“High Priestly Thanksgiving”

Luke 17:11-19

Pastor Tom Johnson, November 27, 2014

In the time the Bible was written, leprosy was not what we would consider one, definable skin condition. Leprosy is a broad label which describes a number of skin conditions. The main passage can be found in Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. In this very long, ceremonial law passage, you will find 91 verses painstakingly describing lumps, cysts, discolored skin and hair, oozing puss, exposed raw flesh, infection, rashes, scars, itching…would you like for me to continue? All this to say, you nor I would not want to suffer any of these conditions. And what added insult to injury was the fact that these texts also describe how God’s people should be shunned and exiled from their home and worship communities. They were to be avoided. Lepers were to walk around in the wilderness. If they saw someone else coming their way, they were instructed by the Law to cover their upper lip and yell, “Unclean! Unclean!” twice—just to make sure you stayed away.

Today, the Center of Disease Control has “Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Potential Ebola Virus Exposure.” It is controversial because of the delicate balance between an individual’s rights and the health of the greater community. But in Jesus’ day, the tip of balance was against the individual. Today, whole villages need to be educated in countries ravaged by Ebola. A lack of education prevents people from returning to their homes even after surviving infection. It is not unlike AIDS in our nation and all the education that is necessary not to bring further suffering to people who are already suffering quite enough.

And so it is with these ten lepers in our passage. They are in exile. They are ragged, diseased, and rejected. They show extraordinary courage by approaching Jesus—yet keeping their distance from him. They live with extraordinary stress. When Jesus tells them to show themselves to the priests, that means something to nine of them. For the nine Israelite lepers, it means going through a very lengthy and expensive process at the temple to restore them to their communities and regain access to temple. It means nothing to the one Samaritan.

For the Samaritan, it means that he was losing nine companions. He will return to the Samaria perhaps. He certainly has no reason to join the other nine to the temple. He has a greater stigma—he is not 100% of Jewish heritage. He will still be denied access to the temple. I hope you recognize Jesus’ humor—the delightful and playful way he deals with this double outcast. “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” “Um, Jesus, you told them to go and show themselves to the priests. What do you mean, ‘Where are they?’? They are doing exactly what you told them to do. The one came back because you gave instructions to the wrong person.”  Where else did this Samaritan have to go? Like Peter said and we often say in our liturgy, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!” (John 6:68). Jesus is probably the only Priest the Samaritan ever met. Jesus was certainly the only Temple into whose presence he would enter. Jesus does something radical here: he bypasses all the Levitical law of sin offerings, thanks offerings, blood and grain offerings, and meticulous examination by a priest in public for all to see. He knowingly sends the ten back to a system that is inferior and outdated. He sends the one Samaritan to a system that is irrelevant to him. And then Jesus, with tongue-in-cheek and a twinkle in his eye acts as if he does not know why they behave the way they do. He does this to reveal God’s greater plan for all people.

Jesus celebrates the Samaritan’s faith because through his journey as a foreigner and leper he discovers a greater Priest and a greater Temple. Through this particular experience of a Samaritan, we find a universal promise for all humanity. The other nine should have been that much more aware of the One they just had been healed by—their thanksgiving should have been as profound as the One who cleansed them. Even though they also had the stigma of leprosy like the Samaritan, the nine are still numbered among the privileged because of their Jewish ancestry. But they are returning to a system that falls short of just how universal God’s plan is. Their privilege, ironically enough, may have prevented them from seeing just how much cleansing they could have and just how deep and wide our thanksgiving can be. Privilege can keep us from recognizing the fullness of blessings we have.

And so it is for us as we journey through what can often feel like a wilderness. We begin as exiles and with the stigma of not feeling welcome into holy presence of God. We come to realize, though, that we are all on this journey together. We are all misfits—unclean and filthy with the leprosy of our sin. Thanks be to God we have each other as companions! Thanks be to God that he does not wait for us to get our act together, cleanse ourselves, nor pay the high premium for the healing of our souls. No, he makes the first move toward us even though he could simply keep his distance. He sends his Son Jesus into the wilderness of this world to take on the same skin and flesh as us—tempted by the same sin—yet uncontaminated. For he is the clean and spotless Lamb of God. He pays the premium for our healing—not with gold and silver—not with the blood of birds, rams, or sheep—but with the priceless and pure Blood of Jesus. Jesus is the new and greater Temple—the High Priest of Heaven and Earth. He cleanses us by the water, Word, and Spirit and adopts us into the family of God. It only makes sense for us to stop in our tracks, turn around from a course of fruitless and outdated ambition, fall on our knees, remember all the blessings God has given us—body and soul—and give Jesus a shout of thankful praise.