Reflection on Luke 19:1-10 and Romans 3:19-28

 

The wife had a hard time understanding her husband’s motivations.  For years her husband would go out of his way to hire someone released from prison and add them to his construction crew.  No, this was not quite the same as turning a blind eye to the criminal history recorded on an application and allowing a second chance.  As admirable as that may be, this man would call around in order to discover who was recently released from prison and he would hire that person.  There was always at least one former jailbird working on his crew at any given time.

At first the wife thought it a simple oddity, something to make her love the man all the more.  But, over the years her husband more and more had to deal with the troublesome nature of some of these new employees.  He was forced to let some of them go, their troubled lives affecting his business.  Even so, the man would go back, again and again, searching out these newly released prisoners to hire them.

After one particularly troublesome hire, the wife exasperatedly asked her husband why he kept doing this when he knew it was probably going to just bring more trouble.  “Other construction crews keep far away from these guys.  Maybe, you should too.  They are bad news.  Hire only people who you know you can trust,” the wife urged.

The man shook his head and simply answered, “If a man doesn’t first receive love and trust, how is he ever going to learn it?”  The man walked away, his mind set on running his business the same way as God might.

You see, long ago as he sat on his father’s lap and read with him the stories of the Bible, his Dad would point out each time that God seeks the lost.  “Look here son.  Look at the first words that God says after Adam and Eve eat the fruit they weren’t allowed to eat and hide because of it.  God asks, ‘Where are you?’  Even from the very beginning, God cares about the lost and God seeks the lost.  We do to.  That is the kind of people we are.”  That was the kind of person the man became.

The same man also coached a girl’s softball team.  For years and years he would start off the season with a huge party for all the players.  Even before a single ball was tossed, the whole team celebrated together with a big, lavish cookout.  Most coaches celebrate at the end of the game, and still some only at the end of the season, but he held the party first.  If the man was asked about the beginning of year parties, his reply would always be the same, “If these girls aren’t shown love and trust first, how are they ever going to learn it?  How are they ever going to become a team?”

“Seek first.  Love first.”  It was the guy’s personal motto.  He was also certain that it is also God’s personal motto, if God needs such a thing.  And, I tend to think that the man was right. 

Take the parables Jesus tells of the lost sheep and the lost coin.  In one, a shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep in order to go and find the one that is lost.  The shepherd rejoices when he has found it.  That wayward sheep did nothing to deserve such care.  That sheep’s talent in life was being really good at getting lost.  I think I know of some people who are like that, their talent being really good at getting lost.  But, the shepherd does not care, he seeks anyway. Seek first, love first. It is what God does.

And, like the parable about the sheep, Jesus also tells another parable about a woman who lost a precious coin.  She sweeps and sweeps and sweeps until she finds it.  She is so overjoyed at finding the coin that she desires more than anything to throw a party because it is recovered.  Again, the coin did nothing to deserve such attention.  It is just a coin after-all.  But, the woman found value in the coin.  I think I know of some people like that too, who find value in those who everyone else sees as lost.  Seek first, love first.  It is what God does.

Just to drive the point home, another story is told in the Bible about a man…a tax collector in fact…who is of short stature, and who is very, very rich and powerful.  And, by rich and powerful, I mean that he is like our nation’s secretary of the treasury.  He is the chief tax collector, and because he is the chief tax collector, representing a much hated Roman government, he also is the chief target for people’s hatred.  You can hear the hatred in the people’s grumbling when Jesus chooses to eat at this man’s house.

Oh, that reminds me that I have not told you a couple of important things yet.  This short and rich tax collector’s name is Zacchaeus.  You know the song, he was “a wee little man and a wee little man was he.  He climbed up in a Sycamore Tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.”  Now, I do not know what to make of this, but the Bible paints this amazing picture for us of this hated, rich, little secretary of the treasury climbing up a tree so that he can see a poor, peasant rabbi whose reputation has grown.  Again, I do not know what to do with that bazaar picture, but what I do know is that the poor, peasant rabbi looks up and sees the rich little man and chooses him to be the focus of his attention and love.  

