Sermon: No Mere Healer

Delivered at St. John United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on October 9, 2022

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No Mere Healer

Audio Version

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.  As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease 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’s feet and thanked him.  And he was a Samaritan.  Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean?  So where are the other nine?  Did none of them return to give glory 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 (NRSVUE)

Woe to me, I am unclean
A sinner found in Your presence
I see You seated on Your throne
Exalted, Your glory surrounds You

From “Ruin Me” by Jeff Johnson

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that Jesus, by a certain point in His ministry, has “set his face to go to Jerusalem,”¹ where a cross awaits Him.  Later on, as He approaches one village between Galilee and Samaria on His way to Jerusalem, He is met by ten men afflicted with leprosy.²  Nowadays, the word leprosy is used to refer to a specific bacterial infection that is also known as Hansen's disease, but, as the footnotes of numerous Bibles point out, the word in the Bible translated as leprosy is actually catch-all term used for a number of different skin conditions.

In Jesus' day, leprosy is an isolating disease.  Lepers are considered unclean, and, whether or not their skin conditions are actually contagious, their uncleanness is effectively contagious, since coming into contact with anything that is considered unclean makes a person unclean.³  According to the Book of Leviticus,
The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.”  He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean.  He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.⁴
Per the requirements of the Jewish Law, the ten men who meet Jesus on the outskirts of the village have had to quarantine themselves, to dress in such a way that they can be easily identified as lepers, and to announce their uncleanness so that other people know to keep their distance from them.

Leprosy is not only an isolating disease but also stigmatizing one as well, for, in Jesus' day, many believe that the condition is a result of sin.  According to certain Rabbinic writings, leprosy is thought to be punishment for malicious speech, murder, an empty promise, sexual impropriety, pride, theft, or stinginess.⁵  The stigma associated with leprosy has persisted well beyond biblical times.  Dr. Andrew Buchanan MacDonald, who oversaw a leper colony in the early to mid twentieth century, once noted,
The leper is sick in mind as well as body.  For some reason there is an attitude to leprosy different from the attitude to any other disfiguring disease.  It is associated with shame and horror, and carries, in some mysterious way, a sense of guilt, although innocently acquired like most contagious troubles.  Shunned and despised, frequently do lepers consider taking their own lives and some do.⁶

Nine of the ten lepers are Jewish like Jesus, but interestingly the tenth is a Samaritan.⁷  Typically Jews and Samaritans do not associate with each other.  The Samaritans are thought to be descendants of Israelites who intermarried with foreigners following the Assyrian invasion, effectively making them like illegitimate children.⁸  There are also religious differences that put the two groups at odds with each other.⁹  Despite the bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans, the ten lepers have found common ground in their disease, their isolation from society, and their social stigma.  In the words of scholar William Barclay, “Here is an example of a great law of life.  A common misfortune had broken down the racial and national barriers.  In the common tragedy of their leprosy they had forgotten they were Jews and Samaritans and remembered only they were men in need.”¹⁰

Maintaining a good, safe distance, the lepers yell out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  Jesus replies, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”¹¹  Jesus is telling the men to do what the Jewish Law requires of lepers who believe that they have been healed of their disease.  In their day, one of the duties of a priest is to determine whether or not someone's leprosy has cleared up.  According to the Book of Leviticus, if a leper is thought to be healed of his disease, a priest must meet him outside the community and examine him.¹²  If the person is indeed found to be clear of leprosy, additional procedures and rituals are prescribed for him.¹³  Going through this procedure is necessary for any healed leper who wants to return to his community.

Each of the ten men meets with a priest, per Jesus' instructions,¹⁴ and each of them is found to be clear of leprosy.  Each of the men then returns to his normal life – with the exception of one.  When the Samaritan is found to be clear of leprosy, he immediately runs back to Jesus, shouting praises to God all along the way.  When he sees Jesus, he throws himself down at His feet and thanks Him.  Jesus wonders out loud, “Were not ten made clean?  So where are the other nine?  Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  He then says to the Samaritan at His feet, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”¹⁵

The story of Jesus' healing the ten lepers is just one example of a story in which the supposed outsider gets the proverbial picture, while the presumed insiders don't quite get it.

Earlier in Luke's Gospel, we read that one day, while Jesus was in Capernaum, some of the community leaders approached Him on behalf of their benefactor, a Roman centurion, asking Him to heal one of the centurion's servants, who was seriously ill.  As Jesus approached the centurion's house, some messengers met Him.  The centurion, who did not feel worthy to have Jesus enter his house, asked Him to heal his servant from afar, acknowledging that, in the same way that he has authority over his soldiers and servants, Jesus has authority over illnesses.  Jesus then said to the crowd around him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  When the messengers returned to the centurion, they found that his servant had been healed.¹⁶

Later on, Jesus told a particularly memorable parable in which a Jewish man is beaten, robbed, and left to die by the side of the road.  A priest and a Levite both see the man, but they go on their way, doing nothing to help him.  When a Samaritan sees the man, he puts aside their differences, performs first aid on the man, and takes him to safety.  In this parable, which would have been extremely offensive to Jesus' audience, the hated Samaritan demonstrates what it means to follow God's command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, while the two “holy men of God,” who are undoubtedly expected to be examples for their people, leave their neighbor to bleed to death.¹⁷

The story of Jesus' healing the ten lepers is often presented as a lesson in the importance of practicing and expressing gratitude.  Gratitude is, after all, a virtue that one must practice until it becomes one's practice.  The Samaritan in the story is lifted up as an example of someone who practices the oft-neglected virtue.  Ten people are healed of a dreaded disease, yet only the Samaritan returns to his Healer to say, “Thank you.”  The importance of practicing and expressing gratitude is indeed a good lesson to glean from this story, especially in a culture of entitlement.  It is important that we recognize that all good things in life are gifts from God, that we be grateful for the gifts we receive, and that we express our gratitude both to God and to the people through whom we receive these gifts.

