Song “He will hold you fast”
The world belongs to God
The earth and all its people
How good and lovely it is
To live together in unity
Love and faith come together
Justice and peace join hands
Song “Brother, sister let me serve you”
Let us in silence remember our faults and failings
Christ have mercy on us, and deliver us from our sins and may we amend our lives. Amen.
We say the Lords Prayer in our own language
Reflection on Luke 17v11-19
These ten lepers are much better behaved than the one who annoyed Jesus by ignoring the established safety barriers and rushing to his feet in Luke 5. They keep their distance in accordance with the Law (Lev 13:45-46). It did not prevent them calling out for help. Jesus also kept his distance, responding not with touch, as in 5v13, but with the same instruction as there. They are to go to the priest. The priest’s role is to inspect the symptoms and if all is well, declare the person fit to re-enter social life (Lev 14v2-4). Associated with that declaration was an offering.
The leprosy then is not the disease we know as leprosy today. It was a term for a range of skin diseases which were assumed to be contagious. It meant being isolated from the rest of the community as unclean. It was a terrible experience, not unlike leprosy today or small pox. The lepers also gained a reputation for being bad or troublesome, so people had little patience with them.
The healing occurred mysteriously, it just happened. The assumption is that Jesus made it happen. While the lepers go they are healed. (as it is often that on our journeys in life, as we go, we are healed). The word used here means purified or cleansed, because the healing would mean they could return home. In Mark 14 we read of Simon the former leper who entertained Jesus. It was part of Jesus ministry to heal lepers.
In the healing of the single leper in Luke 5 Jesus emphasizes observance of the Law. Here Luke assumes the Law stands. This story feeds off the first story. Luke is fond of doing this, both within the gospel as well as between the gospel and Acts. The similarity usually has the effect of highlighting what is different.
What is different here? Only one said, "Thank you!" Did Luke have a low view of lepers? Many did. The single leper of the first story angered Jesus because he went blabbing about what had happened when Jesus had told him to keep silent (5v15). The nine healed lepers go off ungrateful. As children we were told. "Don’t forget to say, 'Thank you!'" Is that all there is to this story?
He was a Samaritan! Not so surprising, since 17v11 tells us Jesus is passing through Galilee and Samaria. But the point is not one about geography, but about prejudices. You wouldn’t expect a Samaritan to say, ‘Thank you!’, because ‘you all know what Samaritans are like.’ (We could add you all know what Jews are like, Irish, Muslims and so on). This story forms a pair with the parable of the good Samaritan. Luke is subverting a racist stereotype. In Jesus’ words the man is a foreigner.
It is not difficult to find parallels today. "You all know what Muslims are like" was a common response after the bombings, or prejudices against asylum seekers often trying to flee injustice. The exception becomes the norm.
One leper did come back to thank God and true worship is recognizing where God is at work. As the good Samaritan embodies love for our neighbour, so this good Samaritan embodies love for God. The story is deliberately subversive. Lepers were not respectable and Samaritans were hated. So rubbing the salt in, Luke has Jesus announce that this tenth leper, the Samaritan, who today would be a Palestinian, has been made whole, just like the Samaritan who came to the aid of the traveler beaten up on the roadside. The Samaritan, substitute Muslim, gay, black whatever …embodied the heart of Jewish law, the Torah: loving one’s neighbour. Go and do likewise. Amen
Song “Put peace into each others hands”
The blessing of God be upon you
On those you love and those you meet
This day and forevermore. Amen
With thanks to the ©Iona Community adapted
