The tenth leper
Commentary
When Jerusalem fell to the Chaldeans the significant portion of the population forcibly resettled in Babylon found themselves in a strange new world. The Psalms and Laments reflecting this traumatic time give us a sense of the anguish and passions triggered by this national disaster. The Old Testament reading for today is a pastoral letter from Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon. The prophet conveys to them a word from beyond about the way they should chart their course in this strange and somewhat threatening new environment around them.
The world can change around us even when we stay in one place. Waves of newcomers can start showing up on our shores and in our cities and neighborhoods. Small town America can be swallowed up by megalopolis. Technology can impact our lives for ill as well as good. Political debate in this election year reflects the anger, fears, and anxieties that surface in the new pluralistic, multicultural changing land around us. We in the church can ask in our own way the question of the Jewish exiles in Babylon: "How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" (Psalm 137:4). Does the word of Jeremiah to the exiles have anything to say to us in terms of our communal and individual calling in this particular time?
One of the memorable sermons I have heard was delivered by Martin Niemoller during a trip to this country in the late 1950s. The occasion was an ecumenical service in La Grange, Illinois, marking the publication of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Niemoller took as his text the words of Paul, "But the word of God is not chained." The sermon, of course, reflected his experience as a prisoner of the Nazis. I had occasion to think of that sermon a few years later when Martin Luther King wrote his Letter From The Birmingham Jail.
In brooding over the gospel reading it might help to keep in mind the history of Jewish-Samaritan conflict dating from the days of the Assyrian defeat of the Northern Kingdom as well as Christian-Samaritan tensions. These tensions come into focus at several points in Luke's narratives (Luke 9:51-56, 10:29-37, 17:11-19, Acts 8). The Samaritan on the Jericho road and the Samaritan leper in today's reading are two Lucan heroes. What is the word here for us who live in a pluralistic and multi-racial/cultural society where each group has its history of hurts?
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
This is a pastoral letter to the exiles in Babylon written sometime between the first and second deportations. That letter was carried by a royal delegation to Nebuchadrezzar indicates Jeremiah had the ear of King Zedekiah. That the exiles could be counseled to build homes and gardens indicates their situation was not like that in Egypt prior to the exodus. Many of the deportees became successful and stayed rather than join the later return granted by Cyrus of Persia.
Jeremiah tells them to go on with their lives, build homes and plant gardens, marry and give in marriage. The opening line of the letter, verse 4, indicates Jeremiah understood present history as a time of Divine dispensation. Verse 7 also reaches out to grab our attention: "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." They are not to withdraw into an aloof spiritual isolation, nor wallow in nostalgia for a day that is no longer. As Jeremiah had previously indicted the people for turning their backs on God (Jeremiah 2), he now tells them to turn their faces toward God. The vocation of the congregation as a community of intercessory prayer for others is highly suggestive.
Verse 8 is not included in the reading but could certainly reflect the community's vulnerability to the wild dreams of fanatics. Self-enclosed spirituality, and escape into fanatical dream cults and regressive movements spawned by nostalgia are phenomena in times of rapid social change. We seethis today both at home and abroad. An issue currently with us in our country is the question of how the church takes its place in society.
2 Timothy 2:8-15
As we reflect that this was a letter from a prison cell, verse 8b captures attention and suggests to us the mystery and romance of the faith. Thinking of Paul's letter from a jail cell, others come also to mind. In the Bedford County jail, John Bunyan wrote the major part of his masterpiece, Pilgrim's Progress. Ten editions of this book were published during Bunyan's lifetime and it eventually became the most widely read book in English after the Bible. Martin Luther King's Letter From The Birmingham Jail was mentioned above. The bearers of the Word can be imprisoned but the Word is not chained; it gets out and bears fruit. Isaiah 55:6-13 would make a fitting companion reading.
The exhortation in verse 15 targets all of us who are called to expound the word of truth. The information highway is a creation of our technology and from our personal computer terminals we can go on line and access a dizzying amount of information. But how do we get on line to the wisdom highway? Where do we hear the words of eternal life? Is not the worshipping congregation gathered around the Word and Sacrament our link to a vaster network?
