Luke
17:11-19
Ten lepers cry out to Jesus to have mercy
on them and Jesus heals all ten. But only one returns to give thanks. Hopefully
it's a familiar story to many. It certainly is to me. And yet I'm struck at how
different it sits with me in the year 2022 versus three years ago when we last
read it in church together - and I last preached on it. Because back in 2019
what caught my attention and what I ended up talking about was gratitude. How
it does us well on so many levels to regularly practice being thankful to God.
And that’s still true. But the last three years of life has added several
layers to experiencing this story. Because we all now know firsthand what it's
like to be afraid of an unknown illness. Some kind of virus that we aren't
exactly sure how it is transmitted. We now know what it's like to look at other
people, strangers and friends alike, and wonder if they are dangerous in some
unforeseen way - that they might infect us or those we love or even be carrying
something that could impact an entire community. And because we know all that,
we also know what it’s like to live in isolation. The toll it takes on our
lives and wellbeing. Life especially during the worst of Covid-19 was hard on
everyone.
It was in May of this year when I tested
positive for Covid. Thankfully my symptoms were very mild, but it meant that
for ten days I completely isolated myself from others. Now for some that may
sound like a vacation, but for me, an extrovert, it was torture. And during
those long ten days I thought about lepers of Jesus’ time. Forced by law to
live away from their community and to call out, “Unclean! Unclean!” to anyone
who came near - not just for ten days, but sometimes for their entire lives.
Their loneliness, their isolation, the flatness of their lives must have been
excruciating. Likely worse than anything that actually ailed them because back
then leprosy was a catch-all term for a host of skin issues - psoriasis, eczema, athlete's foot, or any
other minor skin disease, all the way up to and including actual leprosy. So
when we hear that there were ten lepers, we don’t really know what they
actually had or how contagious they really were - and neither did the people of
their time. But because of that unknowing and the fear around it, what we do
know is that all who were deemed leprous were cast out of their homes and
considered unclean.
Now the priests were the keepers of
cleanliness in all realms of Jewish life which included but was not limited to
physical health. We could think of them as the ancient equivalent to the
Centers for Disease Control. If someone back then was lucky enough to recover
from some sort of leprosy, the priests were the ones to certify that recovery,
and only then with that certification could a person reenter their community.
It was a system intended not to victimize, but simply to prevent the spread of
disease. However, it came at great cost to the sick.
So here in our reading from Luke’s gospel
we have ten lepers. Likely they banded together in order to create their own
mini community. And as Jesus comes near one day they stand at a dutiful
distance crying out of the pain of their disease and the depths of their
isolation, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And Jesus does. He tells them to
go and show themselves to the priests. And as they go they are made clean. In
that moment of healing what they receive is really two gifts. They are
physically cured, but likely even more wonderful than that is that they are
given back their lives. What overwhelming joy they all must have felt. They
could go home. They could hug their family and friends and be hugged. They
could be a part of all the normal, everyday things again. All the everyday
things that likely they had taken for granted - just as we took for granted
what was normal and every day before the pandemic.
Ten were cured but only one paused in the
midst of their joy to return to Jesus with thanks. And in doing so, Jesus says,
your faith has made you well - well in the fullest sense of the word. And
likewise we become more well, more whole, more complete when we pause to
recognize all the ways that God has blessed us with life, with love, with each
other. It is a gift that we can gather here again in this sacred space. That we
can touch and hug each other, if we so choose. That we can be fed with bread
and wine, the body and blood of Christ. There is so much to rejoice in. Living
a life of faith with gratitude to God in community with God’s people does make
us well.
But that is not the only message
contained in this story. Because what might feel like the kicker actually
doesn’t come until the end. And that is that this band of ten lepers are not
all equal. One, we eventually learn, is a Samaritan. An outcast of outcasts.
Despised and shunned by Jews - leper or not. Yet Jesus makes no distinction
between those in need. Everyone in the group who asks for help receives
assistance. Only after the cure is granted are more details revealed.
In addition to the Samaritan - status of
one, another detail is where Jesus encounters these ten lepers. The gospel
specifically tells us that they are existing in a region between Samaria and
Galilee. It’s a border place - which makes me think about our own borders where
countless people exist crying out for mercy and help. It seems to me that they
are a type of modern-day lepers and outcasts. For various reasons we want to
keep our distance from them or for them to keep theirs from us so that we might
feel more safe and secure. Yet as we seek to follow Jesus and love our
neighbors, surely I’m not the only one who struggles with how we are to respond
to such people - God’s beloved people - who are flowing to our borders
desperately seeking some form of relief. Now some would say that they ought to
be turned away and forced to return to their homelands. However, in looking at
Jesus's response to those who are in need when he was at the border perhaps we
should follow his example: help first, deal with the details second.
As faithful followers of Christ we must
ask ourselves how we can show compassion to the outcast foreigners and offer
relief from the disease of tyranny. As the hands and feet of Jesus in this land
there must be a response that includes the same manner of kindness extended to
the lepers. While the decision of what ultimately happens to asylum-seekers and
others is made by public officials, God implores his followers to, at the very
least, care for our neighbor while they are here. For the love of Jesus makes
no distinction of nationality or clan as he seeks to provide comfort and mercy
to a hurting world. As Jesus cares for all his people – the lepers, the
outcasts, and the foreigners – so should we. And as we do, it is then that our
faith will make not just some of us, or most of us, but all of us truly well.
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