Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost: Show Thanks for Mercy

Today's Scripture Readings

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c (NRSV)

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, `Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel."

Psalm 111 (BCP., p.754)


2 Timothy 2:8-15 (NRSV)

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David-- that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he will also deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful--

for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

Luke 17:11-19 (NRSV)

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "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?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Blog Reflection
 
There are very few experiences that can make a person isolated from one's community like a debilitating illness can.  To find oneself sick with something that disgusts other people.   The way they look at the color of your skin when pale.  The private conversations at a restaurant dinner table across the room.  The feeling that every where you go, there is talk about you and your health condition.  The feeling of the loss of dignity.  Where is there relief?

The readings this weekend from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospel tell us the story of people with leprosy.  Not only was such a person sick, they were cut off from their community.   It was thought that if they got the disease, they did something to bring it on themselves.   Not only were they considered not "fit" to participate in society, they were also to be excluded from worship, because they were viewed as unclean.

The Scriptures this weekend show us how God looks past our health condition, our social status, skin color etc, to see the person and her/his dignity.   Regardless of whatever our state in life is, we all are in need of God's mercy.  Unlike many of the laws and thoughts of how God applies God's law, the Holy One does not see things as we see them.  In Canticle 10 in The Book of Common Prayer, we pray the words from Isaiah 55:6-11 that include the words: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways says the Lord.   For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."   God is not about punishment and destruction.   The heart of God is mercy, forgiveness and unconditional love for every human person.

Jesus showed God's love when He healed the men with leprosy. Yet, after each experienced the healing power of God through Jesus, only one returned to give thanks.  The one who returned to give thanks was the foreigner.  The one who was thought to be the outcast among the outcasts, is the one who returns to give thanks and praise to God for the healing he experienced threw Jesus.  Jesus affirms his faith and sends him away a whole person.

How do we show thanks to God for the mercy we are experiencing because of Jesus Christ?

Do we welcome all of God's people in hospitality to bring about reconciliation?

Whom are we keeping outside of our communities because of some preconceived notion?

As our Congress continues to hold the poor, disabled and others hostage to the demands of the wealthy and powerful, we need to stop and think about what it is we are doing to each other in this debate.  What affect all of this is having on those who live with oppression, sickness, injustice and prejudice, and what are we doing to alleviate their suffering, or make it worse.   The worst part of this crisis is not felt by those who have nothing to lose.  It is experienced by those who have already lost everything, and have the last of everything left to lose, including but not limited to their dignity.   How can we as Christians turn a blind eye to what is happening, and not call on our government and it's leaders to get their act together?

We have the opportunity to show thanks to God for God's mercy by working for peace, justice and equality for all people.  Through our prayers, actions and coming together as the community of faith, we can fulfill our Baptismal Vows, by doing our part to bring hope to where there is despair.

May we give thanks God, by being merciful as God is merciful to us.

Amen.


Prayers

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and
follow us, that we may continually be given to good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 23, Book of Common Prayer, p.234).

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you
all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us
to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick,
and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those
who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow
into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for
our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Poor and Neglected, Book of Common Prayer, p.826). 

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen. (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Book of Common Prayer, p.831).