“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So [Zacchaeus] hurried down and was happy to welcome [Jesus]” (Luke 19:5-6). 

And, it is at this point that the story takes an interesting turn.  Only after Jesus seeks out Zacchaeus and comes close to him, or enters into his life, do we hear these words from Zacchaeus, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much” (Luke 19:8).  

And, that is why I started off this sermon with the story of the man who hires people who are newly released from jail.  They too are hated and not to be trusted in our society.  But, Jesus chooses to love those who are lost. 

Remember what the man told his wife, “If a man doesn’t first receive love and trust, how is he ever going to learn it?”  We, of course we need to expand his language to include women, boys, and girls also, but his words ring a deep truth found within God.  If a person does not first receive love and trust, how are they ever going to learn it?  Seek first.  Love first.

And, sometimes that seeking and loving pays off in a big way.  I know, sometimes that seeking and love seems wasted on some people.  Some people are not ready to accept such grace.  But, other people like the chief tax collector here (the most hated man in the entire region) are ready for such grace.  Zacchaeus take the love of Jesus and makes it his own.  “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much” (Luke 19:8).  His new life of generosity grows directly out of this pot of rich soil that is the attention and love of Jesus.  Seek first.  Love first.  It is the way of Jesus.

I think that too many Christians forget this.  I know that I do.  I think that too many Christians look at that hated tax collector and simply dismiss people like him as too lost. 

Too lost. 

Has anyone ever considered you too lost?  Has anyone ever dismissed you?  Well, know that you are in good company.  Jesus understands.  He also was seen as too lost.  His love too much…too out there.  He too was dismissed by those in power and sent to die a shameful and torturous death on a cross.  But, those hate-filled dismissals are not the last word.  Sneers and crosses are not the last word.  Jesus, the creator of seeking and loving first, gets the last word. 

Jesus was raised from the dead, overcoming the power of the cross, overcoming the power of hatred, and dismissal, and the type of sin that drives us apart rather than together.  Jesus overcomes sin and death and raises you up with him.  Sin, and death, and hatred, and dismissal have no power over any of you because of Jesus.  All of that stuff dies on the cross with Jesus, stripping you of all of that sin and hatred and leaving you clean and free to be the people of God.  And, this is all a gift from Jesus.

This is truth that Martin Luther and the reformers recovered during the Reformation.  For years the church fell into this idea that you had to rack up points to get eternal life.  The church had fallen into this idea that you had to earn your way into the good graces of God, or if you could not, someone else could do the earning for you.  And, the reformers looked at the Bible and saw that it simply was not true.  They looked at the book of Romans and read words like, “Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).  Grace is a gift from God.  Relationship with God is a gift from God.  Jesus has come as a gift from God to you, the people of God. 

If a person does not first receive love and trust, how are they ever going to learn it?  Seek first.  Love first.  It is the way of Jesus.

Jesus sought and loved first.  He sought Zacchaeus first and loved him first.  Only then did Zacchaeus see value in a life of giving to the poor and making things right with others.  Seek first.  Love first.  It is the way of Jesus.

Seek first.  Love first.  If I were to ever get a tattoo, which I probably will not because I just am not a tattoo guy and because I do not like pain, but if I did it would say “Seek first, love first.”  I would have it printed right on my arm so that I would be reminded day after day of the person that Jesus Christ has saved me to be. 

When disputes arise I would look down and read, “Seek first.  Love first.” 

When I am tempted to look down upon someone who rubs me the wrong way I would be reminded, “Seek first.  Love first.” 

When the kids get to be too much in a tiny home, and my frustration too much for my tiny head, I would look down and read, “Seek first.  Love first.” 

