Superficial Divisions

PROPERS:          PROPER 23, YEAR C  

TEXT:                 LUKE 17:11-19

PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY, PENSACOLA, ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2019.

ONE SENTENCE:        Many of our “enemies” are not our enemies, but                                                 individuals with whom we share much.

                                    

            The gospel lesson today is a familiar one, but there is much texture and history to it.

            Jesus heals 10 lepers and sends them to the priests to show their healings and, one presumes, to have their ritual purity proclaimed.

            Only one of the lepers returns to Jesus to give thanks.  Jesus notes, that lone returning leper was a Samaritan.

            Therein lies the texture and history.

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            Luke likes to focus on Samaritans.  There is a reason.

            A more familiar story is Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke, chapter 10. In that parable, a man is stripped, beaten, and left for dead by bandits along a road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  Various people of faith – including a priest – pass by, walking on the other side of the road.  They turn a blind eye to the wounded man.

            And then along comes a Samaritan.  The Samaritan takes the man to a roadside inn and pays to have him nursed and returned to health.

            Again, it was not a member of the covenant people – the “good people” -- who tended this victim of crime, but a Samaritan.

            Jesus poses a question:  Who was the wounded man’s neighbor?

            Jesus is turning the tables on history.

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            In the days which followed the reigns of Kings David and Solomon – a combined rule of 88 years – the United Kingdom divided.  Judea became the nation to the south, with its crown jewel of Jerusalem.  The northern part of the country became Israel, with its own kings and queens (think of Ahab and Jezebel).

            That was nearly 1,000 years before Jesus.  And the animosity between those two countries grew.

            The locus of faith for Judea was Jerusalem and the Temple located there.  For Israel, the shrine of faith was at Mt. Gerazim near Shechem – in a section of the land known as Samaria.

            The two peoples shared much – especially devotion to Torah, the law.  But they were divided by their devotion to separate holy places.

            The animosity grew – despite their shared roots.  Both lands were ultimately conquered and occupied by foreign forces – Israel first, Judea second.  But the suspicion and distrust lingered.

            Some two-hundred years before Jesus, most of the people of the area known as Galilee became Jewish.  That left Samaria pinched between two areas hostile to their existence. People traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem would frequently by-pass Samaria, even though it added miles to their journeys.  They wanted nothing to do with Samaritans – these “foreigners.”

            It was to this well-aged animus that Jesus spoke.

            He noted that the one leper who returned to give thanks was a Samaritan.  Where were the other nine?

            The irony must have struck Jesus. It must have struck his followers, as well.

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            In the two stories – the Good Samaritan and the Ten Lepers – we see two truths which should prompt us to think.

            In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we see the Samaritan as an example of a good neighbor – someone who will care for another.  The Good Samaritan is modeling loving behavior – contrasted with the priest and the Levite. Someone who exemplifies the spirit of the Law – Remember the second part of the Summary of the Law:  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

            In today’s gospel, we have another dimension: a model of godly love for the Samaritan and the response from him.  God does not differentiate between a member of the covenant community and a foreigner.  In response, the Samaritan shows a heart full of gratitude for God’s movement in his life.

            So, in these two passages, Jesus shows us the breadth of God’s grace.  It typifies his mission, which is to all people.  And he tries to open the eyes of those who see the other – the foreigner, the leper, the tax collector, the sinner – as someone to be looked down on. 

            That mission takes on broader emphasis in Luke’s second volume – the Book of Acts.  In the first chapter, just before his ascension, Jesus tells his followers, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We see the efforts of Paul, Peter, and others to take the gospel to the wider world.  The gospel and God’s love are for all people.

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            There is a more immediate lesson for us, though.

            There was a deep division between the Jewish people and the Samaritan people – in spite of the fact that they had common foundations, shared much in-common, and were joint heirs of God’s love.  They looked past all that and recognized, instead, their divisions. They saw each other as enemies.

            Who do you see as an enemy – even though you may share much in-common with them?

            That which separates you may be superficial – school allegiance, race, ethnic origin, political views.  Or it may be deep and broad – an approach to life, different faiths, profound beliefs or ethics.

            Ronald Reagan famously said, “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally.”God is even more generous than that.  We are to look at ourselves and others and see the bond of God’s love – that transcends our feeble humanity – and view one another not as enemies, but as brothers and sisters and fellow children of God.