October 13, 2019

 Luke 17:11-19                    2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c          2 Timothy 2:8-15

                A disease, a recognition, a request, a profound act of healing, a recognition, a faithful response, a relationship, new life.  Today’s reading, although short, covers a lot of ground. 

                Lepers were banished from the community, to keep the disease from spreading.  Leprosy was a blanket diagnosis for several skin diseases that weren’t very well understood.  Some were quite serious and others were less so.  Things like psoriasis might be diagnosed as leprosy.  Some of the diseases lumped together would have been contagious and others not so much. People feared the spread of these diseases. It was harsh, but considered necessary for the greater good.  Lepers couldn’t see their families except at a great distance.  They couldn’t go to the temple to pray.  They were cut off from everyone and from everything.  They were cut off from God.  They were unclean.

                At the moment Jesus meets them, he, too is considered unclean, because of where he’s been traveling.  He’s been in the region between Samaria and Galilee.  Just because of where he’s been, he’s also unclean and in order to join the community in prayer and to be right before God, he’d have to present himself to the priest and burn a sacrifice. 

The lepers, although far from Jesus, recognize him.  Maybe they were looking for him.  They had certainly heard of him and all that he was capable of.  They wanted what he could give them—healing, restoration to their families and their communities, restoration of their relationship with God, and all that that meant—food, shelter, celebrations, meaningful employment, bodies that cooperated, an absence of pain. 

                A request: The lepers plead to Jesus for mercy, another word for compassion.  “Jesus, show us compassion.  Feel what we feel.  Help us with your powers.” 

                Jesus responds, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  This implies that they are or will be free of leprosy, otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed to show themselves to the priests.  At that time priests had a checklist to go over with someone who had leprosy to ensure they were cured and could go back to community.  I’m glad that isn’t in my job description.

                The one leper saw that he was healed.  There were 10 lepers.  Who knows what the other 9 saw.  Maybe their seeing was clouded by the expectation of the next step—being pronounced clean, or maybe they were distracted by their hopes of seeing their families again.  The one leper had open eyes.  He saw something the others didn’t see.  Did he see surface healing, of his skin?  Or did he see a deeper healing that was going on inside him?

                9 lepers did exactly what they were told.  That’s a faithful response.  This 10^th leper, turned back.  Was he disobedient?  Well it turns out he was a foreigner, he wasn’t welcome in the temple.  He couldn’t follow Jesus’ command to show himself to the priest.  So he had nowhere to go.  Except to the one who had given him the gift he had been praying for.  So he turns to the one we call our Great High Priest, Jesus and draws near to him—this is someone who had not approached a healthy person in who knows how many years.  This leper praised God, thanked God for the healing, and prostrated himself, bowed down at Jesus’ feet.  He thanked him.  This reminds me the passage in the Gospel of John when some of the disciples quit following Jesus because he directs them to eat his flesh and drink his blood.  Jesus asks those who remain if they also want to leave and they say to Jesus, “Lord to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  Who else is there that can give us what we need or teach us what we need to know? 

                So now back the healing story, two strangers have a relationship.  Jesus has brought this former leper healing and he comes near to Jesus and speaks to him.  Jesus has freed him from his ailment.  He has heard Jesus’ voice and Jesus has heard his.  They share a moment that neither of them will ever forget.  The other 9, although they are healed, missed out on something.  They missed out on expressing their gratitude, which can be a very healing and life-giving thing. 

                Finally, Jesus instructs this man to get up and go live his life.  He compliments him on his faith and names that it has led him to a deeper level of healing.  Now he is well, because of his faith that has led him to express his gratitude.  He has abundant new life to live in gratitude for this gift that God has given him.  I’d love to know the next part of the story.  What does he do with this new gift?  What story does he tell about his recovery?  How does his community welcome him or not? 

                We, too, are in need of healing.  Some of our ailments are skin deep, abrasions, sores, rashes.  Not so polite to talk about in church.  Some of our ailments are deeper, blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease.  And some go even deeper: fear, depression, anger.  Not so easy to talk about in church.  Maybe we call to Jesus from far away, afraid to approach him, to bother him, to expect much from him.

                Jesus hears our cries and has compassion.  Jesus feels our pain.  Jesus knows what we are going through.  He literally has compassion, he feels with us.  We are not alone.  Sometimes that is enough.

                Sometimes we are healed of our disease.  We may or may not give thanks.  We might take it for granted or feel that we deserved healing.  We might take credit for it.  We might feel entitled to it. 

                Sometimes the healing we experience is different than we thought it would be.  Sometimes our bodies are not healed, but we find strength and we connect with others going through something similar.  Sometimes our ailments make us aware of the parts of our life that are more healthy and we give thanks for those.  Sometimes our ailments make us aware of how short life really is, and so we get moving on some of those things that we wanted to make sure we accomplished in life.  Sometimes our diseases help put things in perspective, and help us put aside old hurts that we find don’t matter anymore.  There are lots of kinds of healing, and lots of levels of healing.

                And sometimes we give thanks.  Sometimes we are so startled by the healing and wholeness and relationship that Jesus offers, that our eyes are suddenly open and we see what it means to be in relationship with him, the new life available to us every second, the restoration, the gift of every person and meal and moment and breath.  Sometimes, in those moments, we see everyone around us with new eyes of grace, seeing the best in them, appreciating all they’ve done for us.  Sometimes, in those moments, we see every leaf, every blade of grass, every caterpillar for the miracle it is. 

Often it is when we have nowhere to turn.  When we don’t belong and have nothing else to rely on, that is when Jesus comes into sharp focus for us, and we go and throw ourselves at his feet and pour out the gratitude that is overflowing.  And that gratitude is a sign of the very deepest of healing—that our spirit is aligned with God, that we recognize where all good things come from, that all of life is a gift, that we are not alone when we suffer, that God has a vision for the healing of all creation in which we won’t have designations like Samaritan and Jew or our equivalent foreigner and citizen, that we won’t have a separation between those that are clean and unclean, blessed and cursed, deserving or undeserving, that we will look below the skin level to see actual people with feelings and stories and gifts, that God will form us into a community of health and wholeness and compassion and gratitude.

                Isn’t life this kind of dance?  We have our hurts and are far away, we cry out for help, we are drawn into relationship, we experience healing in one of its many forms, maybe about 90% of the time we take it for granted, but 10% of the time we get it and we see more clearly and we experience deeper healing, worship God, and give thanks.  And God sends us out to live in abundant life.  We find ourselves far away, we are drawn back into relationship, we are empowered and healed, and we go back out to live abundantly.

                We can cultivate gratitude.  You already do when you invite people to share their blessings at the beginning of the service.  We start the worship time focused on all that God has done for us and giving thanks to God.  How would it be if we started every day that way?  We could put note on our bathroom mirrors—“Give thanks” or “gratefulness.”  We could have a time for sharing around the dinner tables what we are grateful for.  We can spend time in service to others, because it puts everything else in perspective when we meet people who are struggling and make efforts to ease their pain how much we have to give thanks for.  When we are grateful, it puts God at the center as the giver of new life and mercy and grace, instead of putting ourselves at the center always failing and falling short.

                The good news is that God is healing us, whether we are grateful or not, or fight it like Naaman did.  God’s grace and healing can be hard to accept because it means a reorientation, it means accepting help, accepting that we can’t do it all ourselves.  However God knows exactly what we need is a reorientation away from our diseases and pains and complaints and the illusion of self-sufficiency, and back to the one who gives life.  Let us live in abundant life and express our gratitude because we have new life through our Savior Jesus Christ.