Proper 23 C + Turn, be healed + 10.9.22

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M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Jeremiah 29:1, 4–7; Ps. 66:1–11; 2 Timothy 2:8–15; St Luke 17:11–19)

“When he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?’”

Today we have a story of a healing. On the surface, healings are very good things! But we have to be careful with stories of healing. In general, we all want to be healed, but we know that healing stories have been used against people with special needs because they imply that people with disabilities are not whole. That being said, we always want grave illnesses to be healed. There are many people with perceived disabilities who simply need to be embraced by the world, and then there are many of us actually suffering from an illness that needs to be remedied.

In today’s case, the people who interacted with Jesus did need to be healed. According to the Working Preacher Podcast, they likely suffered from a skin malady that was likely not what we call leprosy or Hansen’s disease today. But it affected their skin such that they looked dead.[1] Imagine rosacea or eczema gone really wrong. And of course, we know that in the Jewish tradition, the dead were considered to be ritually impure for health and safety reasons, so you can imagine why the lepers here are keeping their distance from human society. Their healing is not just to help them feel better, it also welcomes them back into their kinship networks.

But the Samaritan here sees something different. He isn’t just healed physically; something is changed in him spiritually. This is demonstrated in the fact that he goes back to Jesus to thank him. And he goes a step further than the polite thank-you card. As commentator Dennis Hamm says, he literally fell at Jesus’ feet in worship.[2] He recognized Jesus as holy.

It is fascinating that the man who sees Jesus in this way is a Samaritan. As many of you know, the Samaritans had major tension with the Jews in Jesus’ day. I learned something about the Samaritans recently. They were originally part of the people of Israel, but in the time of King Hoshea were relocated to Assyria and there lived in a multi-faith context in Samaria. They began to worship the Lord and other Gods, and decided that they would only use the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible as their basis of faith, rather than the whole Hebrew Bible. They also felt that God was to be worshipped on Mt. Gerizim rather than Mt. Zion.[3] This was part of the tension between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, but she is also able to see how Jesus has her look beyond Zion and Gerizim to see the Kingdom of God in his presence. In the same way, this one Samaritan is able to turn back and see that Jesus is to be worshipped, not just thanked. The other lepers simply went to the priest and worshipped as they were accustomed to doing, since they still saw the truth as only through the Jewish teachings and so they remained in the temple. But the Samaritan, the outsider, was able to see Jesus’ divinity. Perhaps because he was outside of the Jewish religious tradition and did not have access to the temple in the same way as the others did who were healed, he sought to praise God in a new way. In this way, once again, the outsider showed us the way to faith.

How does this ancient passage relate to our lives? We come to Jesus today, knowing that we have at times felt that same distance from society. We turn to Jesus, too, today, for healing. Each of us may have something that needs to be healed. And God wants to give us that healing! But with the healing that we receive here, will we just go back to what we know? Or will we see the new thing Jesus is doing in our midst, and take time to worship?

Because when we take time to worship; when we celebrate the blessings that God has brought into our lives, we can more truly enjoy our lives as they are now, even as we hope for a better world.
In the passage from Jeremiah that we read today, the people are in exile and they have not yet seen the fruit of the promises made to them. And yet the prophet tells them:

“Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.”

He is telling the people to flourish and not to despair. They haven’t seen the promise of return yet, but they will. They are to live abundantly now. This makes me think of the old story from Martin Luther. He is quoted as saying: “Even if I knew the world was going to end tomorrow,” … “I would still plant an apple tree today.”[4]

Today we plant a tree of hope in our hearts, even though we say goodbye for now.

We send some good friends off their new life in the Pacific Northwest, knowing that this is goodbye, at least for now. We wish Bill and Dale the best as they prepare to move and we welcome Ryan who is now living in the area! The Belchers have been pillars of our church, contributing more than I can name over these many years, and we cannot express our gratitude enough. For balanced budgets, for perfect cookies and parochial report assistance, for parish profile help and so much more, we thank you! We will be in touch.

These dear friends have shown us how to live abundantly now. To travel and enjoy life, even when we face limitations. Life is not perfect, but we act as if the kingdom is already here, and as if we are already healed, because we look towards a better day. We celebrate all the different abilities in God’s kingdom but also seek healing for that which can be healed. We thank God for the blessings we receive. And we celebrate the gifts of those here among us, and those with whom we stay in touch and cherish memories.

Amen.


[2] Hamm, Dennis. 1994. “What the Samaritan Leper Sees: The Narrative Christology of Luke 17:11-19.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 56 (2): 273–87. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000884401&site=ehost-live.

 

[3] Ezigbo, Victor I. The Art of Contextual Theology: Doing Theology in the Era of World Christianity . Cascade Books. Kindle Edition.

 

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