Sermon, October 13, 2013

Christ United Presbyterian Church

October 13, 2013

Sermon:  “Where Is Everybody?”

Luke 17:11–19

Earlier this week on our church’s Facebook page I posted this thought from Bishop N.T. Wright:  "As you sing the Psalms, pray the Psalms, and ponder the Psalms, you will find yourself drawn into a world in which certain things make sense that would not otherwise do so. In particular, you will be drawn into a world where God and Jesus make sense in a way they would not otherwise do."  The Psalmists new how to live thanks!

Almost all the Psalms – either directly or indirectly – are hymns of thanksgiving.  The word “thanks” actually appears 55 times in Psalms.  When we truly have a sense of genuine gratitude for our relationship with God  -  through the downs as well as the ups – gratitude will make sense of everything in a new and different way.

We all understand the importance of saying thanks.  It’s often one of the first things we teach our children.  We tell them they need to at least sound grateful when someone gives them something.  Possibly that’s a problem.  We teach ourselves early that “thanks” is just a formally polite word that we are required to use in proper society.  Although as adults we usually feel pretty good about ourselves when someone says “thanks” to us – even if it is just a word.  We’re content to settle for the word.

Gratitude is much more than a word.  Gratitude is a deeply felt emotion that shapes and alters our relationships with one another – and with God.  I’m grateful for a lot of things, but I may view things a little differently.  I’ve been told on more than one occasion that I’m a little different.  I’m grateful that my wife loves me, but if it’s possible to have gradients of gratitude then I’m even more grateful that she accepts my love.  I need to love her at least as much as I need to be loved by her.  My love for her affirms my humanity to me.

The same is true of my relationship with God.  I am very grateful for all the things that God has given me, but my identity as a child of God is confirmed in the love that God allows me to bring to God.  On top of everything else that God does for me, I am grateful that God is wiling to accept my love; that God gives me the opportunity to freely love God and that my love for God is accepted by God.  It is when I love God knowing that God accepts my love that I know most strongly that I am a child of God.

Of all the lessons in scripture that try to teach us the importance of gratitude – or at least the human propensity for ingratitude – perhaps the one we read this morning from Luke 17 is the most familiar.  It says, “As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him.”

I’m not sure that we can understand today what it meant to be a leper in the First Century.  Many different efforts at finding a parallel in modern times have been made, and perhaps AIDS comes close, but I think that that very popular group of creatures that we call “zombies” might be a better comparison.  These people were the walking dead. 

They had a horribly disfiguring disease which made them visibly repugnant to people who saw them.  It was thought to be contagious. There was no known treatment.  Eventually they were likely to die from secondary infections that developed because of the slow destruction of their immune systems.  The only way they could get enough food to eat was through begging, and even that had to be done at a distance from the people who might give them a little money or a little bite of bread.  Any hopes that these people might once have had for their lives were destroyed when the disease first appeared on their bodies.  It was a sure but slow death sentence.  They were the living dead.

They were isolated form the rest of society. If you’ve ever been sick with a lengthy illness, you know how lonely you may come to feel.    They were prohibited by Jewish law from coming within 50 yards of someone who wasn’t infected.  Like us, they needed fellowship, but the only fellowship they were able to find was in the company of one another.  There is a strange power to the fellowship of people who share a common suffering.   They at least had the shared suffering of one another to be grateful for.

It’s not often that I would make such a sweeping statement as this, but I’m convinced that there is no one in this room who has experienced the depth of suffering that these ten had to live with.

They call out to Jesus and ask for mercy, and he responds in a very strange way.  He doesn’t go to them and carry our some dramatic healing ritual.  Much like the simple instructions that Elisha gave to Naaman, Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priests.  These lepers were ritually impure and well as physically contaminated, but the priests had the authority to pronounce them clean.  To do that would mean that they had been healed.  So off they went and we are left to assume that as they walked off to see the priests their illness disappeared. 

Most of us have heard this story before – spoiler alert – we already know how it ends.  It would be nice to think that all ten came running back to give Jesus thanks and praise.  It might even boost our faith in humanity if all ten came back, but that’s not what happens. One returns.  Just one.  That “one” fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.  Jesus says to this one:  “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

“Your faith has made you well.”  That’s a common phrase in Jesus’ language.  The faith of this one person is lived out in the gratitude that he brings to Jesus, humbling himself before the Lord and praising God with thanks and praise.

I said before that we know how this story ends.  But do we really?  If the faith of this man – not the intervention of Jesus – was what made him well, then perhaps we need to ask again about the other 9.  Jesus asks “Where is everybody?” “Were not 10 made clean?” What if the answer is “No!”  Their faith was the only thing that could make them clean and only one had that faith.  And that faith was shown in the man’s gratitude to Jesus.  That faith was shown when he turned back to God and brought Him praise and thanksgiving.

We talk about “faith” way too much.  It’s not a word.  It’s the way we act.  It’s the way we act toward God.  It’s the way we act when we rely on God’s power and God’s love.  It’s the way we act when we know that God wants our love.  It’s the way we act when we know that God’s finds our love to be a worthy and acceptable offering. 

I know that there are people in this room who have experienced suffering, who may be experiencing suffering today.  I also know that everyone in this room has a great many things to be thankful for:  the fellowship and love that we share; the food on our tables; doctors and nurses to provide us with the best available medical care; a church that provides us with a place and an opportunity to live in loving and forgiving fellowship with one another and provides us an opportunity to express our gratitude to God, a God who wants our thanks and our love.  We can express that through the gifts that we share here, the time that we give in support of this congregation’s mission to this community and the world, and the dollars that we give to continue and expand the grateful presence of this congregation as we strive to return thanks to God by returning His love to the world He called good.

Our congregation has come through some difficult and conflicted times, and some want to keep grumbling about the past.  There are other people who fight every day to seek and nourish the gratitude that God deserves from us.  They tell me of the blessings they receive from serving God in this community and on behalf of this congregation.  They tell me that when they thank God with the humble actions of their lives they are blessed to learn how much God wants and acknowledges their love.  They tell me how much can be accomplished when they ask for help from others to gratefully serve God. 

We have all received God’s blessings.  As the Psalmists knew, we can make sense out of God and the life of Jesus when we bring God our love and our thanks.  Gratitude to the Lord is what redeems our lives and relieves our fears. 

If we are to move this congregation to the next exciting chapter in its witness to God’s grace, we need the labors and the financial support of all of you.  Were not all of you blessed?  Where is everybody?

Amen.