LUKE 17:11-19
A LONG TIME AGO I
ARRANGED A PROGRAM INTENDING TO BRING PHYSICIANS AND CLERGY TOGETHER.
I HAD INVITED A PSYCHIATRIST, A PROTESTANT MINISTER, A RABBI, AND A
CATHOLIC PRIEST TO SPEAK, IN ADDITION TO MYSELF; THE GENERAL THEME
HAD TO DO WITH HOW WE COULD HELP PEOPLE WHO WERE DYING, SPECIFICALLY,
DYING OF CANCER. I DON'T REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT THE MEETING, IT WAS SO
LONG AGO. BUT I DO REMEMBER THE PROTESTANT MINISTER, WHO WAS FROM
ONE OF THOSE CHURCHES THEY PUT IN STORE FRONTS. AS HE BEGAN TO
SPEAK, HE TALKED ABOUT HOW JESUS HAD DIED FOR US, AND HE QUOTED
SCRIPTURE, TALKED ABOUT HIS PERSONAL CONVERSION, GAVE EXAMPLES OF
PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN BORN-AGAIN WHEN THEY FACED TERMINAL ILLNESS –
AND HIS TALK BECAME MORE AND MORE AGITATED AND HE BEGAN TO SHED
TEARS. IN A GATHERING WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAD GIVEN A DRY,
DISPASSIONATE TALK, HE WAS SORT OF AN EMBARRASSMENT. AFTER ALL,
THERE WERE PROBABLY ONLY A HANDFUL OF EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTS IN THE
WHOLE GATHERING. BUT I WONDERED WHY HE BECAME SO EMOTIONAL, HOW HE
COULD SHED TEARS IN FRONT OF A BUNCH OF DOCTORS AND CLERGYPERSONS OF
DIFFERENT FAITHS AND DENOMINATIONS.
LISTEN TO THE GOSPEL
STORY. TEN LEPERS CALL TO JESUS FROM A DISTANCE, IT SAYS. AND JESUS
DOES NOT TOUCH THEM, AS HE HAS TOUCHED OTHER LEPERS AND BLIND AND
LAME AND DEAF PEOPLE. HE SAYS, “GO AND SHOW YOURSELVES TO THE
PRIESTS”. WE THINK OF THE PHARISEES AS BEING OVERLY CONCERNED WITH
THE LAW, AND MAYBE SOME WERE. BUT THE ULTIMATE ARBITERS OF THE LAW
OF MOSES WERE THE PRIESTS. THEY WENT THROUGH AN APPRENTICESHIP, IN
WHICH THEY LEARNED FROM THE SCRIPTURES AND THE ESTABLISHED PRIESTS
HOW TO JUDGE INDIVIDUAL CASES AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF THE LAW. A
PRIEST HAD TO MAKE SURE THAT THE ANIMALS USED IN SACRIFICE WERE
HEALTHY – AN ANIMAL WITH A BROKEN BONE OR A MISSING EYE WASN'T GOOD
ENOUGH FOR GOD. PRIESTS HAD TO KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT WEIGHTS AND
MEASURES, BECAUSE PEOPLE MADE OFFERINGS OF FRUITS AND GRAINS AND
PRESSED DATES AND FIGS. THESE HAD TO BE WEIGHED AND INSPECTED.
PRIESTS HAD TO BE ABLE TO APPLY THE MARRIAGE LAWS TO INDIVIDUAL CASES
– WERE THESE TWO RELATED OUT TO SEVEN TIMES REMOVED? WERE THERE
OTHER IMPEDIMENTS? AND THEY HAD TO KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT SKIN
DISEASES, BECAUSE THEY WERE THE JUDGES OF WHETHER SOMEONE HAD LEPROSY
OR NOT.
THE TEN LEPERS KNEW THAT
JESUS WAS A GREAT HEALER AND THEY DEMONSTRATED THEIR FAITH BY
MARCHING OFF TO SEE THE PRIESTS. THEY ALL BELIEVED THAT BY DOING
WHAT JESUS TOLD THEM TO DO THEY WOULD BE HEALED, AND INDEED, ON THE
WAY, IT SAYS, THEY WERE CLEANSED. I ADMIRE THE TEN LEPERS. HOW MANY
OF US KNOW THAT GOD WANTS US TO DO SOMETHING AND YET, WE THINK OF
EXCUSES AND KEEP PUTTING IT OFF. AT LEAST THE LEPERS TOOK JESUS AT
HIS WORD AND BEGAN TO MOVE. THEY DIDN'T SAY, “WHAT IF IT DOESN'T
WORK? MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST WAIT A WHILE AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. AFTER
ALL, IT WOULD REALLY BE EMBARRASSING IF WE SHOWED OURSELVES TO THE
PRIESTS AND WEREN'T ACTUALLY CLEANSED OF THEIR LEPROSY.
