Pentecost 21 – 9 October 2016 – Year C
Grace to you and peace from our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for our meditation is written in the
17th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 11 – 19:
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between
Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he
was met by ten lepers,6
who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices,
saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he
saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves
to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then
one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a
loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving
him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus
answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the
nine? 18 Was no one
found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And
he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith
has made you well.”
Our Holy Gospel text
clearly has a focus on healing and giving thanks, or perhaps ‘not giving
thanks’; and there is a clear message in that for all of us. If we look a
little deeper, however, Jesus focuses more on the theme of “Mercy for the Marginalised.”
If we examine the two
words, “mercy” and “marginalised”, we find that “Mercy” is a biblical word that
has to do with God’s help for people in a state of distress, in a state of
misery. Mercy is God’s answer to our misery. Our Triune Lord looks down upon
all the afflictions that come our way, in body and soul, and He has mercy on
us. He acts to relieve our distress. He supplies our needs, both physical and
spiritual. That’s mercy.
Our text begins: “On
the way to Jerusalem he [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance
and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’” –
Christians should be familiar with this plea for mercy, as in our regular
worship services we sing or recite the “Kyrie
Eleison” (New Test Greek) or “Lord have Mercy”; and in doing so,
we’re asking the Lord to supply our needs, which are many, out of his great
compassion and love for us poor sinners.
So in the same way, these
fellows call out to Jesus their “Lord
Have Mercy”. They are lepers and have the desperate needs of people
afflicted with a terrible skin disease, a wasting disease that destroyed their
flesh and ostracised them from their community. It also kept them from going to
the temple, because they were ceremonially unclean; they were people who could
be described as “the marginalised.” They were on the margins of society,
literally. They were people on the fringe. Lepers had to keep away from normal,
healthy people; for fear that they might infect others. “Unclean!” they would
call out, when people might come close.
It is interesting
though that when Jesus comes close, these lepers feel bold enough to ask for
mercy, to ask for his help. Instead of crying “Unclean!” they call out, “Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us.” - There’s
something about Jesus –things they’ve heard about this unusual man – reports that
has led them to expect great things from him. They have heard of his
miracle-working power. They have heard of his deep compassion; encouraged, they
are bold enough to plead saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
The good news of the
Gospel tells us that Jesus listens. He responds; His mercy moves him into
action. We read: “When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to
the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed.”
With his word, his
mighty word, Jesus cleanses the lepers. Christ’s word is a divine word, a
creative word, powerful and effective. His word accomplishes what he says. He
wills it, and he says it, and it is so. This is the eternal Son of God speaking
here.
Jesus sends the
lepers on their way, knowing that his word will do its work. The lepers are
cleansed. What is confusing to many in our modern culture is that this private
intimate healing moment between Jesus and these men suddenly changed when Jesus
commands “Go and show yourselves to the priests” Why involve the Jewish Priests
that in the main opposed Jesus anyway?
The answer lies
within ‘The Law of Moses’ which provided that when someone was healed of a
disease that had made them unclean, that person was to go and show himself to a
priest who would verify the healing and admit the person back into access to
the temple. It was a way to restore that person back into the community of
God’s people. At the tabernacle or temple, the healed person would offer up a
thank offering, a sacrifice of thanksgiving, to give thanks to God for the
healing. That’s why Jesus tells the lepers, “Go and show yourselves to the
priests.”
With this legal
requirement in mind; it could also be assumed that the priests in verifying
that these lepers were healed, would unintentionally be affirming the divine
authority of Christ. Jesus was the one who had healed these men, and the
priests would not be able to deny that. This Jesus exercises undeniable
authority from God, and even though the Jewish priests want to deny Him any
such miraculous power, the presence these healed men will present to them
evidence that they can not deny.
The ten healed men head
off to see the priests as commanded, except for one, who turns around and
comes back. Our Gospel reading tells us that this man is a Samaritan, and at
that time and place there would be no chance that he would go to the Jewish
priests. The Jews and the Samaritans didn’t get along. The Samaritans didn’t go
to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. So the healed Samaritan comes back.
By way of a short
explanation: After the reign of Kings David and Solomon, the nation of Israel
split in two, dividing into a northern kingdom, which took the name Israel, and
a southern kingdom, which was called Judea. The temple was in Jerusalem, in the
southern kingdom of Judea, as was the throne of the line of David. Thus the
legitimate temple and the legitimate king were in the south, in Jerusalem. The
northern kingdom of Israel set up an unauthorised rival shrine and a rival
capital in the city of Samaria. From that point on, the peoples of God’s
inherited line in Judea became bitter enemies with the breakaway people of the
Northern Kingdom and identified them as Samaritans. Idolatry was rife in Samaria, and after the
Assyrian invasion in the year 722 B.C. the Jewish ethnic identity was diluted
and they were regarded by the people of Jerusalem and Judea as half-breeds,
both ethnically and religiously.
Now here, among the
ten lepers whom Jesus cleanses, one of them is a Samaritan. A leper and a
Samaritan!! You could not get much more marginalised than that! Yet Jesus has
mercy on him. He cleanses him, and the Samaritan, filled with gratitude and
with faith in this Jesus, comes running back to Jesus, to give thanks to God.
Herein lies the real
message! As a Samaritan, the healed man can’t go to the priests in Jerusalem, but, he
can and does does go to The High Priest, namely, Jesus Christ who intercedes
for all people with God. Those who are rejected by the self-righteous, the
church and society at large, the marginalised are acceptable to Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Saviour, has offered up the perfect sacrifice, the once-and-for-all sacrifice,
to cleanse all people from all our uncleanness, to heal us in both body and
soul: Romans 3:10 “as it is written: “None
is righteous, no, not one”’ By his
going to Jerusalem, and offering himself up there in our place, on the cross,
Jesus has bridged the gap between us and God. Our sins had separated us. Jesus
restores us. The priestly sacrifice that Jesus offers is complete and perfect.
Perfect righteousness, to cleanse us from our terrible sin disease. The blood of
Jesus cleanses us from all our sins.
Our mercy is that
this is cleansing for both body and soul. Because our sins are forgiven, now
death has no power over us. In the resurrection of Christ, we see a vision of
our own future, that is, in the resurrection of the flesh on the Last Day.
Our bodies, now
afflicted with illness and infirmity, now subject to aging and decay, our
bodies now wracked with disease and death – these bodies of ours will be raised
up whole and perfect for life eternal. That is the promise held forth by the
cleansing of the lepers: Wholeness, forever.
In addition, in this
life, you and I have been restored to the community of God, the people of God,
the church. We are no longer marginalised. It doesn’t matter who you are or
what you have done or how far you have gotten off-track. You are welcome here
in Christ’s church on earth. This is a place of restoration and reconciliation.
Jesus calls us to lay
our sins, our infirmities and our burdens at the foot of the cross in humble
repentance and call to him for mercy and receive God’s forgiveness and be
joined to the people who live by forgiveness. This is a place of hope and
healing and wholeness, a place of care and mercy and compassion. This is where
Jesus lives.
Cleansing for lepers;
Salvation for Samaritans; Mercy for the marginalized. This is what we find in
Jesus Christ our Saviour. Healing in both body and soul, for sinners like you
and me. So call on him in all your troubles. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Trust in him. Because this faith will make you well, this faith will save you
and set you free. Amen
The love and peace of
our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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