Luke 17:11-19
There is a Scripture verse from the Old Testament that I am often reminded of. It goes something like this “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature…God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at outward appearances; God looks into the heart.” Or, said in a matter of factly: God doesn’t judge a book by its cover. What’s important is what is inside, the content of someone’s character.
That verse is from the book of 1st Samuel. The Lord is speaking to the priest Samuel as Samuel is trying to figure out who the Lord wants anointed as Israel’s next King. When Samuel comes across a tall, strong, good looking man Samuel thinks this must be who God wants leading his people. Except Samuel is wrong.The man who Samuel thinks must be the next leader is not who the Lord has chosen. Instead, the Lord chose David (the same David as in David and Goliath and David and Bathsheeba, the person who was capable of profound courage and good and also profound sin and wrongdoing). David was smaller, less imposing, and less muscular. Not the kind of leader Samuel expected or that anyone would vote for. But God has different ideas of what makes a person right and good.
Maybe you’ve made the same error as Samuel has before? Maybe you’ve been in the position where you assumed something about someone that turned out to be entirely wrong? Maybe you looked at someone’s height or the color of their skin or the clothes they wear or their accent and thought you knew that person? But then when you get to know them and you find out that you were wrong about them? That the person you painted and assumed them to be is not who they actually are.
I feel like we as a people do this all the time today with our nation’s tendency to make everything political. How many times have we heard (or said) ourselves – Democrats or Republicans are “x” (insert wild description). Sure, liberals and conservatives have real differences about laws and policies. That’s very true. Sometimes those differences seem like they are insurmountable. But do you know what else is true? Liberals and conservatives are also human beings. And what is true is that human beings are complex. We have needs. We want to feel like we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves. We are capable of virtues like courage, generosity, and kindness. And we’re also capable of terrible vices like arrogance, bigotry, and all manner of sinfulness.
What’s the point of all of this? It’s to remind us that the God of the Bible, the God whom we know in Jesus of Nazareth, the God we believe is here with us as we worship – this God does not think like we think. God’s ways are not our ways. Which is really good news.
This idea of God not judging a book by its cover and God making someone well or whole is what our gospel reading from Luke is about. At first glance, it’s a healing story. As Jesus is making his final trip to Jerusalem before he will be arrested, tortured, put on a sham trial, and executed by crucifixion on a cross, Jesus enters a village and encounters 10 men with a skin disease. Now here is what you need to know about skin diseases in the 1st century. It’s not just that they needed to see a dermatologist or put on some cream and ointment or try a new diet to reduce the oils in their skin. Having a skin disease meant they were socially unclean. They were an untouchable. They were shunned and made to live apart from everyone else. People kept their distance and pulled their kids closer as they passed people with skin diseases on the street.
These 10 diseased men cry out, when they see the Lord passing by, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Luke tells us that Jesus’ response to their cries for mercy is an instruction: “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” Astonishingly, as they go to do so, each of the 10 of them are “made clean”. Here is what is important to know about Jesus’ instruction to them to show themselves to the priests: in Jesus’ time, Jewish priests were the people who were in charge of examining skin conditions and healing to decide whether someone could be let back into the community and live a normal life. Remember a few minutes ago we said that having a skin disease (the old biblical word is “leprosy”) meant that someone was shunned and cast out of the community? Well to be healed and let back in required the priest to “certify” that you were disease free. Hence the charge to go see the priests. It’s Jesus’ way of following the Old Testament law.
At first glance, this gospel reading from Luke reads like a healing story. Many of the stories in the gospels involve Jesus healing this person or that person. They go something like this: Jesus encounters someone with some sort of disease or condition or infirmity. Sometimes, though not always, the person pleads with Jesus for healing. And Jesus the healer works many wonders for them.
But this story makes a twist that makes it a healing story and more. When one of the 10 men who were just healed from their skin disease realizes what happened to him – he was healed – Luke tells us “he turned back, praising God with a loud voice.” The man then found Jesus again, fell at his feet, and thanked him for showing him mercy and healing his disease. That in and of itself, is noteworthy, but not all that remarkable. The remarkable thing is who this man was: a foreigner.