Luke 17:11-19
This reading last appeared in the lectionary on November 25, 1993, Thanksgiving Day. If you save your copies of Emphasis check out the introduction of this column for that date. It has occurred to me since then that the larger history of group tension between Jews and Samaritans as well as between Jewish Christians and Samaritans is an essential part of the background as we approach Luke's references to Samaritans in his gospel as well as his account of Philip's mission to the Samaritans in Acts 8. Two models of discipleship in his gospel are the rescuer on the Jericho road and the tenth leper in this narrative. This reading could serve as the basis of a larger sermon on the mind of Jesus toward Samaritans. Group tensions are still with us and one cannot escape the uneasy feeling that there is a mean-spiritedness abroad that cloaks itself in coded language. A helpful study resource is the book, My Enemy Is My Guest, a study of Jesus and violence in Luke's gospel by J. Massyngbaerde Ford, professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Notre Dame. (Orbis Books. Maryknoll, New York. 1984)
Luther called the tenth leper the Christian at worship. The Samaritan leper recognized the dimension of the love behind the gift, fell prostrate before the Giver of Life and bonded himself to him. The other lepers, if they followed the instructions of Jesus, would go to the temple in Jerusalem to appear before the priests. The Samaritan had no temple. His had been destroyed by Hyrcanus over 100 years before. Jesus becomes his new temple. There is a similarity between Lucan and Johanine theology at this point (see John 4).
The overriding theme of the narrative is the indiscriminate grace of God and what it means to have faith in a world where lepers are cleansed whether or not they recognize the healer. If we were told the nine who did not turn back became leprous again, there would seem to be a bit of logic for that, tit for tat. But the gospel is not a balance sheet; it is news about God and God has not constituted the creation to run by our logic or our categories of moral judgment. "He makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).
The story raises the question: What difference does the faiih response to Jesus make then; what's the edge for us? What do we have that is different? Jesus had occasion to answer that question (Mark 10:28-31, Luke 18:28-30). A God to worship, a Christ to serve, a purpose that lifts us out of self, worthy battles to fight, a community of brothers and sisters to support us, a hope to sustain us. What a difference this makes even in the worst of times!
The world can change around us even when we stay in one place. Waves of newcomers can start showing up on our shores and in our cities and neighborhoods. Small town America can be swallowed up by megalopolis. Technology can impact our lives for ill as well as good. Political debate in this election year reflects the anger, fears, and anxieties that surface in the new pluralistic, multicultural changing land around us. We in the church can ask in our own way the question of the Jewish exiles in Babylon: "How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" (Psalm 137:4). Does the word of Jeremiah to the exiles have anything to say to us in terms of our communal and individual calling in this particular time?
One of the memorable sermons I have heard was delivered by Martin Niemoller during a trip to this country in the late 1950s. The occasion was an ecumenical service in La Grange, Illinois, marking the publication of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Niemoller took as his text the words of Paul, "But the word of God is not chained." The sermon, of course, reflected his experience as a prisoner of the Nazis. I had occasion to think of that sermon a few years later when Martin Luther King wrote his Letter From The Birmingham Jail.
In brooding over the gospel reading it might help to keep in mind the history of Jewish-Samaritan conflict dating from the days of the Assyrian defeat of the Northern Kingdom as well as Christian-Samaritan tensions. These tensions come into focus at several points in Luke's narratives (Luke 9:51-56, 10:29-37, 17:11-19, Acts 8). The Samaritan on the Jericho road and the Samaritan leper in today's reading are two Lucan heroes. What is the word here for us who live in a pluralistic and multi-racial/cultural society where each group has its history of hurts?
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
This is a pastoral letter to the exiles in Babylon written sometime between the first and second deportations. That letter was carried by a royal delegation to Nebuchadrezzar indicates Jeremiah had the ear of King Zedekiah. That the exiles could be counseled to build homes and gardens indicates their situation was not like that in Egypt prior to the exodus. Many of the deportees became successful and stayed rather than join the later return granted by Cyrus of Persia.
