Nine out of Ten

This weekend we are looking at a healing story in the gospel of Luke when Jesus cures ten lepers. Then nine out of ten of them race on with their life.

But that one who's left... he comes running back and throws himself at Jesus's feet in gratitude.

It is a twist we are not expecting. We are so used to the majority ruling. The majority getting the point. All of us understanding what's happening the majority of the time. But here, it is the minority who is the example. The paradigm. The one we should look to for wisdom.

Anyone else's mind blowing up?

To add insult to injury, not only is it the one out of ten who is the outlier of the group, he has also lived his life with a debilitating skin disease that marked him as unclean and impure. And bonus, he is also a Samaritan - one of those dirty, disgusting, and rotten foreigners.

No longer are we in a parable used for teaching. This is a real human in need of healing and wholeness.

Remember with the parable, even the lawyer couldn't handle saying the name of the people.

"How are we supposed to learn from this now "clean" alien in our midst? Are we really meant to make space in the community for this outsider - I mean, you know what they're like, right? They don't deserve..."

I have heard every one of these comments throughout my lifetime - and as I am reminded quite often, I am a baby, even at nearly forty-three. What is more, I have heard every single one of these statements in the last twelve, if not the last three, months in our part of the city.

It does not matter what group it is that we want to cast out - whether it is this group of refugees or that group of humans God made differently - Jesus will always choose to stand at the side of the ones we cast out. It does not matter if they are sick. If they are foreign. If they are different. If they do not fit the mold that we - or our interpretation of scripture - believe they should.

Jesus will always stand with the ones we cast out. Cast down. Trample. Period.

The question is, will we stand with Christ? Or be a part of the trampling force?

Blessings,

Rev. Janie