October 9, 2022: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Last week, on the Jesus Channel, the disciples are asking Jesus to increase their faith, and he tells them that with faith the size of a mustard seed, they can do miraculous things. Today, Jesus himself does the miraculous. So, to recap here, Jesus and his gang are still traveling toward Jerusalem, and according to the author, they are now in the area between Samaria and Galilee. When they enter a village, ten lepers approach – only close enough to be heard – begging Jesus for mercy. He tells them “go and show yourselves to the priests.” They do, and on the way they find they are healed of their leprosy. Nine continue on to do as they were told, but one does not. He turns around to thank Jesus first. Then Jesus, wondering where the other nine were, asked, “I may be bad at math, but weren’t there 10 of you guys?” Now, before we go any further, a couple of things are important to get clear at the start.
First, the other nine did nothing wrong. In fact, they did what Jesus told them to do – the very red letter words of Jesus, not to mention following the law as written in the Hebrew scriptures. They marched right over to the priests to present themselves for inspection that they might be welcome back into the temple.
Second, while this is not a commentary on Levitical laws or the culture of the time, there is a reason Jesus sent these lepers to the priest at the temple, as anyone with a visible skin disease would be unable to enter the temple, and would also be social outcasts. So the point here isn’t a commentary about temple purity laws, as even Jesus, being a good Jew, understands how this all works. Jesus wants them to be included back into the community.
Third, the verb that is used for “thank” in this moment, the moment when the leper, now healed, lay prostate before Jesus, is the same Greek verb used by Jesus when he thanks God before giving the bread and wine to his followers at his final meal with them. It is the word that is the basis for our word Eucharist.
And lastly, and perhaps most important of all, where Jesus is said to be at the moment didn’t really exist. There is no area between Samaria and Galilee, because they bordered one another. So, unless the author of Luke & Acts (and most of you know by now it is the same person) is somebody who should never select the geography category in a trivia match, something else is going on.
Why would the author of this gospel put this little detail in, knowing that those who lived in the area at the time would know right away that his geography was off? Well, let’s go back to the story.
Nine continue on to the priest, but one returns to Jesus. He returned to offer his body and soul in humble thanks.
And Jesus identifies that one who returned as a Samaritan.
Yup – those pesky people that Jesus keeps using to flip our view of the world upside down. Jesus is always doing that isn’t he – challenging us to move beyond our borders, challenging our assumptions, challenging our inertia. And in this setting, the Samaritans and lepers were those who were considered not good enough, unworthy of welcome into the community, the “other” to be feared, derided, kept at a distance.
The land between Samaria and Galilee, where this miracle takes place, is not about a physical place, but where people who are rejected by others live – in the margins of our very real geographical spaces – where we do not choose to go. The Samaritans were foreigners to the followers of Jesus, despised too. Lepers were social outcasts from their own communities (Samaritan or otherwise) and from the temple. These were the marginalized – the ones living in a place of non-existence to others.
But, Jesus goes to the margins, sees them, heals them, sets them free from the bondage of isolation, and they lift up their hearts in praise to God, and off to the temple they went as he instructed.
And the Samaritans and lepers of today?
Oh, there are a host of them, aren’t there? So many on the margins. So many living in land between lands. The poor, the hungry, those who look, speak, love, or worship differently, the disabled, the elderly, the addicted, the mentally ill, and so many more. Do we see them, hear their cries, go to them, be the healing presence of Jesus to them?
That is one of the questions this gospel is asking of us.
But the gospel is also asking us to go further, to be like that Samaritan. To live as though we always see God’s work in and around us – with a sense of awe, wonder, and deepest gratitude for the grace of God given us with every breath. Perhaps we might wonder how to do that, when all around us the world seems to be imploding with anger, hate, bitterness, and violence? How God are we to be thankful? How are we to respond to the grace of God all around us – if we can even open our eyes to see it?
We have to choose to do it.
That Samaritan chose to come back. Gratitude is a choice we make. It is something we must choose to live out, because it doesn’t always come naturally to us. Like faith itself, it is a “counter-cultural witness,”[1] in our world today. Just turn on the news, or scroll through your Facebook or Twitter feed, and gratitude is not really the first thing that jumps out at you is it. While righteous anger about injustice is meet and right, our national discourse has deteriorated into a cesspool of intolerance, bigotry, anger, and hate.
That is the shadowland we, as followers of Jesus, must not ignore, but help to heal. Imagine the impact of changing the tone to one of gratitude. What might that look like? What might that do? I can say this – it may not change the person on the other end of the twitter rant, but it will change you.