Jeremiah tells them to go on with their lives, build homes and plant gardens, marry and give in marriage. The opening line of the letter, verse 4, indicates Jeremiah understood present history as a time of Divine dispensation. Verse 7 also reaches out to grab our attention: "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." They are not to withdraw into an aloof spiritual isolation, nor wallow in nostalgia for a day that is no longer. As Jeremiah had previously indicted the people for turning their backs on God (Jeremiah 2), he now tells them to turn their faces toward God. The vocation of the congregation as a community of intercessory prayer for others is highly suggestive.
Verse 8 is not included in the reading but could certainly reflect the community's vulnerability to the wild dreams of fanatics. Self-enclosed spirituality, and escape into fanatical dream cults and regressive movements spawned by nostalgia are phenomena in times of rapid social change. We seethis today both at home and abroad. An issue currently with us in our country is the question of how the church takes its place in society.
2 Timothy 2:8-15
As we reflect that this was a letter from a prison cell, verse 8b captures attention and suggests to us the mystery and romance of the faith. Thinking of Paul's letter from a jail cell, others come also to mind. In the Bedford County jail, John Bunyan wrote the major part of his masterpiece, Pilgrim's Progress. Ten editions of this book were published during Bunyan's lifetime and it eventually became the most widely read book in English after the Bible. Martin Luther King's Letter From The Birmingham Jail was mentioned above. The bearers of the Word can be imprisoned but the Word is not chained; it gets out and bears fruit. Isaiah 55:6-13 would make a fitting companion reading.
The exhortation in verse 15 targets all of us who are called to expound the word of truth. The information highway is a creation of our technology and from our personal computer terminals we can go on line and access a dizzying amount of information. But how do we get on line to the wisdom highway? Where do we hear the words of eternal life? Is not the worshipping congregation gathered around the Word and Sacrament our link to a vaster network?
Luke 17:11-19
This reading last appeared in the lectionary on November 25, 1993, Thanksgiving Day. If you save your copies of Emphasis check out the introduction of this column for that date. It has occurred to me since then that the larger history of group tension between Jews and Samaritans as well as between Jewish Christians and Samaritans is an essential part of the background as we approach Luke's references to Samaritans in his gospel as well as his account of Philip's mission to the Samaritans in Acts 8. Two models of discipleship in his gospel are the rescuer on the Jericho road and the tenth leper in this narrative. This reading could serve as the basis of a larger sermon on the mind of Jesus toward Samaritans. Group tensions are still with us and one cannot escape the uneasy feeling that there is a mean-spiritedness abroad that cloaks itself in coded language. A helpful study resource is the book, My Enemy Is My Guest, a study of Jesus and violence in Luke's gospel by J. Massyngbaerde Ford, professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Notre Dame. (Orbis Books. Maryknoll, New York. 1984)
Luther called the tenth leper the Christian at worship. The Samaritan leper recognized the dimension of the love behind the gift, fell prostrate before the Giver of Life and bonded himself to him. The other lepers, if they followed the instructions of Jesus, would go to the temple in Jerusalem to appear before the priests. The Samaritan had no temple. His had been destroyed by Hyrcanus over 100 years before. Jesus becomes his new temple. There is a similarity between Lucan and Johanine theology at this point (see John 4).
The overriding theme of the narrative is the indiscriminate grace of God and what it means to have faith in a world where lepers are cleansed whether or not they recognize the healer. If we were told the nine who did not turn back became leprous again, there would seem to be a bit of logic for that, tit for tat. But the gospel is not a balance sheet; it is news about God and God has not constituted the creation to run by our logic or our categories of moral judgment. "He makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).
The story raises the question: What difference does the faiih response to Jesus make then; what's the edge for us? What do we have that is different? Jesus had occasion to answer that question (Mark 10:28-31, Luke 18:28-30). A God to worship, a Christ to serve, a purpose that lifts us out of self, worthy battles to fight, a community of brothers and sisters to support us, a hope to sustain us. What a difference this makes even in the worst of times!
