Proper 23C                R Lundquist                           10/14/07

Ruth 1:1-19a      http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=59336925

Luke 17:11-19    http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=59336956

You’ve heard of good Samaritan – perhaps today’s Gospel can be thought of as the tale of the thankful Samaritan.  It’s a story of thankfulness…

Little Susie was a regular in Sunday School.  Her parents were quite proud of her.  But one ne day her mother wrote note to teacher:  “Dear Mrs Johnson, thank you for teaching Susie about thankfulness, and how to ask God’s blessing on the food we eat.  I do have a request:  please explain to Susie that it is not necessary to say grace every time her father opens the fridge for a beer…”  Susie understood thankfulness – giving thanks for all things.

Giving thanks for all things…

Of course Jesus was all about healing.  There are 41 distinct stories of Jesus’ healings in the Gospels.  In today’s Gospel, 10 lepers approach Jesus.  “Master, have mercy on us,” they cry.  Scholars tell us that what is called leprosy in scripture is not Hansen’s disease, the disfiguring disease we know today.  Leprosy covered a  host of skin ailments in those times, including such ailments as ringworm and psoriasis.  What was most terrible is that the “diagnosis” of leprosy caused isolation, ritual impurity.  The leper was a social outcast (see Leviticus 13 and Numbers 5).  The 10 were not healed so much as made clean.  “Have mercy – restore us to community,” is what they were really asking of Jesus.  To be cleansed, cured, made well and restored…

Here’s a significant point that is easy to overlook -- when Jesus saw them… (because people didn’t look at lepers) he told them “go show yourselves to the priests” – and on the way they were healed.  Jesus meets and cleanses them as they are, not as they ought to be.  Just by acknowledging them Jesus affirms them – and they were made clean in transit.  Gradually.  There was no bright flash, smoke or thunder.  They were simply made clean. And it was the priests who declared a leper healed and thus restored to community.

Out of the ten, one returned.  Perhaps that was because he was still an outcast as a Samaritan?  His return & acknowledgement of his cleansing takes the story to a new level – Jesus says “your faith has saved you.”  (Last Sunday we heard Jesus talk about faith the size of a mustard seed…)  “The faith you already have within has healed you” seems to be the message…  Up to this point in Luke, Jesus has only said “your faith has made you whole” to two other persons – and both of them outcasts.  There something about being on the outside that calls forth faith, faith that Jesus can see, faith that makes one whole…

Why did the nine neglect to return thanks?  There are a lot of theories:

1)                   They thought healing was a mere coincidence.  They didn’t make the God connection.  How many people do you know who chalk up to a “happy coincidence” a blessing or gift from God?  For all of us who exclaim “All good gifts come from you, O God!” the idea of coincidence seems odd.

2)                   They were ashamed – ashamed they weren’t self-sufficient, couldn’t do it on their own.  Especially in our own time, in which the Self-Help aisles of the bookstore a growing, we seem ashamed to not be able to do-it-ourselves.  Accepting Jesus’ healing mercy may be deeply embarrassing.

3)                   They were only doing what Jesus told them – go and see the priests.  Like Forrest Gump, running out of the stadium, not stopping w/ the touchdown…  They kept on going, even after recognizing the cleansing, not thinking to stop, turn, and give thanks to God.

We don’t always realize, after the miracle that brings us into and restores us to relationships, is that we need to give thanks.  Not that you owe God thanks, or that God demands gratitude, but there is something within you that needs to acknowledge God’s mercy and grace in order that you be made whole.  Only the Samaritan was made complete.

In the weeks ahead I will ask you to reflect deeply on God’s grace & mercy in your life.  How will you return with thanks?  A most significant way is to give financially to God’s work in the world.  This is your witness, your thanks, to God in Christ.  Since the time of Moses, the people of God have given the 1^st fruits, the tithe, in thanksgiving.  Whether it was the first lamb of the flock, the first fruit from the orchard, the first wine from the press – it went for 2 things:  feeding the poor, widowed, orphan, traveler; and a community celebration, a party, in which all rejoiced equally.  The people considered this giving not a duty, but a privilege.  It was the opportunity to join with God in celebrating all good gifts.

Your deciding upon a proportion to give, be it 4%, 7%, 10%, 12% of your income in advance, makes an important statement – to you.  It says:  God comes first.  The faith to return and give thanks completes you.

Completed in giving – I heard a story from the point of view of a young man who volunteered to work with a clothing bank, to fulfill the community service requirement of his school.  One snowy afternoon business was heavy.  There was a line up the stairs from the church basement.  A gentleman came in, saying “I’ve got a trunkload of clothes to donate…”  The young volunteer replied, “I’m pretty busy, I can’t help you right now.”  “No problem,” the man said. And he began bringing armload after armload of donations down the stairs, stacking them off to the side.  Meanwhile, an obviously homeless man reached the help counter.  “Do you have any shoes?  Size 9 ½,” he asked.  “I’m sorry,” said the young volunteer, “we don’t have any men’s shoes any more.”  “But what am I to do?” replied the man.  The volunteer looked down to see an old pair of dress shoes, cracked leather, soles held on with twine, caked with snow.  “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you what I don’t have,” said the young man.  Just then the man bringing donations spoke:  “Excuse me, but I think I saw some shoes in the back room.  9 ½, right?”  He disappeared for a moment, and came back with a pair of almost new sports shoes.  “These must have just come in.”  The man needing shoes brightened up – with fresh socks and his new shoes headed out into the snowy afternoon with a smile on his face.  Later the young volunteer noticed the man with the donations heading out – “Thanks, see you later.”  On his feet were those old cracked shoes, gift-wrapped in twine…

Here was someone who was completed in giving.  Like Samaritan, a new reality was shaping his world.

In the silence of scripture, I have a theory.  When Jesus said to the Samaritan, “Get up and go,” I think he stayed – he fell in right behind the disciples & went with Jesus.  He didn’t hesitate.  When he returned to give thanks, Christ’s way became his way.  The grateful Samaritan’s faith had made him well.

Amen.