Imagine too a world where we are grateful every single day for even the tiniest of blessings. For things like the colors of fall leaves, the way a crocus will pop up amidst a blanket of snow, for a baby’s smile, or a full moon in a clear night sky like we had last night. Imagine that, because when we can be grateful for the small things, it will change us. It won’t mean that life will be easy, or all our problems will disappear. That isn’t life at all, but some sort of utopian fantasy. It means that we will grateful for the abundance in our lives, even when it seems others cannot see it.
The thing is, choosing to be grateful isn’t a reflection that everything is perfect in our lives. It is instead about being able to see God in the imperfect reality, and respond with thanksgiving. That will make a difference, in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.
To be sure, there are times when we are in dark places – we’ve lost someone we love, we have no home, lost our job, are weary with disease, feel the yoke of oppression on our necks, or the sting of bigotry on our hearts. And in those times, gratitude may seem more something to be hoped for than a reality, and that’s okay. Because this isn’t something we must take on as doctrine, that would defeat the entire purpose. Rather it is a theological invitation to another way of life, because gratitude is a spiritual practice, and the more we say yes to it, the easier it will get, even when blessings seem to be nothing more than a far off dream.
And when we accept that invitation, when we practice gratitude in our lives, we will be changed. We will see the world differently. It isn’t that we won’t see things as they are – that we won’t behold the brokenness around us. It is just that we will start to notice that amidst the rancor and hate, there are peacemakers too; that standing alongside the oppressed and the marginalized, there are advocates and allies; that in our darkest hour, there are those who hold us in prayer, and a God who loves us deeply. That despite everything, we have much, and much to share too.
I am reminded of this story – one recounted by Mother Theresa…
“One night,” she said, “a man came to her house to tell her that a Hindu family, a family of eight children, had not eaten anything for days. They had nothing to eat. She took enough rice for a meal and went to their house. She said, “I could see the hungry faces, the children with their bulging eyes. The sight could not have been more dramatic!” The mother of the children took the rice from Mother Theresa’s hands, divided it in half…and went out.
“When she came back a little later, Mother Theresa asked her: ‘Where did you go? What did you do?’ She answered, ‘They also are hungry.’ ‘They’ were the people next door, a Muslim family with the same number of children to feed and who did not have any food either. The mother of starving children herself, saw the other family – saw them, though they were not of the same faith – saw them, though they could not help her – saw them, though she had worries of her own. And with the gift of rice, she gave out of her abundance. This woman, who lived in the margins herself, gave out of gratitude for all that was given to her.
That is a life of gratitude. And gratitude is at the heart of another spiritual practice – stewardship.
Stewardship for followers of Jesus is about recognizing the presence of Christ in our lives, and seeing the grace of God at work in the world. It is coming to understand that all that we have, and all that we are, are God’s, and have been entrusted to us to care and nurture. It is recognizing that we are called to love one another, ourselves and God. It is understanding that in this temporal existence of ours, our time, our talent and our treasures are meant not to build up more, but to offer more, and to be filled with gratitude for all that we have.
The theologian Eckhart Tolle was right when he said “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” But I prefer Piglet…yes, Piglet the dear little friend of Winnie-the-Pooh who “noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
And so as we do in Stewardship Season, you will receive something today blessed at the altar, and empty gift bag to take home with you. Now, you might be thinking – why an empty bag? Well, it says “Thank You” on it, and here’s what it’s for. Take it home, fill it with something nice – it doesn’t have to cost anything. You could even just fill it with notes of gratitude. Anyway, fill the bag, and then give it to someone whose presence in your life has been a blessing to you, and for whom you are grateful. Do this not as a sign of your generosity, but as a sign of your gratitude for all that has been given to you.
Think on this too, that here in this parish, your faith community, you encounter the Jesus that walks with us, that sees us, and that heals us with his body and blood. Like the Samaritan, you are given new life – restored in body, mind and spirit.
How will you respond?
Because for those baptized into him, you are called to be his body in the world – to go to the places and the people others do not see – to be healers and repairers of the breach – to love as he loved. That is the life of faith – of gratitude – of stewardship we are to live out from this place – it is the offering of our lives – it is our spiritual practice.
And, in this post-pandemic time, when our parish resources are severely depleted, there is also the offering of our life’s labor that we, as followers of Jesus are called to make too. Out of your abundance, however large or small that may be, you are called to offer your gratitude to God. And like that portion of rice, your pledge in thanksgiving for the grace of God at work within and around you will be life giving. It will be the very thing that will help this church to continue to be a place of welcome for all of God’s children; a place from which we follow Jesus into the shadowlands of the marginalized to see, to hear, to heal, and to love; a place where you are able to return in thanksgiving, for the Great Thanksgiving, for many years to come.
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
[1] David Lose, WorkingPreacher.Com
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
October 9, 2022
Pentecost 18 – Year C – Proper 23 – Track 1
1st Reading – Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
2nd Reading – 2 Timothy 2:8-15
Gospel – Luke 17:11-19
