2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c • Psalm 111 • 2 Timothy 2:8-15 • 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."
Have you ever had that experience of losing something that you literally had been seeing in front of you maybe just five minutes ago? It can happen all the time with things like keys, or the remote control, or a pair of glasses. The experience usually goes something like this: “Gee, I swore I put those glasses here…it’s where I saw them last…where did they go?” Often the best reply to give someone—in addition to, “It’s sitting on your head”, or “It’s right there in front of you”—is “Where did you last see it?”
The lepers in today’s story from Luke are looking for something much deeper, much more vital and much more essential than a pair of sunglasses or car keys. In fact they had not seen this thing for so long, they might not even know when it is they would have last saw this if they were asked.
Lepers in Jesus’ day didn’t necessarily have what we now call Hansen’s disease, but had skin conditions that were ugly, nasty and frankly, gross. Levitical codes kept anyone from getting close to them. When someone approached them they had to yell out “Unclean! Unclean!” for fear that someone would become ritually impure if they even got too close to one of these “untouchables.” The law also kept lepers out of the Temple. They were to be kept out of God’s sight.
What is it these outcasts had lost, and were looking for? What is it they have not found anywhere? They’re wanting someone, anyone, to see them. Truly see them. Someone to see them not as sick, not as altogether worthless, not as altogether undignified—because no one else is able to look much more than a brief moment, which is enough to know they want to look away.
So when this group of lepers sees Jesus coming into town, this man who has a reputation of healer, of bringing the dead to life, they call out to him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And unlike other healings of Jesus—where he touches these ritually impure people or invites them to dine at table with him—the only action it takes for him to heal them…is to simply…look at them. What makes Jesus’ looking at them so different than an insulting stare, or a judging look, or curiously analyzing them like a freak-show…is that Jesus sees their sores, their rag clothing, their dirty bodies…but he also sees them as whole people, as dignified people…as children of God…. That’s how Jesus sees us…and that’s how these lepers saw themselves after Jesus saw them—because Jesus’ very eyes were what healed them that day. Eyes, after all, were just what the Good Samaritan needed to heal the beat up man on the side of the road—whom no one else would see. It was also God’s eyes dared to look upon a lowly servant—a young, vulnerable teenage girl named Mary—to bear the very flesh of God’s love for the world. It was the eyes of Jesus that saw the wee little man Zaccheus up in a tree, and that offered him forgiveness and new life.
You may be thinking to yourself, but Pastor Jon, isn’t this passage about the one leper who thanked Jesus? Isn’t this a story supposed to be about our gratitude? Isn’t that what most of the verses in this story are about? It is about our gratitude. But the gospel, however, never starts with us. The tenth leper, the one who returned to give thanks to Jesus, never would have had anything to be thankful for… if it weren’t for Jesus’ eyes. The gospel always begins with God’s merciful love, bringing life from death, going from God to the world, through people like these lepers, and through people like us. And even though it is the tiniest of fragments of this story, it is Jesus taking the time to bring his healing sight to the unseen, to the invisible and the ones blinded from everyone else, which unlocks God’s good news of transforming healing in Christ.
The seeing business is the kind of business that Jesus is in. When he looks at us, he does not look at us with a stern, judging way; he does not look upon us with an evil eye. Jesus sees that we are all lepers—we are all inept, broken, fragile and sinful people. But in seeing our frailty and our pain, and isolation…the eyes of Jesus look upon us with compassion. Rather than doing what everyone else wants to do—which is to look away from what’s painful, look away from death, look away from ugliness—Jesus cuts through those barriers with eyes that have the power to knock down any wall of separation…eyes that drill the love of God straight into our hearts. Jesus can see beyond what others’ can’t see or don’t want to see, to bring the visible face of God to the world.
Luke is very precise in pointing out that the 10th leper recognizes Jesus healed him not by touch, or smell. This Samaritan “saw that he was healed,” Luke says. (17:15) It’s not just his skin that has been changed. This man’s soul, this man’s very life…has been made new by Jesus. And he can’t see things the same again. When we have been seen for who we are, truthfully—inept, broken and afraid—and yet looked upon graciously by Jesus, we can’t help but have our own sight changed. It’s a kind of sight that does not just rejoice at this gift Jesus gives to us…it’s a sight that recognizes that there is a Giver behind that gift…and it’s God! When Jesus has looked upon us with his sight that restores and gives us new life, suddenly we can see Jesus bringing life through his sight…not just through us…but to the whole world. We recognize the healing wholeness of Christ’s eyes when the marginalized are brought into the light; we recognize the healing wholeness of Christ’s eyes when we look to the future and see an open horizon rather than uncertainty; we see the healing whole ness of Christ’s eyes when we look to ourselves and see a beloved child instead of a failure; we see the healing wholeness of Christ’s eyes when we look to God, and see a loving parent.
Yes, the Samaritan does go to back to Jesus so that he can thank him. But even more than thanking him, I wonder if what he really wanted was to see him—to see and look into the eyes of the one whose eyes had cut through and broken his life wide open. Is that not what we do when we come to worship? We come to see the one who has gifted us so graciously, who has challenged us and sustained us to become more than we ever could have become on our own—to see Jesus in bread and wine, water and Word, in the care given and shared by this community of faith. When Jesus looks at us, we are given a clear vision to see the eyes of Jesus bringing healing to the world. Out in this world God is making visible the love of Christ through eyes like ours—eyes that can constantly look for who is missing, who is invisible, who is in need of the healing eyes of Christ.
With my years of experience working with the homeless, one lesson I have learned from talking to them is about how to respond when asked for money or change. So often they told me, “You know, when you walk by, at least just take a moment to stop and look at me. Acknolwedge I’m here. Acknowledge I’m a human being. Even if all you do is say ‘No, I can’t help you’, when I get looked at in the eye, I at least feel like ‘somebody.’” What would it be like for us to pay attention this coming week to where our gaze tends to wander...at work, on the street, in the classroom. What would it be like to see if we notice our eyes glancing waywards from a person or place that no one else may be noticing. If we take a closer look there, we will see Jesus there, giving sight that gives restored healing…sight we have the power to give…sight Jesus gives first to all of us by looking upon all of us with compassion. This sight of Jesus gives us faith to be made well. Amen.
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