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October 14, 2007
From WhereDoes Our Help Come?
Psalm 121, Luke 17:11-19
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), a great-grandson of the founder of the Hasidic movement, once wrote that "When asked how things are, don't whine and grumble about your hardships. If you answer 'Lousy,' then God says, 'You call this bad? I'll show you what bad really is!' When asked how things are and, despite hardship or suffering, you answer 'Good,' then God says, 'You call this good? I'll show you what good really is!'"1
Hearing some of these old sayings from Eastern European Jewish tradition helps one understand the sense of humor of a Tevia in Fiddler on the Roof. What I always liked about that character, and what I drew me to the little saying I just quoted, is the kind of informal intimacy it implies about a relationship with God. It is almost as if the Rebbe is sharing a joke with a God who is like an old uncle...or a wise grandma in her rocking chair. I think most of us yearn for that kind of sense of complete trust, a sense of being connected to God, like that...even if it is based in a kind of folk wisdom. But in fact, as the Brazilian theologian, Rubem Alves says, "The Bible puts us in a bewildering situation. We have no recipe for programming our pilgrimage to through life to God. The New Testament simply says: "Believe the Good News" -- somewhere, somehow it is happening. 'Repent,' throw away your old stethoscope and find a way of hearing the heartbeat of the future already pulsating in a community. And 'be baptized', join it." 2
This passage from Luke, which we read this morning, is one of those which witnesses to the amazing process of transformation that those who knew Jesus during his earthly ministry, seemed to experience with great drama and visible sign. It is a movement of healing and new life which we might envy for the kind of certainty it portrays. We don't see much of it any more.
This story starts with Jesus in the midst of his journey to Jerusalem. In Luke's Gospel, that is a short way of saying, somewhere on the way to the cross. On his way to death, Jesus offers us more even than health, Jesus offers us discipleship, a way to unravel the mysteries of faith and make our way toward life.
We are not certain where he is traveling, but he is stopped by a group of lepers...who cry out for alms from a long way off. Lepers, as you know, were pushed to the very margins of life...strict laws governed their access to the rest of the community. They have been cast out of family, home, and been made to wander helplessly because they are afflicted with a dreaded disease. They are marked for death...and their families have already mourned their passing as if they are already dead. They aren't. "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us," they cry out from a respectable distance.
In Leviticus 13:49, the Torah outlines a specific ritual of inspection which must take place under the auspices of the high priests, before a Leper can ever be recovered from the banishment and non-humanity of his or her existence. It is this ritual to which Jesus refers as he tells the ten to, "go, show yourselves to the priests..." Walter Wink, the New Testament scholar, suggests that we take note of the fact that they immediately respond by beginning the journey to the priests. They have not yet been healed...but they commitment themselves to the journey with the assumption of healing.
In Pilgrim's Progress when Christian arrives at the Wicket Gate, he complains that his burden is still on his back. His host replies, "As to the burden, be content to bear it, until thou comest to the place of deliverance, for there it will fall from thy back itself." Further down the road, it does.
The world doesn't heal us; it commands us down a path to where healing overtakes us. If there is a recipe for life...then this must be one of the important ingredients...."Believe the good news which is already happening…," act on faith even though there is no visible sign. The ten have asked to be healed, but in fact Jesus has done nothing but send them on a journey to have their healing sanctified by the "proper authorities" in Jerusalem. Go and act as if you are to be healed by the time you get there. As they go...somewhere in that process they are healed.
This is reminiscent of the 12-step approach to healing...which begins with the assumption of need. "Jesus, Master, have mercy on me…," being able to name the need and declare it. It is not a cure-all. For the addicted, it is a process of finally getting on the journey...instead of hiding or dissembling, which is so much a part of being addicted, there is modeled here a process of making a way for oneself with the plan - the hope - that good news will be forthcoming along the way of the journey.
Of course, no 12-step program works without abstinence. It is not a process which can be successful without letting go of the old ways. One needs to repent of old habits and begin life in a new way. In the Old Testament, Hebrew language...to repent meant literally to turn in your path and take a new direction...to "walk in the way that is holy." Part of the leper's cure was the process of turning in their path....sharing their pain, confronting their need and then turning toward Jerusalem.
Earlier in this chapter in Luke's Gospel, Jesus also talks about repentance as a change of mind...a change of metaphor for yourself. For example, a subtle but important change in the understanding of the AIDS epidemic occurred when those who were treating individuals infected with the HIV virus stopped using the terminology “AIDS Victim” and adopted the term "person with HIV/AIDS." A "victim," is without recourse and helpless...a victim of AIDS or a Leper is already dead.
