THE TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

2 Kings 5:14-17
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Luke 17:11-19

Dear Jesus,

How many times had the ten seen you, how many times had they heard you before they dared approach you convinced that you could do something about their plight? Or, was this their first encounter with you, their eagerness and trust the result of what others had told them about you? In the end there isn’t much difference. To experience the witness of a disciple is the same as hearing you. The result is to ponder what they have seen and heard and to work toward a decision about you. Here they call you Master. Will they call you Lord one day – the day after this meeting?

To appreciate their pathos, one has to have had the experience of being pariah. There is unique pain in being shunned, in knowing that one is unwelcome among a people thought to have been one’s own, in knowing that one’s very being is despised. These unfortunates knew that anyone coming into contact with them would incur ritual impurity and then could not enter into worship until s/he was declared clean again. They rang bells and cried out, Unclean! Unclean! to give ample warning lest contact, even with the hem of a garment be made. They begged for their sustenance. They lived near the refuse piles outside the city gates, themselves the off-scouring of society, their situation hopeless, death their only release, hopeless, that is until this day you came, approaching their city.

Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!
One of the lepers was twice unclean. One of the lepers was a Samaritan, a member of a sect splintered from Judaism who worshiped God from the Mountain rather than in the Temple in Jerusalem. It’s odd how you use Samaritans to illustrate the response you are looking for from all your disciples. You told the story of the Good Samaritan, the one who responded with compassion to the man beaten nearly to death. The religious establishment had passed the poor wretch by on their way to synagogue, avoiding contact with a body, again, lest they incur impurity. That was not a concern for the Samaritan who cleaned and dressed the wounds, put the man on the Samaritan’s beast of burden and secured shelter for him so that he could heal.

Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!

You tell them to fulfill the prescripts of the law for those healed of their leprosy. Go show yourselves to the priests. Simple as that, you send them off. There is no dramatic incantation. There are no showy gestures to attract attention to the miracle taking place. You tell them to show themselves to the priests who can then certify their cleanliness and make it possible for them to enter into society and worship again.

It is not difficult to imagine the excitement as, one by one, each of the ten came to realize their skin had taken on the pink bloom and healthy glow of youth again. No more scabs. No more running sores. Was it then that the Samaritan became unacceptable company for the nine? Did they oust him from their group rather than run the risk of incurring another kind of impurity through contact with him? Observance of the law, after all, was important for them. They were grateful to you, weren’t they? But they were intent on carrying out your directive and thus taking care of the Law’s demands. Did the nine think that there would always be time to get back to you someday?

Were you irate at the foreigner’s return to you? Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God? There is the sound of indignation in your words. Was there disappointment because the Samaritan gives the response you were seeking from the house of Israel? Giving thanks to God is the meaning of Eucharist. Does this foreigner have the heart necessary to enter into Eucharist when you will give thanks, bless, break and distribute the Bread that is your Body and the Cup that is your Blood? Is that part of this ecstatic moment of Thanksgiving emanating from the foreigner at your feet? Is he ready to be part of a Eucharistic people?

Did your attitude change when you recognized the Samaritan’s faith? He believed in you. That is a gift that only God can give. The Spirit worked in him. He is ready for discipleship. Was this another moment when you felt your ministry being pulled in an unexpected direction beyond the House of Israel for whom you said you had been sent? Did you accept at that time that you had been sent for the nations, too? The Samaritan found God through healing just as Naaman, the Syrian, another leper, had through Elisha’s ministry.

What would you have me take from this?

I know that I am to adopt your attitude towards today’s lepers. It is not acceptable that anyone or any class or group be thought unworthy of coming to the Table. I must live declaring all are welcome here. And that declaration must be accompanied by works that result in the designated unclean feeling your embrace when they are clothed, fed, and given drink. You were scorned for being a man who welcomed sinners and ate with them. To be scorned for the same offenses I would have to see as a blessing and not a curse. And of course there is a risk of guilt by association.

But I think there is something more that you would have me recognize. I must identify with the leper because I am a sinner. I may know rejection and experience betrayal and broken relationships. You want me to know that your wish is that I be whole, that I be healed, forgiven, and have a place at the Table.

The Spirit has stirred this faith making it possible for me to believe. I cried out, Jesus, Master! Have pity on me! And when you told me to Stand up and go; your faith has saved you, I stood and began to walk with you.

And I called you Lord.

Sincerely,

Didymus