The story of the ten lepers is so much more than a lesson in gratitude. Yes, the story sets itself up around ten lepers who encounter Jesus and are miraculously cleansed of their leprosy. They run off to the Temple to show themselves to the priests and celebrate the good news! But one of them returns to Jesus and gives thanks. And we are left with the question about why only one of the ten came back to thank the Lord.
So we could build this sermon around the cynical idea that there are many more ungrateful people out there than grateful people! After all, we have ALL received gifts from God – the blessings of life – but so very few seem to be truly thankful! Most run off to live their lives, ignoring God, while just a small percentage of people return to thank and serve God.
Well, this would make a terrific Stewardship sermon because it has all the necessary ingredients – the generosity of God to people, the cheapness of people toward God, and the big SIGN-YOUR-PLEDGE-CARD-NOW question – “Are you like the nine ungrateful former lepers, or are you like the one who returned to thank God?” Make your check payable to old First Church, thank you very much!
Honestly, I think this IS a passage fitting for a Stewardship sermon, but not a guilt-laden message like that.
First of all, Stewardship is not about money, it is about ministry. Because ministry costs money, Stewardship campaigns ask people to give money, and to give generously. But sometimes where we fall down in Stewardship campaigns is at the place of not explaining WHAT we are giving to – besides utility bills and institutional support.
What is the purpose? What is the goal? What is the mission we are being asked to give our time, talent and treasure to?
In other words, what’s the point of giving – other than supporting a religious organization?
The simple answer is that we are being asked to give to Jesus’ ministry in the world through our church. And this little story in Luke 17 powerfully describes what this ministry looks like.
I wonder if you can pull your attention away from the WHAT of this story to the WHO of this story.
There is Jesus. There are the ten lepers.
Notice that the lepers stay at a distance from Jesus. That’s because lepers were not allowed to go near other people for fear of spreading the disease. They were removed from their families, taken away from their home villages, and forced to live in little rat-infested shantytowns outside the gates, wearing bells around their necks, and sometimes shouting, “Unclean! Unclean!” to warn people to stay away. They were able to survive only by begging, hoping that someone would toss them a coin from a distance.
And that’s what they were doing that day when Jesus came along. Luke writes, “They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, have mercy upon us!’”
Now Jesus introduces us to the next group of people in the story – the priests. “Go and show yourselves to the priests,” he instructs the ten lepers. This is the standard procedure in that day for verifying that a person has been cured of leprosy. They must go to the Temple and show themselves to a priest who is an expert in such diseases and if – after following a protocol carefully laid out in Leviticus 13 and 14 – the priest determines they are leprosy-free, they can again be allowed into the Temple for worship, and more importantly, return to their families.
So off they go to see the priests. And as they go, the leprosy miraculously disappears!
Jesus. Ten lepers. The priests. And now one more person for us to meet.
The one. The one leper who returned.
One leper out of the ten who were healed returns to Jesus and falls at his feet, giving thanks. But what is remarkable about this “one”, according to Luke, is not so much that he is the only one to return with gratitude, but rather what the Gospelwriter points out in verse 16:
“He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – AND HE WAS A SAMARITAN!”
A Samaritan!
Jews and Samaritans were arch enemies. They pretty much despised each other. You see, the problem with Samaritans was that they just didn’t get it – they believed the wrong things, went to the wrong church, believed in the wrong God. There was so much animosity felt toward Samaritans that many Jews did not speak to them or even pass through the region of Samaria. If they had to travel north, they would go the long way around, just to avoid Samaria.
But Jesus is not put off. As this ONE – this Samaritan – lies at his feet giving thanks, Jesus lifts him up and says, “Rise and go. Your faith has made you well!”
What an amazing thing to say – and to a Samaritan, of all people!
Your FAITH has made you WELL!
Something is at work in the life of this Samaritan, and it has made him WELL. Not only is he CURED, but he is WELL!
Why do you suppose that is?
What is this FAITH that can make people WELL?
THAT is the question this story answers.
First of all, it is a faith that believes God loves Samaritans.
Sometimes, when you’ve been INSIDE the Church for a while, you begin to lose sight of God’s love for those OUTSIDE. It has fascinated me throughout the course of my ministry how we church people are usually more concerned about the candles burning evenly, the sanctuary temperature being set just right, the organ being played at the correct volume, the committees having enough members than we ever are about the well-being of people OUTSIDE the church. Every once in awhile, I’ll get a note from someone that says something like, “Can’t we sing better hymns? You have no taste for music at all!” Or, “Why are your sermons so long?”
