Proper 23: October 14, 2007.

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c

Psalm 111

2 Timothy 2:8-15

Luke 17:11-19

First Reading

Faith sees, grasps, and gladly enters God's reign when it appears. Jesus invites us to see God's rule coming in all he does that we may enter an ever-new way of living marked by joy, praise, and service.

The healing of the ten lepers, a story unique to Luke, occurs at the start of the third and final leg of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem. The opening segment of this section of the travel narrative (17:11-18:8) has Jesus proclaiming the kingdom of God while predicting dramatic resistance and judgment that will fall upon him. This segment ends with a devastating question: "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on Earth?"

The answer is "Yes," but in characteristic fashion Luke finds greater faith among the small, the poor and outsiders--those who do not belong to the chosen people--than among those who should recognize who Jesus is and what he is doing (see 7:9). Here, a Samaritan, "this foreigner," is the only one of the ten healed lepers who recognizes that more than physical healing is at work in Jesus. This leper alone has faith that saves (17:18-19). He enters the reign of God while the others merely return to their old way of life. They are healed but do not enter the true miracle of God's salvation.

The ten cry out to Jesus, "have mercy on us" (17:13). Showing mercy was a central expectation of God's visitation (1:50, 54, 58, 72, 78; 18:38). Ritually impure, they maintain a proper distance from Jesus (Num 5:2-3; Lev 13:45-46). Jesus directs them to the priest, a command bearing the implicit promise of healing, since a priest must verify that the unclean has been healed. Only then can a former leper rejoin the community.

While on their way, all ten are healed. But only the outsider, a Samaritan--a fact Luke emphasizes--returns to glorify God, a standard response to a wonder in Luke-Acts (5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 18:43; 23:47; Acts 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20). The others, presumably members of God's covenant community, do not return to Jesus or praise God. This leads to Jesus' sad question: "Were none of them found to return and give thanks to God except this foreigner?"

Jesus' final word signifies what has really occurred: "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well" (17:19). The actual language could be translated "Your faith has saved you" (see 7:50; 8:48; 18:42).

And indeed, it has saved him. All ten lepers were healed, but only one recognizes that this blessing signals the appearance of God's reign in Jesus. Seeing the inbreaking rule of God, he has a change of heart and returns to give thanks. He does not merely reenter society as a ritually pure human being; he enters the kingdom of God. He is among the blessed who see the arrival of the kingdom (10:23). Unlike the Pharisees or the other nine lepers, he knows the kingdom of God has come among us (17:20-21), and he goes his way, living in praise and thanksgiving (17:15-16)

The healing of Naaman's leprosy in the reading from 2 Kings 5 echoes themes appearing in the Gospel. Like the Samaritan, Naaman is an outsider. Worse, he is an enemy, although one whom God, the Lord of history, has blessed (5:1-3). The prophet Elisha also doesn't touch Naaman but refuses to even go out and see him, directing him instead to go wash in the river.

Naaman resists Elisha's command and resents the prophet's lack of hospitality and respect for his high position (5:9-11). He almost walks away from a healing. It is the powerless ones, Naaman's servants (5:3, 13), who save the day by persuading their master to do what the prophet suggests. He does and is healed, and like the Samaritan leper he returns to give thanks (5:15)

The major connection with Luke's story is the movement of Naaman's soul. He comes to Elisha filled with pride of power and position (5:9-13). His healing moves him not merely to humility but to recognize the true God in the wonder of his cleansing (5:15). Naaman returns home healed. But a more profound change has come over him. He now knows who God is and to whom his ultimate loyalty and praise belongs.

The reading from 2 Timothy does not include themes closely connected with the others. Luke Timothy Johnson points out that memory and models are important motifs in 2 Timothy (The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation [Fortress, 1999], 434). The author of this pastoral letter reminds Timothy of the qualities and nature of the discipleship to which he is called in Christ (1:1-14).

Timothy also receives models upon whom he is to shape his witness. He is to strive and suffer as a good solider for Christ (2:2), compete like an athlete and care for the faithful like a farmer tends his crops (2:1-7), and always remember Jesus Christ for whom the Apostle Paul suffers hardship. Paul suffers so others might have salvation. Jesus likewise suffered and died (2:8-10).

This suffering and struggle occurs within the promise of God's faithfulness: "If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him" (2:11-12). This above all is sure and worthy of belief. The call is to remain faithful and bold (2:14-15) even as Christ is faithful that we might be saved (2:13).

Pastoral Reflection

If all you get out of being sick ... is well, you got cheated. This saying circulated among the chaplaincy staff where I received clinical training. The grammar was awkward but effective. We knew that sickness--with its anxieties, pain, and weakness--is a time ripe for personal and spiritual growth. It is pregnant with possibilities for developing deeper intimacy with oneself, one's loved ones, and God.

Ten lepers get better in today's Gospel, but only one gets the best. All ten experience the loving, healing touch of Jesus. He makes their bodies whole again. Nine return to their old way of life, not realizing that they have experienced the rule of God. They seek the approval of their society's leaders, are certified for public commerce, and return to a way of life they thought they'd lost.

They get back to life the way it was. But they don't get a whole new life in which they recognize the rule of God in all healing, in all that's good, in all that redeems and uplifts. They go their way, but, unlike the leper who returned to Jesus, they do not go glorifying God and giving praise for the wonder of God's blessed rule, which they have experienced in their mortal flesh. They don't recognize that something decisive has happened; they fail to understand that the love of God is loose in the world, seeking to make all things new and alive, not just once but again and again.

There are various parallels between this and our communal and individual lives. I will mention one: The human hunger for approval by authorities and those to whom we accord power is epidemic. It controls, limits, and disfigures countless human souls. We seek approval again and again, not realizing that seeing and belonging to the reign of God means we can go our own way, faithfully and well, without needing the blessing of the powers that be or waiting for them to tell us we are all right. Our faith makes us well. It joins us to Christ, saving us from the world's coarse judgments so that we may enter the freedom of the children of God, graced and gracious.

Like the leper, our faith rests in the rule of God's relentless love, which invites us to live in joyous freedom, giving glory to God and thanks to Jesus who brings us the kingdom. DLM