1. Analysis of Text
Luke’s Picture of Jesus
There are two things that we can look at when reading the Gospel reading this morning. The first thing is to look at Jesus actions and why Luke wanted to record this story in his Gospel. The second thing to look at what is the focus of Jesus’ attention within the actual story. So why would Luke want to record this story? Well the story shows us a lot of who Jesus is and was.
That Jesus is willing to walk on the edges of society; Samaria and Galilee was an uncomfortable place to be. These are two regions which have a history of religious and political tension between them. Yet Jesus is willing to walk there.
We also see that Jesus is willing to engage with lepers. The leprosy of old was any disease of the skin and the worst kind was a contagious degrading of the skin and nerves leading to horrific decay in the body. As a result, these people were excluded from the normalities of society. Yet Jesus is willing to engage with them.
Lastly we see Jesus’ compassionate healing. He heals all ten lepers without them having to do anything. Even the ungrateful ones were healed. Luke is showing us a Jesus who tears through social taboos, of Samaritan and Jew, black and white, poor and rich, dangerous and safe, and is willing to bring healing in these places.
And this can be a sermon on its own. In fact it can be 10 sermons on its on.
Jesus’ Response within the Text
But it is the second thing which strikes me more so in this passage. Jesus’ concern with the response of the lepers. As a literary piece, this concern is placed at the crux of the story. “Were not ten made clean? Where are the other guys? Has no one else returned to give praise?“. Jesus enters a town to engage with outcasts and their healing and this isn’t his main point of focus. Jesus is mainly concerned with their response of gratitude or lack thereof.
Why is this? What does Jesus see in gratitude? Why is Jesus so deeply concerned with the other nine? In order to unpack this a bit, let us first consider the concept of seeing. What is seeing? You will notice in the story that the leper who returns to Jesus is the one who SAW Jesus’ work and returned. The others, we assume, did not see or did not see fully. So what is seeing?
2. Gratitude begins with seeing
Teachers
Being a teacher is a wonderful gift where we get to interact with people unlike anywhere else. Going into teaching I expected that I would be working WITH young people who hungry for knowledge and learning and that I would get to engage with them in unpacking the value of human life and how God wants us to make an impact on the world.
In reality though, teaching is more synonymous with giving a cat a bath. There is fighting and scratching and loud noises and in the end you are unsure whether you should even be bathing a cat. A lot of students do not see your good intentions, or do not see your efforts as you trying to mould them, they do not see the world you are preparing them for, they do not see you fighting for them, for a lot of students, they firmly believe that teachers are hired to make them miserable. Students do not see the work of the teacher.
Marriage
A similar thing happens in marriage. A lack of seeing that can develop. This short clip, for me, shows some of this ‘seeing’ (or the lack thereof) in marriage.
[SHOW MARRIAGE CLIP]
In our relationships we do not always see the work of our spouses or friends.
Work and stuff
I think that a similar thing can happen at work, or with the things that we own and it most commonly happens in our relationship with God. When the days pass, day in and day out, things can move into the background, our seeing loses it gratitude lens. Maybe this is what Jesus is concerned with when the 9 lepers do not return. Have they lost their sight? Maybe he was concerned that they have stopped seeing God in their day. Somehow gratitude is linked in with seeing God work in our lives. So here we notice that gratitude begins with seeing.
3. Divine seeing
It is almost as if gratitude IS SEEING. For the leper that returned to Christ, after he saw, gratefulness was the natural response. When we see the work done by teachers or spouses or friends are we not naturally grateful?
Scientist and goodness
Robert Emmons is scientist who focuses a lot of his research on gratitude and he explains that gratitude is two-fold. First that in being grateful we are able to identify a goodness within something. And secondly that this goodness comes from somewhere other than ourselves. So gratitude, he argues, allows us to see others and to see the goodness in them and what they have done. This then deeply strengthens relationships between people.
