The Ten Lepers;    Sickness, Worship, and Faith        October 14, 2007

The story of the ten lepers seems fairly straight forward to me. Leprosy was a deadly and contagious disease that would rot a persons skin. People would lose their toes and fingers, even their noses and ears. Lepers were forced to live in a leper colony, cut off from their families and the community.

Jesus saw ten lepers and heard their plead for his mercy. With no more than a nod of his hand, he told them to go to and show themselves to their priest. Nine of them did what Jesus told them to do. They went to their priest, got a clean bill of health, and went on about their lives. But one came back to give him thanks. He threw himself down at Jesus feet, thanked him and praised him. And he is a Samaritan.

You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to figure out what this story means. Jesus had the power of God to heal people, and showed God’s will for humankind. In the kingdom of God, all disease and death will be finished. Wouldn’t you assume that those whom Jesus heals would naturally give thanks to him and to God? Wouldn’t you assume that once they were healed, they would follow Jesus? But that did not happen here. Only one of the ten even paused to give thanks to Jesus, and he was a foreigner, a Samaritan.

In Jesus in his earthly ministry, they accused him of being a liar, a fraud, an insurgent against the government. They had many reasons for crucifying him. Jesus knew what he was up against, and that did not surprise him. What did surprise him was the lack of gratitude from the people Jesus showed God’s mercy. In this case, it was those whom he saved from a horrible illness who didn’t even bother to acknowledge what he did for them.

Sickness is still very much a part of our worship and faith. In our bulletin and prayers is a long list of people who need healing. What becomes of our prayers? Many of them get better, usually with good medical care. A small percentage of those, I guess about 10%, do return to thank the doctors and nurses for their good care. Most people would not even think of giving thanks to God for giving them the means to good medical care. I suppose they think they’re entitled to a long live and good health.

Those who are sick are so desperate they will often go to charlatan faith healers who claim to be healing in the name of Christ. You’ve seen them on television. With a bold push on the head, they claim to heal thousands of people, and they say they do it in the name of Jesus. Unfortunately, they don’t get cured, and they get robbed of their money.

I was visiting recently with a police officer who asked me what I thought about these so called “faith healers.” (I won’t use their names.) He told me that several years ago, he was working at the convention center several years ago when several of the well-known faith healers were staging performances. He said that there was a crowd of people clamoring to be healed with sickness diseases and infirmities of every kind. They were desperate! But the healer had a staff of people to screen them, ask them questions.

The officer said that not one of those who were really sick people were allowed to be on the show. The so-called healer had a staff that had people already selected, who returned for each of the performances. The same people were getting healed every night of the show. The officer asked me, “What do you think about that?”

I could only say I’m sorry. It seems to me that they their goal is to accumulate power and wealth. Then he said, “Talk about money, they had three collections that night, and took in several bags of money. But instead of using an armored truck to take the money to the bank, they had one of the officers use his personal old station wagon.”

I wondered why did they do that. He said that if they used an armored truck, they would have to receipts and have a paper trail.

All I could say is, “Im sorry. Unfortunately, some people who claim to Christian leaders bring shame all who are Christians.” Here’s my point. Money power and pride are always commingled in the cure of the sick. It’s something that’s been going on before the time of Christ.

Today in our first reading we have the story of Naaman in our reading from II Kings. Naaman lived about 800 years before Christ in what is today the country of Syria. He was a general in the Syrian army who was a kind of folk hero among the people. Back in those days, Syria was known as Aram. The Aramean army under general Naaman had been beating Israel, and he was a hero among them. But now General Naaman was losing the biggest battle of his life to leprosy.

Could you imagine what it was like when he discovered he had leprosy? One morning he was getting dressed and there it was, a tiny sore on his skin that was barely visible. He watched it grow every day and in a few months, it began to spread over other parts of his body. At first, he could cover it up with his uniform, and keep it secret. But he knew what the outcome would be. He knew it would destroy the nerves in the body and horribly disfigure him, even rot off his fingers, toes, ears and the nose. Even worse, he would be forced into quarantine to live with the other lepers in a leper colony. Naaman would rather die a hero on the battlefield; leprosy was about the worst way to die. But God had another plan for him.

When he came home from a battle against Israel, Naaman gave his wife a little girl as a trophy from his victory, and they kept her as a slave. This little slave girl said, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy." She was witnessing by telling them about the healing power of God.

So, how did Naaman respond to this girl’s suggestion? He was desperate enough to go looking for the prophet the slave told him about. Naaman’s king gave him a letter to take to the king of Israel with an entourage of soldiers accompanying him. He brought treasures to give, lots of silver, gold, 150 pounds of it, and fine cloths. The letter said that if he would heal him, he would do some "mighty deed," perhaps even giving the Israelites their freedom.

Naaman went straight to the king of Israel, of course. He thought the king would have Elisha would be living in or near the king’s palace. But that’s not where the prophet Elisha lived. When the king read the letter, he tore his clothes, a sign of disgust. “Can I kill, and bring back to life! This king is just trying to pick a fight with me.” But Elisha heard the king was upset, he said, send Naaman to me, and I’ll take care of it. The king sent Naaman to Elisha, who lived far out in the wilderness of Samaria.

Naaman went to Elisha with his army, banners unfurled and drummers drumming. His treasure was unwrapped and carried along ostentatiously! And so he arrived at Elisha's house, which was nothing more than a tent out in the wilderness. But when he got there, Elisha didn't even come out to meet him instead, he sent his servants. The servant told Naaman to go wash seven times in the Jordan River.

Naaman said no way he would do that! You see, in order to do that, he would have to take off most of his clothing, and expose himself in front of everyone! And everyone would see the ugly sores that covered his body. He also knew that if it didn’t work, he was finished. He would have to die in a leper colony.

Once he took off his clothes and washed, he was at the mercy of the God of Israel. And of course, that is just what God intended all along. Naaman had to lose his pride and arrogance by standing naked before God in the holy river before the healing would begin. Naaman was now furious! “Are there no rivers in Syria?" And he turned to go back home. But his friends were wise, and help him get over his pride. "Give it a try! What have you got to lose?" If the prophet had asked for something really costly, he would have done it.

Then Naaman changed his mind. He did what Elisha said, and washed seven times in Jordan's water, and he was completely healed. His crackly sick skin became like baby skin! Then Naaman went back to Elisha, and gave thanks to the God of Israel, and bowed down and worshiped the Lord our God. What a sight, a revelation that was to the rest of his army! Who would have thought that a ruthless Syrian general would worship the God of Abraham and Jacob.

Here is the good news for you and for me, for all people. We are washed in the water of our baptism every day with the grace of God. We are made clean, and accepted into God’s eternal kingdom. God can overcome all disease, all sin, and make us well. Even in death, we are well with God.

Soon we will have the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion. Another word for it is Eucharist. This central act of worship for Christians comes from a Greek word for giving thanks. Giving thanks is an essential Christian action because we acknowledge the fact that all we have is a gift from God. When we come before God to give thanks, we give back to God a little of the time God has given us. Let us come before God n thankfulness for all that God has done and will do for us. Amen