1 in 10 of Us
What if we put their condition aside for a moment. Imagine them all more as a typical crowd. What if two of the nine have sick children, or parents to tend to? And another two, what if they don’t trust any authority for reasons taught, and reasons learned the hard way. Of course they would split. Maybe two were persons who struggled with mental health, and perhaps two had been demeaned or harmed or bored beyond reason by holy people in the past. Whomever they were, whatever story lay behind their choices, they could be not far from ours. Today is one of Jesus’ most relatable moments. I don’t think we get much beyond age six without the feeling that your work had been overlooked. The group project that fell on you, household tasks, many work environments. You give it your all, stop the leak in the dam and everyone goes on about their business. Not because they are mean or evil, but because they are imperfect humans under a litany of demands and distractions.
Getting back to the text as we received it, Jesus is called to the attention of a mixed group of people with leprosy. Whatever conditions Bible writers are speaking of, it isn’t the same as what we would now diagnose with the same word. The descriptions from ancient sources suggest a skin disease featuring large discolorations. Which would make someone not so much ritually unclean, as it would make them a scapegoat. Today the ten people with obvious illnesses place themselves on Jesus’ way and they are healed. No pop quizzes, no litmus tests. This reading is short but it has more layers than sentences. One of the layers that’s harder to see in the English are hints of the found sheep and the found coin. And a layer pointing to the Eucharist and clearly calling on memories of Good Friday.
However, the most obscured and vital layer is in the last phrase of this text. In almost every English translation it is translated as ‘your faith has made you well’. But that’s only one of the ways that the Greek word at the end of our gospel lesson can be translated. The word that here is ‘made well’ it’s the same word that is elsewhere nearly always translated as saved. In both languages saved is a complex word about rescue and wellness and righteousness. And what we mean by saved can be straightforward, and a mystery. The salvation that we know in Jesus Isn’t just about individuals getting right with God. Or being rescued by a superhero. All ten of the people in the story were healed. They were all rescued from a life of exclusion and the inability to participate in society safely. Jesus doesn’t take back the healing because the nine didn’t stick around. God loves all of them. We do need to do the work of turning to God and God’s commandments, but it’s not just about you. And we don’t know what they felt in their hearts, or where the story went next. Perhaps they did seek him again, say thanks, follow him. The journey of faith is more complex than one sentence.
The one we do know a bit more about, the focal one, as you may already know was the most outsider of the outsiders a despised neighboring Samaritan. Every single one of those persons received good news in the life-changing love of God present, they received it in more than the physical healing of their bodies. However, it is the last one, the least one, who responded with immediate gratitude. All of us have not done our share, Loved someone more than they loved us. This is a lesson of abundant mercy, and despite our numbskullness – Jesus is present with us anyways.
When I was in college, like many young adults, There was a time of lost heavy gloom – mild depression. We didn’t have mental health first aid classes thirty years ago. If there was a mental health clinic, I don’t recall knowing about it. I had smart caring friends and today I am sure they would have gotten me over there – because my difficulties were obvious. Now I was raised in the Episcopal church, but I hadn’t ever really cared a whole lot about faith or spirituality. I look back and am awed by the way the Spirit was moving in my friends and in me that led me towards trying church. It wasn’t just showing up to the property or tuning in that changed things, it was a community of love, it was putting my head and my heart – my whole intention in the mission. Volunteering to serve with the student ministry and the tutoring program. The Spirit was working in me and in that community to put me on the way of Jesus. Service, learning, community, intention and making the time to be on his road, absolutely was a gift of saving and healing. (And I would recommend that if this is you you also seek out mental health services.)
So what if the 10 persons are just one person, where 90% of our time gets so caught up in the demands of living that we fail to pause, praise, serve, tell, love. What if the call here isn’t to batter ourselves or our neighbor with more shame, but to choose from abundance. To respond to the Spirit’s leading, to be intentional about following Jesus through prayer, hands-on service, or learning. Our lesson today is layers upon layer of story bound together, but with infinite space within which to find ourselves and be a part of the rescue by forces wild and powerful and holy that surrounds us and stirs in our hearts every day. We may be weighed down by gloom, or caution, and/or feeling wrongly self-important, but we are all found by Jesus’ mercy, love, and grace, and here today, have been invited to wholeheartedly respond.