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Trinity Episcopal Church Hattiesburg, Mississippi Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 23) October 14, 2007 Go To Trinity's Home Page

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Psalm 66:1-12 2
Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, 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 made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “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?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19)

Stay Away From Those People…
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector

     Are you on the “inside” or the “outside?” In almost all areas of our daily lives, we interact with groups of people. In school, there are the kids in the in-crowd, and whether you are a member of that elite group or are excluded from it, you are affected by the dynamics of being on the inside or the outside. Your position in a large family can powerfully affect how connected you feel to your siblings and even your parents. Middle children may feel ignored and act out to receive attention. In your work place, there may be people who get noticed by the boss, and it may seem to you that the attention they get is undeserved. In short, it seems that there are always people in the lime light who seem to benefit disproportionately. Those in the “cute group” always seem to know what is going on, and receive the affirmation from the people that matter – teachers parents, and bosses. Sometimes the people on the outside feel abandoned. Sometimes they feel like lepers.

     Our Gospel lesson begins with Jesus entering a Samaritan village. “As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us’!” “Jesus, master have mercy on us.” Why would these lepers call to Jesus in this way?

     Historically, there is really no other human disease that carries the social stigma of leprosy. In the time of Moses, lepers were left outside the camp (see Num 12). In Biblical times, lepers were kept outside the city gates. In medieval Spain, lepers were considered legally dead, and their worldly possessions were confiscated and dispersed.[1] And even in the early part of the 20th Century in Norway, lepers were made to wear cowbells around their neck to warn others of their coming. Mohammed advised his followers to flee lepers as one would flee a lion. Because no really effective antibiotics were available to treat this disease until the 1940’s the only way of controlling the spread of infection was to isolate patients in leprosaria – a euphemism for “leper colony.” In fact, babies were separated from their infected mothers at birth to prevent infection of the child.

     To answer our question about why the lepers call to Jesus, we need to step back and look at how Luke frames this story. About 10 chapters ago, Luke described Jesus as setting his face toward Jerusalem. Jesus is on the road to his own death. Unlike the other Gospel writers, Luke has Jesus go directly through Samaria to get to Jerusalem. I think this is significant – especially in view of the fact that Luke’s companion work, the Book of Acts, has the mission of the Church include Samaria. Why is Samaria so important to Luke? Because there was, in Jesus time, great animosity between those who worshipped God at the Temple in Jerusalem and those who worshipped God in Samaria. Indeed, in the 9 th chapter of Luke, when Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” he sent his messengers before him (Lk 9:51). But when they entered a village of the Samaritans, the people would not receive them. Samaritan refusal of hospitality to the Jews is not surprising, because the Samaritans resented Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. There was intense rivalry between these peoples because the Samaritans felt they were the authentic bearers of Jewish tradition, whereas those in Jerusalem felt they were the rightful inheritors of the promise of Abraham.

     So why then did the ten lepers come to ask Jesus for mercy? Why did they think his mercy would be of any help to them?

     The lepers were outcasts in their own village. They were unclean, and were required to yell “Unclean, unclean!” as they went about their business (Lev 13:45). So when this traveler entered the village, they stayed a respectful distance from him, yet called out to him for mercy. They did not care that he was a Jew on his way to Jerusalem. All they knew was that he was not of that village, and therefore would be more likely to help them than their own neighbors. Lepers looked to strangers for help. And through Jesus, they found more than just mercy. They found themselves touched by God.

     Jesus said to them “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” According to Levitical law, people with certain disorders were to go to the priests for diagnosis, and the priests were to offer sacrifices to God on the behalf of the diseased. It was also the job of the priest to declare to the community when someone was cured. By telling the lepers to go to the priests, Jesus affirmed that they were cured, and that they needed to follow the legal custom of seeing the priest to welcome them back into the community. In other words, the lepers – all ten of them – were socially brought from the outside to the inside. They were healed of their disease.

     The story is made all the more poignant when Jesus says, “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?” This “foreigner.” If you think you hear echoes of prejudice here, I think you’re right. Jesus was a Jew, and it would have been impossible for him not to react to Samaritans and Gentiles with a certain level of prejudice. Although all ten should have realized that their healing had come from God through this man called Jesus, only the religious outsider – the Samaritan – recognized that fact. It was he, and he alone who “turned back, praising God with a loud voice” (Lk 17:18). We don’t know what the Samaritan might have said in praise, but it might have been something like the Psalm we just read. “Praise the name of the Lord. Let the Name of the Lord be blessed from this time for evermore.” The Samaritan praised God for the gift given to him by Jesus. The Samaritan responded to what he knew was an inbreaking of the reign of God.