I would look down and see the truth about God.  I would be reminded how Jesus Christ sought out the lost rather than condemning them.  I would be reminded how Jesus loved first, and allowed expectations to come later.  I would be reminded how the giving of my life and my talents and my money comes, not out of my greatness, but out of being loved by someone who would go to the cross for me, as a gift to me without payment or expectation. 

I would be reminded that God cares about the lost and God seeks the lost.  And, because God does it, we do too.  That is the kind of people we are.  That is the kind of person I want to strive to become every single day.

We are a people who follow a savior who seeks first and loves first.  We are a people who have been found.  We are a people who know that grace is always a gift.  It is the most valuable gift.  It changes lives.  It restores souls.  It brings us the closest we can ever get to the divine.  Seek first and love first, O beloved of God.

Reflection on Luke 18:9-14

 

I have to admit that my initial idea for this sermon was to print out a large piece of art that you could look at and upon which you could meditate as I preached.  I wanted a nice piece of art that would dramatically portray the two men praying; one with his head raised proudly and the other a little ways in the distance, looking down at the floor in shame.  Now, there is plenty of art out there that shows exactly that, but since this is broadcast on the internet I did not want to violate any copyright protected art.  So, I decided that I would create a piece of art quickly using one of those automatic art generating apps. 

If you have not done this, all you have to do is enter in a few key words, choose an art style, and within seconds you will have a nice piece of art.  “This should take less than three minutes,” I thought to myself having done this before.  So, I typed in, “two men praying.”  The result was actually quite beautiful, with striking orange beams of light piercing across the dark blue columns of the temple in the background, with two men in the foreground praying. 

It was great, but the problem was that they were praying together.  The Bible is quite clear that there was one man who reflected the bad attitude of those who were listening to Jesus’ parable: there was one man who was “righteous and regarded others with contempt.”  The parable says that man was “standing by himself” while praying.  This generated piece of art would not do.

That was OK, because you can put in key words all day long and generate new pieces of art all day long.  Obviously, “two men praying” was not specific enough.  So, I keyed in, “one proud man and one sad man praying,” trying to capture the emotional sense of separation that Jesus was going for.  Like the first, the picture was striking, but it showed and two men praying together once again.  Only this time one was standing while the other was sitting. 

Deleting the phrase and trying again I typed, “One proud man praying separated from a sad man praying.”  Unlike the realistic looking oil style paintings of the first two attempts, I had chosen a minimalist, blocky acrylic technique.  The result was two men standing next to each other, facing forward and praying shoulder to shoulder.  One man’s face was looking up while the other was looking down.  To separate the two the artificial intelligence had placed a single, black hair thin line between the men.  I was unimpressed and my trust in the power of artificially generated art was starting to wane. 

I decided to take another approach.  Jesus’ story says nothing about these men’s socio-economic status.  In fact being a tax collector, a man who gathered money for Rome who could skim a collecting fee off of the top, the man who beat his breast in shame, probably was just as well off financially as the Pharisee, if not more so.  His problem was not being poor.  His problem was shame.  Despite this, I was trying to get a certain look, and the key words I used to get there did not necessarily matter. 

I typed in, “rich man praying separated from a poor man.”  It is not what the parable is about, but I thought it might bring the result I wanted. 

But again, the two men were praying together, one on the floor and the other standing holding a silver platter with a silver lid, like what you see the rich eat from in classic Hollywood movies.  The guy even had a towel draped over his arm.  How many rich people pray in church holding silver platters?  Seriously!

I spent way too much time trying to make this work with different keywords, but the results were constantly the same: the two men were always praying together.  It was as if the collective knowledge of the internet that the artificial intelligence was using to create its art could not fathom that people might choose to pray apart from one another.  Or, maybe, it was God trying to drive the point home into my tiny little skull that showing an image of people praying apart is not the image that God wants burned into people’s memories.  Maybe, my idea was just a bad one to begin with.  Maybe, God wanted me to paint a picture for you of people praying together.

