“TEN LEPERS”
|
A sermon preached at Readings: 2
Kings 5:1-14, Luke 17:11-19 |
“They stood some
way off and called to him –
‘Jesus, master, take pity on us’ ” (Lk 17:13)
We
have heard the story of Jesus healing ten lepers.
It is a rich story of grace and thanksgiving.
Let
me begin with a different story –
in some ways similar, in other ways very different from the Biblical one.
You
might like to compare and contrast the two.
“And lo, it came to pass that a man was out walking
on the borders of Israel.
As he walked, he was met by a group of ten men suffering from AIDS.
“Rabbi,” they say, “we know you are a great healer,
heal us”
The man says, “First I must as you some questions –
·
What is your nationality –
Do you come from Israel or from the
Palestinian camps
on the other side of the wall?
·
What is your religion –
is your God the God of Abraham &
Isaac,
and if so, are you Jewish or Moslem
or Christian?
·
And how did you become ill?
Was it a tragic accident, a blood
transfusion or an inherited condition,
or was it the result of reckless or
promiscuous sexual activity?
And as the man hears the answers they give,
he shakes his head, and one by one he sends them away.
None of you, he says, are worthy of healing.
Sorrowfully one by one the men bow their heads and
walk away,
hugging their sickness to themselves.
There is no healing for them here today.
That
story of course is not found in the Gospel,
it is a million miles from the Gospel.
Let
us return with thankfulness to the actual Gospel story -
Which
tells how Jesus was walking on the borders of Israel and met 10 lepers –
we don’t know who they all were, but at least one was a Samaritan –
as far as the Jews were concerned, a member of an alien tribe with an alien
faith.
And
to which ones did Jesus offer healing?
-
To every one!
“Come
sinners to the Gospel Feast, let every soul be Jesus’
guest…”
Oh
that we might learn that lesson.
Who
gets healed and who stays sick in our modern world
is often a complex and fraught political issue.
Last month the BBC published a poll in which they
asked people
whether smokers with heart and chest ailments
should have to pay for part of their treatment
because it was essentially their fault.
More than half of those questioned
thought this would be a good and fair thing to do.
I suppose I can see how some people might be tempted
to say that. -
but it is frightening to think where that line of
reasoning could end
if we set off down that road and take it to its logical conclusion.
Are we going to have a moral inquisition over every
hospital bed
to see whose fault it is that someone is ill,
and demand payment or no treatment for those who fall short?
It’s a recipe for a self righteous state
leaving the inadequate and poor and failed members of society ill in the gutter
whilst the so called righteous and rich get treatment.
Thank
God that Jesus gave us what we needed,
not what we deserved –
the gospel is about grace – and grace is love we don’t deserve.
He
healed all the lepers first and asked questions later.
This week there has also been more debate on
immigration –
and calls for the UK to withdraw from
the 1951 UN convention on refugees.
It
is a complex issue –
This
is a sermon not a Party Political Broadcast,
we
can discuss it over coffee afterwards –
Maybe
someone might want to explain to others of us how
Michael
Howard’s words fit with the Gospel -
But
as we have that conversation,
let
us all (as a nation and as a church) thank God
that
when Jesus saw 10 lepers
he
didn’t pick and choose between nations and creeds
when
sharing out the good things of life.
We
are all God’s children,
and
Jesus said “let the little children come unto me”.
This story is about
healing –
open
handed, recklessly generous healing.
It is also about
thankfulness.
One day this week I lost my diary and then my keys.
I lived a nightmare for two hours
till I remembered where they
were and retrieved them.
Oh and how thankful I was to have them.
If
I am honest, I normally take my keys and diary for granted –
but
lose them and I realize how much they mean to me.
Can I ask you to imagine for a moment
that
you have lost your keys and your diary –
but
more than that –
imagine
you’ve lost everything –
your
health (or what you have of it), sight,
your
possessions (you have been declared bankrupt, your goods gone in the van),
your
freedom (you are in prison)
your
friends (they have abandoned you)
your
hope, even your sense of humour –
all
gone.
Imagine what life holds for you now, and what comes next -
Now imagine you wake up and it’s all a dream….
you
have everything back again.
Now give thanks for what you have.
How
easy it is to be like the 9 lepers -
take what God gives and not respond with thanks.
If
we receive gifts and love thoughtlessly –
if
we take them for granted–
then we devalue them, we fail to see their value
and
their potential in our lives and others.
Are
you more like a sieve or a chalice?
The one who does not constantly give thanks to God
for what they have received
is like a sieve into which
precious liquid is poured.
The gift hardly touches the core of our being
but goes largely wasted and unrecognised.
We and others are the poorer for it.
But to receive love and care with true gratitude
is to be like a chalice,
receiving the gift like a rich wine
to be cherished and savoured
and offered back to God.
This is a gift which transforms us and those about
us.
Health and healing are about more than the removal of
physical sickness -
10
lepers had their physical ailments sorted.
But
only one found at that point
(what hopefully others found later in life )
– that real depth of wholeness in their life.
The
lepers are told by Jesus to show themselves to the priest to prove they are
healed.
John Bell of the Iona Community has written a piece
describing the scene
as the joyful 10th
leper comes to the Priest’s House:
The Priest hardly knows what to do –
“He had only been taught how to send lepers away
ceremoniously.
He had never learned how to receive them back”
Finally the priest realizes that the man is really
cured.
He asks how this could be possible?
The man replies:
“It is possible because in a world
where, everybody, including the Church,
has kept back and avoided me,
somebody….
one man…
touched me;
no he didn’t just touch me,
he embraced me as if I were the brother
he’d always wanted to find.”
[Dandelions and Thistles, ed. Jan Sutch Pickard, Wild Goose 1999, pp.68-9]
In
a few moments you will come to this table.
Are
you sick and sorrowful?
Are
you lost or far from home?
Here
is a welcome,
the
nourishing bread
and
the healing wine.
Come,
whoever you are,
and
feel the touch of Jesus on your life.
Give
thanks from the bottom of your heart.
And
then as his people
Let
us go forth and touch others
that they too may find health and wholeness in Jesus name.