Readings:
Sermon:
Jesus is in border territory, between Samaria and Galilee – not the best of neighbours: Jews on one side, non-Jews on the other, between them suspicion, hostility, enmity. Along comes a group of ten people who are suffering from leprosy. They beg Jesus to heal them, but he does not seem to do anything, he just tells them to go and show themselves to the priests, almost as if he wants to get rid of them. Anyway, off they go, and on the way one of the ten – a Samaritan, an outsider, one of ‘them’ notices that his leprosy has suddenly gone. Immediately he turns round, starts singing praise to God at the top of his voice, throws himself on the ground in front of Jesus and says ‘Thank you.’ Now, my question – what exactly is it that this foreigner thanks God for? Well, it is blindingly obvious, isn’t it? He is overwhelmed with gratitude because his leprosy has gone. That is the obvious answer, and it is right; but I am not sure it is the whole answer.
When the lepers approach Jesus, they stand far off, in other words they practise social distancing - it seems there is nothing new under the sun. Before Covid that phrase ‘social distancing’ was little used, now it is universally understood. I wonder what impact social distancing had on you? For some people it has meant the almost unbearable pain of not being at the bedside of a loved one in their final hours of their earthly life. Less heartrending, perhaps, but still agonizing, restricted numbers at significant life events, birthday parties under umbrellas – just not being able to hug others. Those are all pretty obvious. And I think there is another layer to it. I remember when things began to open up after lockdown, having a first meal in ages inside a restaurant. The buzz of conversation, the chinking of glass and cutlery, the shouts and sizzles from the noisy kitchen, the laughter at jokes I could not hear – all that background noise helped me to feel connected. And I realised I had not even noticed that lack of feeling connected until after it had been restored. Like everyone else in lockdown, I had been unwillingly isolated, other people had become distant, physically if not emotionally, though the two are not always distinct. If you remember that experience, then you have a deeper insight into the daily lives of those ten lepers.
When the Samaritan leper returns to Jesus, he does not maintain social distance. On the contrary, he prostrates himself at Jesus’ feet. I wonder how close he got? Did he touch Jesus? Did he kiss those feet in sheer joy and gratitude? Yes, he was grateful that his disease had been cured. And I think he was grateful that he could now reconnect. He could touch and be touched again – what a precious, life affirming experience.
I wonder also if there is yet more. He was a Samaritan, not a Jew. Jesus walks along the dividing line and he reaches out in both directions. In effect he abolishes the division, the suspicion, the hostility: not social distancing between them and us, there is but one common humanity. When Jesus embraces the stranger, the foreigner, Jesus’ embrace goes beyond the one individual. Then he affirms the foreigner’s faith – a shocking thing for Jesus to do. ‘Get up and go on your way. Your faith has made you well.’
All of which points to another border, another division across which Jesus will later reach out his arms, the line between life and death. By his own suffering and painful, self-sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus abolishes the division by rising to new and eternal life.
So, yes, the Samaritan is expressing gratitude for his physical healing, and he is thanking God for his reconnection with other human beings – social healing, if you like – and for the abolition of the barriers that separate communities as well as individuals, and for Jesus’ acceptance of him as a person of faith, loved by God. And maybe, at least intuitively, in encounter with Jesus, the healed man gives thanks for the hope of life eternal.
Before lockdown I had taken for granted many things for which, now they have been restored, I am grateful. I invite you to take a minute to reflect on whether the same is true for you. Also, might there be good things in your life now which you might be taking for granted? If there are, you might like to join with the healed leper in giving thanks to God.
And what divisions are there that you might, with God’s help, reach across and how might you do so?