All that said, I think that there is something else to be said about this story, something we might tend to overlook.

I highly doubt that the nine healed lepers who do not return to thank Jesus are actually ungrateful.  Remember that, because of the requirements of their religious law, leprosy has been a very disruptive and isolating condition for them.  The ten lepers whom Jesus has healed have been separated from their families, their communities, and their careers.  When they are found to be clear of their leprosy, nine of them are probably so eager to return to their normal lives that the thought of returning to Jesus does not even cross their minds.¹⁸  They are undoubtedly grateful that they have been healed, but they simply do not think to express their gratitude to their Healer.

Notice what Jesus does not say in this story.  He does not ask, “Were not ten made clean?  So where are the other nine?  Did none of them return to thank me except this foreigner?”  Jesus does ask, “Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  The moment the Samaritan is found to be clear of his disease he begins shouting praises to God.  Though he does indeed express his gratitude to Jesus when he returns to Him, Jesus calls attention not to his gratitude but rather to the fervent praise being healed has evoked in him.  It seems to me that what troubles Jesus is not that nine of the ten healed lepers have not come back to thank Him for healing them.  Rather, what seems to trouble Him is that only one of them is inspired to joyously praise God because he has been healed.

I wonder if maybe the joyous praise of the Samaritan shows that he realizes something about Jesus that the other healed lepers don't quite understand.

After Jesus reaches Jerusalem, He will be crucified, resurrected, and taken up to Heaven.¹⁹  Soon afterward, on a day called Pentecost, the disciple known as Peter will be empowered by the Holy Spirit speak to a large crowd.  He will describe Jesus of Nazareth as “a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you.”²⁰  The healing of a dreaded disease is an amazing feat, but, for Jesus, such miracles are meant to point beyond themselves to a greater reality, specifically that He was sent by God for a particular purpose.  Peter will go on to speak of Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to God's right hand.  Finally, he will proclaim, “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”²¹

Jesus is no mere healer.  He is the Son of God – “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”²²  He is the one who rose triumphant over sin and death.  He the Lord and Liberator of this world, sent by the Father to save humanity from all that oppresses us, be it the stigma and isolation of a dreaded disease or even the fear of death itself.

Maybe nine of the healed lepers simply go on with their lives after they are pronounced clean because, like many who have sought healing form Jesus, they see Him as little more than a healer.  Maybe the Samaritan is compelled to return to Jesus, shouting praises to God all along the way, because he has somehow seen past what Jesus has done for him and caught a glimpse of who Jesus really is, the Lord of this world and very embodiment of the God who is love.

I suspect that, as Christians, we sometimes mistakenly think of our relationship with Christ as something transactional or contractual.  In other words, we think that, if we do what Christ expects of us, then Christ will do what we expect of Him.  We might think that, if we believe certain things about Jesus, then He will get us into Heaven when we die, or we might think that, if we invoke His name at the end of our prayers, then God will be more likely to do what we've asked God to do.  To put it more crassly, I think that sometimes, like the people who sought healing from Jesus and simply went on with their lives when they got it, we see Jesus as a means to an end.  The relationship we are meant to have with Christ is that of a disciple.  As Christians, we are called to learn from Jesus, to follow in His ways, to have the same love He has for the world He came to save, to participate in the ministry He started, and to share His message of hope with the world.

Jesus is not a means to an end.  He is not a ticket to Heaven or a Get Out of Hell Free card.  He is not someone whose name we drop when we have an agenda.  Jesus is the Victor over sin and death and the true Lord of this world.  May we see Jesus for who He is and not for what we want Him to do for us; may we be His disciples and witnesses in this world; and may our lives glorify God as we strive to follow in His footsteps.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Luke 9:51 (NRSV)
2. Luke 17:11-12a
3. Leviticus 5:2-3
4. Leviticus 13:45-46 (NRSV)
5. Wikipedia: “Tzaraath” (section: “Interpretations”)
6. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 70
7. Luke 17:16b
8. Wikipedia: “Samaritans”
9. John 4:20
10. Barclay, p. 258
11. Luke 17:12b-14a (NRSVUE)
12. Leviticus 14:2-3a
13. Leviticus 14:3b-32
14. Luke does not explicitly tell us that the ten lepers actually follow Jesus' instructions, so I'm making the assumption that they are indeed inspected by priests.
15. Luke 17:14b-19 (NRSVUE)
16. Luke 7:1-10 (NRSV)
17. Luke 10:25-37
18. N.T. Wright.  Luke for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 206
19. Luke 22:47-24:53
20. Acts 2:22 (NRSV)
21. Acts 2:23-24, 32-36 (NRSV)
22. From the Nicene Creed

The Healing of Ten Lepers was painted by James Tissot in the late 1800s.