Pentecost 20 Year C
A sermon based on Luke 17:11-19
In the name of Jesus; amen.
A grandmother sat on the beach watching her grandson play in the surf. Suddenly a huge wave came up and covered the boy then dragged him out to sea. The grandmother panicked and cried out to God, “Help me Lord! He is my daughter’s only son! I love him and can’t lose him! Please bring him back!”
Suddenly another wave washes on shore and leaves the boy dripping wet, but alive and well, at her feet. She raises her hands up in the sky and cries out, “He had a hat.”
On his way to Jerusalem Jesus passes between Samaria and Galilee. As he enters a village he is stopped by the cries for mercy that he hears.
The cries come from people living outside of the village. As soon as he sees them he knows why; they are lepers.
Because of their disease they live separately from the rest of the community. By law they have to. By law they have to always keep their distance and if anyone who is clean comes near them they are required to shout out “Unclean! Unclean!” as a warning.
Because they were in a region between Samaria and Galilee the leper community they lived in was mixed. Samaritans and Jews found a commonality in their condition, though we don’t know how well it made them get along with one another.
As Jesus passed through, these ten lepers cried out in one voice for mercy. It was the voice of people ostracized and hurting and Jesus heard them and responds with a simple command, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”
They all obey and as they are on their way to show themselves to the priests, the ones within the community who can legally allow them reentrance, they are made clean.
The miracle could have ended there, but for at least one of the lepers it doesn’t because this one stops and says thank you.
As soon as he sees that his leprosy is gone he begins to praise God and running back to Jesus falls to his knees and thanks him.
Jesus has two reactions to the Samaritan at his feet. The first is to wonder where the other 9 are. “Weren’t there 10 of you?” he asks. “Where are the others?” “Weren’t they made clean too?”
The second reaction Jesus has is to offer this one man an extra blessing. “Get up and go on your way” he tells the man. “Your faith has made you well.”
In the world that Jesus lived in one did not say thank you to those who were socially equal. Thanking someone who was considered socially superior was honorable, but it signified that the socially inferior person was unable to adequately repay the socially superior person for what they had done.
When the Samaritan stopped and returned to thank Jesus he was doing the only thing in his power he could do to repay Jesus for the mercy he had shown.
Saying thank you is a humbling experience. To say thank you to another person for a kindness they have done signifies that what they did was important to us and needed by us.
There are things we cannot do for ourselves. Try as he might, this Samaritan leper could not cure himself of the disease he had. He could not reconnect with the people he loved or be a part of a community on his own volition. And while his leprosy connected him to the other 9 he most likely was an outcast even in that group by virtue of his nationality. He was a Samaritan, a foreigner, and that made him an outsider no matter how much he had in common with the others.
If he had been the richest man in the world he would not have been able to repay Jesus for what he had done. He, perhaps more than the rest needed this healing that Jesus offered.
The others needed it too; they had begged for mercy just like the Samaritan had and they might’ve even been grateful, but they didn’t recognize their need to humble.
Saying thank you changes a person. All ten men were healed of their skin infirmities, but the Samaritan, because he gave thanks to Jesus, received another blessing: a relationship with Jesus and a new faith.
All this takes place as Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. It’s a remarkable coincidence really because Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to answer our calls for mercy by dying on the cross.
Mercy for our sins and sorrows and sufferings, mercy we cannot achieve on our own, no matter how hard we may try. Mercy we can only receive from him. Mercy we have been granted.
So say thank you. Say it in everything you do. Say that you are grateful for the new life and community that Jesus has given each one of us in that transforming act of dying and being resurrected.
Say thank you. Say it in the way you care for others and in the way you care for yourself. Let is humble and transform you as a person of faith and faithfulness.
Say thank you and be blessed with healing and joy.
Amen.
A grandmother sat on the beach watching her grandson play in the surf. Suddenly a huge wave came up and covered the boy then dragged him out to sea. The grandmother panicked and cried out to God, “Help me Lord! He is my daughter’s only son! I love him and can’t lose him! Please bring him back!”
Suddenly another wave washes on shore and leaves the boy dripping wet, but alive and well, at her feet. She raises her hands up in the sky and cries out, “He had a hat.”
On his way to Jerusalem Jesus passes between Samaria and Galilee. As he enters a village he is stopped by the cries for mercy that he hears.
The cries come from people living outside of the village. As soon as he sees them he knows why; they are lepers.
Because of their disease they live separately from the rest of the community. By law they have to. By law they have to always keep their distance and if anyone who is clean comes near them they are required to shout out “Unclean! Unclean!” as a warning.
Because they were in a region between Samaria and Galilee the leper community they lived in was mixed. Samaritans and Jews found a commonality in their condition, though we don’t know how well it made them get along with one another.
As Jesus passed through, these ten lepers cried out in one voice for mercy. It was the voice of people ostracized and hurting and Jesus heard them and responds with a simple command, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”
They all obey and as they are on their way to show themselves to the priests, the ones within the community who can legally allow them reentrance, they are made clean.
The miracle could have ended there, but for at least one of the lepers it doesn’t because this one stops and says thank you.
As soon as he sees that his leprosy is gone he begins to praise God and running back to Jesus falls to his knees and thanks him.
Jesus has two reactions to the Samaritan at his feet. The first is to wonder where the other 9 are. “Weren’t there 10 of you?” he asks. “Where are the others?” “Weren’t they made clean too?”
The second reaction Jesus has is to offer this one man an extra blessing. “Get up and go on your way” he tells the man. “Your faith has made you well.”
In the world that Jesus lived in one did not say thank you to those who were socially equal. Thanking someone who was considered socially superior was honorable, but it signified that the socially inferior person was unable to adequately repay the socially superior person for what they had done.
When the Samaritan stopped and returned to thank Jesus he was doing the only thing in his power he could do to repay Jesus for the mercy he had shown.
Saying thank you is a humbling experience. To say thank you to another person for a kindness they have done signifies that what they did was important to us and needed by us.
There are things we cannot do for ourselves. Try as he might, this Samaritan leper could not cure himself of the disease he had. He could not reconnect with the people he loved or be a part of a community on his own volition. And while his leprosy connected him to the other 9 he most likely was an outcast even in that group by virtue of his nationality. He was a Samaritan, a foreigner, and that made him an outsider no matter how much he had in common with the others.
If he had been the richest man in the world he would not have been able to repay Jesus for what he had done. He, perhaps more than the rest needed this healing that Jesus offered.
The others needed it too; they had begged for mercy just like the Samaritan had and they might’ve even been grateful, but they didn’t recognize their need to humble.
Saying thank you changes a person. All ten men were healed of their skin infirmities, but the Samaritan, because he gave thanks to Jesus, received another blessing: a relationship with Jesus and a new faith.
All this takes place as Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. It’s a remarkable coincidence really because Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to answer our calls for mercy by dying on the cross.
Mercy for our sins and sorrows and sufferings, mercy we cannot achieve on our own, no matter how hard we may try. Mercy we can only receive from him. Mercy we have been granted.
So say thank you. Say it in everything you do. Say that you are grateful for the new life and community that Jesus has given each one of us in that transforming act of dying and being resurrected.
Say thank you. Say it in the way you care for others and in the way you care for yourself. Let is humble and transform you as a person of faith and faithfulness.
Say thank you and be blessed with healing and joy.
Amen.
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