One in Ten Luke 17:11-19

One in TenLuke 17:11-19 This is such an interesting little story.  There are so many things at work here, it is kinda hard to decide where to go with this sermon. See – first we have Jesus walking along, minding his own business and he “happens” to cross across the border of Samaria and Galilee. That might seem like no big deal.  Maybe like crossing from Modesto to Salida.  Or from California to Nevada.  But really – it was more like crossing the US/Mexico border.   I have a good friend and colleague – Pastor Pedro Goycolea – that serves a small congregation in Sauhrita, AZ but he lives in Nogales, Mexico – right across the border.  He crosses the border, back and forth, every day.  He has full and proper documentation which makes that easier, but Pedro has learned the right things to say to avoid being detained.  Even with official “permission” to cross the border, it is not always a safe endeavor. Jesus probably didn’t have a religious worker’s visa.  But he happened across the border.  And he didn’t cross the border to go shopping either!  He happened into a local village.  Who does that?  Who wanders into a country that is fairly hostile to your own and then saunters into a local village to have a look around? And he doesn’t talk to the shop-keepers or the town leaders.  He doesn’t even talk to the tax collectors and prostitutes like he has been known to do.  No – this time he talks to those who are completely shunned and turned away by society.  He talks with the lepers. People at that time were so fearful of contagious skin conditions that anyone with a rash was sent outside of society.  Even now – the one thing that will get your kid sent home from daycare in an instant is a rash.  And they cannot go back without a Doctor’s note giving them permission.  And when you go to the doctor, you cannot even sit in the waiting room.  There is a special room – the “Kid’s With Rashes” room.  At our pediatrician there is a chart with picture of kids with all sorts of rashes and information about the disease that causes it – we’ve been in there enough times, Simon has read and memorized nearly the whole thing! Anyhow – these lepers are cast out of society.  And ten of them – which seems a pretty big crowd for something called a “village”- are the welcoming party.  As Jesus comes into town, in a foreign and generally hostile land, he is greeted – by name – by a pretty big group of social outcasts!  They called him by name!  And because they knew their condition – they didn’t come close and greet him with a big hug – they shouted to him from a distance.  Hey!  Come here!  We hear you can heal people!  Have mercy on us! So Jesus took a look at these people – homeless, dirty, sick, with little to eat or to wear, not looking so good at all probably – and said… Go, show yourselves to the priests. Well, that is kinda like telling a group of homeless folks downtown to go walk into the Mayor’s office – or to show up at the grand opening of the Gallo Center.  You didn’t just go and see the priests!  It’s not like here where you can come and see me any time.  In that setting, the priests were understood to be closer to God – more holy than other people.  You couldn’t go see the priest unless you were “clean” as understood by Jewish law.  And certainly these lepers were not clean! But then – this was Jesus. So the ten guys took off down the road toward the temple and on the way they became clean.  So – they are walking along and were clean? This doesn’t mean they took a shower – usually being made clean included burnt offerings and stuff.  To be clean you had to keep kosher.  To be clean you had to be healthy.  To be clean you had to have no contact with someone who was un-clean.  But these men became clean as they walked away from Jesus and toward the priests. Now, this story sounds amazing enough to me.  But it is just getting started.  One guy – one of these ten former-lepers and newly “clean” guys – realizes his healing and returns to Jesus.  So – imagine walking along the road, doing something you know society says that you should definitely not be doing, and suddenly you look down and the psoriasis that covered your left arm is gone.  Suddenly gone.  The AIDS that has wracked your body is gone.  The cancer that filled your lungs and kept you coughing and gasping for breath is gone.  This happened for all ten men – and probably some women and children that got left out of the story…   But only one of them, when he realized he was healed turned back around and ran toward Jesus shouting his thanks and appreciation.  Now remember, when he first met Jesus, he kept his distance and just shouted at Jesus.  This time, he runs right up and falls to the ground at Jesus’ feet.  I can just picture him, crying and laughing and hugging Jesus.  Saying Thank You over and over.  In my mind, it plays like a film with dramatic music in the background. Two really interesting things in this part of the story though.  One – it says, of course, that this guy was thanking Jesus.  