And, it was that thought right there that stopped me in my tracks.  This parable is not simply about a guy who is stuck up and a guy who is full of shame.  Do not get me wrong, that is there.  The Bible definitely paints the Pharisee as thanking God that he is not like “thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like” that tax collector who was standing far off praying in the temple.  The guy definitely thinks a lot about himself.  The guy definitely, as Jesus suggests, “trusted in himself.” 

And, I do believe this guy by the way.  I do not think that he is lying or exaggerating in any way.  I believe that he is telling the truth when he says that he is not a thief, nor does he shake people down, nor does he sleep around, nor does even work with the murderous and evil Roman empire.  I believe that this guy is completely telling the truth.  But, these vices of stealing and adultery, terrible as they are, are not the only sins we humans have to worry about.  In fact, they are not even the primary sins as defined by Jesus.

Jesus tells us over and over again that the highest goal of any faithful person is to love God and in a similar way, to love their neighbor.  Therefore, the primary sins would be not loving God and failing to love the neighbor.  And, though this very holy man exceeds all expectations in personal morality, he even gives ten percent of his income, but he falls flat when it comes to loving God and loving neighbor. 

This parable is all about the distance this man keeps between himself and the tax collector.  I mean this literally.  The Bible clearly says that he went up to the temple to pray, and when he enters the temple he chooses to “stand by himself.”  Rather than join the tax collector as he prays “far off,” the Pharisee points to the tax collector as an example of the decrepit nature of this world.  He points his finger at what “hell in a hand basket” looks like rather than joining together with the man.

This is what the artificial intelligence could not understand; why would anyone pray alone?  Why would anyone choose to point fingers rather than join together?  And, the artificial intelligence is not alone in this; Jesus cannot understand either. 

After-all, we were created to be joined together with God.  We were created to be joined with one another.  From the start of creation, we were made to be one another’s partners.  

“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner’” (Genesis 2:18).  This is more than just about marriage; it is about humankind in general.  We were made to be partners with God and one another.  We were made for each other.

As the parable clearly demonstrates, the Pharisee trusts in himself.  He does not trust God; he trusts himself.  He does not trust his fellow human being; he trusts himself.  He believes that he is right.  He feels justified enough to judge others.  And, he is the one who does not go home justified.  He is the one who is missing the mark.  If this were deer hunting practice, he would be the one shooting arrows into the weeds.

So, who is the one shooting the arrow into the heart of the target?  Jesus says that the man who went down to his home justified, the one who hit the mark, is the tax collector. 

What is so special about the tax collector?  Obviously, it is not his propensity to support evil regimes, or use his tax collecting job as a money making machine.  What is so special about him?  Luckily, Jesus tells us, and if you read your Bibles carefully, you will see. 

The Bible says, “the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven” (Luke 18:13). 

The tax collector too is standing far off, but not out of hatred or contempt for anyone else.  He is standing far off because he is full of shame.  He cannot look up to heaven for the same reason.  But, he does talk to God.  And, his speech is not a self-congratulatory monologue, rather it is a plea for God to intervene in his life.  “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13b). 

What is so special about the tax collector?  He desires more than anything to be closer to God.  He cannot trust in himself.  He desires God.

If only the two men were literally closer.  If only they were praying together, as the computer art would have it be.  If only the Pharisee could hear the prayer of the tax collector.  Maybe, just maybe, his heart of judgment would be transformed into a heart of understanding and love.  Maybe, just maybe, he would be humbled, and the humble man would be encouraged.  “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

There is something powerful about praying together.  There is something powerful about entering into another person’s life, rather than simply commenting on another person’s life, that Jesus can use to transform our lives.  There is something powerful about praying together.

I think about the man who entered a small church for the first time.  When the man entered, it was almost a certainty that the man would not remain long.  He was rather large, had a torn coat, had a scar on his forehead, and was wearing a hat. 

