Daily Lesson for May 2, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 17 verses 11 through 19:

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

I have heard this text preached on many a Thanksgiving service; and indeed it is a good story to help us think on the importance of giving thanks.  But there is an irony in preaching this text on a national holiday and the irony is that the only leper who can back to give thanks was in fact a foreigner. It's the kicker in the whole story: "Now he was a Samaritan."

So what to make of this?  Is it about giving thanks?  Yes, of course.  Jesus extols the man for having come back to give thanks.  But the question then is raised, why did the other nine choose not to do so?  Where were they?

Well, here's just my thought -- it might not have happened like this, but it could have:

Note that Jesus is traveling in a borderland -- the no man's land between Jewish and Samaritan territory. Remember, Jews and Samaritans hated one another; they viewed one another as ethnic/racial and religious enemies.  But this is a leper's colony -- a place or refuge and rejection, where both Jewish and Samaritan lepers have huddled together in desperation.  It was the community of the banished -- the home for those without no home.

Jesus entered into that borderland community, and seeing the plight of the leprous he told them to go and show themselves to the priests. Here there was a split. The Jewish lepers, however many there were, went back to the Jewish priests in Galilee while the Samaritan lepers went toward Samaria. Along the way all were cleansed.  They all kept walking except the one Samaritan who returned to Jesus to give thanks. And Jesus said to him, "Your faith has made you well."

And this is the moment of true salvation. The other nine were cleansed. But the tenth was made well. The other nine, their healing was only skin deep. When cleansed they returned to the racial/ethic/religious communities from which they came.  That was all they really needed or wanted -- to be welcomed again amongst their own. But the tenth, he found a deeper wellness -- a wellness deeper than the skin.  Returning again to the borderland, crossing back to where the Jew Jesus was in the home of the community-less, this Samaritan received wellness that brought healing to him in body, in mind, and in soul.

Full salvation is more than skin deep.  It brings us more than inclusion amongst the "clean" (whether church or community or group).  True salvation is to be found in the borderland, in the place where enemies meet and exiles community. This is the place of total salvation is found because this is the place where Jesus is found.

Now, where is that borderland for me today?