But it also says that he was glorifying God.  There is some disagreement as to whether this means that the former-leper understood that Jesus was God and was really glorifying Jesus.  Or if it means that the leper understood that Jesus was somehow the vehicle that relayed God’s healing.  The leper’s gratitude is to Jesus but his first thought upon being made clean is to give glory to God. The second thing that stands out is the last line – he couldn’t thank Jesus enough – and he was a Samaritan!  Yikes!  Have you ever heard someone describe something that someone had done and responded – but she is a minister. Or – but he is black.  Or – but he is so young. Or – but she is Hispanic.  Why do we do that?  We assign stereotypes to everyone.  A Samaritan can not be grateful?  A Samaritan wouldn’t glorify God?  A Samaritan would not thank Jesus?  Well, the stereotype of the Samaritan at that time was not very good, I guess! The point is, this guy was an outsider, someone they didn’t expect to be so exuberant. So, this guy is at his feet.  Carrying on with thanksgiving.  And Jesus says “weren’t all ten of you healed?  Where are the others?  Why aren’t they glorifying God?  Only this outsider is bothering to do that!”  The other guys are on their way to see the priest.  Isn’t that the same as going straight to God?  After all, they are doing what Jesus told them to do!  They are following directions of the guy that healed them.  And they are going to the most holy guy around.  They’re probably looking at their crazy friend running off down the road, not doing what Jesus told them to do, not what any good-newly-cleaned-God-fearing man would do and shaking their head at his insanity.   But to the on guy that came back, Jesus says – Get up and go on your way.  Your faith has healed and saved you.  So the other nine guys are still on their way to the priest.  But this guy can go on with his life.  And he is more than cleaned – he is whole.  He is healed and saved.  He’s got just a little more than the other guys.  All because he first gave glory to God. So you see why it is hard to decide where to go with this sermon. J We could talk about immigration issues.  Or race issues.  Or how our people are divided over any number of issues.  We could talk about who is ostracized in our culture and what healing would look like for them and for us.  We could look at the stories of the various miracles Jesus did and compare the various healings that are retold in the gospels.  We could talk about why the one guy came back and what it means that he seemed to get “something more”. All those would be good sermons.  But when I first read this scripture with you in mind – when I held this congregation in my heart as I read this story – as your history, present and dreams for the future provided the lens through which I read this – I read a story of hope. You see the literature about congregational transformation says that only one in ten congregations that undertake an effort to radically change and embrace new life will be able to do that.  Those statistics are kinda depressing!  90% fail!?!?!?  That doesn’t sound so good.  But when I read this story I read it how Luke wrote it but I also read it like this: It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Mexico and California.  As he entered this Region, ten churches, all struggling, called out “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Taking a good look at them, he said, “Go and show the world what you’ve got.” They went and while still on their way, began to receive new members, got a great new pastor, spruced up their building, received a huge financial gift and started a praise service.  Only one of them, truly saw what these gifts could do and instead of fitting these new gifts into the way they’ve always done things – they changed inside and rushed to give thanks to God, to use these gifts to glorify God, to create ministries that serve their community.  This congregation could not thank Jesus enough – and they were from Modesto! Jesus said, “were not all ten congregations healed?  Where are the other nine?  Can none be found that will make the real changes needed for transformation?  Will none use these gifts to glorify God except you?  Are you the one in ten?”  Then he said to them, “Get up.  Go on your way.  Your faith has healed and saved you.” I hope that all of the churches that accept the path of transformation are able to beat the odds and thrive.  And I am sure that we are one of them. If Jesus is willing to take risks and offer healing to those who everyone thinks are no longer worth caring about not to speak of saving we need to be willing to take our own risks and maybe break a few rules to notice and be ready for the healing when it comes.  If God has work for us to do here in Modesto – God will equip us with what we need to do that work.  We need to reach for it, to make the changes in how we live as a community of faith, and to remember to shout our gratitude, glorifying God.