Faithfulness beyond Tribe

 

Luke 17:11-19    Pentecost XVIII

 Lepers were not supposed to be anywhere near a Rabbi.  These ten, between Samaria and Galilea, approached Jesus, and called Him Master.  They recognized Him as being beyond just a Rabbi.  They asked for mercy, not healing, which is a spiritual request.  Jesus talked with them, again against every normative and acceptable practice for a Rabbi.  He ordered them to go and show themselves to the priests, so that they could be restored to their community and be now considered not to have sinned against God, thus bringing on their leprosy.  They went.  But one came back when he realized that he was healed, praising God and coming to submit himself to Jesus and thank Him.  Jesus recognized that no one else came back to Him to give thanks, and then recognized the faith of this foreigner.

 This leper was a Samaritan.  The Greek word for him, here translated as “foreigner”, actually means “one born of a different race.” (allo-genhs)

 Those who settled in Samaria were the ones who had returned from the Assyrian exile, who had married Babylonians, so they were considered other than Israelites.  These were also people who suffered under empire, who were exiled from their lands, and who were just trying to survive just as they were.  Upon their return, they were considered “half breeds” and were shunned by those who married within their own nationality, so they settled in another region, set up their own worship of God and Temple, and were at the very least rivals to Israel, and most accurately enemies.

 This is not the first time Jesus used a Samaritan as an example of faithfulness in this Gospel of Luke.  Here, of course the leper did not show himself to a priest.  He did not recognize the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem.  Instead, he returned to the source of his mercy and healing, truly recognizing Jesus as being something more than just a Rabbi, but indeed “master.”  Jesus here also refers to Himself as God, incidentally, something that this newly healed leper alone recognized. 

 Jesus sent him on his way to live his newly restored life, after recognizing his faith(fulness).

 Those who are on the inside of the majority often believe themselves to be entitled to all the best, even from God, and even when they find themselves in the plight of those downtrodden in society.   Lacking any strong sense of gratitude because of their entitlement, they fall short of faithfulness when they are given new life.  Those who are marginalized are used to being disenfranchised, rejected, and held in contempt.  They often genuinely pray to God for deliverance with great earnestness, and when they are delivered offer a depth of praise, thanksgiving, and gratitude that it makes all others seem to be lacking. 

 Those who were thankless were still healed.  There is Grace in that.  They were also not recognized as being faithful to God by Jesus.  This genuine covenantal relationship calls for humility and a genuine appreciation of God in our lives, especially when our lives are turned around.  Faithfulness to God requires us, not to earn our restoration or redemption, but to acknowledged with gratitude that God gives it to us.  Our lives are saved by God HERE AND NOW, in THIS PART of God’s Reign, a salvation that we dare not overlook because of some idea of our entitlement to eternal life.  The lives of others are saved by God HERE AND NOW, in THIS PART of God’s Reign, the salvation toward which we all must work in order to be faithful to God here and now.  And we must recognized that salvation of God with thankfulness.