BUT THE SAMARITAN LEPER ,
IT SAYS, REALIZED HE WAS HEALED. NOT JUST CLEANSED, BUT HEALED. I
THINK LUKE USES DIFFERENT WORDS HERE DELIBERATELY. WHAT JESUS GAVE
THE LEPERS WAS NOT JUST A NEW SKIN, SMOOTH AS A BABY'S BOTTOM – BUT
SOMETHING THAT TRANSFORMED THE WHOLE PERSON. AND WITH THAT
REALIZATION, THE SAMARITAN WAS OVERCOME WITH GRATITUDE, AND GRATITUDE
MADE HIM TURN AROUND AND RETURN TO THE LORD. WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER
LEPERS? WERE THEY NOT GRATEFUL? WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THEY WERE GIVEN
A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH AND COULD RETURN TO THEIR FAMILIES AND TAKE
THEIR PLACE IN SOCIETY AGAIN? I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WEREN'T GRATEFUL.
BUT THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE; THEY WERE NOT GRATEFUL ENOUGH; THEY WERE
UNAWARE OF THEIR INNER HEALING IN ADDITION TO THEIR OUTER CLEANSING;
IN A SENSE THEY SAW THAT THEY HAD BEEN RESTORED TO WHAT WAS RIGHTLY
THEIRS – GOOD HEALTH; WHEREAS THE SAMARITAN KNEW THAT WHAT HE HAD
RECEIVED HAD BEEN A GIFT THAT HE HAD NOT DESERVED, AND MORE THAN HE
HAD ASKED FOR. AND THE MORE GRATEFUL YOU ARE, THE CLOSER YOU WANT
TO BE TO THE ONE WHO GAVE YOU SOMETHING FOR WHICH TO BE GRATEFUL.
AND THAT STATEMENT JESUS MAKES, “TEN WERE CLEANED, BUT ONLY THIS
FOREIGNER RETURNED TO GIVE THANKS TO GOD,” IS A STATEMENT HE COULD
MAKE ABOUT EACH OF US, I'M SURE. MOST OF US ARE NOT VERY GRATEFUL.
WE ARE LIKE THE MAN WITH A BROKEN ARM WHO GOES INTO A POST OFFICE AND
ASKS THE CLERK TO WRITE A POSTCARD FOR HIM. THE CLERK INTERRUPTS
WHAT HE IS DOING AND WRITES THE MESSAGE ON THE CARD. “ANYTHING
ELSE I CAN DO FOR YOU,” HE SAYS? THE MAN LOOKS AT THE CARD AND
REPLIES, “ADD A LINE APOLOGIZING FOR THE HANDWRITING.”
MY PROTESTANT MINISTER
FRIEND WHO WEPT AS HE RECOUNTED THE GIFT THAT JESUS GAVE US ON THE
CROSS, THE GIFT OF HIS OWN CONVERSION, THE GIFT OF BEING ALLOWED TO
WITNESS GOD ACTING IN THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WHO WERE DYING, WEPT
BECAUSE HE WAS GRATEFUL. AND WHILE I'LL PROBABLY NOT EVER GET TO THE
POINT WHERE I WILL WEEP, BECAUSE I'M JUST BUILT DIFFERENTLY, I KNOW I
CAN BE MORE GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING GOD HAS DONE FOR ME. AND WHY
SHOULD I BE GRATEFUL? BECAUSE GRATITUDE DRAWS ME TO JESUS, AS IT DID
THE SAMARITAN LEPER. AND OUT OF GRATITUDE GROWS HOLINESS, GROWS
DYING TO SELF AND LIVING FOR OTHERS, GROWS MY BECOMING WHAT I AM
SUPPOSED TO BE, ANOTHER CHRIST. IN MANY OF THE PRAYERS JESUS SAID,
HE BEGINS, “FATHER, I THANK YOU...” IN OUR LITURGY, BEFORE THE
PROFOUND MOMENT WHEN THE BREAD AND WINE WE OFFER BECOME THE BODY AND
BLOOD OF JESUS, WE PRAY A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING – “LIFT UP YOUR
HEARTS. WE HAVE LIFTED THEM UP TO THE LORD. LET US GIVE THANKS TO
THE LORD. IT IS RIGHT AND JUST.” AND THAT SHOULD BE PART OF OUR
DAILY PRAYERS, EVERY DAY, EVERY TIME WE PRAY – WHAT ARE WE THANKFUL
FOR? WHAT GIFTS HAS GOD GIVEN US TODAY? AND AS WE ENUMERATE THE
GIFTS WE WILL THINK OF MORE; AND AS WE THINK ABOUT WHAT GOD HAS DONE
FOR US, WE WILL BEGIN TO SEE THAT EVEN THOSE THINGS WHICH AREN'T
PLEASANT, WHICH IN FACT DON'T SEEM TO BE GIFTS AT ALL, CAN BE SEEN TO
HAVE A GIFT WITHIN THEM. BECAUSE GOD IS GOOD, AND AS JESUS REMINDS
US, “WHAT FATHER AMONG YOU WOULD GIVE HIS SON A SNAKE WHEN HE ASKED
FOR A FISH, OR A SCORPION WHEN HE ASKED FOR AN EGG? IF YOU KNOW HOW
TO GIVE GOOD THINGS TO YOUR CHILDREN, HOW MUCH MORE GOD WILL GIVE THE
HOLY SPIRIT TO THOSE WHO ASK HIM?”
GOD CAN DO A LOT, BUT HE
WILL NOT MAKE US BECOME GRATEFUL. ONLY YOU AND I CAN CULTIVATE
GRATITUDE, AND WE MUST DO SO IF WE WISH TO BECOME CLOSER TO JESUS.