“Go show yourself to the priest”, says Jesus. Throw away your old filters and view yourself and the world in a new way. Someone living with AIDS or Cancer or Mental Illness or a lcoholism is not dead, but is rather making a choice to live with dignity and self-control as long as that is possible.
You may remember that in a very public way, the Reagan family shared their rediscovery of each other in the wake of Ronald Reagan's diagnosis of Alzheimer's. After years of estrangement, the children of this family became reconciled with their parents as they took that difficult journey with their father. To repent means to do the work of setting not only your life – but your relationships in order.
At this point, the story of the 10 Lepers takes an interesting turn. You recall that one of the lepers comes back. At this point a healing story is transformed into a story of discipleship...a demonstration of faithfulness. One of the lepers is twice afflicted. Not only does he carry the mark of leprosy, he is also a Samaritan....anathema to the Jews of his day. He returns and prostrates himself at the feet of Jesus with thanksgiving and praise.
The word used here is eucharisto in Greek...the word from which is taken the term Eucharist - a term for the celebration of Communion. With this act of "thanksgiving" the Samaritan is "made well" in Jesus words. In common parlance, he is saved. This "foreigner" as even Jesus calls him; this person from the outside is brought into the community. "Go your way, your faith has made you whole, is another way of reading Jesus' remarks." It is a formula statement which we hear in the Gospels time and again to describe the process of finding fullness of life from out of the depths of separation and abandonment. George MacDonald, the 19th Century author from Scotland who so influenced C.S. Lewis talks about wholeness as being "perfected faith." "That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and desires, without a glow or an aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglects and wandering forgetfulness, and say to him: 'Thou art my refuge.'" 3
“I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where does my help come?” Even at a point of seeming abandonment, look beyond the imprisoning symptoms of now to the possibility of release – freedom – healing. “The Lord will keep your life,” Psalm 121 concludes….”from this time forth and forevermore.” By God's grace, even our call for help already contains within it the elements of hope and thanksgiving.
Without reason to believe that Jesus would care, the Samaritan leper returns to worship. Of the ten, nine fail to give thanks; they are healed but not, perhaps made whole. The one who truly finds new life is the one who comes to express his thanksgiving and praise.
And maybe Jesus is making a point, not about Samaritans…these outsiders, but maybe he is making a point about us, we insiders. We have been given so much. But when you are an insider, one of the" family," you tend to expect things and what was once a gift becomes a right. And who gives thanks for their rights? 4
Choosing to share both pain and the joy of thanksgiving in the context of God's love becomes a powerful energy for healing. It is at this point that we become the body of Christ – the church - for each other. We are not looking for "faith healers" or miracle workers -- but for the community of compassion and trust. As that community emulates the ministry of Christ, it becomes light for even the darkest night. “From where does my help come?” That is no longer, then, a question.
"The ability to perceive the miraculous in the ordinary is a gift..." of faith, wrote Scott Peck. “In the ordinary process of being present to one another...sharing the journey according to the word, [tuning our lives to one another] and rejoicing together in thanksgiving for love of God which not only heals, [but supports and nurtures us as individuals in this family], we become a church – we become this church. We can and do surprise ourselves with the energy we have.” 5
The collective energy of our congregation is not dependent upon the whim of a God who says, "you think that's bad...let me show you this..." but is dependent upon how we act with thanksgiving with one another. We are none of us victims – nor need we be. To say, “Thank you, I have enough and I am enough,” is both spiritually and politically transforming. We need to practice being grateful, says Marcus Borg. 6 In gratitude, we acknowledge that God is at work among us.
Compassion and a healing presence are expressed often in surprising ways. Each one of us makes a choice about how we will live the journey in each other's company and in relationship to our community and our world. Let us choose to live as those who go our way knowing “from where our help comes.” – And let thanksgiving energize all our interactions. Amen.
1 Moshe Mykoff, The Empty Chair: Finding Hope and Joy, (Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, Vt. 1994), 34-35. Go Back
2Ruben Alves, Tomorrow's Child , Harper and Row, New York. Go Back
3 George MacDonald: An Anthology , ed. C.S. Lewis, (New York: Macmillan, 1974), no. 1. Go Back
4 William Willimon, Pulpit Resource , Logos Publications, Oct-Dec 2007. Go Back
5 I am recalling words from Scott Peck's travel journal, In Search of Stones, Hyperion, New York, 1995 Go Back
6Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity . Go Back
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First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
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Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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