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Sermon October 13, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost Track 1, Proper 23
http://lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CProp23_RCL.html#gsp1
Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Luke 17:18
Please be seated.
As you know I have been planning a trip to Europe next year as part of my sabbatical. A year ago, Joanne, Kevin and Bill helped me come up with a plan for the sabbatical and after Vestry approval, in April we submitted a grant request to the Lily Endowment for Clergy Renewal. We received word that the grant request had been accepted in August and we received the grant check last week.
The heart of 2 months of the 3-month sabbatical is time in Europe, mostly in Italy. While I begin with a formal guided tour of Paul’s journey from Malta to Rome, the rest of the time is free for exploration. Last week, I found an apartment in Rome to stay in for 2 weeks. Then I’ll go to Riposto, Sicily, the town of my grandfather’s birth for about a month. I already have an apartment reserved there and look forward to visiting with family. Finally, it’s off to Barcelona to begin a 2-week Mediterranean cruise going to France, Monte Carlo, Rome, Naples, Corfu, Greece, Split and Dubrovnik Croatia and finally Venice.
I’ve been to Italy a number of times and feel fairly comfortable navigating around, although I have bought Rick Steve’s guide to Italy. My trip about a month ago to Ireland was a good test about ways to navigate through Europe, and was made easier because there was not as much of a language barrier.
Yet, there are differences that are important to consider. There are different plugs and a different kind of electricity. And of course, there is a difference in language. All of these years of Italian heritage and I’ve never learned Italian! There are other subtle differences, though, in the way we carry ourselves, the way we look and the way we dress. Sometimes when I’ve been in Italy, though, people have thought I was a native. I didn’t look like a foreigner to them. There are differences in what our living spaces and hotel spaces look like. There are differences in cooling, heating and the climate, of course.
On much of my trip, I will be a foreigner and yet one who hopes to fit in somehow. As much as possible, I don’t want to be rude. As much as possible, I don’t want to be the outsider.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is with his disciples walking along the borderlands between Galilee and Samaria. He is on his way to Jerusalem. He sees a group of people with leprosy. During Jesus’ time, this disease meant you were excluded from most of the community. The people with leprosy, kept their distance from Jesus, but called out to him. There were ten of them, most of them Israelites, and one Samaritan, who was considered a foreigner. You see, the fact that they shared this dreaded disease, bound them together across their differences of religion and national origin.
The people with leprosy ask Jesus for mercy. He instructs them to go show themselves to the priests. If a person with leprosy was healed, in order to return to full life in the community, they had to show themselves to the priests who would pronounce them able to return.
It’s interesting, because Jesus doesn’t heal them right then and there; nonetheless, all ten turn to go show themselves to the priests. On the way they are fully healed. They can return to full life in the community. What an amazing blessing.
We would expect the healed would be filled with gratitude and praise. But that was not the case. This gives us pause. Do we truly take time to thank God for the blessings of every day, no matter how small?
Only one returns to give praise and thanks to Jesus. All remain healed. Jesus doesn’t take the healing back for a lack of gratitude on the part of the nine. Another amazing show of mercy.
The one who does return is called a foreigner. He was a Samaritan. He was from the other side of the border. There was great animosity between the residents of Galilee and the residents of Samaria. They had many differences in how they understood God and how they worshiped God.
In the Hebrew Bible, foreigners or strangers or aliens are often mentioned. It was understood they came into temporary contact with Israel and did not cut ties with their home land. Sometimes the Israelites are reminded to care for the foreigner, because they themselves were foreigners in Egypt. In today’s reading from Jeremiah, we hear that they are to make their home amongst foreigners and work for the welfare of the nation that has taken them from their homes and brought them into another land. Sometimes the foreigners were considered dangerous, threatening to overthrow Israel or tempting Israelites to worship other gods. Foreigners were to be feared.
Yet, here comes Jesus, walking along the borderlands, possibly one foot in Galilee and one foot in Samaria. Jesus does not care which nation or religion the people come from. Jesus does not care about their differences in worshiping God. Jesus sees suffering. Jesus sees people who need to be back in community. Jesus provides relief and healing.
Because, for Jesus and for the church who follows Jesus, there are no foreigners. None. Jesus welcomes all people to the table. No one is the “other.” Jesus love, care, and way of life are available to all. We see this reflected in the promises we renew in our Baptismal vow. Seek and serve Christ in all persons. All humans are made in God’s image. There are no foreigners in the eyes of Jesus.
Let us be grateful for the love, mercy and enormous community we have when we follow Jesus and when no one is a foreigner.
Amen.
