God's Dream: Opposed by Boundaries
Sermon for Proper 23 cycle c CtK God’s Dream Opposed by Boundaries October 13 14 2007 Luke 17: 11-19
Greeting
Do you remember the great TB scare a few months ago?
A man with Tubercullosis flew from Europe to Canada and “snuck” in
There was tremendous anger by all who encountered him and didn’t know
In this age of medicine and understanding we had this reaction
Can imagine the magnitude of the response in Jesus day to public health?
Leprosy is a horrendous mycobacterial disease
It is caused by a parasite – that even with modern medicine 12 million people carry!
It is know as Hanson’s disease
Transmitted by intimate contact
Incubation period of 1 to 40 years
Meant you couldn’t trace its origin
The problems came from the peripheral nerve damage from either infection of neuritis
Doesn’t register pain
Secondary infections
Glaucoma and blindness
Today it is treated with chemotherapy, physiotherapy and reconstructive surgery
The treatment in Jesus – day – shunning. – there was no medical treatment.
They were banned from society
If they could leave wherever they lived (remember out by the dumps)
Yelled unclean, unclean
Clothes to be torn – a visual reminders – a visual warning system
They were, simply put, outcasts
There was a boundary for the sake of public health
Because of the danger to the community there are entire chapters in Leviticus that address the issue of Leprosy.
One with leprosy would become a leper – a dehumanizing experience
(though Luke describes them as people with Leprosy.
There is clear instruction for cleansing and leper and certifying the recovery
Bathing, shaving & sacrifice
Oil had to be administered
Without a firm understanding of the etiology of the disease it was terrifying
It meant one was unlikely to return to regular society
That boundary was key – it made certain the safety of society
New Series – Today
God’s Dream
We’ll spend time exploring what God intended.
Brian McLaren "The call to faith is the call to trust God and God's dreams enough to realign our dreams with God's, to dream our little dreams within God's big dream. The call to receptivity is the call to continually receive God's dreams—a process that seems to be a lifelong one. The call to baptism is the call to publicly identify with God's dream and to disassociate with all competing isms or ideologies that claim to provide the ultimate dream (including nationalism, consumerism, hedonism, conservatism, liberalism, and so on). And the call to practice is the call to learn to live the way God dreams for us to live”
This first week we need to explore boundaries
What are the boundaries that humans have created that God did not intend?
This Gospel text – used to be the one used for Thanksgiving eve
Example of giving thanks – need to give thanks – etc
There is much more there though!
First of all there is the boundary between sick and healthy
From a public health perspective this is key.
Yet other boundaries are present – some broken – some not.
Let’s look at some
First Jesus was travelling through an area where Samaritans were
This was a boundary – Samaritans
Faithful Jews were to have nothing to do with the Samaritans
They came from mixed marriages – when the Assyrians had settled among them.
Jews would have avoided any travel that would have meant interaction with the unclean.
Just as in the parable of the Good Samaritan – Jesus is breaking down the barriers of the social setting: race, religion, social position.
The men with leprosy – also broke some boundaries.
They were required to call out Unclean – unclean
Instead they call out to Jesus to have mercy on them.
The original text says they “raised a voice”
Called out in unison
This was a mixed group of Jews and Samaritans
That boundary had been shattered by the disease
What united them was what they shared – disease & death, instead of what divided them – history
Jesus we are told sees them - (more weight than visual distinction – this seeing has mercy)
Jesus sends them to the priest to be declared “clean”, or healed.
While they are going they are healed.
The one – a Samaritan – returns to Jesus praising God.
There is another seeing here
It recognizes Jesus as the Messiah – and God working through Jesus for healing.
It is interesting to note how the man falls and Jesus feet and thanks him
All the other accounts of people at Jesus feet are for begging of mercy.
This gives us a glimpse of the gratitude
We understand that – it was a commutation of a death sentence.
The follow up comments/questions of Jesus are important
Were not 10 made clean? - even though only 1 returned 10 were made well
What about the other 9? – Where are they? Were their lives so changed by the healing that they couldn’t thank God?
This story parallels the Good Samaritan and the healing of Naaman who was also a foreigner.
The proper response to God’s mercy is not the presumption that we deserve it, but complete and total gratitude for God’s saving hand.
The text ends with the formulaic response – your faith has saved you – Because the others were healed too, this most certainly is similar to other accounts and points forward. The 9 got what they asked for but his one, received more than he even dreamed of asking.
When you look at the large text, some things jump out
There a bunch of boundaries
They are all human –made. Some for health itself!
God breaks them down – one by one
Race, health,
B & S so we are reminded that God breaks down the boundaries of sin that separate us from God and one another. And while it is not Thanksgiving – we are again reminded that all we have, all we are and all we hope to be indeed do come from God. They are a gift – We are to be thankful recipients and live in response to that Grace.
Amen.