Weekly Sermon

Where are the Other Nine ? : October 14, 2001

The Reverend Anne Benefield

II Kings 5:1-15; Luke 17:11-19

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." Prayer: Lord God, may we be opened to your word and may we gratefully follow it. Amen. Whenever I hear this passage, a crazy picture comes to me. I see ten lepers dancing-jumping up and down. I couldn't figure out where I got that picture. Finally, I realized the image was from the Christmas Carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." I was thinking of ten lords a-leaping. As funny as it sounds it isn't a totally inappropriate image. After all, the ten lepers who were cured in this story must have been delirious with joy. Surely they were literally jumping with joy. So if they were happy, why didn't nine of them come back to thank Jesus? Why did only one, a Samaritan at that, come back praising God and giving thanks to Jesus? In a delightful book called The Way of the Wolf, Martin Bell addresses the question, "Where are the other nine?" Bell conjures up reasons why the nine never return. He guesses that one was frightened by the experience-Jesus scared him. One may have felt cheated by how little he had to do to be cured after years of debilitating illness. One didn't really want to be cured, he was happy with the way things were. Another was so overjoyed that he simply forgot to thank Jesus. Maybe one had been so deeply hurt that he didn't have the ability to say "Thank you" any more. Perhaps one didn't think Jesus healed him. Another may have been in a joyous hurry to return home-too rushed to take any more time away. And maybe one ran on to spread the news: The Messiah was here! [Martin Bell, The Way of the Wolf: The Gospel in New Images, (New York: Ballantine Books, 1970) p. 39-44] These are all interesting ideas. Surely each of us could see ourselves reacting in one way or another, and not managing to return to say thank you, but the fact is that the reasons why the nine didn't come back are irrelevant. It doesn't matter why they didn't come back. The story is about the one who did come back, the one who said, "Thank you." This is a story about more than healing. This is a story about faith and grace and salvation. We can see that when we look at the context of the story. Chapter 17 of Luke is built around Jesus' answer to the question, "What is faith?" In verses one through four, he explains that faith forgives. In verses 5 and 6, he says that faith is all-powerful. In verses 7-10, he tells us that faith is humble. And in our story, we see that faith is grateful. Gratitude is an important characteristic of faith. Do you remember how the scripture ends? Jesus says "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." In the Greek, "made well" and "saved" are the same word. All of the lepers were healed, but only this man was saved. He is the only one who comes back to praise God and thank Jesus. Only this man recognized the source of salvation. He returns and opens himself to a personal relationship with Jesus through his gratitude. Gratitude is central in faith, but it is often forgotten. I think that is because living a life of gratitude takes discipline and practice. We must learn to be grateful in small things. We must cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Several years ago, my mother gave me a one-page article on ways to get ahead in business. The first thing on the list was to start each day spending 15 minutes writing thank you notes. I immediately knew that was a good idea, but writing thank you notes is like getting out of bed. We all know we need to do it, but it's so easy to put it off for just a little while longer. I'm not very good at writing thank you notes, but I have found it easy to be thankful through a simple practice. My boys and I say grace before meals. The prayers are not anything elaborate. We just bow our heads and say thank you for the food and whatever else comes to mind. I get self conscious saying long prayers; a few words of thanks helps me to feel God's presence. Those simple prayers before each meal help me cultivate an attitude of gratitude. I read a story once about a recovering alcoholic. He told a friend "that on awakening each morning he prayed to God for another day of sobriety, and that each night before retiring he thanked God for having granted him a day of sobriety. "'How do you know it was God who gave you the day of sobriety?' the friend asked. "'It had to be,' the man responded. 'He was the only one I asked.'" That recovering alcoholic had cultivated an attitude of gratitude. [Twerski, Living Each Day, p. 101, meditation on the 10 Teves.] When I was at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, I wasn't supposed to start any programs because I was the interim pastor. As it turned out, I stayed there for three years. After the first two, I told them that even though I probably wouldn't be there to see it happen; I felt they needed to go on a mission retreat. A parishioner had left them money to be used on a mission trip, but they had put it off for years. I told them it was time to go. They made their first mission trip a year later. They now go on an annual mission trip. I remember talking with a person who went on the trip. He told me that when he came back he was exhausted, but "it was the best tired I have ever been." He had cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Tony Campolo tells about visiting a small Christian university in the Dominican Republic. He says, "When we arrived at the campus, I was intrigued to see large groups of people standing around the cinder-block buildings that housed the classes, which were even then in session. These people were standing in rapt attention and absolute silence. When I asked what was going on, I was told, 'Oh, don't mind them! They're the parents of the students. Each night they come here and stand outside the classes and look in on their children studying. Watching their children learn is their favorite form of entertainment.'" Those parents had cultivated an attitude of gratitude. [Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You a Story: Life Lessons from Unexpected Places and Unlikely People, (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000), p.128] Here is one more story, this one from Fred Craddock. He writes, "Couple of years ago, I went back to the community where I was born and reared and went to public school, in west Tennessee. On Sunday evening while I was there, I went with a friend to his church, a small church, not many there, but I noticed they had new leaded glass windows, beautiful windows and, I calculated, expensive windows. While I wondered how they could afford it, I began to read the names, the dedications in the windows. I didn't recognize any of the names, and I was reared there. I said to my friend, 'Are these new people who have come in? I don't understand this; I don't recognize any of these strange names.' "He said, 'No, a church in St. Louis ordered these windows from Italy, and when they got them, they didn't fit. They advertised in a church paper that they would sell them because they were going to have new ones made. They were so cheap we bought them.' "And I said, 'Well, they sure are beautiful, but what are you going to do about the plaques?' "He said, 'Well, the board discussed that, and we decided to leave those names up there. It's good for us in our little church to realize that there are some Christian people besides us.'" Those folks had cultivated an attitude of gratitude. [Fred Craddock, Craddock Stories, (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001), 138] It is stewardship time-time to think about what you pledge to give to Geneva in the year 2002. Your pledges determine what we will be able to do next year-the mission giving, the children and youth programs, the choir materials, the list goes on and on. The miraculous thing is that when we cultivate an attitude of gratitude it is easy to see how much we have on which to build. Building an attitude of gratitude opens us to the possibilities-things we will do next year that we will be thankful we did in years to come. I know it's been a hard fall for everyone. Our sense of security was shaken on September 11th. At the same time the economy is moving toward recession. It is a time when being prudent makes sense. And yet, I truly believe that being prudent is not a wise way to look at pledging for the church. I encourage you to be prudent in regard to vacations, entertainment, clothes, and food. It's a good time to be eating meatloaf and salad. These are salad days for us! It's a good time to pick up some clothes at our rummage sale. It's a good time to visit family for vacation instead of going somewhere exotic. Cut back on all those things, but don't cut back on your pledge. When terror reigned down on us, where did we go for comfort and strength? We came here. This is the place that sustains and nurtures us. This is the place that inspires and encourages us. This is the place where we meet our Lord and Savior. This is the place where we worship God. This is the place where the Holy Spirit unites us with Christians here and far away, Christians today and through all eternity. Don't be prudent with your pledge to this holy place this year. Be boldly courageous and pledge with confidence! Amen.