Sunday October 10, 2004AD
28th Sunday in Greentime
All Lepers Count - One Says TX
Jesus locked horns with conventional wisdom on many occasions. Borrowing a modern term that describes a value of Judaeo-Christianity, even before Jesus, He exercised the “preferential option for the poor”. Jesus cared about the ones who had been written off by others because He understood that God is like a “loving grandmother”,Who loves all her grandchildren equally, but who has special care for the one that needs her most. In addition, she expects the others to have the same special care.
All of us, at one time or another, experience the left hand of God. We experience the painful mystery of descent and ascent that is the warp and woof of the universe. We all experience pain in sickness, betrayal, rejection, accident, old age, death of a loved one, and our own impending demise. With God’s Help, we are transformed in Christ when we believe that we can bear the difficulties of life, confident in the Presence of God in all our experiences.
The 10 lepers today had experienced the left hand of God in what was considered the most devastating disease of the time. Most of Jesus’ audience would have been in the 95% lowest percentile in the social-economic ladder. Therefore, money even to get a diagnosis and cure of the condition was not available. Back then, some folks considered illness a punishment for one’s sins. (Many still do today!!!) In addition to the physical ailment, the psychological separation from one’s family and community only exacerbated the matter. The poor and the sick frequently have a particularly rough go of it.
Then, these lepers meet Jesus. Now, they experience the right hand of God, the One that showers all the good things upon us. In their euphoria, they rush to get certified that they are indeed cleansed. (The passive voice indicates a “theological passive”, viz., God is the reason for the healing.)
In many ways might they not resemble many of us? Do we stop to thank God for the blessings showered upon us each day? Do we realize that everything ultimately is a “radical grace” or predicated on a “radical grace”? Do we focus on an individualism which does not befit the grandchild of a caring grandmother?
And, surprise of surprises! In this story, it is the hated Samaritan who turns out to be the “Grateful Samaritan”. Just as in the famous parable of the Good Samaritan, it was the outsider who acts on his relationship with a loving (grandmother) God. It is the outsider who realizes the need to say thank you to God at the feet of Jesus.
