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The Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost
Lord, we pray thee that thy grace may always precede and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 23)
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The Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost
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Scripture citation(s): Luke 17:11-19; II Kings 5:1-3, 4-7
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
Luke 17:11-19; II Kings 5:1-3, 4-7
✛
Jesus came to free you...to create in you a space where you can be with him.
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It must have been quite a sight! Naaman was a rich and powerful man – with chariots and horses, bodyguards and a whole retinue including servants with fabulous costumes, gold, and jewels. He was not a Jew and this must have added to the exotic nature of the visit to Elisha the prophet who lived in utter simplicity. No amount of wealth or status could cover the fact that Naaman was sick; his leprosy was a stigma as well as a degenerative disease. But the washing away of the disease in the waters of the Jordan, however, led to something far more dramatic than just restoration to health – it led him to faith – faith in the God of Israel and a faith that Naaman would take home with him. Literally, take home with him: We did not read it in today’s lesson, but if you carry on reading the story you will discover that Naaman loads up two mules with earth to home with him so that he could truly worship the God of Israel on Israeli soil. (see 2 Kings 5:17)
In contrast, the Gospel story has nine lepers, whom we presume to be Jews, healed by Jesus but who did not bother to return to say thank you. Jesus seems surprised by the fact that the one who does return is a Samaritan. We must remember that Jewish people at the time of Jesus despised Samaritans because they were seen as mixed race and not true followers of the God of Israel.
Having leprosy, as we know it today, or one of the many forms of skin diseases at the time of Jesus was a death sentence but, far worse, in the years leading to that death, the leper lived as an outcast – cut off from the rest of the community.
Naaman, because of his wealth and status in the Royal Court was able to live with servants and family; the ten lepers had nothing. They probably lived in abject poverty and, poignantly, formed a community in which the common bond was not religion or even race but a shared experience of living with disease and disability.
We live in a world where many people are still outcasts or forced to live on the margins of society. Leprosy is still widespread, but more shocking is the fact that this disease, caused by bacteria related to Tuberculosis is entirely curable with multi-drug therapy. Lack of education, however, means many people affected by leprosy are stigmatized especially if the disease has caused irreversible disabilities, even after they are cured; around three million people in the world are disabled as a result of the late treatment of leprosy. The World Health Organization tells us that in 2015 there were over 210,000 new cases of leprosy diagnosed, with more than half of these in India.
So that takes us back to the ten lepers in today’s Gospel narrative. The Samaritan came back to thank God; like Naaman, his faith had been quickened by the healing, and his relationship with God was changed irrevocably. We wonder, like Jesus, why the other nine did not come back to say thank you. Jesus had told the ten to see a priest, but it is unlikely that the priest would have wanted to see them at all, and certainly not a Samaritan leper. They were healed on the way; sadly, perhaps the nine who were healed, and who then could have access to a priest, no longer needed the companionship of the Samaritan who now found himself alone.
At the heart of this scene is a simple truth – Jesus came to bring healing to all; he came to break down the barriers that divide us one from another. Talking of the former differences between Gentiles and Jews, Paul writes in his Letter to the Ephesians, “Christ is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross.” (Ephesians 2:14-16a)
On the cross, Jesus bridged the enormous gulf between God and sinful humanity.
When others shunned the lepers, Jesus loved them. In Mark’s Gospel we read of a single leper, who does not even have the community of other lepers, cry out in his anguish and desperation because of his isolation: “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean.” (Mark 1:40-41)
You or I may not have leprosy, though we might have some other worrying illness or disease; we might not be facing death, but we might be living with someone who is; we may not be outcasts, but I guess that many of us are fearful of being alone. Jesus shows us the way to the Father’s love and we, in turn, can respond to him with gratitude.
At the end of mass, there is a chance to receive the laying on of hands and prayer for the things that trouble or worry us or to receive anointing with the oil of the sick by a priest. This simple gesture – this tiny touch – is a reminder of the gentle touch of God in our own lives.
“I do choose,” says Jesus to you and me.
Some words of Henri Nouwen:
“You will not be able to meet Jesus in your body while your body remains full of doubts and fears. Jesus came to free you from these bonds and to create in you a space where you can be with him. He wants you to live the freedom of the children of God.” (The Inner Voice – page 34)
