LIFE AFTER EXILE
Luke 17:11-19
11On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between
Samaria and Galilee. 12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they
called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14When he saw
them, he said to them, “Go and show
yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.
15Then one of them, when he
saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He
prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then
Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was
none of them found to return and give
praise to God except this foreigner?”
19Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has
made you well.”
Years ago, the
Children’s Sermon at a church I was visiting was based upon this passage, the story
of the Ten Lepers. The minister told the
children that they should always be thankful, grateful for what they had and
what others gave to them. At the end of
their time together and before they were dismissed to their classes, the
minister offered each child a sucker, and as usual all of the children took one. Just before the last child left the sanctuary
the minister said, “See. That’s what
Jesus was talking about. They forgot to
say ‘Thank you.’ Inside I cringed and
raged. That was a cheap, cruel shot. There’s more that could have been said. There’s more in
that passage than meets the eye. I felt
that the minister had missed an opportunity to tell the greater story; one that
could be understood even by a small child.
I share that memory to say that to reduce this passage to a moralism on
thankfulness is too easy and misses the deeper issue, that of how to live after
being exiled/excluded.
The emphasis of
Luke’s gospel is that the Kin-doom of God is open to everyone – not just the
Jews. Women. Children.
Tax collectors. And, everyone
else who fell under the category of ‘leper.’
Yes, it included those who had various types of skin maladies that were
contagious. But, it also was a label
applied to anyone who the Temple priests and scribes, and others working for
the Roman government deemed unacceptable – physically, mentally, and
religiously objectionable to the community.
Those with skin diseases weren’t allowed to live inside the cities, only
in quarantined areas. They were not
allowed to enter the Temple, and alienated in other ways. And at any time they were coming near a town
they were obliged to announce their presence from a far off distance. This gave time for everyone to run and hide
for their presence meant contamination and death. Other ‘lepers’ were endured their share of
stigmatization. What kind of life is
that to live, to be known by only one thing about you; that you have no
identity other than some-thing you have no control over.
The good news
for these 10 individuals, and for us today, comes early in the passage. We read
that they recognized already, up front that they were included in the Kin-dom
that Jesus was preaching about when they called out his name “Jesus, Master,
have mercy on us…” Living in their self
imposed ghettos, in exile, as foreigners they realized the new truth God was
speaking through the life and mouth of Jesus of Nazareth. It was by faith only, not purity laws or
other conventions, they were invited just like everyone else to take their
place at the welcome table prepared by God.
They realized that any other message was a lie. “As they went, to show themselves to the
temple priests, they were made clean.”
The priests didn’t have to do or say anything! Their faith in the radically simple call of
God in Jesus set them free. As they went
they were made whole.
That’s good news! And no
matter how incompletely this story is told, it’s still good news to me, to know
that all people are welcome in God’s new community no matter who or what they are;
no matter what barriers are put in front of them. Everyone belongs in God’s Kin-dom. And, there is room for all of us to
flourish. There’s room for us to be
more.
But, the story is
not finished. The remaining issue is the
nine who didn’t return, but nevertheless, claimed their place among the
community of believers/followers of the Christ.
Why didn’t they come back? I
believe that what they suffered from the same trauma that many of us wrestle
with - fear that causes us to still see ourselves as unacceptable.
I don’t know about you, but it is nerve racking and intimidating
having to assert yourself upon those who have the power to declare you an
outcast and make laws on how your life is to be managed. It takes a load of gumption to declare
yourself acceptable to God and others after years of being told that you were
an outsider. It takes a lot of gumption
to stand up and let others know that you
are loved. Perhaps the none who didn’t
come back were still reeling from taking on the powerful Temple priests – no
small feat! It had to be hard to go
through the questioning by the priest, face their judgment. Maybe they were still shaking in their boots
because they didn’t come back. But, I’m
also thinking they did not know how to live into their new-found reality. They were living according to the old scripts
that had ruled how they saw themselves and inhabited their life. So many questions they faced: Who
were their friends and allies now that they refused to go back to the leper
colony? Who would stand with and for them? What was possible for them that they
refused to go back and believed in the Savior?
How do you live beyond this stigma, after being in exile for so long?
The answers to the questions the Ten may have asked and those
that many of us ask is right here in the text.
It is frustratingly simplistic, and easier said than done. “And as
they went, they were made clean.”
See. Wake up. Get up.
And go on your way. Recognize
that you are responsible for discarding the harmful scripts about ourselves –
ones foisted upon us, by family and tribe and culture, and ones we take upon
ourselves. Old scripts and narratives
are hard to give up, particularly when they have given us comfort and shelter;
and harder still when they have ceased to do so. We know how to live life on the offensive but
to live free is new and different. This is a perspective, an attitude about
ourselves that comes from within ourselves by the power of the Holy
Spirit. No one can do it for us, give it
to us, or declare it for us. We live
into it everyday, step-by-step, through prayer and action.
As much as this story is about life after exile for the
individual, it has implications for the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ, even
congregations like ours whose members and friends were sent into exile by other
congregations. As a community you’ve
been thinking about what is possible for The Village in the next 6 months to a
1 year, 2 years. How should you organize
yourselves? What kinds of programs
should we have? Who’s going to do
what? Like the Ten Lepers – as we move
forward, the way emerges. As we claim
who we are, the way is shown to us. Let’s
ask ourselves:
1. Are we a congregation of exiles, living as a lone tribe?
2. Are we co-signing and reproducing the speech and behavior of
people who have the power to exile and exclude others?
3. Are we singing the song of the exile?
I hope
our answer to each of those three questions is ‘no.’ No, we are not a lone tribe, but part of a
family, a world-wide community of followers of God made know in Jesus of
Nazareth, even those who have gone before us and those yet to come. We are reflection of all that God has made
known to us in Jesus Christ, of the whole.
No, we are not spending all of our time
trying to prove to other people that we are not who they say we are as
individuals and as a church. We will not
be quarantined.
We will not quarantine ourselves. We will not live small reactive lives. We will not be a small reactive church. We will reflect the image of God stamped upon
us, in our time and place, and be the church that envisions its calling for the
next 3, 5, 10 years.
No, we are not singing the song of the
exiled. We are singing a song of people
of God made free by the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, living into the ministry
he passed on to us: the blind receives
their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them! How to do all that takes a lot of figuring
things out. Who needs to be raised from the dead? People inside and outside the church. People inside and outside the church need to
hear the good news.
There is life after exile, and by God’s
grace we will live into it.
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