Sunday, October 13, 2013 (full size gallery)
We had 40 people this Sunday on a very rainy, nasty day. Godly Play went well with a story of the Good Shepherd and 5 children.
This week we had our final "Feasting with Jesus" for this year. It was a diverse fare of lamb, bulghur, split pea soft, various breads and tarts. Ten people attended – the right number since everyone fit around the table.
In the end it wasn’t just the food but connecting it to the culture and particularly the feasts, Festival of the Weeks and Festival of the Tabernacles. In all of that was the closeness to the land, the change of seasons. There was a common framework, a common lens apparent then. That’s a challenge for us today in our diversity. The readings this week lead us to that framework.
The lectionary this week focuses on sickness, particulary leposy. This word is mentioned over 40 times in the Bible.
God had given the Israelites very specific instructions on how to deal with leprosy and other skin infections (Leviticus 13). Anyone suspected of having this disease had to go to a priest for examination (Leviticus 13:2-3). If found to be infected, “the leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:45-46). The leper then was considered utterly unclean—physically and spiritually.
Incurable by man, many believed God inflicted the curse of leprosy upon people for the sins they committed. In fact, those with leprosy were so despised and loathed that they were not allowed to live in any community with their own people (Numbers 5:2). Among the sixty-one defilements of ancient Jewish laws, leprosy was second only to a dead body in seriousness. A leper wasn’t allowed to come within six feet of any other human, including his own family. The disease was considered so revolting that the leper wasn’t permitted to come within 150 feet of anyone when the wind was blowing. Lepers lived in a community with other lepers until they either got better or died. This was the only way the people knew to contain the spread of the contagious forms of leprosy.
These stories and not just about including the lepers but understanding who they are. Both Naiman and the Samaritan in the Gospel are foreigners – Naithan from Aram (Syria) and the leper in Luke from Samaria. There is a big difference in their standing – Naiman a commander in Syria and 10 lepers probably without distinction. The stories are a metaphor for the Kingdom of God being opened to all.
The stories are also about the grace of God and our reaction. The Gospel’s leper “turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” This was in contrast to the other nine who did nothing. Naiman returns to Elisha and says “"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel."
There is new life being born. The sermon mentions this. "Not only has Naaman been healed, but we can see that now he is intentionally choosing a new life informed by the fact that God is sovereign in his life"
Then in the Gospel, "This leper receives not only physical healing, but he also finds salvation. And so he turns back shouting and screaming with joy and throws himself at the feet of Jesus and thanks him. This man is full of spontaneous and humble gratitude for what God has done for him…We have no idea where the leper ends up going, but we know that the leper is going to travel in a new way, full of reverence, joy and praise because of the healing and salvation he has received. "
Our job is carry healing to other in the service of the Kingdom of God – comforting those who are sick, standing up for injustice, teaching and praising.
The Psalm carries no healing story but is simply a praise psalm. “Come now and see the works of God”. The healing stories carry their own praise to God. A verse in the psalm directly related to the Old and New Testament stories “we went through fire and water; but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.
The sermon provides final words "And at the close of day, when night comes, and the stars are spread across the sky, after a day begun and spent in reverent service to our sovereign God, we can rejoice and give God thanks for all that has past and for all that is to come."
The readings for this Sunday are here