     Let’s imagine what might have happened a few days later. It is time for the evening meal, and a mood of celebration is in the air. The nine men were pronounced clean by the priest, and in accordance with Levitical law, they washed themselves and their clothes (Lev 13:6) in the nearby river. You can almost hear the crackling of the wood fires, and the smell of roasting lamb, smothered in oil, garlic and rosemary. Can you hear the laughter of children as they run around their mothers and sisters, who are busy setting the long tables in the middle of the village. They place large plates of spiced and marinated olives on the tables. The aroma of new wine is in the air. The nine men are walking toward the table, slapping each others backs in joy as they are re-united with their families, and friends.

     At the edge of this celebration, almost out of the glow of the fires, is the small family of the tenth man. His wife and children have prepared a celebratory meal as well, but since they are Samaritans, they are not welcome in the larger Jewish crowd. Having washed his clothes too, the Samaritan father and husband walks to his table, quietly saying the words of the Psalm, “God takes up the weak out of the dust, and lifts up the poor from the ashes” (Ps 113:6). He glances at the larger more boisterous crowd of his Jewish neighbors, pauses for a moment, gazes at the ground, and gently shakes his head. He looks up toward his own small family waiting for him at the edge of the village, barely illuminated by the fire light. He smiles an enormous smile. He is truly grateful to God who restored him to wholeness of mind, body, and spirit. He has been brought from the outside to the inside.

     He knows he doesn’t have it all figured out. But he also knows with every sinew and fiber of his being that he has been blessed, and that by that blessing from that man called ‘Jesus’ he is somehow part of some larger whole; he knows he is truly one of God’s children. He knows that his fellow travelers on this earth – the other nine – are also God’s children. He knows he is now an insider to God’s creation. He laments that the wholeness that God wants for all of his creation just can’t quite manage to fully break in to this existence. “O that we could all be as blessed of God as I,” he utters. “Why do we continue to be jealous of each other, and why do we build fences between us rather than bridges? That man called Jesus didn’t care who any of us were when he healed us.” He begins to understand that it is human beings who must act to bring in the kingdom.

     We very much live today in a world of the insiders and the outsiders, don’t we? The Palestinians who were disposed from their lands feel that they are on the outside. Some of the Afghani people feel as outsiders in their own country. Many Muslims in U.S. towns and cities feel ostracized by their Christian neighbors. Racial profiling in this country has caused law enforcement personnel to stop and retain “Arabic looking people” at a greater frequency – especially during times of heightened security. Being on the outside causes fear, worry, and prejudice. Our lesson today shows us that the way to becoming an insider is to really see that this creation all around us is not ours to dominate. It is God’s creation, meant for all. By recognizing that there is something in life larger and more important than ourselves, we can begin to move toward the center – toward the all inclusive Kingdom of God.

     When the healed Samaritan finally reaches his own table, his children rush to him. As he hugs them, he realizes that this loving embrace is what he felt from this man called Jesus. He becomes aware that the peace that surpasses all understanding is filling his soul. He prays silently, with his children still in his embrace: “O God of Abraham, I met you the day you healed me; I saw your face and lived. Let me teach my children that God is what is important in this world. Let me teach my children and all of God’s children of Your blessings.”

     “Shalom, my children … shalom.”

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Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Psalm 66:1-12 Jubilate Deo

1 Be joyful in God, all you lands; *
sing the glory of his Name;
sing the glory of his praise.

2 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! *
because of your great strength your enemies cringe before you.

3 All the earth bows down before you, *
sings to you, sings out your Name."

4 Come now and see the works of God, *
how wonderful he is in his doing toward all people.

5 He turned the sea into dry land,
so that they went through the water on foot, *
and there we rejoiced in him.

6 In his might he rules for ever;
his eyes keep watch over the nations; *
let no rebel rise up against him.

7 Bless our God, you peoples; *
make the voice of his praise to be heard;

8 Who holds our souls in life, *
and will not allow our feet to slip.

9 For you, O God, have proved us; *
you have tried us just as silver is tried.

10 You brought us into the snare; *
you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.

11 You let enemies ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water; *
but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.

12 I will enter your house with burnt-offerings
and will pay you my vows, *
which I promised with my lips
and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.

2 Timothy 2:8-15

 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David--that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself. Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

Luke 17:11-19

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, 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 made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “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?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

The Collect of the Day

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[1] Reference material on leprosy is from Robert H. Gelber. “Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease)” IN Gerald L. Mandell, John E. Bennett, Raphael Dolin (Eds). Mandell, Douglas and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, 4 th Ed. ( New York: Churchill Livingstone) 2243-2250.

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Copyright © 2007, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
4 October 2007

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