Proper 23
Jeremiah 29: 1, 4 – 7
Psalm 66: 1 – 11
II
Timothy 2: 8 – 15
Luke
17: 11 – 19
A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, October 13, 2013.
“THE INGREDIENTS OF A WELL-ROUNDED SPIRITUAL LIFE”
(Homily text: Luke 17: 11 – 19)
Social
scientists tell us that having relationships with other human beings is an
essential part of being able to live a healthy life.
What is
true in the everyday realm of being human is also true of our relationship to
God….we need to be in relationship with the Lord. We were created and designed to be in
relationship with Him.
In today’s
gospel, we find all the ingredients that are necessary for having a
well-rounded and healthy spiritual life.
The three key points that arise out of Jesus’ encounter with the ten men
who had leprosy are:
- An expression of human need
- A test of faith (and a faithful, obedient response)
- Giving thanks
As we turn
to the text, we see that Jesus is making His way from Galilee, which is located
in the northern part of the Holy Land, southward toward Jerusalem. Luke tells us that He is now in the area near
the border between Galilee and Samaria.
As He nears
a village, the ten men call out to Him from a distance: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Then, in
response, Jesus tells the ten men to go and show themselves to the priest. As they are on their way, they are cleansed
of their disease. But only one – the one
we least expect – the Samaritan man, returns to give God thanks for his
healing.
Those are
the essential parts of the incident.
Now, we
ought to unpack the details just a bit….
First of
all, we would do well to remember that, in ancient times among the Jews, anyone
who developed a serious skin condition[1]
was considered, under the provisions of the Law of Moses, to be ritually
unclean[2]. So strong was the concern that some sort of a
contagious disease might be spread by contact with others, that the Mosaic Law
required that such persons be separated from society. They lost much of their contact with their
families, their communities, and the community of faith.
Of course,
economically, the impact on such persons’ lives was also enormous. In fact, some scholars wonder if the ten
men’s call to Jesus, that He would have mercy on them, wasn’t a plea for some
sort of a handout.
At any
rate, though Luke doesn’t tell us so, it’s possible that the ten men had heard
of Jesus and of the miraculous healings that He had been doing. We don’t know that for sure.
But what we
can be sure of is the fact that these men recognized that Jesus could help them
somehow, and so they make their request of the Lord.
So much for
the first of our three points: The
existence of need in our lives.
Now, let’s
turn to the second point, that of Jesus’ test of these men’s faith.
The Lord
says to the men: “Go, show yourselves to
the priest.”
At first
hearing, that command might not prompt much further reflection. But Jesus’ statement does a couple of
things: For one thing, it shows that
Jesus is operating within the requirements of the Law, for the Law demanded
that anyone who had become diseased, and who was ritually unclean as a result,
had to go and show themselves to the local priest, who was the one who had the
authority to declare that they had been healed of their condition, and could be
restored to the community and to the household of faith. For another, we notice that the ten men
obeyed the Lord’s command, taking off to see the priest. But notice that Luke specifically tells us
that, “As they went, they were made clean.”
Examining this statement carefully, we see that the ten men left without
evidence that they were no longer afflicted with whatever condition they had
had. Their healing took place once they
had started on their way to see the priest.
Now, we
come to the third point, the one about giving thanks to God.
Only the
Samaritan, the one we least expect to “get it right”, is the one who comes back
to the Lord to give thanks for his restoration and healing.
Now, let’s
make some application to our lives of faith, taking these three points in
order, one by one….
First of
all, most people recognize – at one time or another in their lives – that they
have a need (or needs) that God alone can address. As we used to say in the Army, “There are no
atheists in foxholes.” Difficult
situations and circumstances can prompt most people to offer a prayer to God
for help. As we turn back to our reading
for today, we can see that the ten men who approached the Lord were in very
difficult circumstances.
But the
truth probably is that many people treat God like some divine ATM machine. I don’t mean any disrespect for Almighty God,
but offer this analogy as a way for us to think about the treatment that God
often receives….many people think that they can demand something of God, and
once they get it, they move on with their lives. This, of course, was the response – most
likely – of the nine men who didn’t come back to thank the Lord for what He had
done.
Is this not
so?
But many
times, when we utter our prayer to God for help, the Lord will insert some sort
of a test of our faith and of our faithfulness.
Here, a
human response to God is required.
Relating to God means that communication is a two-way street…..we offer
our prayers to God, but also demonstrate in some way that we have faith that He
can help us.
The human
response isn’t complete until we offer our thanks for what God has done. We offer thanks even if the Lord’s answer
isn’t exactly what we had in mind.
(Remember that it’s possible that the ten lepers were asking the Lord
for money…what the Lord granted them was far more beneficial than a handout.)
Now, in
today’s incident, the three points unfold as I have listed them above: expression of need, an obedient response to a
test of faith, and the giving of thanks.
But many
times, the process may be reversed, with our thanksgivings coming first, to be
followed by faithful believing and living, to be followed, finally, by our
expression of the needs that lie in life’s pathway.
No matter,
however, what the sequence of these three necessary ingredients for a healthy
and well-rounded spiritual life is, all three must be present for us to
maintain a healthy walk with God.
[1] Leprosy in the Bible was not confined to
what is known today as Hanson’s Disease, but the term, biblically, referred to
a wide range of skin disorders.
[2] Notice that Luke tells us that, as the ten
men went their way, they were made “clean”.
Luke doesn’t say that they were healed, which, of course, they
were. Luke is referring to their
condition with regard to being able to be a part of the community, and of the
community of faith.