The line in the biblical text is this: “And he was a Samaritan (the same Samaritans from Jesus’ famous parable, the Good Samaritan). This man was doubly socially unacceptable: not only did he have a skin disease that caused him to be shunned by the people in his town, he was also a foreigner, and not just any foreigner, but a Samaritan. It’s important to the story to realize that racial and ethnic differences in Jesus’ time determined a lot for a person. Samaritans were looked down on, they were thought to be dangerous, and their religious practices were strange to Jesus’ own people. That’s what makes the parable of the Good Samaritan so shocking: it’s not the priest or the Levite (both religious leaders who know the Bible well) who render aid to the man in trouble, but it’s the Samaritan (the foreigner, who doesn’t presumably know or is expected to follow the Bible and God’s commands in it) who comes to the man’s aid.
The story of Jesus cleansing the 10 men ends with Jesus recognizing the Samaritan who turned back to offer thanks and offering him a charge. “Were not ten made clean?” Jesus wonders out loud to whoever is with him who can hear. “So where are the other nine? Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And then you can imagine the Lord looking directly at this healed, restored Samaritan man and he says, “Get up (remember he’s still prostrating at Jesus’ feet in an act of worship and thanksgiving) and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
This gospel reading involves some of the most challenging parts of human relationships: not judging by outward appearances; race, ethnicity, and differences among people; and physical health and healing. But these are the very things that make this story a gospel story, a good news story. You see, the good news of Jesus Christ is that he finds a way to both honor the Samaritan’s difference (Jesus never tries to make him not a Samaritan) and also make him well. Put another way, God is not interested in making people into robots who are all the same. God honors (I would even say, celebrates based on biblical texts like this one and the story of Pentecost in Acts where everyone speaks in different languages) diversity and yet, in that diversity there is also unity in Christ.
Here is how this is playing out for me in my life right now. The person I am closest to at my work is an older person who is also a Jehovah’s Witness. She knows I am a Chrsitian and a pastor outside of my full-time non-church job. And if we got into deeply talking about our faith, we would come to some pretty serious disagreements about who God is, what is our purpose in life, and how things in society should be. We’re very different people. But we’re also close colleagues and I consider her a friend. I have to remind myself often that if I would have kept my distance from her when I learned that she was a part of the Jehovah’s Witness community (like I learned to do growing up. When Jehovah’s Witnesses would come knocking on our door, my parents would always tell us to politely (and quickly) say that we had a church, wish them a good day, and close the door) – if I would have kept my distance, I wouldn’t have a trusted, close friend at work like I do.
The story of Jesus cleansing these 10 lepers is a story to brings to life an important part of Jesus’ ministry: to bring healing to people who are in need of it. For some of us, God’s mercy comes in the form of healing from a disease or taking medicine that can help heal our body or mind. Modern medicine and vaccines can absolutely be a means of grace. But the Lord also brings healing in ways that are not just physical.
The Lord can also heal relationships and restore people to their place in their community. That’s what happened with this Samaritan. When he eventually made his way to the priest to show his skin disease had been healed, the priest would pronounce him clean. That meant he would no longer be shunned from his community. He could hold a job, go to church, and be a part of the community. He experienced God’s healing in multiple ways.
It’s no secret that we live in divided times. There are so many people and companies who make money and gain influence by dividing us, scaring us about other people, and getting us all riled up about one another. Just logon to Facebook or social media or turn on the TV and you’ll be fed a steady diet of division. That’s not to say there aren’t real problems and real issues and real things people are divided about. But I wonder if what is ailing us as a people, as Christians, as the church, is that we’ve lost sight of the ways that the Lord, in his grace and wisdom, brings people together as brothers and sisters? You see, in the kingdom of God, you and I are not first voters or democrats or republicans or workers or consumers or even Americans or Canadians or Mexicans. First, we are brothers and sisters in Christ (“brethren” in the old bible translations) who have been saved “made well” by the Lord’s death and resurrection. And when you start there, in our unity in Christ, differences can hold together. Jesus Christ can hold our differences and keep us united as one people. He demonstrates that in the crucifixion where he has torn down the dividing wall of hostility between us and between us and God.
Here is our simple, yet very challenging charge this week: as you watch the news and talk with other people to try seeing them (especially if they are different in some way than you) as a brother or sister in Christ.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
https://www.churchofengland.org/our-faith/what-we-believe/apostles-creed