus’ reputation preceded him… The men with leprosy knew of
him and called out to him by name. They even referred to him as “master”… “Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us!” They were not asking to be healed… they were more than likely seeking pity from
him in the form of alms because they were forced to beg for a living because of
their condition.
Jesus has compassion for them and Jesus has mercy on them,
but the story doesn’t say that Jesus gave them any alms… The scripture does say
that Jesus told them to present themselves to the priest… See, we forget
sometimes that Jesus is a good Jew and he follows the law of Moses… Some of us
may remember that it says in Leviticus that only a priest can certify that the
person is no longer contaminated with the disease of Leprosy.
The miracle that follows is hard to understand because so
much is left up to our imagination. We can imagine that the Lepers were
obedient and did exactly what Jesus asked them to do. They started out on their
own journey south to see the priest… They didn’t ask Jesus what the expected
consequences or even the outcome would be…
but they were obedient, none the less.
We can picture them possibly talking to each other along the
way… What would they do when they got to the priest? Then, on the way, they start
to feel themselves change! They became aware of changes in their skin, and
perhaps felt their ugly rash disappearing. When they turned and looked at each
other, they could not believe their eyes. One of them feels the gratitude bubbling
up inside of him….
The former leper immediately turns around and runs back… He
knows that what is happening to him is good, and he knows that the source of
that goodness is not ahead of him in Jerusalem, but it was behind him with the
one who responded to his cry for mercy… So He runs!
The 9 Jews probably don’t even realize that the Samaritan is
no longer with them. They have been restored to their own health and restored
to Jewish society, they would have been just as glad to see him gone. The
Samaritan runs back and throws himself at the feet of Jesus, laying prostrate –
a position of complete submission praising God and thanking Jesus…
So what do we learn from this story?
Some folks have suggested that it is a story about how right
it is to “give thanks.” To borrow words from the prayer book “While it is meet
and right and our bound and duty – that we at all times and in all places give
thanks” to our God, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth… I don’t think that the fact that the
Samaritan was “thankful” was the actual point of the story.
This story for us today is a deep look into the restorative
power of God… Of how God restores the faithful, and delivers and heals those
who are obedient to his will. God is always eager to re-new creation… and it is
only God who brings order and wholeness out of our chaos and destruction… Out of all that WE have contaminated or
deteriorated, God is able to heal and bring new life In ways that we don’t
expect or by means we couldn’t even imagine.
Jesus heals 10 lepers – and only one returns… It is not a
Jewish man that returns – the scripture plainly tells us that this man was a
Samaritan, a stranger, a foreigner. And Jesus tells him that by his faith he has
been made well…
When the restorative power of God touches our lives, this
story reminds us not to make light of the graces and healing that we have
received… We should never take God’s blessings for granted. In response to the
restorative power of God, the Samaritan overflows with gratitude… Like the
Samaritan – we feel grateful to God for the many things that God does for us,
has done for us and continues to do for us… This fills us with the need to
praise God by our thoughts, words, and our actions…
When we cry out for mercy, God through Our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ always hears us and responds to our cry… The choice of how to
respond is left up to us… What we do with the many blessings that God has
provided is ultimately our choice and our responsibility… We can choose to let
God in… let God in to restore us and
heal us and then give thanks where thankfulness is du; like the thankful
Samaritan who was restored to health and given a new lease on life… Or like so
many in our society do we can choose to continue along on our own way and
ignore God and forget that God had anything to do with it.
The choice is ours, and we should all choose very wisely… Our
ability to flourish in faith depends on it.
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