He had a hat on in church!  In the past, the hat in particular had made the blood boil of the lead usher.  He was an impeccably dressed man, with suite, tie, and folded napkin in his pocket.  In the past, he had ushered people, not to their seats, but back out the door to go put on respectful attire.  Somehow this man with the hat had made it past the lead usher, and found a seat near the front of the small church.

As the first hymn started, it was obvious that the lead usher had taken notice of the man with the torn coat, scarred forehead, and hat.  He was moving in for the kill. 

One by one, members of the congregation noticed the lead usher coming up the aisle, and they waited for the predicted confrontation to come.  Everyone assumed the lead usher was irate because it seemed obviously that he had no intention of doing any of this quietly. 

Standing straight and walking with purpose, the lead usher turned sharply and quickly entered into the man’s pew.  Just seconds before the expected confrontation, seconds before he would rip the man’s hat off and tell him to leave and return with appropriate attire for the worship of the Almighty God, the lead usher did the unexpected.  The lead usher sat down next to the large guy, with torn coat, scar on his forehead, and hat. 

The lead usher stayed there.  He sang hymns with the guy, he listened to scripture with the guy, he talked with the guy, and yes, he even prayed with the guy. 

That day Jesus humbled an exulted guy and a humbled guy was exulted.  That day two men prayed together, just as God had intended it to be.  That day, an entire church saw what it is to love God and love neighbor.  That day, Jesus taught everyone what it looks like to love.

Reflection on Luke 18:1-8

 

God listens to prayers.  If there is one thing that the Bible makes abundantly clear, it is that God listens to prayers.  Way back in Egypt, when “the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help,” the Bible says, “Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” (Exodus 2:23-25). God heard their prayers and acted.

Echoing the truth that God listens to our prayers, Psalm 34:17 promises that, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.”  And, if you have someone’s cloak as collateral for a debt, you are instructed by God that you must return it before the cold of the night comes because, “that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate” (Exodus 22:26-27).  God hears our prayers, especially when we are being treated unfairly, and God acts.  The Bible is clear.

Jesus even tells us this whole parable about a woman who, like those Olympic gymnasts who were abused by their team’s physician, goes to someone in power asking that things be made things right.  She seeks out justice.  Those abused women sought out justice.  And after being ignored again and again, and after persistently asking, again and again to receive some justice, for things to be made right, both the women in our parable and those gymnasts were finally heard.  It is because of their persistence that justice finally came.  It is because they never gave up making their requests known.  They made themselves the squeaky wheel.  Jesus teaches that if even a corrupt and faithless judge finally gives in and listens, how much more will God?

Now, I am convinced that Jesus could have, instead, told a parable about the five year old who says, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom” until she finally gives up the important thing that she is doing and answers the child.  If a Mom listens to that sort of nerve scraping request, how much more will God listen?  I would just like to point out that Jesus is actually requesting that you be annoyingly persistent in your prayers.  It is the one time in life when being annoying is appreciated.  There is a certain amount of faith or trust found in the person who annoyingly prays over and over again that justice might be served and things be made right again.  It is a faith that says, “Even though it did not happen the first time I asked, I know that you, O God, will hear and act.” 

And, that is where I think that I fall short in my prayers.  When I pray, I think that I unintentionally picture God as being like the unjust judge in the parable.  You know the unjust judge.  He hears the requests of the widow again and again who is desperate for things to be made right, but to him, she is like a mosquito.  She is small and annoying, with little power to affect much of anything.  She is easy to brush off as unimportant and of little consequence.  She is easy to dismiss, and so he does.  And, I think that is how I, unconsciously picture my relationship with God.  I am just an annoying little mosquito to God.  My requests, when considering the enormity of the concerns of the world, seem like nothing.  But, unlike the widow, I tend to ask once and give up, uncertainty coating the top of my prayer and blinding me to God’s response.