Genesis 1
This kind of seeing makes me think of the creation story, where after each day that God has made something, the heavens, the earth, the animals, the plants, the day or the night, aftermacreating each one of these, scripture tells us that God saw that it was good. I think that this is the kind of seeing is that gratitude is. Gratitude is more than just saying thank you. It is a divine seeing. A seeing of the goodness within things. A seeing of the goodness within people. A seeing of the goodness within the world around us. A seeing of the goodness in the people around us. A seeing of the goodness in the mundane everydayness around us. Gratitude is divine seeing.
The two fish
I heard a story a while ago which tells of two young fish swimming together and they are passed by an older fish going the other way who says to them, “Good morning boys, how’s the water?”. The young fish carry on swimming for a bit and then the one turns to the other and asks, “What the hell is water?”.
Sometimes (or most times in my case) we are like these fish, unaware that the thing that is sustaining us, Christ’s love and life, is beyond our comprehension. Christ is in all things. Immanent. Close. Pervasive. We are immersed in his presence, and in his love and in his life just as if it was water surrounding us. This is what gratitude allows us to tap into. I think this is why Jesus is so concerned for the 9 lepers who did not return. 9 out 10 is most people. Most people do not see. Jesus is concerned that we are moving through life without looking.
4. Entering into gratitude
So how do we enter into this kind of seeing? Is it possible to live like this always? Always aware of the goodness in people and what they are doing? I find that it is easy to be grateful when everything is going well or we are on holiday. But what about when we are sick? Or overwhelmed? Or in the process of losing our house? Or suffering from chronic illness like leprosy? Well, if anyone knows the answer to these, please can you let me know after the service outside at tea.
Jeremiah, living simply in exile
There are some keys for us in the second reading though. This reading is set at a time when Israel had been conquered by Babylon and Jews had been exiled to foreign lands. They were living amongst new cultures, new religions, new ways of life and of doing things. For a nation whose identity was formed on her relationship with God and the temple, this was an incredible knock to their way of life and sense of self. But what does God tell the prophet Jeremiah to say to Israel? God does not tell them to enter into this mystical path of spiritual complexity in order to live happily and gratefully. God’s instructions are simple, build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat the fruit of your labour; marry and be prosperous and bless the city you live in. What is God’s response to them when life gets incredibly tough? To just live. Do not think that life is over because of this.
Be aware that this is water
How is this helpful? God is reminding us to not over complicate life and particularly faith. To live simply. Do not separate in your mind what is spiritual vs secular. Life is life is life. If you can do grocery shopping with a grateful heart, that is as worshipful as singing your heart out in a church worship service. Even if we are not consciously aware of God. Seeing this goodness around us is acknowledging that “this is water”. Like the older fish, we are moving in the world, knowing that we are moving through this sea of God’s life and love.
Being constantly grateful is hard and probably impossible and I don’t think that it is the point. But it is important to Jesus, this kind of seeing is important to Jesus. And like a muscle, if we spend time consciously practicing gratitude, it becomes a natural response. There are a few things which help exercise our gratefulness muscles. To bring greater awareness that we are swimming in the water of God’s love. Which will allow us to say “This is water”.
-
Intellectually, don’t separate life into spiritual time and normal time. Sunday church is as spiritual as brunch with your mother in law and it is as spiritual as raking the garden and it is as spiritual as your wedding day. Life doesn’t only happen on a Friday night or Sunday morning, God is exuding out of life even in the most mundane or painful moments - this is water, this is water.
-
Write down three things at the end of each day - what are you grateful for? Just before you go to bed, write down three things or tell your partner three things you are grateful for that day. Studies have been done to show how this develops our ability to see goodness in the world (our divine sight)
-
Start each day with a prayer of perspective. It can take less than 5 minutes and reminds us again that even this day will be saturated by God’s presence. I have printed 2 of my favorite kinds of prayers that I say as often as I can, they are in the foyer for anyone who would like copies.
Once we are able to see, once we are awakened to the water around us, we naturally move toward God in gratitude and worship. This is when Jesus says to the leper, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”