The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost; 9 October 2022; Proper 23C (RCL); Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; Psalm 66:1-11; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19.
The story of the healing of the ten lepers stands out for several reasons. To get from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus would have had to pass right through Samaria (or skirt it to the west) – there is not region between Samaria and Galilee. So, is Luke just bad a geography, or is he calling our attention to something. Perhaps he is preparing us to encounter the healed Samaritan leper.
Also, the lepers call Jesus “Master,” a title that occurs only in Luke, and except here, only on the lips of the disciples. As readers, this calls for our attention. And finally, when the Samaritan returns, Jesus says, “Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” The word used in Greek for foreigner is ἀλλογενής – allogenes. It occurs only here in the New Testament, and not very often elsewhere in Greek. It means, literally, other-born.
Possibly, Luke intended us to think of Naaman, the Syrian, healed by Elisha, who after washing in the Jordan seven times, returned to Elisha to praise God and ask for two mule’s load of earth to take back to Damascus, so he could worship God there. While this is true, I think the word forces us to look deeper into this context.
Jesus has instructed the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest. A priest would have to certify that the leprosy was cured, and that would require a sacrifice. In the Temple in Jerusalem, that would mean a person had to enter the court of the Jews and make one’s way to the entry of the court of the priests, where the altar stood. Between the court of the Gentiles (also called the court of the women) and the court of the Jews was a gate, over which was an inscription that foreigners were not allowed in on pain of death (Paul is accused of bringing a Gentile into that court in the later chapters of Acts).
Technically, this Samaritan would not be able to enter the Temple far enough to offer the sacrifice for his healing. No wonder he turned back. And would Jesus be sarcastically angry at the other nine when they are doing exactly what he told them to do?
Luke seems more concerned than the other Gospels with the inclusion of Gentiles in the growing church. I think the story of the prodigal son is about the tension between Gentile Christians (the younger brother) and Jewish Christians (the older brother). If Luke wants us to think of Naaman the Syrian, this story would express a similar dynamic. The other nine are doing what the early Jewish Christians were doing in the early chapters of Acts — worshiping God in the Temple. This would have been impossible for Samaritan and Jewish converts, so they return to Jesus, praising God, and falling at his feet (worshiping). This would represent a huge shift in the thought-world of the time, which would only be cemented by the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Jesus comes to be seen as the new Temple (in John’s circle, it is the community of disciples that replaces the Temple).
One of the startling things about the growth of Christianity evidenced in Paul’s letters is its mixed ethnicity, which is both exciting and the source of friction. Living side by side with former enemies is always difficult. Jeremiah’s advice to the exiles is equally surprising. While the Psalmist encourages people to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122), and looked for the day when conquerors would do to Babylon what Babylon had done to Jerusalem (Psalm 137), Jeremiah instruct the exiles to pray for the prosperity of Babylon.
We live in a world full of refugees and displaced persons, migrants and foreign workers. We are seeing a rise of the politics of grievance, connected especially with a resentment of the foreigners among us. Italy just elected a far-right government mostly on the strength of this resentment. Trump certainly played those notes well (and continues to do). The two strands of tradition represented by our readings for this Sunday would suggest a different approach. Refugees and migrants almost certainly pray for the prosperity of the city where they live, since their own prosperity is tied to it. Hard as it is to give up dreams of returning home, for many, home has to be the new city.
And the Samaritan leper sees something about Jesus that the other nine failed to see. He recognized in Jesus the power of God. How often is it that the foreigner among us sees what we can’t for familiarity? Perhaps we are all exiles, just walking each other through the wilderness to our true home.