One day, while learning to be a chaplain, I found myself alone in a room with a failing, unresponsive patient on a ventilator, with tubes and lines running everywhere.  “Why was I called up here?” I asked myself.  “What good will any of my prayers do?”  I left the lonely room without saying a word.

When I mentioned to my spiritual mentor that I did not understand why I was called up to that room, there was no family around to whom I could minister, and the patient was almost certainly brain dead so my prayers would literally fall on deaf ears, my mentor, who was a kind but firm nun responded, “Who ever said any of this was about you?  What happens to this patient is up to God, so we pray to God.  We pray over and over again to God precisely because we have no control over any of it.  We pray to God because we believe that God listens.”

One truth that I have learned about praying over and over again is that when we actually pray again and again, we do not lose heart.  The Bible explicitly says that, “Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.”  There is something about praying again and again that reinforces our trust that God will hear and God will do something.  How will God respond?  I have no idea.  Will God do what I want?  Only God knows.  But, by choosing to leave that room and choosing to not pray, I was embarrassingly revealing that I had actually lost heart.  I had lost faith.  I had lost the trust that God would hear and do something.

And, in a world that seems like it is falling apart and there is nothing that we can do about it; it is easy to lose heart and to lose faith.  In the Bible, right before Jesus tells this parable, he had just talked about the dark days ahead.  He had just talked about the last things, and I imagine that the disciples were just standing there; looking around at each other dumbfounded, wondering, “What is the point of it all?”  This parable is Jesus’ answer to those of us who see the world falling apart, who want it all to be right again, but who cannot possibly see how that is ever going to happen anytime soon.

“Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?  I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them,” Jesus promises the disciples.  

“What happens is up to God, so we pray to God,” the nun instructed me.  “We pray over and over again to God precisely because we have no control over any of it.  We pray to God because we believe that God listens.”  

We pray persistently because God hears. We trust the Lord.

When a pastor friend of mine discovered that he was suffering from a tumor the size of a volleyball in his body, his wife asked all of his closest friends to pray.  But, she quite explicitly stated that she did not want any weak and pathetic prayers.  You see, she knows us pastors all too well.  She knows how we develop these eloquent prayers that sound faithful, but lack anything bold.  She knows how pastors are too scared of over promising and under-delivering.  She did not want any of that weak pastoral garbage.  She wanted bold prayers, asking that things be made right.  She wanted prayers asking nothing short of a miracle.  She wanted prayers that would lead to the saving of his life and the saving of his family.  He could not leave their two boys.  He could not leave her.  She only wanted the boldest of prayers from us.

And, so I prayed.  I prayed for him to be healed.  I prayed for the tumor to disappear.  I prayed that those boys not grow up without their father.  I got over my natural tendency to pray, “Whatever you see fit, O Lord, please do.”  Now, there is a time and place for those prayers, of course, Jesus prays one in the garden of Gethsemane.  “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).  But, she told us this was not the time for such a prayer. 

So, I went against my natural instinct, and I prayed boldly.  I prayed persistently.  I prayed again and again, and I still, to this very day, pray again and again. 

The result of such bold prayers has not only been a glimmer of hope as he moves forward through the God given gifts of effective treatments with skilled, professional hands, but also a trust in my own heart that God will listen and God will act.  Again, do I know how God will answer those prayers?  Of course not!  But, how God responds has nothing to do with me.  The only thing I need to trust is that God listens and God acts, just as the Bible says God has always done in the past. 

You see, Jesus deeply desires that we not be people who have lost heart.  Jesus deeply desires that when the Son of Man comes, he will find trust in his people…a deep trust that the Lord will listen and that the Lord will make things right.  Because, it is true. 

We have a Lord we can trust!  We have a Lord who will go to any extent to make things right.  We have a Lord who will die on a cross in order to make this broken world right again.  We have a Lord who cares deeply about justice and grace.  We have a Lord to whom we can pray again and again; who will listen and who will act.

