Grateful Luke 17:11-19 & Sunday Oct

Transcription

1 There are two kinds of stories in the biographies of Jesus, the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There are the stories that Jesus tells - the parables. Usually told to help his audience understand something about God. Jesus was an absolute master of using everyday things to explain concepts of eternity - forgiveness, generosity, prayer, love, the Kingdom of God. Then there are the stories of Jesus ministry. Stories reported in the gospels of things that Jesus said and did. Many of them are miracle stories, because Jesus had a way of making miracles happen. Today we re looking at the story of the ten lepers, which is a miracle story, a story of Jesus ministry. But it s also a parable in its own right. Because it has something to teach us about gratitude, about being grateful. Luke writes, 11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us! The first thing I want you to notice, is that these men recognized Jesus as Master, as one who could help them. Often, we paint the lepers - the other nine at least - as ungrateful, unfaithful losers. But at this point in the story, they are simply the afflicted, the outcasts, those in need, calling out to Jesus. At this point in the story they have enough faith to recognize him and to call out to him. It was usual for lepers in those days to congregate together. They were already sick - they couldn t make each other MORE sick, and they were not welcome in anyone else s presence. They simply were not wanted in regular society. 1

2 Yes, because of their illness, but also because illness in those days was understood as judgment from God. When illness or deformity or blindness befell you, it was because you - or perhaps your parents - had done something terrible and God had judged you. It seems strange and ignorant to us today, but at this time little to nothing was known about pathology. The causes of disease were simply unknown. And therefore they were chalked up to God - anything that wasn t understood, that was mysterious, that defied simple explanation, was chalked up to God. So first, let s recognize that simply by calling out to Jesus, these men are showing their faith. These men are taking a chance. Everything in their experience up to this point would tell them to expect to be blamed and ostracized by this traveling rabbi, as they have been by literally everyone else. And yet, they took the chance. Luke writes, 14 When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. This is a little surprising. As I said, these men were outcast. They were not welcome. They were unclean - which is a big, big deal in Jesus day. Because they were unclean, they were not welcome in the temple, they were not permitted entrance to the worship space of their day, they were not allowed to be in the presence of those who ARE clean - the priests and the other worshipers. So when Jesus gives this command, he is challenging them. 2

3 He is asking them to trust him, he is asking them to obey him, he is asking them to take another chance. And all ten of them were obedient. All ten of them rose to the challenge, all ten of them chose to trust Jesus. As I said, we read this story and often we immediately cast nine of the men as ungrateful, horrible, careless. That s because our brains are pre-disposed to sort things into categories, and to cast those categories in opposition of each other. We want to see things as black and white. But I am more convinced of the beauty of shades of grey, the older I get. I am more convinced that real life is all about the shades of grey. People are not just one thing or the other. People are complex and complicated. People are many things at once. These lepers are human, and full of contradictions. On the one hand, they call out to Jesus, they heed his instructions, they do as he says. And yet, Luke writes: 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan. Only one came back to express his gratefulness. I suspect that all ten were grateful. I suspect that all ten were amazed. I suspect that life changed drastically and immediately for all ten. But only one came back. Only one sought Jesus out to say thank you. Only one went out of his way. And he - Luke tells us - was a Samaritan. This, too, is significant because in Jesus day, 3

4 the Jewish people didn t want to have anything to do with a Samaritan. The Samaritans had their own version of the Torah, they believed that the temple wasn t central to worship, they believed that they had it right when it came to religion, and that the rest of the people of Israel had it wrong. A contemporary example might be Jehovah s Witness today. We claim some of the same roots, we recognize the same scriptures, and yet there is this divide between the mainline church and the Jehovah s Witnesses. The difference being that we live in a very live and let live society, where freedom of religion is a deeply held value, whereas in Jesus day there was outright and obvious enmity towards the Samaritans. So it is only the unlikely one who comes back to give thanks, to show his gratefulness, to offer his praise. I wonder if it was because he was doubly aware of being an outcast. Having been an outcast before he had leprosy. Luke writes, 17 Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? We hear these words, often as an accusation against the other nine. But I wonder if Jesus just missed them - if he just wanted to see them restored and whole and able. This is the same Jesus who tells us that he came so that we might have life, and have it to the full. These men were given their lives back, and I just wonder if Jesus wanted to see it. Sometimes I think God hopes for our gratitude not because it is something he needs, not because we owe it to Him, but because he just wants to celebrate with us. He just wants to share in our smile and our joy and our wholeness. God doesn t need anything from us - but God does love us, 4

5 and as such, it just makes sense that he would want to participate in our celebrations. (FIRST SLIDE) You ve probably heard this saying - this question - What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today? It s a great question to ask yourself - to get in the practice of asking yourself daily. It s one of those gut-check questions that can help you figure out how to change how you live. Because there is just so very much we take for granted in our context. We live in a rich, beautiful, peaceful, prosperous land. The worst off among us has more than much of the rest of the world. It s easy, in a context like ours, to forget how much we ve been given, how much we have to give thanks FOR. (SECOND SLIDE) 5

6 I read this story as I was preparing for today: Matthew Henry, the famous 17th Century Bible commentator, was robbed of his wallet once. He wrote in his diary that night all the things he was thankful about: First, that he had never been robbed before. Second, that though they took his wallet, they did not take his life. Third, because even though they took it all, it wasn t very much. Finally, because he was the one who was robbed and not the one who did the robbing. You see, none of us is owed anything. We aren t owed the kind of safety we take for granted living in Etobicoke in We aren t owed our possessions: a place to live, a car to drive, good clean clothes, the technological gadgets we have - even if all you have is a TV or a radio. We aren t owed our next meal. We aren t even owed our next breath. Everything. Absolutely everything is a gift from God. Many of us either have or will - later today or tomorrow - gather around a Thanksgiving table laden with food. We are not owed that abundance, we are not owed the variety we will enjoy, we are not owed the celebration that we will get to have. Every bite we take, every smile we share is a gift from God. Let s return praising God in a loud voice, giving thanks for all the gifts he has bestowed. Let us pray. 6