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Where are the Nine? Luke 17:11-19
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Though this is a quite
familiar passage, those can be some of the most difficult to get inside
of, but some of the most rewarding. First, let’s review the incident,
and its particulars. Jesus is in the northern
area of Palestine. He is heading south, probably from his home territory
of Galilee. The text says that he is “in the region between Galilee and
Samaria.” I wonder why it names the region. Actually, Samaria and
Galilee border each other. The only place that could be between them, is
that small area of the Decapolis, which is west of the Jordan River. That
part of the Decapolis was no more than 15 miles long. There was a large
city in that area called Scythopolis. This is the area of Palestine that
was very Greek, and was not
controlled by the Jews. Of the ten lepers, nine
are Jews, thus, almost certainly Galileans. One is a Samaritan. But, if
they are in the Decapolis, none of them, are at home. The setting of the
story illustrates their status. They have no place to be “at home.”
That is the state of being a leper. Having no place to be, being
ostracized, shunned, cast out. The label leprosy covered a number of skin
ailments of the day thought to be highly contagious. So “lepers” had
to keep their distance and warn others by clapping a bell
and yelling, “unclean, unclean.” Can you imagine the humiliation? Any ability to be in
community with family, to practice their Jewish faith was obliterated. Not
only was this a physical malady, but like most physical disease in that
day, it was seen a sign of moral disease as well. People thought it was a
result of some sin of the person or their parents before them. (Talk about
blaming the victim! Jesus doesn’t engage in this, but it is the
assumption of the society.) Of course, selectively, we still carry the
same assumption, regarding HIV/AIDS or mental illness. The ten lepers appear to
have faith in Jesus. Out of their desperation, they come to him and ask
for mercy, for a healing. Without another word – no hocus pocus, not
ritual cleansing, no exorcism, no trappings of religion, Jesus tells them
to go show themselves to the priest. Now why would he do that? Well,
they were “Unclean.” That also means, ritually unclean, unworthy of
being in community, unworthy of participating in the normal life of the
people and the rituals of the faith. This
was a religious concern. In the Jewish system of the day, this was a
matter of the law. Thus, only the priest could pronounce them clean, only
the priest could restored them to community. That is, declare them no
longer a source of contamination. Of course, they ran,
without looking back, to the one who had that power. Very soon on the way,
they noticed that the leprosy has left them. They are healed! Their ashen
skin has been restored. They, no doubt, still wear the scars. They may be
missing fingers or toes, but their disease is healed! On realizing his leprosy
had left him, the Samaritan, the one doubly despised—despised by the
Jews as a kind of half-breed, and despised by all as a leper, comes back
to Jesus, falls at his feet giving thanks and praise to God. This is when Jesus asks,
“Where are the nine?” Ah, my friends, this is a
rhetorical question! I have seen a lot of speculation on why the nine did
not return, but this misses the point. Jesus
knew exactly where they were, why they did not come back. The story
tells us exact what they were doing instead of returning to Jesus. They
were going to the Priest. They were still seeking validation in the
old system that kicked them out, condemned them, made them feel unclean,
unworthy.
They
were giving power to a person and a system unworthy of their trust. They
were seeking validation in a system inherently unjust and therefore, not
of God! You have to wonder if the priest ever would have pronounced them
clean. Would he have gotten close enough to really see them? Would their
past have condemned them, or the priest’s fear that they might
“erupt” again? And even if they were pronounced clean, would they not
have the haunting, lingering sense, that it was only because they now
could “fit in,” look and act enough like everyone else, to be accepted. This is where the story
catches up to us, and catches us up. To what, or to whom do we
give power, too much power, over how we feel, how we see ourselves? My mother’s mother was
a cold, self-centered woman. My mother tried, even into her adult years to
please her, and to gain acceptance from her. Finally she realized, that
though this was her mother, she wasn’t God. She realized she never would
get her approval, and that had nothing to do with my mother, but the
inability of her mother. From that point on, my mother flourished,
becoming one of the most well grounded and loving people anyone could
remember meeting. She also vowed that her children would never, because of
her, have to go through the agony and self-doubt that she did. How many of us are
looking for love in all the wrong places? How many of us are looking to be
validated by something itself invalid? How many of us still give
power, even well into our adulthood, to families of origin as to whether
we feel whole and worthy? For how many of us is that little child in us
still seeking our parent’s approval? How many of us have given a
non-supportive or belittling spouse power for how we see ourselves? How
many older adults have given the power over how they see themselves to
their children, or to a society that discounts them? How many of us are
still trying to please the scowling elders of the church community in
which we grew up, or the cool clique at school, or the “in crowd” at
work, or the elite group on the golf course. Are we still seeking
their validation, their approval, though we already have been declared
worthy by Jesus the Christ, and, I pray, by Christ’s community?! Yes, we call ourselves
Christians, but that doesn't mean we don’t try to keep a leg in the
other camp as well. We may be here, we may hear that we should have no
other god’s before us. We may hear Paul’s letter to the Roman’s;
“It is Jesus Christ who justifies, who is to condemn?” But don’t we almost
automatically run back to the world’s store for our validation, to the
high priest of culture, rather than the Christ of a new age? If we buy the
right stuff, if we wear the right stuff, if we look like society says,
then we will be worthy. If we look like the too
tan, too tall, too skinny super model, we will be worthy. If we have the
right job, join the right club, if we are friends with the right people,
send our kids to the right school, have them marry the right person (of
the opposite sex) then we are worthy. I am afraid that this
text has it about right. Nine times out of ten I turn my back on Jesus,
who has given me life, and run in a frantic search for validation by that
which is not of God. But maybe, just maybe,
we, the Body of Christ, can help me, and you, and those not yet here,
increase our odds. Yes, all ten were healed of their skin disease, but it
is said only of the one who returned to Jesus, the only true source of
validation, that he was made Well. Will we be the new
community, the body of Christ? Will we be Christ-like enough, authentic
enough, accepting enough, joy-filled enough, valid enough… that we might
be a clear enough sign of God’s love and acceptance that nobody need
look for it in all the wrong places, that folks may truly be well! May it be so. Amen |
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