Be persistent in your prayers.  Do not lose heart.  Be as annoying as possible for the sake of justice.  It is OK; go ahead; Jesus wants to hear your annoying voice.  Your annoying voice is music to the ears of the Lord who listens.

Reflection on Luke 17:11-19 (from Sunday, October 9th, 2022)

 

As most of you already know, COVID made a visit to our house last week and like the annoying neighborhood kid, kindly let itself in.  Most of the time when we the parents are sick it is because the children have come home sick.  So, we are mostly all sick together.  But, this time was unique, rather than the illness coming from the school, Randele was infected at the hospital and then quickly gave it to me.  The kids, on the other hand, were just fine.  The adults were the ones who had to go to their rooms and the children had free reign of the house.  Imagine a four person performance of Lord of the Flies, Jr. 

Being quarantined away from the kids had the immediate consequence of us missing their snuggles, and they (Isaac, our five year old, in particular) missing ours.  Do not underestimate the basic need that God designed into us for connection and affection.  And, that is what I kept coming back to, again and again, in my mind and in my heart each time I read this story of the ten lepers.

Ten people, all suffering from some sort of skin disease, remain at a distance from their village and from their families.  Even when Jesus, their “master” arrives unexpectedly and amazingly in their own village, they keep their distance as they call out to him.

It is for the best, of course.  Their distance keeps their disease from spreading. We all know too well how rampant illness can disrupt lives and ruin economies. 

Their persistent disease holds them in the religious and spiritual category of “common” and “earthly.”  Unable to connect with others they are unable to be “set apart” to do “holy” things.  They cannot even give the simple, but essential, gift of a snuggle  or hug to someone they love.  Do not underestimate the basic need that God designed into us for connection and affection. 

In fact, that is what this whole, “Go and show yourselves to the priests” thing is all about.  It was a way that allowed people to connect again. 

It was like the ancient world’s COVID test.  Take a test, and if you are in the clear, you are free to be connected with the world again.  In the same way, when the priests examined your wounds and saw that you were healed, you were allowed to connect with others once again.  You were allowed to connect with friends and family who have long been waiting.  You were allowed to connect with God in the temple, to be set apart as “holy” once again, with nothing hindering your ability to carry the presence of the Lord in your life.

And, all of this makes sense.  Keep away from others to keep them healthy, get tested to make sure you are healed, and return to God’s work when you are able to do God’s work. 

It all seems pretty regulated and institutional, which I guess is good. 

God was the one who instituted this whole idea in the first place.  Those of you who are reading through the Bible in one year have long ago plodded through all of the health regulations contained in God’s laws. 

“This shall be the ritual for the leprous person at the time of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest; the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall make an examination. If the disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command that two living clean birds and cedarwood and crimson yarn and hyssop be brought for the one who is to be cleansed. The priest shall…” (Leviticus 14:2-5). 

You may have given up reading the Bible in one year because of amazing literature like this!  But, what if your skin disease lasts longer than a week?  What if it is chronic, and lasts years?  I can imagine that it would be devastating.  Never forget the basic need that God designed into us for connection and affection. 

What if God was one of us? 

What if God is just on a trip, coming through town, and a bunch of Lepers suddenly calls out, asking for mercy?  What if a bunch of people who feel like outcasts, who feel excluded and unclean call out to Jesus?

What if you, when you feel like the outcast; when you feel like the one who just does not fit in; when you feel like the one who has been forgotten, misunderstood, unheard, and unloved; what if you called out to Jesus, asking to be shown some mercy, how would he respond? 

What if God was one of us?  How would he respond to us if we were the ones left behind and left on the edge of town, and left out of the family? 

This is what the Bible has to say: Jesus saw them and, “said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.” 

If God was one of us, he would see us…and I want to stop us right there because I do not want to skip over this thing that is so essential: seeing.  Because, this is how so many people fall through the cracks.  They become “unseeable.”  Is that even a word?  They become unable to be seen. 

