MLC Sermon 10.16.16
11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ 14When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’ (Luke 17:11-19)
Ten people are miraculously healed and only one says thank-you. This is a bible story every parent can stick in their back pocket to really hit home that lesson on the importance of saying “Thank you” Whether or not one’s heart is really in it when one is being forced to say “Thank you” is of course, an important point of consideration. But I do believe that words matter and help to shape our character and ritual is also a power force in our lives. When we practice saying words of gratitude we are changed, as the words become easier and easier to say and the spirit behind them is strengthened.
Saying “Thank you” or taking a posture of humility and gratitude is exactly what that one healed man did in our gospel lesson today. This man’s ritual of gratitude was four-fold; first he turned back -- turned from rushing away and doing what he wanted, he turned back to his healer. He praised God with a loud voice, we are not told exactly what his words were but whatever they were he was yelling them boldly and praising God for this healing! Third, he took a posture of humility, prostrating himself at Jesus’ feet because his words were not enough, he used his whole body to show his gratitude for new life. And lastly, the healed man thanked Jesus.
Turn, praise, posture and thanks.
Turn, praise, posture and thanks.
As you may have expected, I believe there is much more to this story than a simple “Say Thank you” lesson. This short story opens with a line that sets the stage for the radical healing we heart about. The story begins by telling us that Jesus is in the region between Samaria and Galilee and when he approached the edge of the village he then saw the ten lepers. It is important to note that the lepers are not in the town square, or in the synagogue, these lepers had been cast out to the village edge. At this time, when a person was diagnosed with a contagious, feared disease they were set away from their homes, living in packs on the edge of their communities and forced by law to keep a wide distance between themselves and healthy people. To make matters worse, the lepers were also asked to call out a warning to anyone that was passing by yelling “Unclean! Stay away!”. Their words, rituals and postures certainly gave this group of 10 a new identity: unclean, dangerous, sick and alone.
Throughout the gospel of Luke there is a clear, dangerous pattern of rule-breaking and boundary crossing. This story picks up on that pattern, Jesus is radically, dangerously going outside the bounds of what is socially acceptable to bring mercy and healing to this group.
He crosses the village lines and hangs out on the edge of town.
He crosses social law and approaches the sick group that is typically obliged to keep a distance.
He crosses ethnic boundaries and heals Jews and he heals a foreigner.
I don’t know what the exact modern day equivalent to this story is, but the news this weekend had me thinking a lot of those we label, disregard, disrespect, undervalue. From this painful presidential campaign to the overshadowed suffering of Haiti to the continued horror of Syria. And to be honest, I found the news around the presidential campaign so disturbing this weekend that I wrestled greatly with a gospel response to such ugly, disrespectful attitudes and what systems are at play that allowed these voices to brought to the top of a presidential ticket. What is the Christian response? What is the church’s posture here?
Today’s gospel story reminded me that Jesus is on the move, and Jesus is moving to all the places I’d rather not go. Jesus is on the move speaking redemption in the face of abuse and calling beloved that which we cast aside. Systems of abuse, power and inequality are strongly at work in our lives, and so is our God. Could we fill the world with a ritual response such as Turn, praise, posture and thanks? Could the foreigner of this story be the modern day model of Christian response to abuse and corruption?
Jesus goes to the margins of the world and there breaks in the kingdom of God into the lives of ten hurting and isolated people who are sent back to their communities as visible signs of God’s mercy and presence in our world. And note where this in breaking kingdom was at work -- God’s kingdom broke open there in a group of people that had been labeled as sick, unclean and abandoned and that is exactly where Jesus is so often bringing the power and mercy of our loving God.
That is what God is up to in our scripture story today; messy, scandalous, healing miracles.
Now let’s turn and consider what the healed people are up to in our scripture story. Nine of them are obedient, doing exactly what Jesus commanded and most certainly what their hearts are so happy to do which is run back to their communities and show themselves to be walking miracles!
But the tenth guy, he crossed even more lines. He broke out of his isolated, unclean, ethnic prison to “Turn, praise, posture and thanks”. Jesus doesn’t really talk to the man, rather looking around for others to follow suite Jesus calls the man and foreigner, the wrong person did the gracious act to turn, praise, posture and thanks.
The foreigner teaches the disciples, the foreigner teaches the status quo what a grateful heart looks like and moves like and worships God like. The foreigner is a reminder that GOd’s promises know no boundaries or borders. God’s grace will not abide by the arbitrary lines we draw between one another. The foreigner consistently finds the most unlikely proclaimers of the good news to be the best choice to announce God’s mercy. The outsider continues the in-breaking of God’s kingdom and he does it with gratitude. What a powerful force!
Turn, praise, posture and thanks.
That pattern of our Christian worship services enacts the healed man’s ritual. We begin with confession, the spiritual act of turning towards God and away from self and sin. Turn.
We worship God with our singing, “worthy is Christ the lamb who was slain whose blood set us free to be people of God!” praise.
We stand or sit, moving our bodies with heads bowed, or eyes closed, or maybe hands up or hearts open to hear God’s word read. Posture.
We give God our thanks. Through more singing, through offering a portion of our financial gifts to God, through serving each other and forgiving each other with a sign of peace. And finally, we celebrate the Eucharistic feast.
Eucharist is a very churchy word -- more often we call the eucharist holy communion, or the sacrament of the table. But this morning I want to use the word Eucharist because this english word comes from the Greek word Eucharistia and that word is the very one found in our bible ready. The man prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and Eucharistia, he gave thanks.
When we come to this table week after week we come to celebrate what scandalous redemption we have been given by God through Jesus Christ our Savior. We come to celebrate that the table of mercy is set for us despite our diving lines and sinful nature. We come to the table at the invitation of Jesus who knows our sickness, our labels, our division and our pain...and we receive mercy anyways.
Turn, praise, posture and thanks.
So how will you turn, praise, posture and give thanks?
How has God broken into your life to bring mercy and healing? What foreigner has revealed to you a measure of Divine goodness you had not already known?
Turn, praise, posture and thanks.
Thanks be to God who moves beyond our lines.
Thanks be to God who turns our messy stories into walking miracles of healing and grace.
Thanks be to God who claims us as helpless infants and washes us in healing waters and promises to be with us forever.
Thanks be to God who is ever turning towards us and who alone is worthy of our praise.
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