But, I don’t think I’ve never gotten a note that asked, “Can’t we do a better job caring for prisoners at the local jail?”
Wouldn’t you agree that we church people spend most of our time talking about INSIDE things while our faith calls us OUTSIDE.
But here is a faith that believes God loves outsiders too.
Tony Campolo tells the story of flying to a conference where the effects of jet lag interfered with his ability to get a good night’s sleep. At about 3 o’clock in the morning he was wide awake so he got up and left the hotel to walk to a little diner down the street. While he was sipping coffee and chatting with the husband and wife who ran the diner, the door opened and into the restaurant stepped a group of streetwalkers. It was evidently a shift change, and the “girls of the evening” ordered up some food. Tony tried to make himself small in such company, but couldn’t help but overhear their conversation. One of the women was saying her birthday was the next day. She said she was depressed because she was away from her family and, besides, her family had rejected her.
After the women left, Tony spoke with the owners. They decided to put on a birthday party for the girl the next night.
And so they did!
When the streetwalkers came in the next morning, the little diner was decorated with all sorts of Happy Birthday stuff, and there was even a decorated cake that said, “Happy Birthday, Linda!”
When Linda saw the cake and all the decorations, she gasped. And then she cried when the whole group broke into singing, “Happy Birthday to you…”
It was a wonderful celebration!
At one point, Linda – the birthday girl – asked Tony what he did for a living.
“I’m a minister,” he said.
She looked at him sort of funny. “What the heck kind of church are YOU a minister of?”
“Oh,” Tony answered, “the kind of church that likes to put on birthday parties for hookers in the middle of the night!”
I think that’s the kind of church that has a faith that believes God loves Samaritans. A faith that opens its arms to those OUTSIDE.
That’s the kind of faith that makes you well!
But there’s a second aspect of this faith. It’s a faith that centers itself on Jesus.
Have you ever wondered why the nine other former lepers never returned? I wonder if maybe they got so caught up in the religion of the Temple that they lost sight of the One who made them well. You know, the book of Leviticus is pretty compelling reading! Well, maybe not to you or me, but if you’re a leper who believes your future hangs on complying with the law of Leviticus 13 and 14, you’ll study it like you’ve never studied before!
Maybe they just got so caught up in the religion of the Temple that they lost sight of the One who was the source of their healing.
We have this little brochure out in the Narthex that says, “We Believe…” When you open it, it says, “We believe in Jesus.” It’s a little more descriptive than that, but that’s the basic message about what our church believes. We believe in Jesus. We want to be like Jesus. We want to live like Jesus. And love like Jesus.
And more often than you may expect, folks come along wanting to know what we believe, and after reading that little brochure say, “What ELSE do you believe?”
You see, the great sin of modern Christianity is that Jesus isn’t enough anymore. It’s much more important what you believe about Leviticus 13 and 14 – and other elements of religious law, dogma, doctrine.
But here is a Samaritan who decides that his hope is not in a temple, or a theology or a sacred-sounding creed. No, his hope is in Jesus, and that is where he centers his faith. So he runs back to the Lord.
And that faith makes him WELL.
It’s a faith that’s big enough to welcome outsiders. A faith that centers itself on the life and love and teachings of Jesus. And finally, it is a faith that is thankful.
I was with a family once whose loved one – a husband and father – was dying. His wife of many years was constantly by his bedside, and over the course of a day or two, the children arrived at the hospital from all over the country. When they were all there and the time of dying drew very near, each of the children went to their father’s side and quietly said in their own way, “Thank you, dad. Thank you and mom for giving me life. Thank you for teaching me to read. Thank you for being there for me when I was down and out. Thank you for teaching me to be a man. Thank you…thank you…thank you.”
And then their father slipped away. We prayed, and wept, and said, “Goodbye.” Then each of the kids gave me a hug and said, “Thank you.” And as they left their father’s room that day, you could hear them all the way down the hall thanking nurses and doctors and others who’d cared for their dad.
That day, I think I came as close as I have ever come to experiencing resurrection. In the face of death, their gratitude sowed seeds of life in each other, in me, and in all to whom they gave the gift of gratitude.
This is the faith that makes people well.
And this is the ministry of our church. We stretch our arms and our hearts to welcome outsiders. We embody the life and teachings of Jesus. And we give thanks for the inexpressible gifts of grace that come to us through each other, our neighbors, and most especially our God.
This is the ministry of which we are stewards.
So get up, and go, dear friends! Take up this ministry – this faith that makes people well, and brings glory to God in Jesus’ name!
Thank you!