October 14, 2007

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Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost

Please read Luke 17:11-19

Read also Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; Psalm 66:1-12; 2 Timothy 2:8-15

       On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.   As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him.  Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

       When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.

       Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?  Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"  Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Luke 17:11-19

     .       FAVORABLE ODDS        .

On the way to Jerusalem

Jesus learned a thing about probabilities: 

The odds against thanksgiving are 9 to 1.

There were ten sick men 

banded together by their dread disease

that carried with it a load of social stigma

separating them from polite society. 

Then it was leprosy; today it would be AIDS.

Grasping whatever wisp of hope they could,

they cried out for relief: 

“Jesus, Master, have mercy.”

Of course he did.

Defying the tradition, he declared them healed;

Respecting the tradition, he sent them

to the authorities for verification of the cure.

Now here’s where the story takes a turn:

One of the ten, despised Samaritan,

bearing the added burden of dubious ethnicity,

took seriously what Jesus said,

and looking down at his blemished flesh,

saw healing.

And filled with joy he turned back to the Healer,

and falling at Jesus feet, shouted his praise to God.

(He did not go to the priest;

might not have been welcome there.)

The other nine are lost now from our view,

which whets our curiosity.

Just what became of them?

Did they, obeying the Lord’s command

proceed to the priest to verify the cure?

Did they, gleeful in their healed condition,

go home to celebrate?

Or did they fail to recognize the Master’s grace

and simply go on as though

they had never heard the healing word?

I guess we’ll never know, and that’s OK.

It really doesn’t matter.

But what does matter to me

is the one man who did return,

reminding me

that when I am burdened and in pain,

I can cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy,” 

and know that I am heard,

and when I turn to him in faith and gratitude,

no matter who or what I am,

I can rise from my misery

and go on my way

with his words ringing in my ears,

“Your faith has made you well."

I like those odds.

--- rvc

*** D I S C L A I M E R ***

The Weekly Lessons are based on the lectionary texts for the week – usually the Gospel lesson. They are not designed as a formal commentary.  Rather, they are the personal reflections and original compositions of The Relay Online editor, Rev. Robin Van Cleef, and offer a jumping off point, using the scriptures as triggers to thought, imagination, and (we hope) empowerment.  As you read them, let your own imagination play, and let the Spirit speak to you, leading you where it will.  The Gospel Lessons reflected on this site may not be copied, reproduced or otherwise manipulated elsewhere on the internet without the expressed consent of the author.

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