"The Blessings and the Blesser”

A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett

Preached at Pleasantville United Church of Christ, November 23, 2008

 “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed,
turned back, praising God with a loud voice.”
(Luke 17:11-19)

Jesus was really out there.  He was off the beaten path.  He was so far out there, there wasn’t even a name for the place he was, the scriptures say he was between two places – between Galilee and Samaria; between the place he called home and the place where most good Jews didn’t want to be.

Jesus was traveling from one place to another, and he ended up in this no-name village, where there was not just one person with leprosy and not two, but ten.  Ten Lepers cast out of society by virtue of the fact that they have a disease the world considers contagious, deadly, and the result of sinful behavior.

They try to keep their distance from others.  They skulk around the edges of the community.  If they must be among people, they try to go unnoticed; they try to slip in without anyone seeing them; they try to hide in the shadows, to find a nice corner where they won’t feel so exposed.  If they can avoid eye contact, all the better.  They’ve been told for so long that they are not worthy; that they are a danger to others; that what’s wrong with them is their fault – and now they believe it.  And the burden of that belief is worse than anything they’ve ever known before.

And then Jesus enters their village, and they have reason to hope. 

Our gospel lesson for this morning is a story about healing – a story about blessing and being blessed and turning around to know the One who blesses.  Ten lepers approach Jesus for healing; ten cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us;” ten are healed by the grace of God and one returns to give thanks.  Ten were healed.  Ten received the blessing of God. But only one turned back to acknowledge the One who gave the blessing.

In our faith tradition, this is the last Sunday of the year.  Next Sunday we begin a New Year in the circle of the Christian Year with the First Sunday of Advent.  But this final Sunday is named “Christ the King” Sunday.  It is day of culmination; a day to gather up the fullness of the past year; a time to be thankful for all that God has done.  It is a day to harvest our gratitude to God for the blessings we have been given and for our life lived in a compassionate community of believers.

This Sunday also happens to be what we call here at Pleasantville, “Consecration Sunday.”  On Consecration Sunday, we bring our gifts of time, our promises of financial support and our willingness to allow God’s Spirit to shape us and change us, so that together, we might move into the coming year, supporting our mutual ministry at Pleasantville and beyond.  Today is a day to turn around and acknowledge the One who gave the blessings.

Ten were healed.  One returned to give thanks.

This week, many in our nation will spend the day on Thursday awash in the blessings of God.  For many, there will be family and friends; warmth and laughter; food in abundance.  And many will be glad to receive these blessings.  But only some will turn around to acknowledge the One from whom all blessings flow.

Ten were healed.  One returned to give thanks.

The scriptures record that, “when he saw that he was healed, [the one] turned back, praising God with a loud voice.  He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.”  He fell down on his knees, and lay outstretched on the ground before Jesus, giving thanks with his whole self.  He changed the course of his life to return with gratitude and the result was that Jesus pronounces him not only “well” but “saved.”  Your faith has saved you.  Your faith has made you whole.

And that is true.  Because we know we are not whole unless we are living our faith.  We know we are not whole if we skulk around the edges of town, try to sneak into the back of rooms, if we feel so low about ourselves that we cannot meet another’s gaze.  We know we are not whole if we are not living as if we know not only the blessings but also the Blesser. 

Ten lepers knew physical healing that day, but one found something more.  One found salvation because he recognized not only the gift that Jesus gave him, but the giver of that gift.  He stopped to give God thanks and praise and received a whole new way of living in relationship to God; a way of living in which his life was organized around gratitude.

Martin Luther, the great reformed theologian of the 16^th century, defined worship as “the tenth leper turning back.”  True worship begins with true gratitude.  It is the moment of turning back to give thanks for healing received, for relationship restored, for the Word that strengthens and the presence that consoles.  It may be that the most important purpose of worship in our lives is to make us more like the tenth leper than the other nine; to make us more inclined to turn back and give thanks than trudge on in our busy-ness, ready to take yet another miracle for granted. 

As the Deacons of Pleasantville Church were preparing for this Consecration Sunday, Greg Ness said something that lodged in my memory.  He spoke about the need to “increase the footprint of Pleasantville Church in the community.”  I’d never heard that phrase before and it captured my imagination because the language I hear these days is more like – decreasing our footprint in the world.  In our home we are often looking for ways to decrease our carbon footprint and conserve energy and reduce our impact on the environment, so Greg’s language caught me off guard.  But I like it.  I like what it points to.

When Jesus encountered those 10 people in need of healing, he was outside his normal territory.  He was in-between the places he normally traveled.  He was certainly in a place that would have caused some anxiety for those on the journey with him.  It was such an obscure place it didn’t even have a name.  Not only that – it was filled with needy people; people who needed to know the blessings of God, more than that: people who needed to know the One who blesses.

Jesus was increasing his footprint in the community and the effect was life-saving. 

Ten were healed.  Nine went on their way.  One returned to give thanks.  On this Consecration Sunday, may we be among those who not only receive the blessings of God, but acknowledge the One who blesses.  May we all work to increase the footprint of Pleasantville Church in the community and the world.  And May we know the truth of Jesus’ words: your faith has made you whole.  May it be so.  Amen.