Pentecost 21

Pentecost 21 (Luke 17:11-19) “Were not ten made clean?”

Jesus came to Earth seeking a bride.

Humanity collectively is the bride of the co-eternal son of God. Human beings individually have been designed, created and called to be the forever friends of the Son. Jesus came to reclaim those whom God the Father had created by the power of God the Holy Spirit to be the forever friends of God the Son. He came to reclaim us from the effects of our original choice to separate from God,

Ancient peoples understood the power of separation and its consequences. They viewed the dread disease of leprosy as an outward and visible manifestation of an inward and spiritual disorder. They believed leprosy was a curse, a divine judgment on the unrighteous.

Even the advanced medical schools of Egypt, Greece, Persia, India and China were baffled by leprosy. And, until very recently, even Western medical science was thwarted in discovering the cause and the cure for this dread disease. It seemed random. It struck all classes of people at all ages and in all societies. It could not be cured. Its effects were gradual and inexorable. It always without exception ended in disfigurement, suffering and death.

When the King of Syria sent his most valuable general, Naaman, to Israel to seek a cure for his leprosy, the king of Israel assumed this was a provocation for war. Everyone knew there was no cure.

When the prophet Elisha told Naaman to dip in the muddy polluted waters of the Jordan River seven times, Naaman was furious with rage. He expected some sort of elaborate and magical ritual. He expected to spend a fortune. He, too, knew that there was no natural cure to be found in this world.

People saw in this dread disease a symbol of separation. The minute a person was diagnosed with leprosy he was considered dead. He had to leave his home and dwell apart from society, usually in caves outside the city. He lost his family, his home, his  job and his name. He was now named: leper. If someone strayed into his path he was required by law to cry out a warning: “unclean, unclean.”

No one would approach a leper. No one except Jesus.

Jesus is the original pattern of humanity. In Jesus there is only wholeness, health and holiness. His willingness to meet the lepers, speak with them, and heal them is evidence of His Divinity. And, it is symbolic of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation.

In the Presence of Jesus we enter into the Real Presence of God. In that Presence there is universal unconditional love. That love is not static. It is active, dynamic and transforming.

Jesus healed the ten lepers by the transforming power of love. He instructed them to fulfill the Law of Moses for those afflicted with leprosy and similar diseases. The priest would examine the person and certify the healing for the community. The person would recover his name, his job, his family his home only with that certification. Implicit in this process was  the understanding that there was a spiritual component to the disease. That is why Moses required the certificate of health to be issued by a priest not a physician.

Jesus healed everyone who came to him. Jesus is the universal unconditional love of God in human flesh. Not everyone who experienced the Real Presence of God in Jesus accepted the fullness of unconditional love.

Of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed nine were Jews and one was a Samaritan. Jews considered the Samaritans to be apostate traitors who were beyond God’s grace and favor.

All ten received the healing. All ten went to the Temple to receive their certificate of health. Only one, the Samaritan, returned to seek Jesus and thank him. This, too, is the image of the Plan of Salvation. In Jesus, God the Father reminds us that He loves everyone. God excludes no one from his Presence. In the offer, salvation is universal and unconditional.

And, because salvation is about Divine Love seeking a Bride and offering undying friendship, the application of salvation depends on choice.

Nine of the ten lepers chose not to make time for God. They joyfully took the gift. They willingly took the blessing. And, they made a real choice to ignore the giver of the gift, the source of the blessing. Their physical disease was cured but they chose to remain in a state of spiritual separation. They missed the second part of the healing: the wholeness, the holiness, the personal relationship with God.

They went back to their lives. Eating and drinking, Working and playing. Making money and spending money. Marrying and giving in marriage. None of those things is bad. Any of those things can block salvation. The block is the choice to place God second.

If we place God second we place God last.

The evidence is in the action. The nine could not even take a few hours out of their schedule to return to Jesus and say: thank you.  The application then and now is the same. Where we place out time, attention and priorities sets the path for our lives. Most people most of the time are not committing what the world might call major sins.

 Most people most of the time in our society say something like: I’m not religious. I don’t go to church (or synagogue) but I lead a good life. I eat and drink and no one gets hurt. I work and play and bother no one. I make money and spend money and I have every right to do so. I marry and give in marriage and take care of my children. I’m fine. I’m OK.

St. Luke records this event in the life of Jesus to remind us that salvation is not a checklist of accomplishments or the absence of certain particular sins. Salvation is not about the debits and credits we earn in our lives. Salvation is reunification with the Father, through the Son, by the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is God’s gift. Salvation is our choice.

The image of salvation is the image of the socially outcast and despised Samaritan who along with the socially connected and approved is healed then uniquely returns to give thanks. According to most people the Samaritan’s ledger book only held debits. Of all people, the Samaritans did not deserve salvation. The Samaritan made a choice to reset his priorities and restructure how he formed his time and attention in order to make Jesus first. The Samaritan chose Jesus where the insiders, the righteous and the approved made a different choice.

The lesson St. Luke emphasizes is stark and simple. If you place Jesus second in your time and attention you place him last. If you place him last you walk away from the universal unconditional love he offers. For those who walk away from Jesus we hear the very poignant comment: where are they? Where are you?

God never abandons us; but, we can abandon God.

If you place Jesus first then you will make a different set of choices in the way you order your time and attention. It is as we make Jesus first in our lives by our choices that we come to the place where Jesus completes the plan of salvation for our lives in the words: Your faith has made you well.