Title: “Grace or Privilege?”
Scripture: Luke 17:11-19
10/10/04 19th Sunday after Pentecost, Yr. C
Rev. Joy R. Haertig
I remember as a child seeing a movie that had “lepers” in it. I had a mixed reaction of feeling terribly sorry for them and feeling afraid of what could happen to our body with their missing fingers and toes. I also remember hearing this story from Luke as a child and putting the two images together. I was extremely moved by Jesus' courage. It struck me then as it strikes me now that Jesus was clearly empowered by a love that enabled him to move beyond normal human fears. “If Jesus can do that”, I thought as a child, “Then surely the rest of us can to.”
In Biblical times, leprosy was not seen as a punishment for sin, it was understood instead as an inexplicable act of God. (Barbara Brown Taylor) What a lonely explanation to live with. Imagine going to the doctor and being given that diagnosis…what kind of a god would do such a thing?
Leprosy was believed to be extremely contagious yes, but according to some scholars, it was not just that that set them apart. It was their loneliness that people did not want to catch. They had to live apart from their community, they had to dress differently and when and if people would ever approach, they had to shout out and identify themselves so no one would come near.
Apparently there are an estimated four million people worldwide affected by the disease today - also called Hansen's disease - there are over 800,000 new cases detected each year.
Though we know it is not as contagious as was once thought and there are drugs that help heal it, today it is a disease of poverty and tends to spread in areas of malnutrition and overcrowding. There is still shame and fear associated with the disease.
There are so many ways we can look at this story and try to understand what the author was trying to tell his audience. The author of Luke was always trying to show how Jesus reached out to those on the margins of society. This story is no different accept that the Samaritan is doubly cursed. He is not only ill but as a Samaritan he is not recognized as really Jewish by the religious establishment, he is thought of as a religious heretic, a social outcast.
Writer Fred Craddock offers a perspective on this story that I had not heard before, that it is a story about Jesus' ongoing concern over the actions of the religious establishment of his day. Craddock believes it may have been a story about the process of a sort of “blindness” that can come when a gift of grace becomes seen as a privilege (or entitlement).
In the beginning, the faith of Israel grew out of a sense of humble duty to the covenant they had with Yahweh. As the years progressed, what was first a gift from God eventually became a privilege, and instead of humility it led to a sense of superiority. Misuse and misunderstanding of the faith was deeply troubling for Jesus and he often challenged it with pointed parables or stories.
There were ten men with leprosy who cried out to Jesus and were healed; nine of them were Jewish and returned to the temple priest without praising God for the miracle - taking for granted what had just occurred. The tenth one, an outsider, ran back to Jesus and fell at his feet, praising God, obviously very aware of the gift he had just been given.
In no way is this meant to be anti-Semitic for any one of us can mistaken a gift of grace for a privilege (entitlement)- particularly over time.
This can happen and has happened time and again all over the world, with a variety of races - nations - genders - classes - and religions. Jesus could easily tell this story to us today in our own time and place. The gifts we take for granted as a people and a nation - mistaking them for something we work for, deserve or own. The grace we have received as individuals and fail to give thanks to the Giver time and again.
Jesus was trying to re-awaken his own people to the radical gift they had been given in their relationship with a merciful God.
Mercy, grace, healing, guidance, peace - all these gifts from God are meant to lead us to gratitude not to a sense of privilege. And sometimes it takes a so-called “outsider” to help us recognize it.
As I reflected on this over the week I happened to come across three striking examples of it in our world today:
I read an article in the paper this weekend about some plans taking shape in a small town in British Columbia to build a memorial to those Americans that moved there to avoid the draft in the 1970's. A number of groups in the U.S. are speaking out against such a memorial, people are canceling their vacations to the town of Nelson and emails are pouring in on their web site telling them that they are “stupid, backward ingrates”. For many, draft dodgers are seen as outsiders, undeserving of respect.
Yet isn't part of what we desire to protect in our country is the right to follow one's conscious? Why is it that we so often interpret someone else's choices as an insult to a different choice we have made?
We can only imagine how difficult it must have been for the majority of those people to pack up and leave their native land, perhaps these “outsiders” have something to teach us about the true gift of democracy.
Northshore United Church of Christ in Woodinville is currently sponsoring the homeless organization we know as Tent City. I read an article about their experience in the UCC news this week. It got me thinking about how we understand neighborhoods and neighbors.
There was a great deal of upheaval in the city over whether the homeless group should be allowed to come to the area. People were worried about their children, some even thought their cats and dogs might be in danger.
Apparently it has galvanized the church itself, given them a whole new sense of meaning. They have learned an enormous amount from Tent City residents themselves, and to a person, those who work with the folks are impressed with their graciousness and gratitude. It is interesting, our stereotypes of homeless persons and what their stories are. One fellow from the group joined the church. He is a Marine veteran and spent 15 years caring for his paraplegic dad, bikes up to church and even to Seattle looking for jobs.
Are neighborhoods and church parking lots a privilege or a gift of grace? These “outsiders” are inviting people to ponder what neighborhoods and being a “neighbor” could be about.
This last Wednesday was the last class we held here at our church on Marriage. The class was put together as a response to the growing debate over the right of same gender couples to legally marry and the potential movement in reaction to this towards a national constitutional amendment that would define marriage between a man and woman.
Thanks to this ongoing issue, I imagine that there are more conversations going on across the U.S. about marriage than ever before. An average of 15 of us gathered each week, gay and straight, married - partnered and single. What I found most personally beneficial, was the opportunity to talk about the depth and breadth of marriage with others in my faith community. The class heightened our awareness of the power the institution of marriage has in our society today both legally and spiritually. It heightened our awareness of how it has changed and evolved through the years and how our own Judeo-Christian scriptures do not offer only one view of family or marriage.
On our last night together we looked at the legal issues that either support or work against the various family structures that are a reality in our society. We also listed the values that were important to healthy, lasting, committed relationships. (Security, intimacy, honesty, play, communication, trust etc.)
As we talked, it was clear that for this group, these were the values at the core of marriage that we would want to teach, nurture and uphold as “normal” regardless of gender, race or creed. Those values were not privileges we wanted for only some people legally or spiritually, these are the values, gifts and obligations we want everyone to experience when and if they choose to marry. Once again, so-called “outsiders” are asking the questions of whether marriage is privilege or a gift.
It is easy to lose sight of how the things we cherish - freedom and liberty, our neighborhoods, and loving, responsible relationships - are simply gifts in and of them selves- not privileges we have somehow earned or entitlements we somehow deserve.
I invite you to consider how losing sight of this can impact our relationship with Spirit and with one another. Our prayers begin to focus on what we want or resentment over what we don't have rather than a deep sense of gratitude for the many blessings that grace our lives every day. Life becomes a competition with our neighbors rather than a joy to share.
Jesus was concerned that his own people not lose sight of grace and gratitude then - and equally concerned for our lives today. Let us pray.