Dr. Arthur G. Ferry, Jr., Pastor
Luke 17:11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14 When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19 Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
- The story is easily summarized.
- Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem goes into a village near the Samarian border.
- Ten lepers see Jesus and company so they come a little closer and yell, "Jesus, master, have mercy on us!"
- Jesus says, "Go see the priests."
- And they are healed on the way.
- One comes back, a Samaritan, in thankful presence, and Jesus says, "Where are the other nine?"
- "Were not ten healed?"
- O yes...
- It's a great story for us to hear just before Thanksgiving, isn't it?
- Simple little message, right?
- Go to Jesus, Get healed, Give thanks, and go party.
- Just remember that when you're eating that Big old bird on Thursday.
- There were aspects of the passage that keep us from oversimplifiing the story:
- The story seems split, really 2 tales that seem to be woven together.
- We may wonder when did the story get this final form.
- The first piece is a healing story that would stand alone fine if it weren't for the concluding bit about one of the lepers coming back for more.
- So instead of a simple healing story, it ends with a pronouncement.
- There is a little problem with the geography.
- If Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem then he shouldn't be coming from Samaria to Galilee.
- Luke is the only gospel with this story
.
- Had other stories that surely were left out. (John 21:25 "other things", "world could not hold the books")
- Why did Luke include this story?
- If we believe that God speaks to us thru scripture,
- if we believe that folks produced the canon inspired by and directed by the Holy Spirit,
- then we must ask this question.
- What message is God speaking to us thru this story?
- Luke is the only gospel that has it.
- And so why did Luke put the story in his gospel.
- I want to address this question by looking at some assumptions we often make about the text.
- Nothing hinders our hearing of a text more than the assumptions we make.
1. We assume that the lepers were asking for healing.
- I wonder, were they asking for healing?
- The 10 yell out, "Jesus, Master..."
- Interesting, only in Luke is Jesus called epistata, Master,
- and only here by someone other than the Disciples.
- They cry out, "Have mercy on us." eleeson = pity,
- but does it imply a request for healing?
- The common custom was that lepers would keep a distance from busy intersections and ask for alms, gifts of charity.
- Why did Luke include this story?
- Perhaps Luke wanted to show the power and wisdom of the Christ, to bring even more than charity.
- Perhaps we too have been approached by someone asking for money and gave them just what they asked for,
- but not what they needed.
- They pleaded for mercy, for coins freely given,
- and instead they were given catharsis, cleansing, healing, indeed salvation.
- Could it be that they got not what they asked for but what they needed?
- Jesus fed not their appetite, rather what they hungered for.
2. We assume that the other nine were Jews.
- It doesn't say.
- The story makes a point that only one returned to give thanks, and he was a Samaritan.
- One of these half-Israelite people who mixed Jehovah worship with Pagan ritual of the Assyrians.
- They could have all been Samaritans.
- We don't know.
- Maybe one was a Roman.
- It's possible a Roman resident might have gotten a disease
- and been forced by local customs to live in the leprous community.
- Maybe one was a tourist from Indiana,
- got separated from their tour bus somewhere after Jericho
- before he got baptized in the Jordan for $10,
- and just fell in with the wrong crowd.
- We do know that they were all men,
- and probably, probably they were a mix of Jews and Samaritans
- living together in a leprous community.
- Of course Jews and Samaritans normally would not live together,
- but the common affliction of these people caused them to cast aside their conflict.
- That's a sermon in itself, don't ya think?
- Here is a story of Jews and non-Jews alike, coming together before the Master, and they all are cleansed.
- But the story isn't really about 10 people with leprousy, rather it is about one.
- Most English translations fail in naming this section something like, "Healing of Ten Lepers."
- The tale does not climax with the healing of the 10,
- rather with the word given to the one who came back, this Samaritan.
- The text says that all of them were cleansed on their way to the priest,
- but their healing is trivialized by the ending of the story.
- The Samaritan who returns is told in the end, "Your faith has saved you."
- This is not catharsis; it is more.
- Some translations say "Your faith has made you well."
- Humph, they fail to recognize the distinction being made here.
- The story is disputable.
- Jesus asks 3 questions that hit the nail on the head.
1) Were not all 10 made clean?
2) But the other 9, where are they?
3) Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?
- And this one who returned to give praise received more than healing;
- he received salvation.
- But why?
- It is crucial not to miss the point again here with another assumption.
3. We assume that the ones who didn't return were not thankful.
- We have no reason to think so.
- Here's the clencher.
- If they all were thankful,
- then why was only one so blessed?
- The others did what they were told to do. (leper to priest, Mat 8, Mark 1)
- Come now, surely they were thankful.
- This assumption leads some commentators to even claim that the 9 did not see that they were cleansed.
- Now figure that one for me.
- "Da, de, dee... Hey Billy, your leprousy is gone."
- "Well, broil me in butter and call me a flounder."
- Not likely.
- Perhaps they were thankful,
- but if they were, they had the same understanding we have today.
- The same understanding when we gather around the table this Thursday,
- and someone in the family recites a prayer, "we give thanks for..."
- A sort of cognitive recognition of appreciation.
- It is more than checking a blessings "balance sheet"
- and concluding that the good in life outweighs the bad.
- True thanksgiving is an emotion, something that makes us laugh, or sigh, or skip, or cry.
Like:
- Joy, when completing the last final exam.
- Fear, when walking a dark alley on the way back from your evening walk.
- Anger, when you overhear someone at the next table use the phrase, "If he was any dumber, he would be black."
- Thansgiving is an emotion, and emotions demand action.
- When you are surprised by joy, you might cry.
- When afraid, you might run like you've never ran before.
- When you get angry sometimes you just want to strike.
- The one leper responded,
- not with the prayer that was printed in his bulletin
- but by raising his voice, "Alleluia, salvation and glory, honor and power unto the Lord our God."
- The 9 didn't really do anything wrong,
- after all they went on to the priests like they were told.
- No, they didn't do anything wrong,
- they just didn't do enough things right.
- They were not present before Jesus giving thanks and praising God.
- It seems like such a silly difference,
- that only one who made himself present before Jesus receive the final pronouncement of salvation.
- Why did Luke include this story in the gospel.
- You wanna know what I think?
- I think Luke had people in his church who had become satisfied-
- satisfied with a faith that went no where.
- Satisfied with a thankfulness that urged no response,
- threw no one to the ground.
- Perhaps some had begun to think that their belief in the miracle stories was enough.
- I think Luke took this healing story and transformed it into a pronouncement to say,
- "No, it's not enough."
- It is not enough to believe in the magic of the healing stories.
- Rather, we must respond out of a faith that is synonymous with Thanksgiving.
- "So," you might ask,
- "how do we do that?"
- We must give glory to God, and fall down at the feet of Jesus in giving thanks.
- Because it does matter.
- It matters what action we take, where we go, how we offer our thankful presence.
- Do not,
- do not,
- do not underestimate the power of presence.
- Seek out and return then to the very presence of Christ in your life,
- in your church,
- in your spirituality,
- in your daily walk.
- Praising God with a loud voice, prostrate yourself at Jesus' feet and give thanks.
- Were not ten healed?
- O yes...