They become an embarrassment, so people look away. 

They become too difficult, so people walk away. 

They become forgotten, because daily life is busy and people just simply forget. 

They become “unseeable,” but Jesus sees them.

So, if God was one of us, God would see you, but God would do more than simple stare at you; God would restore you. 

No, I said that wrong: When God is one of us, he sees you, and he restores you; because, God does not forget the basic need designed into us for connection and affection. 

God always intended us to be together.  God always intended us to be with each other.  God always intended for us to be one. 

I am convinced that connection with others and with God is at the center of God’s heart.  And, in case I ever doubted God’s intentions in this, Jesus himself prays concerning us, “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (John 17:21).

With that in mind, I cannot wait to finally get a nice long snuggle from my children.  We are almost there; two more days! 

And, I am so grateful to God that this illness turned out to be no big deal.  I am grateful for my healing.  I am grateful that it did not spread, especially to the kids.  I feel kind of like the tenth leper who turns back to Jesus when he sees that he is healed.  That tenth Leper falls down at Jesus’ feet in gratitude, after being pulled into the healing and love of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

That brings me to something very fascinating about this little story. The Bible says that all ten lepers were cleansed, but only the tenth leper was “saved” or “made whole.”

Now, to be clear, the other nine lepers were made clean by Jesus.  They presumably went to the priests, got their clearances from their health examinations, and went back to their families and settled back into normal lives.  They were restored back to normal.  But, what is interesting is that somehow their sense of “normal” does not really include much of a relationship with God.  They show no gratitude.

As shocking as that may seem, I actually think that I get that.  I am not sure that I think of God all that much when I have a cold.  I just get over it, make sure I do not have a fever, and I go about my business.  It is as if God played no part at all; not in my healing, nor in my restoration back to normal, everyday life. 

It is like I have this sense of entitlement to have a good and healthy life.  It is like I expect that my life should just be good and healthy.  It is like I am entitled to such a life, and anything less than that life is stealing the health that is rightfully mine. 

And, in all of that entitled living, I have forgotten the one who gave me the gift of health and life in the first place: God.  In forgetting, I have failed to connect with the one who gives the gifts.  In forgetting, I am less than whole.  Without God, we are less than whole.

Do you know who are always the most grateful?  Those who have the most need...those who know the extent of their dark place in life. 

The tenth leper, the Samaritan, is not only pushed away from life and those he loves by his illness, but is also pushed away from others because of his race.  The tenth leper has to deal with this sort of alienation and resentment every day.  He is constantly seen as a foreigner and outsider.  The illness is just a cherry on the top of a tough life.  He is one of those people who is most in need. 

I find that those who are the most grateful are those who are never able to take their good life and their good health for granted.  It is always a surprise when they discover they have been given the gift of health and goodness in life. 

The tenth leper, the Samaritan, turns back to his Lord, gives thanks, and thus not only is his skin cleansed, but his entire being is made whole.  Goodness and life is standing right next to him.  He is with the Lord.

We are standing with the Lord too, if only we would take the time to stop and “see.” 

Sometimes I do not think that we ever slow down enough to consider the gifts that are the simple things in life.  Monks will sometimes spend hours and sometimes even weeks focusing only on their breath until they notice it and recognize it as the gift of life that it truly is. 

Excellent food that takes hours to prepare and is served in small portions, forces you to eat slowly, savoring each bite until you see the gift from God that it truly is. 

Just as Jesus takes the time to look at you and connect with you, sometimes Jesus forces us to slow down and take a look at our healed skin, so that we can return and give thanks to God who gives us every good gift. 

Entitled living is blind living. 

Gratefully living is living with sight. 

Gratefully living is living as a healed soul. 

Grateful living is life connected with Jesus Christ, who sees you and makes you whole. 

Live your life of gratitude. 

See, gift thanks, and live in the gift of God.